Gene L

My attempt at a Catskill fly, and an attempt at photography. Looks in focus on my phone.

The Griff's I have is very thin and liquid-seeming. Is this the way it should be?

My TFO is marked "China." I would feel better if it was made in Korea. It casts just fine.

Don't do what I did, which is to buy in haste nail polish remover (thinner) containing no acetone. It didn't work when mixed with acetone; left a disgusting mess. Better off using acetone on laquer.

I broke my 4 wt. LL about 25 years ago by slamming my tailgate on it. I sent it to Sage and they replaced it, even though it was my fault and the LL series of rods were no longer made. So I'm pretty happy with them. Since I'm not the original owner of the 6 wt, the warranty doesn't apply. I think the "Lifetime Warranty no matter what" has caused a major shift in pricing. Companies were replacing at any cost has got to figure into it. And a lot of rods are now being made in China, where cost of manufacture and the price of blanks is way low, seeing that the cost of a finished blank can only be a few bucks. At least Sage rods are still made in America. I recently bought a 6 wt. TFO rod at the bottom end of their rods. It cost $300. The rod was made in China. Turned me off. The rod casts fine, btw.

Picked up a new rod today, a 9' Sage LL 6wt, 3 piece. I ran the SN number on Sage's website and it was made in 1995. Fished very little. I've got a 4 wt LL as well and it's a top notch also.

I got a bottle of Griff's Thin Head Cement with the Patriot vise and materials. I had a helluva time removing the cap but finally got it open. It's very thin as advertised. I can't find the stuff at any of the major suppliers of fly tying material. Anyone familiar with it? I think it would do a good job in filling up the head without adding bulk, like SHAN does.

A small one is made for small spools. I have one somewhere for Pearsall's silk thread. Technically, you don't HAVE to have one but it's not a real cash outlay for one that fits. Using a regular bobbin holder will work, but not perfectly and IIRC the spool holder can run off.

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Yep, all original. I got the vise with a full fly tying kit that was complete and never been used. Universal Vise Company. The stem of the vise is not 3/8", it's 7/16". and it's a loose fit. I tightened it up a bit with some fiber washers. The kit had instructions on use with it as well as basic fly tying instructions. I don't think it was ever used, either the vise or the kit. The kit was very nice compared to the other kit I bought long ago. Good materials, except hackle. There is about anything you would need to tie wet flies. Not a lot of material, but enough to get you by. I'm thinking the kit came with the vise, as it's marked on the box "With Tools." Also came with several big hooks, size 8 and 10 5x long and what I think is 1x thin.

It works better than my camera. This is a Quill Gordon, which is fun to tie. The vise is an Universal, from the 1950s. Probably the first rotary vise ever. In reading Mike Valla's Tying the Catskill Dry Flies I found out to my surprise that Walt Dette used this vise later on in his famous career. I break it out once or twice a year. Not the easiest vise, but hey, it's a rotary vise beginning.

It's OK to tie on, nostalgia-wise. I think the Dyna-King is way superior. But the Patriot fun to tie on so there's that. Thing is, I didn't need any of the stuff that came with it. Everything needed to keep a new tyer busy for a while.

I recently bought a vise I've been searching for for years. A Griffin Patriot, which I've mentioned before. I found one on Ebay, advertised as "like new" and had some "materials" with it. It wasn't cheap, and in fact was about what I paid for it 35 years ago. I didn't need the "materials" but it was attached to the vise and was the first one I've seen offered ever. Shipping added and I was in more than $200. But in for a penny, in for a pound, so I bought it. The seller apparently was a power seller, and it shows. I got the vise in four days, IIRC. And here the story starts. The vise was as advertised, like new. There were two pedestals for some reason. Some pretty good hackle, hooks in size 10, 12, 14. Only the 10s had been opened and used. There was dubbing, also unopened, deer hair patch, several spools of thread, like wise several cards of chenille. My detective mind imagined some guy bought the vise, new, with materials to tie dry flies, only something happened. He started off with size 10 dry flies, used up half the 25 hooks and then apparently stopped for some reason. I imagine the seller bought the entire package from an estate sale. Perhaps the original owner died while learning to tie. Or he gave up in frustration. I can't imagine a happy ending for the original owner. All in, there was close to $100 of materials with the vise, so it was a good buy. Good scissors, one of those foam caddies for materials. I hope the Original Owner just got frustrated in the early learning phase. It wasn't a cheap vise when new, and the materials suggested that some guy got the urge to tie and then for some reason stopped early in the process. Here, his story ends.

Their benches look like mine.