
dchurch
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Bait Fisherman
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ditz2 I guess the only plus side of those reels are some vivid memories. I can still see a balled up mess of dark green braided line sitting on that chrome spool. :/ I'll bet that ol Shakespeare conjures up some good stuff though!
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Hey thanks folks for all of the positive thoughts and comments. There are actually four of us brothers. So each of us had plenty of practice with brotherhood. We all share similar interests and my older brother and I have done quite a bit of fishing together. The first memory I have of fishing was with my dad and older brother when I was about 5 years old. I was bobber fishing with a crummy old level-wind reel that tangled every-time I tried to cast. My brother was surface fishing with help from dad. I think he was using a small popper or Michigan Bug (segmented thing with thin rubber legs). Anyway, I believe we were catching bluegill and crappie that day. I can’t remember actually learning to fly fish. I know we did some casting practice in our front yard. I do remember learning to tie flies with the help of my brother when we were kids (like 11 and 14). He had a kit and supplies from Herter’s. There was a Herter’s store about an hour away near Olympia, WA_ great store, cool catalogs, and the books were a riot. My brother also used bits of carpet, hair, and feathers from our chickens… I remember being threatened with a pounding if I got into his golden pheasant tippets (or some such thing). My dad was impressed with my brother’s work. We even sold some of his flies at our local boat launch, so at an early age I considered my brother a fly tying expert. I’m no expert but I do know enough to greatly appreciate the work (art). I called my brother the other day. I know his energy is really limited but he sounded pretty chipper: hanging out with family and grandkids, doing some cooking, plinking with a new pellet pistol and of course tying flies. I suspect he will be testing some of those flies this spring.
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Thanks, I did find the original post and pasted a link here: http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=69846&hl=brother Posted 18 November 2012 - 07:49 PM hope that works, dave
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It's been about a year since my brother was diagnosed with Leukemia. With the help of this expert forum I put together a portable fly tying kit for him to have during the long months of treatment and recovery... My brother is still working on his recovery and making difficult but steady progress. I think fly tying has been a great hobby and therapy for a bunch of up and down times... Thanks again for helping me put together the kit for him. I wanted you to know that it has been put to very good use. See photos of a fantastic collection that he has tied for me. If you would like to read my original post with more photos of the bench... you can search my user name "dchurch". Maybe someone could reply with a direct link to the post. I'm not sure how to do that. Again many thanks, dave
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First, "Thank you" to all the folks here who have shared your own ideas, photos... After much reading I built a laptop type fly tying station, and a few tools to go with it. This is for my older brother who tied flies when we were kids. He's semi-retired now and has recently run into some health issues that may give him some extra hobby time. I wanted to set him up with a portable kit that he could use in an easy chair and also take on trips... Also, last summer I started fly fishing again and figured I might get a few flies from him:) I came up with the design and measurements after much reading here, then making a mock-up out of cardboard and testing. The overall size of this one is 18" x 12" x 3 1/2". My brother is a lefty, but has some right-handers in his family that might want to give this a shot, so I just made it ambidextrous. The spring action vise (not shown) clamps along the blank arm edges at either side. I used oak for the bulk of this project, the spool rack is ipe, backboard is cherry, and sides are incense cedar. I outlined the holes with dark stain using an artist brush. The small holes are all 1/4" or 3/8". The other holes are: 2 @ 1", 2 @ 1 1/8" and 6 @ 1 1/2". The 6 are 1 1/4" deep. The others are through holes, except on the backboard and outer sides that are about 2" deep. The 5 shallow divots are 2". I tested some stick-on magnetic tape and decided to use 1/8" thick stick magnets instead (more powerful). I used a router and chisel to reset the sticks to nearly flush. I cut and pointed the aluminum spindles in one motion by cutting the spinning stock in a drill press using a triangle file. I bought the small green cutting mat from ebay seller "tollybarn". I thought it would also make a handy coaster. The mechanical pencil has a 2" retractable needle instead of lead. The teaser/brush is Velcro glued to one end of aluminum spindle scrap. The hair stacker is 1/2" copper tubing and cap. I had a spare test clip for use as hackle pliers. I included the old type I remember my brother using after adding some heat shrink tubing to the handles for easier squeezing. The vise, tools and materials all fit in the fly tying travel bag from Cabela's. There's room for more stuff that can be added over time. Again, Thanks to everyone at this great website_ I hope this post is partial payback. - Just in case Larry reads this_ I hope you're having fun "flying ties" haha. Photos attached: