FISHN50

Try this. Get a piece of Kevlar Thread & thread it thru the bobbin tube. Grab the 2 ends of the thread, one in each hand & spin the bobbin around. This usually polishes out any minor nicks in the tube. You can even add a little polishing compound to the thread if the nick is bad. As a fellow cheapscate I have used this on a few old bobbins in our kids tying class box & it works....

I just started making them & can't believe how easy they are to make & how well they work. I've made them out of 6/0 & 3/0 uni thread, flat waxed nylon, 2 & 4# test mono & my favorite is light green 6# spiderwire which is about 5X. I make them in 7.5 ' & 5.5'. As for colors I'm still experimenting. I like light grey uni & the pale green spiderwire, pale yellow uni the best. I just made up a few 7.5 footers with about 18" of bright red butt & going down to a light grey 6 strand shroub loop tip. I haven't found any little solid rings for the tip yet so I loop each end. I put a small swivel on the end of one to try. I got all the info off the internet & I think I will get that video so I can experiment with different materials & number of wraps. I've handed them out to a number of fishing buddies to get their opinion but no replies yet. The thing I noticed is that if you get a wind knot you better take it out right away or it becomes a hassle. Also the thread ones are very limp & after catching a fish you can't just cast them out past the rod tip like you would a normal mono leader. I've' also just made a few out of kevlar thread because I was told it would be a faster sinking leader but I haven't tried them out yet. I've put a loop on both ends of about 18" of 3X tippet & looped 1 end of 18" of 5X to it & it turned over reasonably well with a 12 caddis on the end. To those who are on the verge of making & using the jig I'll say do it you won't be disappointed & the money you'll save on mono tapered leaders in a year will more than pay for the materials & supplies needed to get started..Plus you'll have the admiration & thanks from your friends(as long as they don't fail while they have a fish on anyway).

I usually tie in a length of black monocord with the herl & grab it with a one of those electronic mini grabbers that I have removed any sharp edges from. I found that leaving a little slack in the thread & letting it wrap around works better than keeping it the same length as the herl. Of course if I twist it too tight a strand of herl will break.

I'm a Thompson A Alumni also & I used that for quite a few years & then passed it on to my son. I tried the cheap regal lookalike ( INEX) & used that a few years. I then tried Griffen rotary & used that for a few years. A buddy was selling his Nor-Vise & I picked it up for a good price but I only can use it for streamers & large flies so it sits on the table next to my new vise. We were at a dinner before Christmas & my wife overheard me talking about Renzetti vises. She went to Effingers & they sold her the beauty pictured below. It's almost too pretty to tie on. I put plastic on the pedestal to keep glue & stuff off it. I still have to get to Effingers to thank the salesman....... Of course me tying on this vise is like putting Scotch in a hot water bottle.