utyer

I have not done much Steelhead fishing, but I would suspect that the up-eye hook performs better with surface skating flies.

Chugbug,

Two of my 5 vises are pictured. In the last photo, my Dyna-king Sidewinder is on the bench alone. This so far is the only other vise that I have found that will spin. It doesn't spin at the same speed as my Nor-vise, but I can spin it. I have had it for over 10 years, and it was well used before I got it. It was no longer in the line when I got it.

The picture was taken in the spring of this year, while I was getting ready for a week trip for some Saltwater fishing with my buddy from out west. I needed to get some flies ready for him to use.

My tying bench fits entirely within a 90" closet. The same area now doubles as my drawing and painting bench. Storage is divided between tying and paint supplies. With some of paint storage under the bed. Here is a long view.

then a close view of the desk.

additional storage on both sides, under and above the desk.

After some tying

Setup for art work, I move the small bench out when I am doing some art work, and move the easel forward more.

Since this picture was taken, I have added a riser for the desk which is 2 different sheets of plywood, and moved one sheet higher. I can still drop it back down when I need to tie more flies.

I have been fishing with 2 different Lamson reels for more than 10 years, they have excellent drags and have stood the test of rough use, larger fish, and saltwater. If it were me, I would stay with Lamson.

I would SECOND what steeldrifter said. First talk to people who are doing what you want, and talk with them. I might also point out that the particular rod can be bought DIRECT from the manufacturer's website for just under $70.00. That is NOT any type of endorsement of the product, In fact I wouldn't buy it until I learned a LOT more about them. I am simply letting you know that you can find it any time without overpaying.

I have over a lifetime collected hundreds of spools of "fly tying" thread. I have about 12 dozen standard size spools, and 3 dozen that are respooled onto sewing machine bobbins for travel kits. Almost none of these have been used since I started tying with Gutermann thread. I have a 5,000 yard spool of white in a a size somewhat between 6 and 8 ought. Then I have a quarter pound spool of black Nymo 3/0 I use these loaded on my Nor-vise Auto-bobbin for all my trout flies. If I need a different color, I use a marker.

Most of what I tie these days is for Saltwater fishing, and for that I use 1# mono or Gutermann Bulky Nylon. So what I use is quite different. I really only use 4 different threads.

I don't trust any reel or rod to be "salt water proof." I fish a lot in Saltwater, and after EVERY trip, I thoroughly wash off all the guides, and real seats on any rod used. Then I wash off any reel that left the car that day. Every 2 or 3 months, I will disassemble and clean up the inside of my reels. I saw way too much damage to all kinds of rods and reels when I was doing reel repair, and it was all from failure to clean them after use.

Wash in HOT water to rinse off salt spray, even if the tackle wasn't used, but just exposed. I strip my fly lines while washing the fly reels, and wash those in soapy hot water, and air dry. I have never had to replace any tackle due to salt corrosion.

If I ever dunk any tackle (and I have,) it get disassembled and cleaned with solvent, and re-lubed that night.

My wife switched to Consumer but now wishes she had stayed with Net 10. Customer support is not that good, and there are better prices at Net 10 and Tracphone.

Thanks for that Mike, you boarded up, and now Dorian just might stay east of the coast. I wouldn't take those shields down until Wednesday just to be safe.

I had all but one of my Laurel Oaks removed in June, and the one remaining Live Oak should be OK. I am 35 miles from the coast, but who knows. Only been two storms of any size over Orlando since I moved here, and neither one had "hurricane force" winds over Orlando. This one might.

I tie mine the way Bob does, with the eyes 1/3 of the full hook length back of the hook eye. I measure adjust as needed before finishing the pattern. They are producing well, and I will keep tying them that way. For me it is easy to test and see the way the sink, since I have a pool. The material used for the eye shouldn't change the way the fly sinks. Heavier eye should only add to the sink rate. To keep the fly sinking in a horizontal plane, adjust the material (deer hair,) in the body of the pattern.

In this case, and tying on a size 18, the extra wire thickness would be an asset for tying beadhead nymphs.

Bob, I have been fishing out of Titusville for the last 7 years, and I have never seen or heard of the Fly Fisherman Shop. On Google, the address now lists a Real Estate Business.

Yes, its a great place to fish. Just come on down, and figure it out. Tarpon, Snook, Redfish, Jacks, dozens of other fish, you can catch either inside the inlet, or off the beach. The Sepastian river itself is also a brackish water fishery, full of the same species.

For painting, I set my lamps above my desk so they are at about a 35 degree angle from the subject. For flies, I move them to the sides at the same angle.

A complementary color will provide a good contrast. I find that my colors will be shifted some by using dark colors as a solid background. The blue looks good, but the fly body is a different color than in the second picture, and even the gray background shifts the body color, but not as much.. Only you can know which is the most accurate. Using a black background will require more lighting.

With my point and shoot (Canon A620,) I get a much slower shutter speed if I use darker backgrounds. Since I hand hold my camera, I need a fast shutter speed to get a good image. The depth of field also changes with darker backgrounds.

I personally like the orange background better than the others, with gray as a second choice.

I have tried a few different ways though the years, and settled on these Pill Boxes as my storage system. Weekly boxes will hold 7 different hooks, and double sided boxes will hold 14 different hooks. For my trout fly assortments, I save them by size and 7 different types of hooks. For streamer and other large hooks, I keep the different shank lengths together in one box with 7 different sizes in each box. These are big enough for size 2 4XL hooks. The boxes I use will fit in my small plastic drawer system two layers deep.

Top row:

Lower row:

I am left handed, and the way fly reels were set up when I started was just right for my preference. I cast left handed, but I have learned to cast with the right hand. I usually tie left handed (and wrap backwards,) but can also tie right handed.

Exactly where along the rod was the break? What kind of rod was it? Is it crushed or a clean break? Not enough details. Photo would help.

I have already collected over 120 books on flies and how to tie them. The very first one has over 5000 patterns in it. Before you begin, do some research on all the other fly tying books. When you have read 20 or 30 other books, then see what new information you can contribute.

Not very good picture at all. Which has been said before. You CANNOT do good closeup images with the computer, or cheap cell phone cameras. Get any digital camera with a "MACRO" focus button. That button looks like a tulip. You can find these with 3MP and with the macro focus, and plenty of light the camera can be within inches of the subject (fly,) and create a crystal clear image. A tripod will help steady your camera, but if you shutter speed is over 200th of a second, it can still work as a hand held. I don't have a tripod or a remote shutter trigger, and most of my images work out ok.

The better point and shoot cameras all have these features, and also have aperture and shutter speed options. Not really necessary, but nice to have. I see the camera I now have on Amazon.com for over 400. I found it by the side of the road, and it's been dropped on stone, to where I have to tape the case shut, but it still works just fine.

Your light source should be a DAYLIGHT lamp, and you can see the most complex "shadow box" I made, Simply a clorox bottle with a window cut out to shoot through . The lamps sends light through the cut out end. I often use foam sheets to change the background color. Darker sheets will often give you much slower shutter speeds, that can lead to blurry images since you will move the lense slightly.

Always look at your viewfinder to see your shutter speed, and keep it above 200 (faster the better.)

BEFORE you buy any camera, read the features, and make SURE you get the close up macro option. Then READ the manual so you understand your camera and its features.

Just a quick follow up on how the flies of my first season worked 50+ years later. We fished the North Fork of the Snake near Ashton Idaho. We had 6 days fishing different areas of the river.

For 3 days we hit very cooperative fish, and every single one of my original 12 flies above worked very well. On those 3 days I hooked up with over 100 fish, and a we found a place with plenty of Brook Trout (which don't seem to be to fussy.)

After testing out my 12, I then switched off to other patterns on the last day. We got into an egg laying flight of golden stones, and the fish were hitting on every cast. On some casts, I would get several hits on the same drift. After 5 hours, the three of us fishing counted up about 200 fish on, but many were not landed.

If you are not fishing the North (Henry's,) Fork of the Snake River, you should try it sometime. Many sections are good for floating, and there are many remote sections that are hard to reach are seldom fished.

The Rincon Cafe in Ashton is a great place to eat if you like Mexican food.

For an affordable place to camp (they also have 3 cabins to rent,) check out the Jolly Camper 2 miles south of Ashton.

Rocco, that stuff is called kankalon, and all of it is usually much longer, I have 2 bundles one 44" the other 88".

Chugbug, if that vise goes much over $25.00 check out this one from J Stockard very similar, and the only design among the hundreds of cheap Asian vises I would recommend. Now that the Thompson vises are made offshore, I hesitate to say just what kind of quality thay have, and won't recommend the new Thompsons. My first vise was and old US made Thompson model A, and my second was a Thompson Pro. Both are going strong after more than 55 years of tying on the model A, and 30 on the Pro. Look for US MADE Thompsons on Ebay.

Of the shoes list the ONLY one that I saw that was actually meant for wading in the flats, surf, or other water was the Hodgman Neoprene. The rest are all deck shoes used while on a boat, not wading.