SILKHDH

Buy the way guys, I don't care at all if the tool or what ever is a copy of someone elses design. "To mimic is the best form of flattery" I allways say. Its not whether you invented it, its that you desided to make it yourself. Most of the vises and tools I have made are copies of others designs. Its the fact that I made it myself. Now when I use it to create my flies, I get even more satisfaction. Hey, none of us would be tying our own flies if we didn't enjoy the satisfaction of holding it in our hands when it was done, saying "I MADE THAT" Not to mension the thrill of catching our quarry on the things. I guess I need to get buisy taking some pics of the vises and tools I have made to show you guys. I would have ton of submissions. LOL.. P.S. It is allways a good idea to mension the true designer of any item that is copied. I know I will. Thanks for all the submissions guys. Keep them coming! I would like this forum to become a library for other tiers to referance for all kinds of tying problems and projects. I know I have allready benefited from it. WE HAVE ONLY STARTED!!!

STHRNCOMFORT High Tech!!!! I think that is awsome to make a template with a 3D printer. You must be a perfectionist like me. I do engineering for the plastics extrusion industry and have seen other types of 3D printers work. We don't use anything that high tech. though. Have you seen the fully operational cresent wrench made with the spray type 3D printer. The wrench totaly worked when done. Was crazy!! Curious to see other things you do with it. SILKHDH

Mr Kirk Dietrich Sir, All I can say is MacGyver would be so proud of you dubbing spinner. Thats what i'm talking about. Bravo!!! I want to see all kinds of difficulty levels of tools here. Advanced and beginner stuff. Thanks for that. Also, your painting techniques are beautiful. I am dead serious. I thought I was good. I would love to see a tutorial on how you did the blue and the gold lures. The scale pattern is knarly!!!! Plus the whole lure design with the extended hook and the built-in weed guard is, well lets just say, extremely professional looking. THEY ARE REALLY NICE!!! I can see the patience and time spent on those for sure. SILKHDH

KIMO Thanks for the photo station pics. By the way the sample of the "I assume a mysis shrinp fly" came out, this is a system I am going to try. I do alot of bigger flies beings I am a Kansas fly fisher. Bass and panfish flies. I do tie alot of trout patterns for my trips to Colorado. I am going to copy this system. Wish me luck. I might try a milk jug for my bigger bass streamers and poppers. Shurley it will work. I like the halo effect you get. Looks better than the white back drop I usually use. SILKHDH

PERCHJERKER What a nicely thought out tool that is. The ejector tube,, nice touch. I also appreciate the effort you put into making the nice wood handles. I like it. Nicely done!!!!!!! Bravo!! I definatly plan on making one of those. SILKHDH

NOTE TO SELF: Spell wip finish, Whip finish. Idiot!!!!!!!!!!lol

One last thing about this type of weed guard. I have duplicated it on other hooks using small dia. spring stainless steel wire. Approximatlly .010 to .017 in diameter. The neat thing about this guard made of spring wire it is semi adjustable. I can bend the wire out perpidicular to the hook shank, then replace it to its "guard position" for a heavy cover situation, or bend it back down , more parallel to the hook shank for a lighter cover, "less bite pressure to release guard" situations.

If you ever tie on this hook ,"Mustad W3261BLM" just bend the weed guard straight out to the front. Tie like you would any other fly, wip finish by hand or with an extended reach wip finish. Or glue it or uv resin it. Whatever turns you on.

Here is the hook I mentioned earlier. It has its time and place, believe me. A Mustad W3261BLM

P.S. Though my Fly tying forum status says "Beginner". I have tied thousands of flies and have tied for close to 30 years. Beginner my a**....LOL

There is a style of hook "I can't remember the model" that comes pre-wired for plastic worm fishing. I believe mustad and eagle claw make a version. It's for real heavy cover. A doubled thin wire that actually saddles on the hook point. When a fish bites it the wire is depressed from the hook point. I have had great sucess with this on bass flies tied like a worm. Also made some nice PIG & JIG type flies with it. The two loop type like used on the GEEZUS LIZARD is a pretty close to "DO ALL" for me. "PRETTY CLOSE I QUOTE" LOL Note: When using a weed guard of any type you have to take in cosideration the hooking percentage of the fly. The harder the weed guard is to depress, the worse the hooking percentage is. Like one of you guys mentioned, it becomes a fish guard. But when the fish are deep in the cover, hooking one out of 5 bites is better than getting no bites at all because you aren't in the cover. Weed guards, UH,, hundreds of ways and whys. Small hooks lighter material, Big gaps heavier material, light cover and weeds lighter material, heavy cover, stiffer, the list goes on. Its all about hooking percentages for me. I use every type mentioned by you guys one time or another. You all know what i'm talking about. You could have one fly pattern tied with ten different weed guards and every one would have its time and place. UNFORTUNATLY!!!!!! IF YOU EVER COME UP WITH THE ONE SIZE FITS ALL WEED GUARD, PLEASE WRITE ME!!!!!! LOL

Well, as long as you pay attention to all the Federal Fish and Game laws, you can sell extra. I live in Kansas and I get tons of stuff from friends too. Check out my "Death by Stout" fly I made and gave to my brother. Search- fly tyer- DOUG STOUT. I get Gadwall, Teal, Pintail, Mallard ,Wigeon, WoodDuck, Shoveler, all awsome flanks for Full Dress Salmon. Turkey, I got more then I will ever use. All kinds of animal pelts. Pheasants out my ***!! Deer tails by the gross. I turn them away now. More than I could ever use. If I kept everything I was given, I would have to kick the wife and kid out. All harvested legally and clear. So as long as I only use them for fly tying Im good. I don't sell materials, but have sold display flies. Crazy though the feather must be on a hook and in the form of a fly to be legal to sell in display. A feather alone not tied to a hook is a no, no...I have spent hours on the phone with Federal Fish and Game on this topic. I dont want to be in trouble for having something Im not suppose to have. Neither do you. All song birds are a no, no,.. Does not matter how you got the feather. "FOUND IT IN THE YARD" nope you can't have it. So that pretty Oreol or cardinal in the grass with the pretty feathers, leave it there. Same with raptors, like hawks and owls. I stay totally clear of them. Even when my child brings me a bird feather from the yard I kindly tell her that daddy cant have those kind of bird feathers. Please note "pay attention to the laws". Migratory birds feathers "like your ducks and geese" can be used and sold as fly tying and pillow stuffing only. NOT DISPLAY!! The last time I talked to the officer. Best to recheck every so often to keep up on changes though. You may need a fur harvesting and or trading license to deal with the animal furs but if you are getting the product for free, well it would be the only cost you would have. Make a buck or two. That will keep the wife happy I bet. LOL "MONEY SOOTHS THE SAVAGE BEAST" P.S. You got to watch those laws though. The migratory birds laws are kind of tricky. Oh, and the coon hair does make nice clousers and other streamer minnow patterns like thunder creek. So does coyote. Some one on here has a quote " teach a man to tie flies and he'll pick up road kill" Made me laugh till I cryed!!Guilty!!!LOL ONe more thing. Take some of that fur and feathers, slap it on a hook, make a hat pin or something and give it to those guys harvesting for you. Believe me when I say "they will love it"

THANK YOU FDFRETES. UH I MEAN,,,,,,,,,, Thank you fdretes. LOL

WHERE DOES ONE GO TO SEE THIS MERGANSER DUCKLING PATTERN. IS IT HERE IN THIS SITE. I LOOKED FOR PAT COHEN IN THE SEARCH BY TYER. FOUND NOTHING. SEARCHED MERGANSER DUCKLING IN THIS SITE , FOUND NOTHING. WHERE????

lykos33 I can see a whole set of tools made from old crank baits. That would be different. I plan on making a set from old split bamboo rods. Nice post lykos33. All these things are something someone else might want to make. Good job!!!!!!!!!! I really hope this forum gives others ideas of things to make for themselves. THAT WAS MY INTENSION. A PLACE FOR OTHERS TO GET GOOD IDEAS FOR MAKING THERE OWN TOOLS. I HOPE THIS FORUM REALLY TAKES OFF.

lykos33, I have to know where you got the fly display clips for 23 cents a piece. I want some of those.

Thats what I'm talkin about Chase Creek. Stuff we all can make and be proud of. I totally love the natural material look. Allways have , allways will. Deer antlers, wood, and a tooth. Totally cool.

I just want add to my forum intro. above I would like to see other peoples photo stations and set-ups for photographing flies. Homemade dremel lathes for poppers. These are examples of the stuff I would like to see, and others, I'm sure. Don't forget the funny stuff too.

Hello, I , like most of you, obviously tie my own flies and in those hours at the table have encountered problems that I overcome by making my own devise or tool. Also, out of bordom or financial reasons we decide to build our own fly tying station, vise, whatever. I personally have made my vises, tying station, and countless tools. I think it would be very interesting to see what items others out there have made themselves. The talent of a good woodworker or machinest is allways nice to see. Not just that, but the "MacGyver Factor" from garage engineering can make us all laugh. Please feel free to send totally goofy pics too. Like a vise made from vise grips ducktaped to a frying pan. Or a bobkin made from a chickens foot. Got it! Let your imagination, ingenuity, and sence of humor out here.

I started with a Cabela's portable. You know, the one that comes in the little wooden box with the tools. Little did I know it was the start of the worst/best obsession I ever have had. I then got a bigger AA vise, then a cheap rotary, then another cheap rotary. I then got a Griffin Montana Mongoose. Well mixed feelings there. Holds a hook like steel bear trap. Great in that department. It just seems a little sloppy in the "Fine Machining" department. So I set my mind to make my own. First vise I made is all aluminum with hardened D-2 tool steel cam-lock jaws, full rotary, stainless ball bearings, and a counter balance weight. It is a hybrid "Abel style body" with montana mongoose type jaws. A match made in heaven. I made every option known to man for this vise too. I enjoyed making it so well I made (2) Law style vises only with 420 hardened stainless steel jaws and stainless ball bearings "not delrin plastic as on a real Law" for the rotary movement. I have made a NOR-VISE all stainless and brass. Buy the way, hats off to Norm Norland the designer of the NOR-VISE. This is truley a revolutionary vise by design and function. After seeing him use it on YOU TUBE I had to make my own. If you have never watched them, you need too. The techniques he invented to use this vise are revolutionary. The speed of tying on this vise is awsome. Anyone tying small flies on a production scale will benifit with this vise. I KID YOU NOT!!! Keep in mind I may have made my own NOR_VISE, but all the credit HAS TO GO TO NORM NORLAND. BRAVO!!!!!!!! Also, I have talked to Norm Norland and Lawence A. Waldren personally, they are great guys and I would never make one of these vise to sell to others. I have been asked to. Nope Sorry. I have to say tying flies on vises I made myself is really rewarding. I assume the same feeling we all get from tying and fishing with flies we tie ourselves. I guess I will have to take some pics and show them to you all now. IN total I have 11 vises. My wife is not happy. LOL!!!

JUST ANOTHER OPTION, B & W SPORTS HAS A NICE TFLY TYING BAG. SOME OF THE NICE OPTIONS ARE A SEPERATE VELCRO WALLET /POUCH FOR VISE, VISE BASE AND TOOLS. IT HAS ITS OWN WASTE CATCH BAG., AND OF COURSE SEVERAL SLEEVES THAT REMOVE WITH VELCRO TO HOLD MATERIALS. BEST OF ALL ITS ONLY 59.00 BUCKS WITH FREE SHIPPING FROM WHAT I'VE SEEN ON E-BAY. I AM GOING TO GET ONE.

Rite bobbin has a new model where the tube is tapered on the exit end so you can half hitch with the bobbin. You can see it in action on there web site. ritebobbin.com. Is pretty neat I think.

Thank you . I tied it to donate to Pheasants Forever auction. Can't wait to see how much it goes for. Others of mine usually go for 100.00 dollars or better. :headbang:

Thank you. I will go there too. I Have heard of it and check it out all the time.

A new addition to the fly pattern database has been submitted by DOUG STOUT: Pheasants Forever II