switch10

No sir. I live in an area thats a major stop along the Pacific Crest Trail. There are also a ton of great day hikes to some pretty cool backcountry lakes that are loaded with fish. I've sold about 10 of these 7 piece rods in various weights in the past year alone. Don't let all the ferrules fool you, its still a relatively light, and very sensative rod. Most people that pick them up have know idea it packs down to a length of 15 inches.

Deer and elk hair are hollow, and float quite well.

I've been building a lot of fly rods during the past year or so. This is my latest one, and I am pretty proud of it. It came out much better than I'd expected. I know this isn't the rodbuildingforum.com, but I thought you guys might like to see it too. This is an 8 foot, 7 piece 4 weight. Heres one of the weave pre-finish.

Sorry you had a bad day! The first thing he said was "Im looking for a new vise", and since the main question basically was "can someone send me a free $80+ vise?", I thought I'd let him know that his chances of someone having an extra "new" $80+ true rotary vise laying around are pretty slim. His best option would be to buy one, or use a less expensive standard rotary vise if he's not going to use the true rotary function anyway. He also never specified if he was looking for a true rotary, or just a standard rotary vise. How is someone supposed to send him a new free vise if they don't know what he wants? That is why I explained the differences between the two. I'm sorry if you found my post useless/offtopic, but pointing out how everyone answered a question improperly in your eyes, is about as useless/offtopic as it gets.

Flytire, that red ant is excellent. Are those red beads under the epoxy/UV resin? Or something more buoyant?

There are two types of rotary vises. A "rotary vise" just lets you rotate the fly 360 degrees for inspection. Most vises are this type. These vises usually range in price from $10-$150 or so. The other type is a "true rotary" vise that when rotated, keeps the hook shank "in line". It makes for a fast and easy way to wrap materials. These usually include a bobbin rest as well, since the true rotary function in much smoother with your tying thread out of the way. These vises range in price from $80-$500+. Unless you know how to/plan on learning how to take advantage of a true rotary vise, It would be much cheaper to stick with a regular rotary vise. I've tied on a cheap vise that was included in a kit for about 10 years. I tied thousands of flies on that vise, and it worked perfectly fine. If you adjust your jaws properly with any vise there should be very little wear and tear on the jaws. The shop I work at sells Renzetti, Peak, and Danvise. I've tied on all of these, and personally I like the Renzetti vises the best. I've owned a Danvise for about 5 years, and I really like it as well. Once in a while I'll tie up custom ordered flies for customers in the shop with the shops Peak, and I know a lot of people swear by this vise, but I absolutely hate it. The rotary function feels clunky to me, and the jaw adjustment is too sensitive for me. So long story short, if you plan on getting a new vise, don't take someones advise on what to get. Go to a shop and tie on each vise. At least play with them a bit before you make a purchase.

Excellent work. That's one of the nicest designs I've ever seen.

Here's the step by step tying instructions. This one is tied on a TMC 2312 so it's a little more small fish friendly. http://mytroutfly.blogspot.com/2013/07/baby-boy-hopper.html?m=1

Thanks Mike. Yeah, cricket or small hopper. The brookies love em!

Thanks Scott. Yes, there is definitely a lot of material in that fly, and no pike fishing in my area so It might be a while before I even get to try it out. Heres one that I might actually be able to use. Sacramento perch fry for Crowley lake.

Nice video Mike. I have a little polarized plastic lens that fits between the lens of the go pro, and the waterproof case. It works great for cutting out glare, but it does put a darker tint on the video, but since there is no night fishing in my county it hasn't been a problem for me. Search Ebay for "polarized gopro". They are cheap, couple of bucks.

I just recieved a nice big shipment of congo hair the other day...

I have a good amount of materials on hooks in front of me. There are 5 or so cups holding feathers in front of me as well. Dubbing is on my left side. I have a wooden chest that has hooks and beads (dries on the left, subsurface on the right). Marabou, body materials, deer body hair/bucktail, etc. make up the rest of the drawers. I converted some rotating utinsel holder into my flash/hi float fiber holder. I keep my neck and saddle hackle in a container. I also pre-size all of my dry fly hackle.

Thank you for the kind words. I enjoy it but lately I've been building rods much more than tying flies. This post actually inspired me to get behind the vise and tie up a new favorite searching pattern, the psycho prince nymph. I've been using it all spring long while the water was deep and dirty. It's a pretty killer twist on an old classic. Enjoy! Psycho Prince Nymph

Unless you plan on fishing dry flies, learn to roll cast. When nymphing, I roll cast way more than I overhand cast personally. Even when there is nothing behind me.

Nice fly! Sure, you could put some thin skin or PT tail fibers under it to make it pop a little more if you want.

I grew up in northern Wisconsin. We had 2 lakes on either side of our house, and a creek that connected the two on another side. I started spin/bait fishing before I can remember. I got into fly fishing around age 9, but I honestly can't remember why. Everyone in my family used to fish, but I am to this day the only fly fisherman. I remember saving my money from working in my Uncle's bar (only in Wisconsin right?) to buy my first fly rod/reel outfit (Fleet Farm of course). It couldn't have cost more than $100. I was instantly obsessed. I started tying flies that same summer because my cousin was gifted a fly tying kit that he had never used, so his parents gave it to me. I still have some materials from that same kit! That was 20 years ago... I remember loving every second of having those bluegill and sunfish fighting over my "secret" patterns that I would make up. There is something about fooling these pea-brained animals that has always given me this huge unexplainable thrill. There is nothing else in life that I can compare it to. It's why I'm still in love with fly fishing to this day.

Here are a few of my favorite searching patterns that you probably won't find in most pattern books. Clicking on the fly name will bring you to my blog with step by step tying instructions for each pattern. Guides choice Hares Ear The Two-bit Hooker Depth Charge Birds Nest Tungsten Psycho

Congo hair from Flytyersdungeon is awesome, and it's much cheaper than everything else.

Well, you did learn a good lesson at least. Depending on how nice your local Orvis dealer is, and if they have it in stock, they might let you grab one off the shelf to replace it and then they will warrany the the broken rod at your cost ($30.00 I believe).

I use Rit dye and have found good results using 1 tablespoon for every cup of water.

Man, you're on it. Thank you!

Nice one! Is that Rogers 5 weight?