Mark Knapp

1 hour ago, SalarMan said:

I just read on Microsoft news that Canada plans to open the border with the US for non-essential travel to people who have been fully vaccinated.

Good news for the fishing, hunting and general tourist folks!!

Yes, and good news for Alaskans and people that want to come to Alaska.

Very nice.

I'm not sure where you are going, but around here, they like salmon egg colors like red and pink. There is a very popular, local grayling pattern that was developed here called the "Salcha Pink". Small Egg-sucking leaches work well as do Royal Coachmen. Blue Sparkle Duns work good too. I tie a fly I call the Egg Butt Scud that works well. Although they lack color, mosquitoes and gnats work well too.

Good luck, Have fun.

Yep, that's really cool. At least now you can find a place to work on your cars.

Nice.

On 7/3/2021 at 9:51 AM, upstatetrout said:

The Cahill Quill.

Hook. Daiichi 1180 size 12.

Thread. UTC 70 denier tan.

Wing. Wood duck from the Dave Brandt collection.

Tail. Light buff ginger. 

Body. Stripped Peacock Quill.

Rib. Fine gold wire.

Hackle Light buff ginger from the Dave Brandt collection.

 

 

Nice

On 7/3/2021 at 7:28 AM, flytire said:

 

Egg-Sucking Teeny

[BC] Alan Grombacher

Hook Teeny TDE black salmon (or substitute), size 2-8

Thread - Black

Tail - Black pheasant tail

Body - Black pheasant tail

Wing - Black pheasant tail

Throat - Black pheasant tail

Head - Fluorescent orange or fluorescent red thread tied large to give egg effect

Fly Patterns of Canada - Paul Marriner

Nice

20 minutes ago, SalarMan said:

I'm talking filing both of the jaws Mark. Perhaps 1/32" on each. I would worry about grinding. Despite great care, and I am very good with my hands, I would worry about the metal temperature rising just a bit too much and reducing the temper of the jaws. Filing would be SLOW, but still maybe the way to go.

You've given me food for thought.

You can try a file, I slid a file across mine and it wouldn't cut it. It just skated across it. That was at the jaw end, they might be softer on the screw end.

10 minutes ago, SalarMan said:

Dean - What I was thinking, would it be possible to CAREFULLY/GENTLY file the area behind the adjusting screw with that allowing the jaws to move further apart at the tip end. It shouldn't take much to open the jaws enough for my needs and hopefully not in any way weaken the setup structurally. 

The first one I owned would hold a 10/0 hook but nothing smaller than a size 8. The next one was the opposite. It would allow nothing larger than a 2/0 into the jaws ala todays versions. What is the vintage of the one in the photo?

The jaws are quite hard and would require grinding instead of filing, but yes, that would do it without any change in structural integrity or effectiveness.

21 minutes ago, skeet3t said:

I like catfish to but don't eat anything out of the rivers here in Tennessee. Too many chemical advisories. There are other places.

Sorry about that, maybe they can be cleaned up.

Um, what's the problem? 😄 Nice vise

1 hour ago, Stu Thompson said:

Pattern was a tan DDH Minnow. Great all around fly for just about anything. That Lab must have been on heck of a fight!!!!

Yep, the Lab was catch and release. Did you get to eat any of the cats,? Are they as tasty as the smaller ones we eat? I'm going to look up that fly, I can always use another good minnow. Thanks. M

1 hour ago, SalarMan said:

Most interesting Mark.

If you hear a window being broken in the middle of the night...it is me coming for your vise.😁😎😁 

If what you describe were true for all of the TRV's I would own 2 of them and nothing else. If you'd like a newer model I'll buy one and send it to you for a trade😀⁉️⁉️

Here it is holding an 11/0 Owner. That's big wire. It miked out at .091" and it's 3 1/2 inches long. I did not pad the jaws as a presentation, classic tier would and it did scratch the hook some but I don't think the pike will mind.

Never caught a cat on a fly, I did catch my Labrador once. 😁 Nice fish

4 hours ago, SalarMan said:

Nathan - No worries on the "woeful ignorance" regarding tying classic salmon flies. It is estimated there is only a few thousand of us pursuing this hobby worldwide.

Now...I am going to go on a bit of a rant about these vises, and if this site is followed by any of the manufacturers I will probably be blacklisted - LOL

In 2019 my friend Gordeaux brokered the sale of a LAW vise for another long time friend of his. While he had the vise in hand he tried a few things to test the vise's capabilities. It held a size #28 hook with no problem. It also held a size #10/0 with the same ease. So...here is what both disappoints and pisses me off about the copies!!

We have CAE Engineering, FNF Talon, HMH TRV & Ekich DamaSeal vises, which are all copies of the LAW, and there may be others I am unaware of. I cannot speak for the Ekich at $3500 a pop, but the rest just appall me. Here are people copying the most ergonomic and tyer friendly vise design ever from Lawrence Waldron and they can't get it right. If you are going to make a copy of this design why does it seem impossible to make one that has the hook size holding range for the full spectrum of tyers, ala the LAW...as in a legitimate and  total copy!! After all he never patented the design...so go for it. I would think any idiot with a ruler and micrometer along with a pad, pencil and camera could get it right. The best of the bunch is the HMH, which I truly believe has (had) the potential to be the best vise on the planet. I loved tying on one, but its limitations forced me to return it for a refund.

The original is too rich for my blood, so I have given up on owning one of these copies simply because they will not fill my needs and I don't believe they ever will. Kind of sad actually.

Sorry for the rant...but I had to speak my mind on this one........

I can't speak about all of the vises you speak of, I can't even speak for all of the HMH Versions, but I can tell you that my HMH TRV holds size 28 to 9/0 hooks very well, I posted a picture of me bending a 9/0 hook in my TRV. I have tied 11/0 hooks in my TRV too, but it doesn't hold them with as much confidence as it does the 9/0 hooks. (the 9/0 and 11/0 hooks were heavy wire Owner hooks)

I'm not sure if or why HMH would change the jaw design in later models, mine is fine.

51 minutes ago, Capt Bob LeMay said:

My only brother has lived there for more than forty years - he thinks salmon is dog food and has acreage on the Matanuska river... We're as different as can be, I'm a fisherman - he's a hunter (and they haven't bought their meat at a store in years and years... ).  His idea of a rifle is a 375 H&H - he has three of them.... 

I know Alaska is part of the US - but must admit that I haven't thought of it that way... 

Us up here don't think of Alaska as part of the US either. 😄

17 hours ago, mikechell said:

I wouldn't even know where to begin.  I've never fished with an ice rod ... but I'm sure my hands would freeze off before I set the hook on anything.

I don't think those wands are strong enough to set a hook on a fish, let alone fight one to hand.

No, you just shoot that magic ray thingy at them.

2 hours ago, skeet3t said:

That is if and when polar bear fur can be brought in to the US.

Yes, that's what i said.

2 hours ago, skeet3t said:

And they will bring high prices. Me? I would opt for another fly. I survive here in the southeast on 6-8 patterns. I use materials I find under the bird feeder, parks, etc.

No, they have already been paid for by the hunters and owned by those hunters. Currently, some import laws on exotic species (elephant for example) state they cannot be sold or used as raw material (it has to stay what it is forever)

25 minutes ago, upnorthtier said:

probably where all the hair in the shops come from.

They are all being warehoused for the day that Americans can bring them home (if ever)

8 minutes ago, upnorthtier said:

the law must be different here in Canada. quite a few shops carry polar bear, goes for 7$ to 10$ cad for 2x2 patch. anyway I know where's a stuffed 12ft, might bring a pair of scissors with me next time I go for a burger there. 

The US has the most restrictive fish and wildlife laws of the western world. Laws on the use of ivory are much less restrictive in Canada (and most other countries) too.

I have polar bear hair, it looks like nothing else that I have. Will fish know? I don't know. Will they care? Probably not. I have caught lots of nice fish on polar bear flies but I may have caught them anyway on flies made with other materials.

Using old, legal hides will not harm live bears today in any way.

My polar bear hair has a lot of really good hair for every square inch. It came from a hide that fell apart in a museum, and was from a bear taken 20 years before the ban. I have semi-good provenance on my pieces but I have been advised by my local USF&W guy that I should not sell it (I don't want to) but I can tie flies with it and sell the flies if I want to.

Just so everybody is clear, if he does not know the origin of the polar bear, it's not legal for him to sell it. This has been on social media where everyone can see it. There are people watching whose job it is to watch social media for just these kinds of things. I do not suggest anybody buy it unless he can get details on it's origin. I'd hate to see anyone get into trouble over a silly thing like a few patches of hair.

On 5/29/2021 at 8:13 PM, Bazzer69 said:

I swear that the title said “look- alike vise” I guess spell auto correct strikes again. 
I actually have one of those look alike’s, a vise made by CAE in the uk but when I tried to find the website today I couldn’t find it, does anyone know if it’s gone belly up?

Cheers

Barry

 

 

I fixed the title for you Barry, It's one of my super-powers.

Very nice, thanks