terp

Regal with stainless jaw. I have the Revolution but probably could have gotten away with Medallion

Regals are simple to use, strong grip without the hook slots in the jaws or any adjustments, and you can easily adjust the height of the jaw for optimal comfort (without needing different length stems). Plus unlimited access to the fly behind the hook (and you can rest your hand on the body of the vise). I hardly ever have the need for rotary. I bought a Renzetti, but it rarely outperforms my Regal. If you REALLY want rotary, that's what Norvise is built for. You can also get a Regal Revolution, which I use (but I rarely use the Rotary feature). If you go with Regal, I recommend the stainless jaw since it's smaller, which is better for smaller flies.

Yes when I was a student we were undefeated the whole time. Petrine was the main reason. CB South didn’t exist.

Yes, 20 years ago. Hard to believe. But where I live now (Sacramento), there is some great fishing nearby. I went to CB West.

Which burbs? I’m from Doylestown scrapple, cheese steak (with steak’um), soft pretzels, Yuengling

Thanks for comments. Poopdeck, I love hoagies. Are you from Philly? I bought a used one of these: https://www.boulderboatworks.com/river-skiff/ I am addicted to fly tying and often wish I could tie while in the stream, especially if there is a hatch and I am short on flies. It may not be practical but I’d like to give it a shot.

I just bought a drift boat and would love to be able to tie on it. I'm thinking a c-clamp would be best, but on what surface? Any thoughts? Thanks.

UPDATE: My replacement spool of orange Ephemera silk (from a different seller) was also more fragile than it should be. The other colors all seem to be fine. I wonder if the orange dye is somehow corroding the silk.

I looked on Etsy where he has his main store and didn't find anything. But I'll keep him on my radar. Thanks.

Gunpowder is the only US distributor and Successful Angler is the only Canadian. They're both very low or completely sold out. Nothing on eBay, Amazon or Etsy. But you can buy directly from Morus here (select 'Fishing' on the bottom) and shipping's not bad: https://morus-silk.com/silk-filament/?v=7516fd43adaa Is that how you bought yours?

I bought Bob Smith's North Country Flies book on eBay way cheaper than on Amazon. It's hard copy and is well worth the purchase. Among other things, he also doesn't buy the Pearsall's hype. But that's what he used to tie the flies in the book and I think it's also what he uses in general. Among other things he said about Persall's is that the colors likely varied from run to run and year to year, so there really was not precise standardization on color.

Moshup, I looked at Morus and it was pretty pricy and not availabe in US (well, most colors were out of stock). Can you tell me where you got yours? Thanks.

Thanks, everyone. Turns out my Ephemera spool was just one bad spool out of the batch. Of course it was the orange one -- arguably the most important color, and the only one I had used to that point. I tried the other colors and they dont' have the same problem. I'll ask for a replacement for the one spool that was bad. Other than that, I'm satisfied with Ephemera. I've also bought some YLI and Kimono and when I have a better grasp of each I'll write a little bit more here. I literally spend almost the entire weekend tying flies. It was great.

I posted this on a thread from 2020 with no responses, so I'm re-posting here. Thanks for any help/advice. In lieu of discontinued Pearsall's Gossamer silk, I bought 54 Dean Street's Ephemera and I find that it breaks too easily when tying (even when changing bobbins). Plus the flies are shredded after 1-2 fish. Adding resin changes the color and probably stymies the translucency when the fly is wet. It also seaps backwards into the entire body when applied to head in any volume. I may need to switch to old fashioned lacquer. Pearsall's almost never broke, and even after 10 fish there's just a little fuzz on the silk. Pearsall's is a bit thicker, but I also I suspect it may have been manfucatured/twisted in a manner creating more durability. To test this I'm going to twist the Ephemera and see if this changes matters, and whether it still lays flat enough. I'm curious if anyone else has had this experience with Ephemera, and whether YLI, Morus or Semperfli are any better in this regard. Bob Smith, soft hackle guru, suggests YLI to match the Persall's shades, but re: Semperfli Pure Silk says he "wouldn't touch it with a barge pole." There's an interesting discussion here: https://www.flyfishing.co.uk/threads/robert-smith-what-thread.389379/ This guy compares YLI to Pearsall's shades, and says they have a thicker diameter (which may help with strength? -- but Bob Smith says YLI #100 Silk Threads are the same diameter as Pearsalls): https://wiflyfisher.com/YLI-Silk-Thread-Review.asp#:~:text=Although YLI silk thread is,see in my photos below. Ephemera Morus can be bought here (listed as their only US "stockist" -- https://morus-silk.com/stockists/?v=79cba1185463😞https://www.gunpowdercustomtackle.com/product-page/morus-silk-superfine . Most colors are sold out and it's $8.25/spool for what looks like the small Pearsall's sized spool. Semperfli has a good story here, but I'm nervous about Bob's comment above: https://semperfli.us/shades-of-silk-semperfli-pure-silks-released/ Then there's Kimono. So happy I've found a new OCD object with silk threads. In the back of my head I know "the fish don't care" but I guess I care more than they do. I know real silk is semi-translucent when wet, so that's what I'm hanging my hat on to propel my newfound silk thread obsession. Otherwise I realize I could just use any thread.

I bought 54 Dean Street's Ephemera and I find that it breaks too easily when tying (even when changing bobbins). Plus the flies are shredded after 1-2 fish. Adding resin changes the color and probably stymies the translucency when the fly is wet. It also seaps backwards into the entire body when applied to head in any volume. I may need to switch to old fashioned lacquer. Pearsall's almost never broke, and even after 10 fish there's just a little fuzz on the silk. Pearsall's is a bit thicker, but I also I suspect it may have been manfucatured/twisted in a manner creating more durability. To test this I'm going to twist the Ephemera and see if this changes matters, and whether it still lays flat enough. I'm curious if anyone else has had this experience with Ephemera, and whether YLI, Morus or Semperfli are any better in this regard. Bob Smith, soft hackle guru, suggests YLI to match the Persall's shades, but re: Semperfli Pure Silk says he "wouldn't touch it with a barge pole." There's an interesting discussion here: https://www.flyfishing.co.uk/threads/robert-smith-what-thread.389379/ This guy compares YLI to Pearsall's shades, and says they have a thicker diameter (which may help with strength? -- but Bob Smith says YLI #100 Silk Threads are the same diameter as Pearsalls): https://wiflyfisher.com/YLI-Silk-Thread-Review.asp#:~:text=Although YLI silk thread is,see in my photos below. Ephemera Morus can be bought here (listed as their only US "stockist" -- https://morus-silk.com/stockists/?v=79cba1185463😞https://www.gunpowdercustomtackle.com/product-page/morus-silk-superfine . Most colors are sold out and it's $8.25/spool for what looks like the small Pearsall's sized spool. Semperfli has a good story here, but I'm nervous about Bob's comment above: https://semperfli.us/shades-of-silk-semperfli-pure-silks-released/ Then there's Kimono. So happy I've found a new OCD object with silk threads. In the back of my head I know "the fish don't care" but I guess I care more than they do. I know real silk is semi-translucent when wet, so that's what I'm hanging my hat on to propel my newfound silk thread obsession. Otherwise I realize I could just use any thread.