MyFishFinder Forum
My Fish Finder Main => General Fishing Discussion => Topic started by: icefisher47 on Aug 29, 2020, 09:38 AM
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I was wondering if there was any monthly fly fishing boxes. I know they have them for other species. Next question is I want to start tying flies. Any recommendations on what a beginner needs?
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First off, you’ll need to start planning the addition to your home. No way you’ll have enough room.
Seriously though, you’ll need a vise. Can’t tie without a vise. You can spend $50 or $500. Spend what you want to, but its hard to go wrong with a Danvise to start. True rotary ( which you’ll come to use), reasonable at around $100. I tied more flies than I cold count on one before my Dyna King. They’re well built and Very functional.
Tools;
Bobbins
Scissors ( Dr. Slick are hard to beat)
Bodkin
Whip finisher
Light....a good working light to tie by.
Other stuff you’ll accumulate as time goes by
Materials;
Here’s where you run into the need for an addition. But, to start, choose a few patterns you want to tie and get the stuff to do it. Watch a bunch of videos. Davie McPhail is my go to for new flies and techniques. Tight lines Videos is another great source. Tim is super at explaining tying techniques.
Start with fishable flies. Wooly buggers, streamers, foam spiders a few nymphs and such. Stuff you can catch fish with. No use tying flies if they don’t catch fish. Not that every fly I’ve come up with worked. But, it’s the journey that’s important.
Set up a place where you can tie. Whatever it ends up being, try to dedicate an area to tie. That’s my preference anyway.
Forget the “monthly Boxes” and get to it.
Fly tying......it’s. BLESSING........and a CURSE!
RG
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No boxes here. just stuff. :laugh:
(https://i.imgur.com/QWoOOVnl.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/K8ihVxjl.jpg)
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First off, you’ll need to start planning the addition to your home. No way you’ll have enough room.
Seriously though, you’ll need a vise. Can’t tie without a vise. You can spend $50 or $500. Spend what you want to, but its hard to go wrong with a Danvise to start. True rotary ( which you’ll come to use), reasonable at around $100. I tied more flies than I cold count on one before my Dyna King. They’re well built and Very functional.
Tools;
Bobbins
Scissors ( Dr. Slick are hard to beat)
Bodkin
Whip finisher
Light....a good working light to tie by.
Other stuff you’ll accumulate as time goes by
Materials;
Here’s where you run into the need for an addition. But, to start, choose a few patterns you want to tie and get the stuff to do it. Watch a bunch of videos. Davie McPhail is my go to for new flies and techniques. Tight lines Videos is another great source. Tim is super at explaining tying techniques.
Start with fishable flies. Wooly buggers, streamers, foam spiders a few nymphs and such. Stuff you can catch fish with. No use tying flies if they don’t catch fish. Not that every fly I’ve come up with worked. But, it’s the journey that’s important.
Set up a place where you can tie. Whatever it ends up being, try to dedicate an area to tie. That’s my preference anyway.
Forget the “monthly Boxes” and get to it.
Fly tying......it’s. BLESSING........and a CURSE!
RG
Thank you I’m going to go to Deerfield fly fishing after we complete our move. Are those videos on DVDs? Looking foreword to learning how to tie flies and learn how fly fish as well.
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YouTube!
Just search the two names. McPhail is incredible. One of the most skilled fly tiers I’ve ever. Tim Flagler who does the Tightlnes videos is very descriptive and offers some great tips and tricks for tying. Pop over to the New York forum and check out the “Hey Fly Tiers” thread. Bunch of good stuff there and lots of help if you need it.
Have fun.
Rg
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Thank you, I’ll check out those two on you tube and I’ll check out Hey Fly Tiers on the New York Forum. I’ll try and not ask any stupid questions.
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Tim's stuff is great and he does a ton of flies that catch trout around new england.
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PostFly is a monthly subscription that will supply you with basic fly fishing equipment. I've been impressed with everything in the boxes with the exception of the leaders. Do yourself a favor and throw them out and get some decent leaders. They also have the option to select fly tying supplies as a monthly option so you could do that down the line once you get a vise.
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No offense intended but, Ive looked at Postfly. Seems pricy for a package of items you may not need. To start I’d probably just buy the best tools you can afford as you can. $300 for the year will buy you some really nice tools. Probably more than you need.
By the way, there are no stupid questions about fly tying.
Rg
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No offense intended but, Ive looked at Postfly. Seems pricy for a package of items you may not need. To start I’d probably just buy the best tools you can afford as you can. $300 for the year will buy you some really nice tools. Probably more than you need.
By the way, there are no stupid questions about fly tying.
Rg
If you are really going to dedicate the time and effort to tying then I agree. However, I've got $100's of dollars of money invested in tying supplies and really end up tying in the winter months. I'd rather fish 10 out of 10 times versus tie flies. I think for someone just getting into the sport who wants to figure out if its something worth investing in, its worth a few months to get some basic flies and accessories.
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I see your point. It’s hard for me to remember when I didn’t have a room full of fly tying stuff. Thinking hard about it I used a Thompson Model B clamped to the kitchen table and a shoe box with tools and materials from a Herter’s fly tying kit. About the only fly I tied was a Mickey Finn.
Ive fished every day since March when I took a leave from my part time job at Lowes. Ive also tied every day. I have that time and I’m always tweaking patterns and trying to come up with something new. In the winter, since I don’t ice fish much any more, I mostly spend my time in the wood shop on the lathe.
But, the boat is hooked up and yesterday I tied up some new Crappie flies to try. I’ve been getting some big perch trolling so I’m also going to try slow trolling a Mop Fly that I tied with a small Propeller blade, kind of worm harness style.
Whatever you tie, don’t forget to go fishing.
Rg
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No offense intended but, Ive looked at Postfly. Seems pricy for a package of items you may not need. To start I’d probably just buy the best tools you can afford as you can. $300 for the year will buy you some really nice tools. Probably more than you need.
I checked out pricefly for both the fly tying and their regular box. They offer a Starter kit and a Quarantine kit for the same money. I think I’ll check out a local fly fishing shop and spend the money there. If they don’t have a Danvise where would be a good place to get one?
By the way, there are no stupid questions about fly tying.
Rg
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Amazon is as reasonable as anyplace.
This one isn’t a Danica brand but looks to be the exact same vise.
https://www.amazon.com/Riverruns-Generation-Fly-Tying-Extendable/dp/B081ZYR36T/ref=sr_1_2?crid=IVR8K75XL5QX&dchild=1&keywords=danvise+fly+tying+vise&qid=1598974001&sprefix=danvise%2Caps%2C159&sr=8-2 (https://www.amazon.com/Riverruns-Generation-Fly-Tying-Extendable/dp/B081ZYR36T/ref=sr_1_2?crid=IVR8K75XL5QX&dchild=1&keywords=danvise+fly+tying+vise&qid=1598974001&sprefix=danvise%2Caps%2C159&sr=8-2)
Rg
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Amazon is as reasonable as anyplace.
This one isn’t a Danica brand but looks to be the exact same vise.
https://www.amazon.com/Riverruns-Generation-Fly-Tying-Extendable/dp/B081ZYR36T/ref=sr_1_2?crid=IVR8K75XL5QX&dchild=1&keywords=danvise+fly+tying+vise&qid=1598974001&sprefix=danvise%2Caps%2C159&sr=8-2 (https://www.amazon.com/Riverruns-Generation-Fly-Tying-Extendable/dp/B081ZYR36T/ref=sr_1_2?crid=IVR8K75XL5QX&dchild=1&keywords=danvise+fly+tying+vise&qid=1598974001&sprefix=danvise%2Caps%2C159&sr=8-2)
Rg
That vise looks good, Should I get a pedestal for it or should I get a portable work station?
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It’ll mount pretty firmly to the edge of a platform. When I built my bench back then, I drilled a hole through the bench and mounted it through the hole. It put it at the right distance and height for me. I don’t know that it will work on a pedestal. The shaft is too long and it would sit up too high. Also the shaft on mine was a composite material not steel. The higher up it sits from the base, the more flex there is in the shaft.
My Dyna King has a heavy steel pedestal and I still found that it would move around a bit tying certain flies that took some serious thread tension to complete. I picked up a bamboo cutting board at Goodwill and inlaid 4 heavy ceramic magnets that sit under the base. It won’t move.
(https://i.postimg.cc/crwTG1sf/1610-E7-F8-7-A09-4-DDB-96-D1-566-DE23-A0816.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/crwTG1sf)
The cutting board turned out to be a great idea. It has a shallow groove all around the edge to catch juices and such. Beads and other things that tend to roll off the bench on the floor never to be found again end up in that channel. Also note that i mounted the bobbin holder away from and inline with the centerline of the vise. I did the same with my Danvise. Never liked the bobbin holder attached to the vise shaft. Moving it away gives me more room to work when doing rotary tying.
Whatever you use or make for a work station will change as time goes by. I’ve probably had a dozen different benches. Never saw a manufactured bench that had everything where I wanted it. But then, I’m an old woodworker and cabinet maker. I like to build stuff.
Rg
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It’ll mount pretty firmly to the edge of a platform. When I built my bench back then, I drilled a hole through the bench and mounted it through the hole. It put it at the right distance and height for me. I don’t know that it will work on a pedestal. The shaft is too long and it would sit up too high. Also the shaft on mine was a composite material not steel. The higher up it sits from the base, the more flex there is in the shaft.
My Dyna King has a heavy steel pedestal and I still found that it would move around a bit tying certain flies that took some serious thread tension to complete. I picked up a bamboo cutting board at Goodwill and inlaid 4 heavy ceramic magnets that sit under the base. It won’t move.
(https://i.postimg.cc/crwTG1sf/1610-E7-F8-7-A09-4-DDB-96-D1-566-DE23-A0816.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/crwTG1sf)
The cutting board turned out to be a great idea. It has a shallow groove all around the edge to catch juices and such. Beads and other things that tend to roll off the bench on the floor never to be found again end up in that channel. Also note that i mounted the bobbin holder away from and inline with the centerline of the vise. I did the same with my Danvise. Never liked the bobbin holder attached to the vise shaft. Moving it away gives me more room to work when doing rotary tying.
Whatever you use or make for a work station will change as time goes by. I’ve probably had a dozen different benches. Never saw a manufactured bench that had everything where I wanted it. But then, I’m an old woodworker and cabinet maker. I like to build stuff.
Rg
I’ve seen some of the projects you posted. You are a incredible woodworker. I’ll be starting off tying at the living room table so not able to mount it permanently on that. I’ve seen some portable tying stations that don’t look to bad for starting out.
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The other thing to tie is your own leaders. Grab a bunch of maxima chameleon and its easy to build really good leaders. Long ones for dries, shorter ones for streamers and everything in between. One of these days I'd like to get old school and try a furled leader for showing streamers for trout. Word on the street is those leaders turn over really well.
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PM me your address. I make furled leaders. Just tell me what length and weight rod you’re going to use and I’ll spin a couple up for you.
Rg
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Check with your local fly shop to get started. They can likely point you in the right direction for flies for your area. Charliesflyboxinc.com has a ton of patterns with step-by-step instructions as well.