Starting tying..

[Luke Davis]

I have decided I need to start tying. Seems like fun, and fishing with your own handywork has to be awesome. Plus not to mention saving all that money on store bought flies.

So, I am looking for a nice little vise that I can get started on. Nothing fancy for right now, just something inexpensive but will hold up until Im ready for an upgrade. What do you tiers recommend? I have been looking at the Anvil Apex, or something like a Griffin 2A.

Any thing would be much appreciated!

Luke

[fishdontcare]

an excellent priced, first vise and all you may ever want..Danvise.

[earlsmith]

Or search Craigslist, attend your local fly fishing club round table, the Overlake fly fishing club ties once a month, and there will be enough good natured people there to help yo start from starting your thread on a hook to more complex operations.

I invested money in Randal Kaufmans two paperback books...."Tying Dry Flies" and "Tying Nymphs"..find them at your library and work your way through them both. Each pattern becomes a bit more complex, and teaches you a new technique. Once you know the techniques, you should be able to tie anything you see. Like cooking, it's the groceries that cost the money, so hooks, dubbing, hackle, wire, beads...ect all add up, but asking the questions like, shat are the most tried and true attractor patterns for the entemology of the western United States...ie elk hair caddis, bead headed hair ear, pale morning dun, wooley bugger ect. You can tie five or six patterns and do well in most of our Cascade rivers..so investing in the materials for the time tested and honored patterns such as these would be a great start...

Earl

[Luke Davis]

So should I go stationary, or rotary? What are the advantages/disadvantages?

I am looking at the Griffin 1A/2A or a Danvise rotary

[earlsmith]

I have an older griffin odyssey, and with a few changes like an iron table top base and a cam style set of jaws....good enough for me....

[bjkhred]

If you think you will really get into tying it's wise to get a mid range vise because you will grow out of the "entry-level" vises very quickly.
Before you go out and buy materials and books think of what flies you are most interested in tying and only get materials and books on that (ie streamers, etc.). You will waste money buying different intro to tying books and the materials they require for each pattern. If you only like streamer fishing in lakes (for example), get a tying book and materials for that only. Until you have a substantial amount of hooks and materials it costs about $30 a pattern to try something new. So if you stick with one type of fishing or flies you can accumulate materials that can be used in more than one pattern and save some money rather than learn how to tie a bunch of patterns from a intro book that you won't ever fish. If you need suggestions on good books based on your interests let me know.

[fishdontcare]

tying your own flies and saving money is a very common illusion. it is, in reality, a whole butt load less expensive to buy them. if your were to ask, and get an honest reply from some (maybe most) of us that tie, you will find that hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of dollars have been invested. in defense of the money spent, i would speculate the enjoyment rate of exchange is at least ten fold. (wonder where this will take off to now?)

[GreenMuddler]

Luke,
At least for me tying saves money, its a lot of fun and rewarding. I disagree about tying what you think you'll use, tie what ever keeps you interested. Each type of fly may teach or refine a specific technique. I tie lots of trout flies, yet rarely use them...except for decoration atop a scotch cork in my office. (Scotch corks make great display stands by the way). Once you have the basics, its easy to surf the net for the next great pattern, and don't be afraid to substitute materials and get creative. One thing about store bought flies...they don't seem to hold up like home tied. As far as vises go, the Danvise is hard to beat, even if you don't use the rotary feature. I find the rotary is great for nice consistant wraps for palmered hackles and wire/tinsle ribbing.

Remeber the words of Charlie Papazian if you get frustrated while learning
"Relax and have a home brew!" (That saves money too)

James.