Frank Sawyer's Killer Bug in Colorado

[Mr B]

That’s really great to see.
You have got me going now.
Because of the lockdown ( nothing really worth fishing local to me) I am in the process of looking for a fly tiying vice.. they are very reasonably priced I just want to make sure I get the right one.
I have similar fly’s ti the ones you have tied in my fly box but how satisfying to tie your own!!!
What a great job you have done, really nice.
I had a look on line at the fly in the above thread and it looks a nice fly. I have also looked on YouTube at the how to tie fly’s.. really interesting.
I will have to look out for a split cane fly rod now, my fly rods are carbon!!!
Thanks again for showing us your fly’s,
Tight lines

Mr B.

[Liphook]

You can spend fortunes on a vice Mr B but really it isn't necessary as their function is to simply hold the hook. I've been using a Weaver lever vice for decades. You can buy this type for around £25 and they will grip any hook from 6/0 down to 26. Other attachment's like a 'tube needle' and 'gallows tool' (to aid with wing posts and parachute hackles) can be added if needed

[Nigel Rainton]

The single nymph looks good :-)

[Nigel Rainton]

I agree about the vice. I bought a cheap Veniard lever vice about 45 years ago and it's still OK now. Don't buy a vice with screw operated jaws, make sure it is lever operated, they are less prone to hook slippage.

[Mr B]

Thanks for the advice.... I will definitely take the points on board.
I’m really looking forward to getting started!
I have already got the spool holder( not sure what they are called... grips the spool of thread that passes through the centre)
Going to start simple...
How nice it will be to catch a fish on a home made fly!

Mr B.

[Mole-Patrol]

You can spend fortunes on a vice Mr B but really it isn't necessary as their function is to simply hold the hook. I've been using a Weaver lever vice for decades. You can buy this type for around £25 and they will grip any hook from 6/0 down to 26. Other attachment's like a 'tube needle' and 'gallows tool' (to aid with wing posts and parachute hackles) can be added if needed

It depends on what you are tying and how dexterous that you are. I was never anything other than clumsy and so appreciated the adjustments that were possible with an expensive vice especially with the smaller flies like Klinkhammers.

[Liphook]

You've lost me a bit there Clive - what adjustments are you referring to? The sprung lever vice I'm referring to above is adjustable, rotatable and the action of the lever makes adjusting the hook a doddle even mid tying. Any vice is a luxury when you've learned to tie using just your fingers! I will still tie SKBs and original threadless PTs at the riverside without out any vice to show folk how simple and quick these flies can be to make, and equally how effective at catching they can be. I will use a tube specific rotary vce for churning out numbers of tubes, bottles, needles etc and these days I often use a set of jewelers flip-down magnifying glasses for hooks smaller than 18 but my hands are still xxl and I strongly suspect that I've learned to be more dexterous over decades of tying flies and knots and playing musical instruments. Practice makes...and all that.

[Mole-Patrol]

The first vice I had was pretty basic. There were no adjustments or movements other than rotating the whole head on the mounting spindle or raising and lowering it.

I used to do semi-pro photography and a friend asked me to catalogue some new lures that he was importing - Trout Poppers if you've ever heard of them. He was also the agent for Vossler and as payment I got one of their vices. With that you can just about do 360 degrees in all dimensions. I don't do any tying these days as there isn't really any local trout fishing other than overgrown small rivers. I would have to drive over 2 hours south to find a river like the Wharfe. I must have hundreds of flies of one kind an another in various boxes that haven't seen the light of day for years.

I also still have the vice, tools and box of materials though. The box looks like sweepings up from Noah's Ark after a big fight

This is one of the publicity photos that earned me the vice along with a couple of hundred lure profiles. Other than adding a watermark, being converted to JPG from RAW and re-sized it is untouched by any image manipulation program.



And this was taken at Walton Hall. Wakefield for a trout fishing magazine that ran an article on Trout Poppers that I illustrated.



I will try and find my two-tone SKB type shrimp flies and put some photos up.

[Liphook]

Good action shot! That's a large pendant of Drennan "half strength" in that 2nd pic Trout poppers as in US bass popper style flies? Never had use for the bells and whistles type vices myself but I know some that think buying a Waldron will make them a better tyer.
I'd certainly be interested in seeing your killer killers

[Mole-Patrol]

I don't know if a good vice makes you a better tier, but it sure does help with some of the tricky bits. In 2005 I sustained a serious eye injury and I could not see well enough to tie flies or take good photographs for 2 to 3 years so the hobbies were put on hold and I've never got back into them.

I had forgotten about Carl's tippet jewellery He is one of the best fly anglers I've ever met. World champion at fly casting and almost always produced the goods on the bank. Three of us used to fly fish for mullet and bass. I was only there to bring the average down, but Carl and Colin were very, very experienced and skilful anglers. The only chance that I had of equalling them was when we all blanked.