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Gear Review: HMH’s Tube Fly Tool
Posted on November 21st, 2009 No comments
I haven't named this one yet, but I was stoked to finally tie something I've had pictured in my head for forever now
Well I finally got a chance to play with a couple new toys yesterday. Singlebarbed’s 6th Finger Scissor , and HMH’s Starter Tube Fly Tool .
To tie tubes in the past, I’ve either used an allen wrench, or just put the tube directly in my vise’s jaws. The allen wrench works okay, but I’ve never been able to spin/stack deer hair without the wrench slipping a little in the jaws from all the torque on the tube. Putting the tube right in my vise’s jaws worked alright, too, but I ran into the same problem when spinning hair, and would sometimes crush plastic tubes.
I ordered the HMH Tube Fly Tool from J Stockard Fly Fishing . They aren’t one of my sponsors or anything, I just like doing business with them. Plus, for my recent birthday, I got a $50 gift certificate to use there from my mother-in-law.
Like all poor bastards savvy shoppers, I spent a good deal of time going through the tying materials on the J Stockard site, trying to figure out a way to squeeze everything I’ve been meaning to add to my materials arsenal onto that $50 credit. The list of stuff that I first filled my shopping cart with looked drastically different than my final order. My first instinct was to get as many hooks as I could. Then I remembered that I have been wanting to play with rattles on my carp flies, and Stalcup’s Damsel Body on my panfish flies. Then I added a bunch of synthetic hair before I ran into the HMH tube fly coneheads and remembered that this is the tying season that I go to tubes for all my streamer patterns instead of regular hooks. And before you knew it, I was removing just enough stuff that I could add the Tube Fly Tool pictured above to my cart without going over my $50 limit.
Now before I give a glowing review on this product, I’ve got to admit that after a past experience with HMH while I was writing the DayTripper blog, I really didn’t want to. I won’t go into details or anything, but I only point it out because I had sworn to myself that I’d never give a positive review for another HMH product again after what happened behind the scenes.
Yet here I am, about to tell you that the HMH Tube Fly Tool is rock solid in my vise- a Danvise by the way, so [tongue in cheek] I would guess that all of you who tie on a Renzetti/ Dynaking/ HMH/ etc., should have no problems with this tool [/tongue in cheek] .
After tying a few typical tube patterns like the one pictured waaay up at the top of this post, and being happy with the tool’s holding power, I decided it was time to pull the deer hair out.
I went through my mental rolodex of patterns I’ve been wanting to convert to a tube, and sitting way up on top was the Crayfish Muddler, a crayfish pattern developed by Hatches Magazine Editor, Will Mullis.
As I put more and more force on the thread, the hair spun, and the tool stayed put in my vise’s jaws. But more importantly, the metal rod that holds the tube didn’t bend, the tube didn’t spin, and I was happy enough with the results that I broke my blood oath to never endorse another HMH product again.
So, if you want to enter the world of tubes, I’d say this tool is well worth the $25.
Singlebarbed’s 6th Finger Scissors worked well, too. Though I have to admit to setting them on my desk a few times between snips out of pure habit.
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Catch Magazine
Posted on November 20th, 2009 No commentsThis post has been sitting in the drafts pile since early August, so after yesterday’s free magazine post, I figured now was as good a time as any to hit the publish button on this one.
I spoke with Brian O’Keefe the other day about a new project he’s been working on with Todd Moen called Catch Magazine .
I’ll be completely honest. I had already heard of Catch Magazine when it initially hit the web, and the second I hit it’s front page for the first time and saw it was another one of those pdf-flippidity-doo-dah-internet-page-flippy-dippy-things, I hit the back button. It wasn’t that the cover photo sucked or anything, in fact, it was really good. It was just that I had already been disappointed by another flippy-fly magazine, who started out strong and then fizzled into a 15 page quarterly publication on how to be be a really cool fly fisherman .
Yet, after reading Brian’s email inviting me to look at his site, I got a vibe from his words that told me there was something different about his project, so I gave Catch a chance.
There were no articles showcasing the best ledges to boardslide on your way to the water. No playlist to listen to while you read it. And there was no page from readers telling the editor just how great their flippy-dippy thing is, and how they’ve captured what it’s really all about.
But despite all of those shortcomings…I really liked it.
There were lots of pretty fly fishing pictures, some passionate words about the stuff we do, and a nice video clip of some guy working a popper. And anyone who is anyone knows that pretty pictures, plus pretty words, plus pretty videos, equals a badass internet fly fishing magazine. Einstein would be proud.
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Buy You This!
Posted on November 20th, 2009 No comments
In case you missed it, the Fall ‘09 issue of Hatches Magazine is making it’s rounds between bathrooms and fly tying benches around the world. Click here to order your copy today !
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A New Era
Posted on November 20th, 2009 No commentsI used to take fly tying way too seriously. When I wasn’t tying flies, I was probably sitting in front of the computer at my fly tying bench; reading about flies; talking about flies on message boards; or, looking for new materials to tie flies with. I lived fly tying, and the only reason I fly fished ~100 trips per year was to use what I was tying.
First, I got the hang of everyday fishing patterns; then I started spinning deerhair; then it was time to try realistics and full dressed salmon flies. With the utmost modesty, it was all coming naturally to me. Not because I had a fly tying gene buried somewhere in my genome, it was cause I spent an absurd amount of time tying flies. The lunch pail I took to work everyday converted into a fly tying bench.
There was a message board just for full dressed salmon and steelhead flies. People would post pictures of their flies, and ask others to critique them. Really, most were just asking for constructive criticism as a chance to show off, but that’s a topic for a different day.
One day, a guy posted a picture of a fly he had just tied. It was beautiful, but the tag was too long, the ribbing wasn’t evenly spaced, the wing was too high and a little long, and the head was lumpy. Like I said, the fly was beautiful- 9/10 people wouldn’t hesitate to stick it in a frame and hang it above their tying bench. But there I was, concentrating on it’s flaws.
To put it mildly, I was disgusted with myself.
That was just under 3 years ago. I haven’t tied much since. Only the bare minimum to get me by- and usually not even that. I haven’t tied a single fly for the sole purpose of sharing it with fellow fly tyers, instead, they’ve all been to share with fish. Sure, I’ve excitedly shared a new pattern with my friends while fishing, but that’s different. It’s the way it should be.
Something has been tugging at my heartstrings the past few weeks. It’s a feeling I’ve felt a few times over the past few years, but now it’s pulling harder. It’s the part of me that is ready to move to the next phase, the one where I move back towards the center line between the two extremes.
Fly Tying Forum’s annual Fly Tyer of the Year Contest is coming up, and I plan on kicking some ass.
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Hotspotting
Posted on June 1st, 2009 No commentsThe worst part of the drive home is the stretch from Albany to Buffalo. Its an area of the earth where time slows down, and you either sleep or deal with the boredom. The sun was in my face, so I dealt by daydreaming about the days ahead. Most people think that they go back [...]
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Tom’s Mouse
Posted on June 1st, 2009 No commentsThis is a mouse pattern I received in a fly swap a while back from a guy named Tom. Obviously the pieces of foam probably aren’t necessary, but they sure add some pizazz to your fly box.
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A Little Humor Never Hurt Anyone
Posted on May 19th, 2009 No commentsFour married guys go fishing. After an hour, the following conversation took place. First guy: ” You have no idea what I had to do to be able to come out fishing this weekend. I had to promise my wife that I will paint every room in the house next weekend.” Second guy: ” that’s [...]
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I Heart Streamers
Posted on May 19th, 2009 No commentsI think my passion for throwing streamers can be linked back to my days of fishing with spinning gear. So since the streamer bite is on fire right now on rivers all across the country, I thought I’d share a few of my favorites.