Flyfishing, flytying and hooks
Home » Archive by category "equipment"

Fly Tyer Briefcase – DIY

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI think this is a story that a lot of flytyers have been through: When I started fly fishing I purchased flies and brought them with me on a trip, noticing which was good or not. Then I started tying myself, looking at the experience I had with the flies and was happy with that, but I was tying up a lot of different patterns to ensure I wouldn’t be empty of a particular size.

Then came the next step: bringing with me tying gear to tie on-the-spot, or if the weather was bad! But, I brought with me stuff in plastic bags, and everything was messy, and the bottles of varnish had to be wrapped and things was all over the place. So: there are some cases you can buy out there, but they are expensive, and they don’t fit what you want, so after work today I got one of these briefcases that are meant to transport cameras and so on, and got to work (these should be able to get a lot of different places)

The inside is well padded and the material is “pre-cut” in small squares that you easily can tear off to get your bottles and gear into.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI have half the briefcase for my bottles of varnish, the vice and all the other things I need when I go outside my normal tying station.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThe other half I can then fill up with hooks, dubbing, hair and everything else I need for that particular trip. Of course: this is not the ideal place to bring along capes, but I’ll see what I can do with the lid there to get room for some more.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

 

 

First Rod Build

dryfly.me.2014.03.17.rod_whole

Blank: RDP 7’6″ #0
Reel Seat: RDP
Handle: Self-turned
Guides: RDP Single foot
Thread: Kimono Silk Thread #100 Japanese Silk Color: 304 (yellow) & 355 (green)
Color Preserver: Flex Coat
Finish: Flex Coat Lite

This winter I have had a couple of projects going: first of all it has been experimenting with different styles of flies to get a grasp of different techniques. The other one is this: building my first rod. I got a couple of blank kits from RDP Flyrods before christmas, one #2 that I gave away for christmas, and this one: a 7’6″ #0 for myself.

Building this #0 has been a interesting journey: it is like starting tying your first fly all over again – you swear, break the thread, get finish all over the place and the epoxy is pouring out places you didn’t even consider…. But I got it together in the end and for a first attempt I’m happy with how the rod looks, I haven’t tested it yet (the snow has been packed here), so I don’t know how it will behave. I have a #1 DT line that matches good up with my Sage TXL-F #1 that I will put on this. This will be a rod for those small streams that house tiny trout and you have to break out size 7 tippet.

dryfly.me.2014.03.17.rod_backThe handle was turned in-hand without any rack where I could get a stable rotation, so it isn’t as even as I would have wanted it to be. I did, however, make the form of it to fit my hand, and I wanted to test out a different handle than the rest of my rods. The next phase here is to take it out fishing, then see how it behaves and maybe strip it of the rod and turn a new one based on experience. I should also note that the quality of the cork wasn’t top notch, so I will get some better for my next build.

dryfly.me.2014.03.17.rod_footI don’t have many colors for wrapping the rod, but I think the yellow/green combination came out good on the red/brown blank. You can see that the finish is not half-bad on the thread, but I managed to get some on the blank that shouldn’t have been there (often you don’t notice stuff like this until you break out the macro lense)

dryfly.me.2014.03.17.rod_endsI have some practicing on getting the thread all the way to the end (this part I had to re-do 3 times because the thread came off)

Here a close-up without the finish applied:

dryfly.me.2014.03.17.rod_thread_without_finishNot too bad, I think, but for my next build I will focus more on getting the wraps to sit better

dryfly.me.2014.03.17.rod_preserverThe color preserver & finish that I used on the thread: the thread didn’t loose any  color and the lite flex-coat made for really good coatings.

dryfly.me.2014.03.17.rod_finish

My next project now is from The Anglers Roost where I have ordered a 12ft #3/4 rod that I will build as a trout spey with double handle. Will post more about that later.

 

Spey adventures

Well, it had to happen sooner or later:

Guideline Act4I got my first rod for speycasting yesterday, or: I went into a shop to get something else and I wandered out with a new Guideline ACT 4 12″6 #8/9 rod, not quite sure what happened! Well: the price was reduced significantly and I was thinking about it just the other day, so when the opportunity  came I took it (must sound very familiar to anyone hooked on anything: there is always a good excuse ).

The plan is to do my first salmon fishing with the rod next year: there are quite some good rivers around here, but also for the larger trout rivers north of here (some seriously large trout in this country). But: I have done mostly #5/6 dryfly fishing so this is a new adventure when it comes to lines, are there anyone that can recommend a line for this rod?