Have you made any of your tieing tools?

[Colorado Cajun]

Have you made any of your tieing tools? If so, please share your ideas.

On the left is my bodkin cleaner. It is a film canister with a hole on top and steel wool inside. Jab it in there twice and it gets any glue or head cement right off.

The middle is my bodkin that is a little beat up but I still perfer it over my store bought one. It is the biggest sewing needle my wife had epoxed into the end of a wooden dowl. File one side of the handle flat so it don't roll off the bench and stick in your leg.

On the right is my dubbing twister. 1 paper clips, some beads from my daughter's craft kit, and a piece of dowl. Works as good as a store bought

 

[Fish Bones]

I made a fly drier once.... still use it today. I used a discarded electric motor from a popcorn popper, some wood, a cord from a broken iron. and some alligator clips. It dries epoxy flies really well. Most of the parts were free... I think I spent a couple dollars for the clips. I'll post a few pics later.

 

[Colorado Cajun]

That sounds interesting. I take it you don't use 5 minute epoxy. Does you device put off heat to assist in the drying?

 

[Fish Bones]

Here are some pics of the drier that I made. I use 30 min epoxy... and I still have to work fast. It puts off no heat. It works great.

 

[Colorado Cajun]

That's cool! You don't have to worry about flipping your flies over a couple of times before the epoxy sets. I nerver tie that many at once, then again I don't tie to many that need epoxy. I usually use 5 minute epoxy and mix a little on a piece of cardboard and put it the fly while it is still in the vice then move the fly to a piece of foam after it sets. I know, it takes longer. I like your dryer.

 

[Frank Whiton]

Steve,

A good setup and a lot cheaper than a commercial one. I like yours better than the ones with a foam face. A Bar-B-Q motor works also.

 

[lryansl]

http://users.adelphia.net/~mstatig/vise.jpg Sure it may look ugly but I can tie a fly with it. Poor mans Vise.

 

[Colorado Cajun]

http://users.adelphia.net/~mstatig/vise.jpg Sure it may look ugly but I can tie a fly with it. Poor mans Vise.

I bet you can! Do you have midge jaws for that vice too? *LOL* Sorry! I couldn't resist.

Is that your primary vice?

 

[lryansl]

Being how cheap I am I just cant bring myself yet to spend the money on a kit, but eventually I will. Yup its my primary, the smallest hook ive had in it is a size 12 I think anything smaller then that would just be impossible to tie.

 

[lryansl]

That fly so far has landed me 3 nice size carp on my 5 wt and Im loving it.

 

[Colorado Cajun]

That fly so far has landed me 3 nice size carp on my 5 wt and Im loving it.

That is a good looking fly that looks like it would be productive. If it works for you and you and you are happy with it, then that is all that matters.

Do you have any special technique for fishing carp? I have casted to some several times while trout fishing with no success of getting one to take my fly.

 

[lryansl]

What works for me so far is first I make sure there feeding, cloud of sediment or a tail and then i try to see which way they are facing and then cast about a foot in front of them if it looks like there headed towards it i twitch the fly a little and then start to pull in some line and if its tight i raise the rod and most of the time fish on. Most of the carp i go after are in about 2 foot of water. "Carp on the Fly" is excellent reading material if you really want to understand fly fishing for carp. The hard part is getting close enough to make a cast to one without scaring it. I think everyone should try it at least once, its fun.

 

[lryansl]

For your viewing Pleasure http://users.adelphia.net/~mstatig/Carp.jpg

 

[Colorado Cajun]

Nice! That's a big one. The places that I seen them the most was in lakes right up against the bank of some islands when I had my boat. You would have been in carp heaven.