HMH Starter Tube Vise $24.95

This is the HMH Starter Tube Vise, a fantasically effective and inexpensive way to get started tying tube flies. Heck, I attended seminar by Bob Nasby and he uses this little tool. Anything that is good enough for Bob Nasby is good enough for me.

The starter kit retails for $24.95 and comes with 2 mandrels that prevent the tube from being squished when the vise it tightened. As you can see it clamps in your traditional fly vise!

Tube flies are my new obsession. They may not be as beautiful as traditional flies, but they sure are durable! More on the benefits of tube flies later.

Give this little vise a shot if you are interested in tubeology....it's a practical way to get started!

Dual Duty Thread

When I attended Curt Nordrum's foam bug seminar a few months back I noticed he used a thread that was not available at my local fly shop. Curt uses a thread called Dual Duty that is available at local fabric shops. The stuff is bulletproof and much cheaper than Uni or something stronger like Gel Spun!

Nothing worse than spinning deer hair or attaching foam to a hook and having the thread break. This thread will not break. Curt says it soaks up head cement and glues much better than many standard fly tying threads.

One last thing....Curt swears by 3 colors...orange, gray and olive. I made the switch to Dual Duty and my flies are much more durable.

Try Joann's if you have a store locally or here is a link.