Fly Tying, Five tools to make you a better fly tier! 

Hi Lindsay, I agree, you can’t have enough fly tying tools to make life easier, but the most important one for me is the bobbin threader. You can get them on eBay for about a £1 and they save me pulling my hair out trying to get silks through the bobbin. Thanks again for another great video Jimf

While it’s not tools specific, I found hackles for dries can be a real game changer when you tie for the love of creating the fly. Having quality hackle feathers makes a huge difference. It’s not necessarily required to buy an expensive whole cape, opt for better quality and fewer feathers. Prepare your materials in advance and have your tools ready to hand. Use a pen to mark your hook and tying thread to get proportions right. Untwist your thread to lay flat when needed to reduce bulk. Use wax for grip of materials and also untwist (Counter clockwise) wind your thread to make it easier to pinch and loop. Thanks Lindsay for the content you out out. You and a few others have really helped me improve after a number of years of not tying any flies. When I started I only had books to learn from, these videos are great to see how things are done.

You are quite right about fly tying & fishing being separate hobbies. For much of my adult life, I thought my tying was just to service my fishing. About 9 years ago, my back got so bad, I could no longer stand up long enough to fish & gave up tying thinking I had no use for my flies. I really missed both. Recently, I found out there are charitable organizations that really want flies to use in therapeutic fishing programs. Now that my flies have a purpose, I have happily resumed tying & feel much better for it. My wife is happier too. Although she can’t shoo me out of the house to go fishing, she’s glad to have me occupied tying at my corner desk & out of her hair. She even bought me a new vise.

I still have my original small dowel with needle in it after 55 years…still works! Like you, I didn’t like the whip finisher you showed but I recently bought an Italian one (begins with an S) of a much different style! I found it is much more intuitive to use and for me, that made all the difference! As for scissors, I learned how to sharpen them but also have quite a few for various purposes! Use an old tooth brush for my dubbing!! Have about a dozen bobbins of various types, loaded with treads of various weights and colours!

Well said Lindsey. Your comments are spot on.

Good Video Lindsay. I enjoyed watching it. I just bought a few Tiemco Ceramic Bobbins myself. So far I really like the way they feel in my hands, they're very comfortable and they perform well . I'm glad I switched. Thanks for sharing this video with us, You Take Care.🌴🏄‍♂️🎣Aloha🤙🏼

That Stonfo velcro bush is the best little tool I bought in a very long time. Didn't cost much either. As for fly tying, in many ways, it's worst than drinking as a hobby. There was a time when I was really on a Single Malt Scotch kick the really good stuff. I don't drink anymore and it's march I am just about finished tying what I call junk flies that I fish in winter. My junk fly boxes are full, so it's on to Blue Wing Olives, March Browns and Hendricksons, Sulfurs, etc for the next three months. Ending with Christmas in May, The Mothers Day Hatch- Caddis Flies. The one thing that the kids have that I didn't start with was the easy access to very very good instruction. I was pretty much on my own. You forgot hackle pliers. And maybe a good hackle gauge is a must-have in my opinion. 2021 is going to be a great season.

I enjoyed the video,brough back old memories. Got my first kit back in 1970,cost $8.50,.I have been tying ever since ,have learned all of this.The video brought back good mermies.THAKS

Good stuff , again, Ta. I have an excellent pair of material scissors, by Dr Slick, that I use for deer hair etc. I also use a cheepo pair of nail scissors for wire

Hi Lindsay and all, 1 tool I have found a dream to use is the Stonfo Half Hitch Tool 441 just over a fiver. I use it for flies with chain bead eyes and Boobys. Works a treat, give it a look comes with three slip in/out different sized heads. Three to five wraps round the fly when finished seats threads a dream. Good if anyone struggles with a Whip Finish Tool. Regards Roger

I like the Renomed scissors and can highly recommend them. I would however avoid buying a dedicated thread splitter tool, looks good yet not as simple as a needle as per the recommendation in the video. Good stuff here in this video.

I started tying when I was 10 years old, thats 56 years ago! No I really would not want to guess how much I have spent on gear and materials over the years ... it might make me cry!!! I do tie many flies each year and hey long may it continue!! Atb Jim

Enjoyed the video. Might want to cover hackle pliers in another. Thanks

Great reasoning behind your tool selection, thanks Lindsay

Scissors - sooooo many scissors and so little time! After working through over 40 different models I came across some great ophthalmology “squizzers” with blades only 10mm long and perfect for getting in really close to get those pesky stray fibres! 100% with you on materelli whip finish tools - i’ve used the C&F version for over 20 years and is in my opinion, the best on the market. Roll on BFFI 2022!

I use the exact same whip finisher, but I sharpened the butt end with a dremel to get a wood chisel like blade and use that to cut my thread after whip finishing(doesn't work too well with nano silk or veevus GSP). Cracking vid Lindsay!! ATB Chris.

Gotta agree Lindsay, buy lots of bobbin holders rather than one expensive one, it speeds up tying no end.

Number 5 yaaaaas lol feel proud😆been watching you since day one pretty much and your now a dab hand with using a whip finisher 🥲👏🏻👏🏻

TRy sharpening the end of your whip finish tool and use to cut thread.

Good little video 👍

To clean my bodkins, i burn off the glue and use a 35mm plastic film canister filled with steel wool. Just poke the bodkin through the plastic lid a few times.

Good Morning Lindsay! Having a hypoglycemic moment and crap my back hurts, so I am in the Jacuzzi watching this and remembering last year when you were fighting with the Whip finisher! The reason I went to one was because I worked in the oil patch and my hands were always calloused, chapped and bleeding. My thread would break when I tried finishing by hand. My first whip finisher was the old Thompson, which I really liked, but the Materelli style you show is what I use now and it makes placing my wraps easier. The two things I would add here if you don't mind and I am not criticizing, I hope you know me well enough now to know I will not do that. Is a hackle pliars, for people with huge fingers they are helpful, annoying as hell but sometimes you just need them. The other has to do with bobbins. There is one exception to the rule and that is the "Spinner" style vise and bobbin. I am not really adding this for the Newbie, please bear with me. Because the Spinner vise is more than a rotating vise, a standard bobbin will not give you the full use of a Spinner vises ability. I am speaking of the Nor-Vise on which I have tied for the last 15 years. I only bring this up, because there are people out there who use it without an Autobobbin. Maybe some of your viewers. Sadly, by skimping on this piece of kit, they will never see the full potential of the Spinner style vise. So thanks for allowing me to say that. I never even heard of bobbins until 1978, about 21 years after I started. I learned from a great book by Helen Shaw and she never used a bobbin. I was on our Honeymoon and stopped to see an old friend and he was using one!!! Changed my life! You are right, Fly Tying is seperate from Fly Fishing and it is more than a hobby to many of us, it is a lifestyle. I hope someone is working on your back sir, I really enjoyed this video!!!

As I'm fairly new to tying what would you use curved scissors for and are there any benefits from curved or straight edged scissors I still love the tutorials they are so informative and have helped my improve immensely

Hi Lindsay, watch your videos alot! I struggle with my vice which don’t seem to hook my larger hooks in place. No matter how tight I tighten the vice, hook still moves. Please advise what is a very good vice for holding size 10 and 8 hooks without them moving! Can’t afford really one but will to pay more than the cheap ones.

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I'm a silent subscriber, this is my first comment . . . I have no use for commercially made, generally overpriced JUNK for tools. I've made my own tools for fly tying , including custom ground scissors from 'junk' ! My working background has been mostly in machining , which covers tool making as well as nearly every aspect of manufacturing ! My vice/ vise is nothing more than a pair of hemostats - * which fit into a device that looks like a hangman's gallows. The 'gallows' holds the hemostats at any angle, with just a quarter turn of a knob. I find whip finishers to be a pain, & generally much slower than several half hitches by hand , followed by a quick dosing of UV resin, and / or fast drying nail hardener. My bodkins are made from 5/0 hooks , heated , straightened, then ground & polished, after fitted to hardwood handles . I made my hair stacker from scrap steel on my lathe , same with my dubbing spinners . . . I live in a small rural town in southwest Missouri, U.S. , which is very agricultural ; with many small farms - THAT is a main PLUS . . . Turkey , Ducks , & fowl of many types are plentiful enough that I don't have to BUY feathers . . However, when a bargain comes along , I'm a sucker ;) I have a wall in my livingroom that is covered with ring necked pheasant hides ! I got a box of treated skins , (whole birds) for a mere 2 dollars each ! *Many lifetime supplies , from 30+ birds , , , I bought a length of 'rope' that was made in Mexico . . . made of polypropylene - upon close examination, I found that the fibers are EXACTLY the same as 'floss'. So I unraveled a short section to see how viable it would be as a tying material. . . Hmmm for 3 dollars' worth, I have a lifetime supply of bright yellow , crimson, & emerald green ! I chopped some of the fibers to 'dubbing' length , & mixed rabbit fur/hair , (that I also sheared from the hide), & NOW I have a source for quite a range of essentially 'free' dubbing ! I appreciate your teaching ability to show how many patters are tied - conventional & otherwise . . . you've helped inspire me to realize that merely observing bugs & fish in the wild can lead to making very good imitations as flies ! Sorry to be so long winded ! (not really) ;p There is a world of material & tools available to us all . . . some reasonably priced, some overly hyped , while the best of the best is hand made for nothing but TIME ! Thanks for your take on what tools are important to you . . . I can't pick a top 5 list , I need ALL MY TOOLS , since THEY are the key to making all others ! CHEERS !