As mentioned previously I tend not to tie flies during the winter as I feel it disconnects the process too much from the actual fishing and the result is always boxes of flies that get forgotten and never used.
I am tying a bit now, champing at the bit to get going with the actual fishing. Living by myself I can please myself how I organize the house. I don't like living in a cluttered dump, but I have set up a permanent tying station in my spare room.
[attachimg=1]
Tying bench and materials cabinets
[attachimg=2]
Photography set up
How do you organize your tying set up?
Blimey Fred :shock: mines just a simple vice and the edge of the coffee table when the fancy takes me, materials live in a cardboard box by my seat. I tend to tie during the season, although I did a fair bit of tying winter before last but weather being pants last season I didn't get to use that many, mainly wets for trout streams.
This winter I resisted going back to a policy of tying as I need, which I can do from the comfort of my chair without getting up.
Very neat Fred looks like a good setup. This winter I retrieved my fly tying gear after an on going house move which started three years ago. Been trying to get organised over the winter and tie a few flies, not happy with my set up yet, still have some way to go. Using a cheap old computer corner desk, when I placed it in my office wife complained she never saw me, so moved into the living room but then I have to tidy up after myself. :?
Oi! nae jokes about my fly tying studio :lol:
I like yer set up Fred. I think It helps to hve a permanent set up. As you can just sit down have a wee think a tie just the one fly if you like. f you know what I mean? as its such a pain to dig out everything and set up the tying gear etc. I used to have mine permenantly set up but not anymore but after seeing yours I reckon its time I did so again. I also find if everything is packed away I am less likely to tie anything. Nice set up Fred!
That's it Allan. Like any true artist it means you are ready to go the instant the inspiration hits you. :8)
You just can't beat the tying studio :lol:
Ideal Fred, As Clan Chief said a permanent setup is preferable if you have the space. I would tidy up that lamp cable though.
A bit of a trip hazard. Stick it behind the drawers at least. Good light from the window is an added bonus.
Alan
True Alan. The photography set up requires the two lamps to get enough illumination for the photos. A bit of an afterthought and I will go and move that extension cable now while I remember. Well noted. :D
Looks fine and dandy there Fred, I'll drop my order round on my way back from the doctors...............
I don't have a dedicated space, so I have to use the computer desk, to which is permanently attached my tying lamp.
When I have to tie ore feel a rare urge to do so, I dig out what I need from the cupboard, vice, tools, materials and put them on one of these cushioned tray things, which I sit on the computer desk.
http://www.animazoogle.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/265x265/17f82f742ffe127f42dca9de82fb58b1/e/a/eat-cake-tray.jpg (http://www.animazoogle.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/265x265/17f82f742ffe127f42dca9de82fb58b1/e/a/eat-cake-tray.jpg)
When I'm done, I put the lap tray in the cupboard with all the stuff on it for the next session or tidy the lot away again.
The lap tray isn't ideal like a permanent tying studio, but it is moveable and I take it (and the lamp, tools etc.) on holiday with us when we are holidaying in Scotland.
Alex
No studio, but does me fine :lol: . . . .
[attachimg=1]
To be fair, if I know I'm going to enter one of my "tying phases" - they usually last a couple of months and then I lose interest again - I'll set up a permanent desk in the spare room. But you can't beat a few flees tied in front of the tele with a cuppa! :D
Oh, and cheers for the inspiration - a few for the new season tonight! :)
Alex, is that one of those trays with the bean bag on the bottom of it?
Setup very much like Tweed's but with a bigger toolbox to hold even more stuff I don't use :)
I got back into tying a few years back and tied alot mostly during the winter, just can't seem to get back into it this winter though.
Quote from: admin on March 20, 2013, 11:06:31 PM
Alex, is that one of those trays with the bean bag on the bottom of it?
Aye Fred. Very hi-tech :)
Alex
I just bought a few of these trays Alex. I didn't even know such things existed a few weeks ago - :lol: - they are great, dead stable.
As mentioned when your fly tying gear is not handy, by the time I get the wee one of to bed I havent got any energy left to get started, but if its set up then I might have a couple of flies in me. I was running out of flies when fishing the last few seasons and was lucky to find any fly to fish with never mine having a choice to make.
As I'm trying to organise will be good to to get ideas from others, one idea I've had come from tying offshore. When faced with a desk that has one drawer underneath but no lip to attach clamp type vice which I use (those who use pedestal base wont have this problem) I opened the drawer which then allows the clamp to be attached. After tying some flies I decided that this was actually a really useful feature as the waste material goes in the drawer, you can store the tools and materials in the drawer when finish, shut the draw and everything is tidy and out of sight. All you have to do is clear the drawer out once in a while.
If you have space for a set up like Freds then your sorted !
Quote from: Colliemore on March 21, 2013, 08:53:13 AM
by the time I get the wee one of to bed I havent got any energy left to get started, but if its set up then I might have a couple of flies in me. I was running out of flies when fishing the last few seasons and was lucky to find any fly to fish with never mine having a choice to make.
In the same boat as you on both counts! :lol: Tied next to nothing last winter so was scrabbling around for allsorts of stuff when I did make it out fishing.
I saw a nice and simple design in a similar thread on another forum and ripped it off using the leftovers from a shelving project. It's pretty handy as I can haul it down from aforementioned shelves and then stick it back up out of reach of little hands when I'm finished. The back is blanked off with a bit of hardboard and I can pack a fair bit of gear in under all the bobbins.
[attachimg=1]
Quote from: Guddler on March 21, 2013, 10:28:02 PM
It's pretty handy as I can haul it down from aforementioned shelves and then stick it back up out of reach of little hands when I'm finished.
Good set up Guddler and I like this approach if you dont have the space for a set up like Freds, just now I dont have a shelf big/high enough, but that could change :?
Now I'm packing the tools and materials back into a fishing box and putting a pad lock on :)
This box just holds what I'm currently working on with other boxes kept in another room well out of reach.
I like that set up of Guddler's too. Very practical.
My Setup is almost identical to Freds however, no photo for now as my wife would never forgive me if a posted a photo of that room without first giving her notice so she could hoover and polish the already hoovered and polished surfaces :roll:
What I like about the permanent set up is I can nip in on impulse and tie just one fly if I feel like it. If I had to set everything up every time it would not be worth the effort. You do need the space though and not having a moaning wife also helps massively. :lol:
I've seen tackle shops with less fly tying gear. That is disgustingly tidy :)
Alex
Quote from: Alan on March 24, 2013, 02:00:27 AM
i'm of the opinion that making flies gradually destroys your ability to catch fish, initially its just a useful distraction but it quickly develops into a dependency on the new, before long your depending on the fly, blaming the fly, needing a different fly...another fly different from all the ones before..the one that will change your luck, it becomes a form of gambling that makes you believe its the fly that everything depends on.
break free fly makers, you got enough of them now :lol:
There's many a true word spoken in jest :8)
Alex
Quote from: Alan on March 24, 2013, 02:00:27 AM
i'm of the opinion that making flies gradually destroys your ability to catch fish
There is more than a grain of truth in that. Too many flies = too many variables. No one
really needs more than a handful of patterns.
On the the other hand do you seriously believe Bob Wyatt would have been as influential had he just bought his flies?
Alan
That is some set-up!
The character "Jimmy Eagan" is not partly based on you, is it? :biglaugh;
A.
Alan,
That looks like a shop that does tying lessons rather than a private set-up.
Note the three low-mid price vices, plus the chairs set around a curved table.
The table looks like it could be adapted very easily for Blackjack!
My stuff is squeezed into a cupboard that holds my CH boiler, major pain when the boiler needs a service.
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3432/3375807053_8703fdef08_z.jpg)
I hadn't realized Loomis make boilers. :lol:
Quote from: admin on March 24, 2013, 12:37:17 PM
I hadn't realized Loomis make boilers. :lol:
:D bet they'd be bloody expensive if they did!
:makefun
Quote from: Alan on March 24, 2013, 02:00:27 AM
i'm of the opinion that making flies gradually destroys your ability to catch fish, initially its just a useful distraction but it quickly develops into a dependency on the new, before long your depending on the fly, blaming the fly, needing a different fly...another fly different from all the ones before..the one that will change your luck, it becomes a form of gambling that makes you believe its the fly that everything depends on.
break free fly makers, you got enough of them now :lol:
I'm of the opinion that taking casting far too seriously means you catch less fish as you end up spending valuable fishing time fannying about in public parks casting bits of wool at hoops :tongue2
:roflmao
Quote from: paulr on March 24, 2013, 04:39:44 PM
I'm of the opinion that taking casting far too seriously means you catch less fish as you end up spending valuable fishing time fannying about in public parks casting bits of wool at hoops :tongue2
Hey, steady on! I'm getting quite fixated and fond of casting the bit of fluff on a pond, you mean this is not it? Damn :lol:
Tried casting instruction years ago, he kept going on about twelve o clock, one o clock. My temper flaired as I suspected he was having an affair with my wife. Every time i goto the river all I hear is be home by twelve o clock, one o clock, 6 O clock....blah blah blah. :crap
I keep my fly tying gear in Aberdeen as I have more spare time there during the week than I do at home at the weekend. I had intended making a fly tying station to keep all my bits and bobs tidy as it tends to get a bit messy once I start but other things took priority.
It was my wife who first suggested getting a unit to house it all in. I think it was mainly because she was sick of seeing the stuff spread over the kitchen table when she came up to Aberdeen for a wee visit/inspection. I had an eye on a roll top desk which a mate of mine was talking about throwing out but his wife could not make up her mind what she wanted to replace it.
I managed to pick up a decent sized unit with two large drawers at the bottom which hold all my stuff in boxes of various sizes. I also bought a sliding shelf which was originally designed for a computer keyboard and was to be slung underneath a desk unit. I bolt the vice onto the shelf which slides into the cupboard when not in use and I can clear away the feathers and fluff away in seconds if need be. The surface of the sliding shelf is non slip foam which is ideal for keeping stuff in place when it's moved into its storage position.
I have also installed a page holder inside the unit for holding sheets with fly patterns or resting a book against.
The cupboard came with a handy hole cut in the back which takes the plug and cable for my mag-light so there was no need for hacking it to bits to get the cable through.
One thing I still intend to do is to make some kind of tool posts for the bobbin holders, whip finish tools etc. I will also install clips on the inside of the main working area to handle packets of dubbing etc. which I use on a regular basis.
A couple of years ago a friend of mine lost his Grandfather who had not only been an avid fisherman and fly tyer but had decided in his last few years to try and empty the Glasgow Angling Centre of its entire stock of chenille's, hooks, feathers and all sorts of other bits of fluff. Knowing I was a trout man my mate picked out all of the bits and pieces which he could not use himself for his Salmon flies and brought it all into work in various plastic bags over a period of a few days.
The variety of stuff I inherited from him was incredible and will certainly see me through to my end although I still buy odds and ends to keep up with the latest trends and fads of the tying world.
The unit sits in the corner of my kitchen and the only give away is the chair which sits in front of it. I invested in a decent chair a few years ago when my back was at its worst and would act up if I was sitting hunched up even for a short time.
The project is still classed as work in progress as I try to refine the set up but no doubt I'll get there in time for the main tying season starting in October.
Billy
Hi Billy
Looks like a great setup !