Stream side vice kit.......

[Joe Billingsley]

I think it is a fun idea but I can just imagine trying to fight the wind. I have enough trouble in my dining room with no wind.

Joe

[Ray Kunz]

The vise is a version of a Croyden from Britain. I have a couple I bought from Eric Leiser about 45 years ago.
The original did not have the wood screw at the bottom for screwing into a board or log but were strictly for hand-held use.
I use mine once in a great while just to check myself out at age of 87 I'm on the downhill slope.. I never did reach the level of Lee Wulff in just holding the hook barehanded.
The "kit" idea is fine, if you want to spend the time, but why not simply screw the vise into a piece of nearby wood and be done with it?

[Ed_D]

Cabelas has a small box kit for about $30. Unless you just want to put something together.

I have the Cabelas kit and I have used it on several trips to Gates Lodge for MiFIs. If you go this route, be prepared for a little frustration.

First you need to open it up and get familiar with it before you go. If you don't like the scissors/bobbin holder/whip finisher/etc... it is good to know before you try to start tying flies. I always take at least two extra pairs of scissors and several bobbin holders. If you don't mind them rattling around. you can dump several extra tools in the case, once you have removed a few fluid (?) ounces of the grease. (see below) If you fear for your tools, some cheap foam or felt from a store like Michaels might cradle your tools and set your mind at ease.

Whoever puts together these kits appears to have descended from an old soldier who worked in coastal artillery, known casually as the "Cosmoliners" after the goop with which they liberally slathered their artillery. My kit, and others I have seen, have a monstrous glob of grease around the socket into which the vise is placed. That has to go right off the bat. Be aware that you vice will slowly rotate around so every few flies it will have to be repositioned. That can be frustrating for some. I tied flies from about size 6 down to 18 or 20 on that vise. It is not a wonderful vise. It is a cheap-<expletive deleted> vise. But it was a tolerable vise for tying a dozen or two flies at a session.

To address a separate point, about carrying the right hackle etc... Metz has some small packs containing a small patch of one or more capes of various sizes and colors. You can fit about a dozen of those packs into a bag that would contain a single Bugger Pack from Whiting. Be Warned! You will need another source of tailing material. Spade feathers are utterly lacking in these postage stamp hackle patches.


Regards,
Ed

[foambug65]

I do concur - I fish when on stream, river , pond, it just looked neat an I do carry some tying stuff when I travel, " jic" ,
I still fish to close my brain off ,,, an yes to git a lil closer to God - still it was pretty cool device . An if I was a paid " pro fisherman " I would almost certainly ... It just had that " diy cool factor" an thanks for all the good stuff