5 Favorite Tying Essentials

First up, I’ve been spending a ton of time with resin, and my Loon UV Bench Light has been a game-changer. This is the big daddy, the most expensive one in their lineup, but man, is it worth it. It cures your Loon UV resins in a flash, which is crucial when you’re working with colored stuff like I often do. And for your Solarez needs? Seconds, that’s all it takes. If you’re doing a lot of thread finishes and building up heads, this thing is an absolute must. For years, I relied on one of those older lights – I think it was Clear Cure Goo? I had their light for like a decade. But when this Loon light came out, I snagged it, and it’s been a total upgrade. If you’re serious about tying with resins, I highly, highly recommend investing in this Loon UV Bench Light.

Moving on, let’s talk about clamps. I see all these fancy, expensive clamps hitting the market – the Swiss Tools, the Mark Petitjean tying tables with built-in clamps. If you don’t want to drop forty or fifty bucks on those, well, you’re in luck because About Trout is about to give you a hack! All you need is a block of closed-cell foam, like this, and a razor blade. Slice it up, and voila! What’s great is you can take your CDC feathers, push them down into the slit, and it’ll fold them perfectly (hopefully it shows up on this GoPro!). Another thing I absolutely love are these Stonfo Clips, the one-inch size. You get two for eighteen bucks, and I use them constantly. My main use is for this: pinch the feather, pull it out – it’s pinched and folded, ready to cut the stem and throw it in your dubbing loop. The other reason I keep a second one on my bench is for production tying. When I have lots of long strands of material going from pattern to pattern or fly to fly, I’ll just use this to crimp those materials and keep them neatly off to the side. G2G – good to go!

Next on the list, I’ve really been digging this Loon All-Purpose Bobbin. I have the Ergo version too, and while it’s comfortable (especially for my bigger hands, as you can see), the tube is really long for my preference. I think it’s because I’ve had this bobbin since I was twelve. This is the exact bobbin I started tying on, and I love the Loon All-Purpose because it’s the same size. I mean, I’ve tied thousands and thousands of flies with this thing. It’s kind of nostalgic, the feel of it. It’s got that shorter tube, so I can get right on top of the flies, choke up on it. So yeah, really, really been digging this Loon All-Purpose Bobbin.

And last but certainly not least, something I’ve truly been loving is Semperfli Nano Silk. Seriously, don’t buy it… because this is all you’re going to want to tie with! Semperfli and Anna Stokes are awesome. Using their 18/0 thread has made my flies so much cleaner. You can crank on it – it’s way stronger than my old favorite thread, UTC 70 (which I still use for their fluorescent colors). But this Nano Silk has replaced it; I mean, I tie with it almost every day now. It spins really tight for dubbing loops, allowing you to really refine your flies. And here’s another cool thing: if your thread breaks (like 70 Denier UTC sometimes does), you can come right behind it with that 8/0 Nano Silk, build up a quick whip finish, boom – you’re done! It’s a nice way to save your flies if you’re snapping thread. Semperfli Nano Silk: huge fan.

Wait a minute… one, two, three, four… oh no, we’re down one! The other thing that I really love (gotta count to five, it’s the challenge!) is my Opie ST Dubbing Spinner. The way I like to do my CDC collars is to put the CDC in a dubbing loop, spin it up with this thing. It’s really heavy, it’s hexagonal so it’s not going to roll off your tying bench. The other nice thing is it’s really well-made and heavy, which again helps create those really tight dubbing loops. If you can’t find this Opie ST dubbing spinner and you want to support a local fly shop, I think the Loon one is the exact same thing. The difference with the Loon one is there’s a ring, and that ring is helpful because after you twist up your dubbing loop, you can stick your finger in the ring, and it’ll make it easier to Palmer. But you know, I gotta stay tried-and-true to this Opie ST dubbing spinner. I paid full retail for this when I was living in Seattle – twenty-six bucks, worth every cent! And trust me, I abuse my stuff. So there you have it, guys – five things that I absolutely love that are getting me through this ty-pocalypse, I guess. See you guys on the other side. Hope you liked that video! Remember to comment, like, and subscribe, and I’ll see you on the next video. One love!