Fly Tying Kit?

[FlyGuyFromPa]

Hello everyone, and thank you for allowing me on such an amazing site with knowledge of the passion I fell in love with over this past spring. A friend of mine has been teaching me to tie my own flies, but the vice he loaned me (A tiny travelers vice) isn't all that great for tying. The hooks don't hold well in it, so I was wondering where I can get a cheap vice and tying tools. I'm on an extremely tight budget, so anything better than what I have now will be a tremendous help. I'm glad he taught me to tie while teaching me to fish. I would have spent a fortune on flies had it not been for that. Thanks in advance!

 

[Fishidiot]

Hi Flyguy,
Welcome to our online community - great to hear you've discovered the passion.

Now, in a few years, you can join all us fools in our twelve step program for hopeless addicts.

Anyway, there are some decent budget fly tying vises around. My first serious vise was an old Thompson Modal A that I tied literally thousands of flies with. You might look around on the innerwebs. Big box stores like Cabelas have decent vises for very reasonable prices. I used (still use) a Cabelas vise - don't know the model but it's a spring type Regal knock off and it performed flawlessly for years and I do a lot of tying including very large salt patterns. I think it cost about $40. The Cabelas catalog has vises that range from about $12 - $200.
We have a Swap Forum as well and there are usually some of our folks looking to sell vises as well.

 

[WildTigerTrout]

Fly Fishers Paradise in State College carries the Thompson "Pro" vice for $53.50.