Tying on the move....
It’s been a few weeks since I have really had the time to sit and tie a few flies a home, I have even missed my last 2 tying classes and might yet have to miss a 3rd & 4th week!
Work is incredibly hectic with long hours and lots of travel away from home. I have spent many nights in hotel rooms with only the 4 walls for company. So what should I do about it? A man has to tie… he has to fish… What stories will I have to tell my kids if all I do is work?
Well, I had plenty of hotel evenings to think about it, and it was down to one of two options… I either had to stop working and retire early, or drag my tying gear with me! After dreaming of early retirement for a while, I decided having over 35 years to go before I could claim my bus pass was a little early to throw in the towel. The only realistic answer was to do my tying on the move. But how?
I scoured the web for portable tying bags, all of which were way too large for my requirements. It had to fit inside my small work case, about the size of an average laptop bag, and I had nothing around the house other than the wife’s selection of handbags to chop up or borrow, so rather than risk doing that, it was a quick trip to the shops for some inspiration!
If you are like me, you will have a house full of tying bits and no chance of making it all portable. The wife tells me I have more dead animals in my office than the local pet cemetery! The only real criteria I had was that ‘portable’ meant that I could throw it in my bag and drag it around the office and hotels unnoticed. It didn’t have to be tailor made and cost a fortune, it just had to work.
More by luck than management, my wife had got me a lovely little Semperfli Bamboo vice for Xmas that comes in its own travel case. There was enough room to store a few more essential tools and still zip it up securely so that was one problem solved.… All I needed now was somewhere to store the materials!
After my trip out to the local shops, I had arrived home with a business card holder, small zip lock bags, a few other odds and ends including some great magnetic paper. After a few minutes of blue peter magic, I managed to cobble together a lovely little leather folder full of dubbing, hooks and other small items such as tungsten beads. I ended up placing the hooks & beads in the tiny sealable bags with a slither of magnetic paper to hold them securely… I then slipping them inside the business card holder alongside the dubbing… It works really well. In fact it’s pretty good if I may say so myself!
So now whilst packing my bag for work, I pack my selected patterns and materials and off I go!.. Granted I cannot fit everything in here, so my pattern selections are a little limited, but it makes those hotel evening pass with a little productivity to boot.
So what do you take away with you? Have you any similar ‘Blue Peter’ creations that you can share? Doesn’t have to be tying related!
- Jamie
