Ever thought a third hand would come in handy when tying flies? You’re not the only one. While there are many fly tying ‘material clips’ on the market designed to fix to your vise to hold single strand materials out of the way while tying, we’ve found the majority to do a less-than-adequate job of holding larger materials (marabou, ostrich, bunny, rhea, etc.) out of the way while finishing the fly.
However, while spinning flies alongside Deneki team member, Bryan Burke, we recently picked up a great (and extremely inexpensive) alternative; hair claw clips! That’s right, those plastic toothy-looking hair clip things used to hold ladies’ hair up.
Hair claw clips can be found in the cosmetics aisle of just about any grocery, drug, or corner store, well, anywhere. We’re told they hold hair up well. Admittedly we’re not sure if that’s true at all. What we do know is that the ‘mini’ sizes fix nicely to the neck of most vises and do a great job of holding materials out of the way while finishing a fly without crushing materials. They can also help cover a stinger hook to keep from sticking in your hand while tying as well.
They’re easy to find, they work really well, and you can pick one up for yourself and fourteen others for under five bucks. Worth a try, right?
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