Category Archives: Product Review

For the last month I’ve been able to finally experience what it’s like to tie on a Regal. The model I have been using is their latest, Regal Revolution. Regal Vises are IN-LINE rotary vises. It was very easy to unpack and put together right out of the box. The jaws on this particular vise are the Traditional Head. The other heads available are the Big Game Head and if you want a Midge Revolution, you can custom order it. The Stainless Steel Head is not available for the Revolution.

As most of you know that read FrankenFly on a regular basis, I tie all types of trout flies and big streamers for bass. I don’t normally go as large as pike size streamers. The largest flies I tie are for largemouth bass. The Traditional Head handled this without problems. The smallest hook I used was a size 16. The largest hook I used was a 1/0 Mustad 3366 and Gamakatsu size 1 B10S Stinger. I would suggest asking Regal to recommend what Head you should purchase depending on your tying style.

I think the two features that stood out the most were the holding capability of the jaws and the one arm operation of placing a hook in the jaws.

The power of the jaws are honestly top notch. I can really torque down when tying a streamer and the hook stays in place.

The one arm operation is just that. You squeeze the lever with one hand, place the hook in the vise and release the lever. Presto, you are ready to start tying! I can see where this would really help the speed of a commercial tyer.  You can switch hook sizes without making any adjustments at all. For example on the Traditional Head, you can go from a #22 to a #1/0 without making any adjustments.

The components of the vise are of good quality. There was nothing flimsy or weak about the vise. The rotary or rotating of the vise can be used by turning the brass handle. I adjusted the pressure with a knob and then I could just reach over and turn the brass handle to rotate my fly. It’s easy to adjust and I like that it isn’t a thin or small knob. Other adjustments can be made to the vise using Allen wrenches that are provided.

I have a Regal base for this vise. It’s the model with built-in pockets. It’s heavy duty metal and the pockets are handy to place small flies, beads, extra hooks, etc.

The one thing I didn’t like and was literally in the way, was the material spring near the jaws that is on top of the jaws of the vise. This gets in the way when you’re working with tails on your flies.

However, when I explained this to Michael McAuliffe of Regal he said, “We have redesigned the head so it will no longer have a post or material clip. We will have removable material clips available for purchase. This change will be effective Jan 2014.”

Don’t get me wrong, it can be worked around, but I’m glad to hear about the redesign.

After using the vise for myself, I can see why so many professionals choose a Regal as their main fly tying vise. It’s definitely a top of the line, quality vise, that deserves the reputation it has among professionals. I would highly recommend a Regal Vise for anyone looking for a new vise.

Please visit the Regal Vise website for more information.

New powders from Loon Outdoors are an interesting product for fly tyers. Interesting in a way that provides some customization of your flies. The Phosphorescent Fly Tying powder adds glow in the dark properties to your tying cements. The Pearlescent Fly Tying powder adds some flash or sparkle. While the Tungsten Fly Tying powder adds weight.

All of the new fly tying powders are compatible with all Loon cements and UV resins. They are also compatible with other brands of tying cements and UV cured resins. Speaking of resins, Loon has a new UV Fly Tying Kit that includes their UV Clear Fly Finish – Thin, UV Clear Fly Finish – Thick, and UV Power Light.

To help you when mixing , Loon has produced a Mixing Cup that suctions to smooth surfaces and will prevent product from clinging to the cup. As long as the product is cured, it should come away clean.

Here is a video explaining the mixing procedure when using the new powders.

In the near future, FrankenFly hopes to review these new products to provide you with a more in-depth, hands-on analysis.

New Loon Outdoors Website and Giveaways

Today, Loon Outdoors has just released their new website. In my opinion it is professionally designed and I especially like the products section. The smooth icons at the top of this section gives it a nice feel and makes navigation easy.

To celebrate the launch of the new website Loon is providing 4 weeks of giveaways! Go here on Facebook to enter!

The new UV2 products from Spirit River are very interesting. Before I was a fly tier and fly fisherman, I grew up as a bass angler with baitcasters and spinning reels. In that realm, bass anglers have already been using UV products. What peaks my interest about UV2 is that I feel it will give me another tool in my fly fishing arsenal to get the fish’s attention.

Spirit River’s Bill Black has led the study on the new UV2 products and consulted with well respected fly tier and fly fisherman Randall Kaufmann. Bill asked him about the effectiveness of his patterns in relation to his dubbing mixtures.

Randall had this to say, “”from what little we know it would seem plausible that fly recognition by fish consists of five “keys”: size, shape, color, animation and presentation. The more “keys” you offer, the higher your success rate. It is with all these thoughts in mind that I devise or select an imitation to fish. The Kaufmann Stone, in assorted colors and sizes, illustrates this strategy. The desired color of dubbing is achieved through a blend of many colors, thereby allowing fish to perhaps perceive a natural mottling “pattern”, realistic shade or to “see” a specific color. It is also a blend of multiple materials, which are chosen for their reflective, translucent and animation properties.” Hold a Kaufmann Stone up to the light. You can “see” any color that you look for. Such multi-color/material dubbing mixtures “come alive” in the water and, depending on light and water conditions, and other angling variables, can dramatically increase the “acceptance rate” of fish.”

When I read this, I completely agreed with Randall, because that’s what we do as fishermen all the time. We work on combining all of the things possible that might help us catch fish. We are always looking for more keys, as Randall said.

All of this UV information can be a little confusing. Basically Spirit River is combining both UVF and UVR processes and dying their UV2 products with this method. That’s why it’s called UV2. Now what is UVF and UVR you ask? I’ll refer to the documentation to briefly help explain.

UVF or Ultra Violet Fluorescent are what anglers/tiers know as the usual fluorescent tying materials which absorb light and will emerge back out in a stronger wave length we can view as brighter. Light colors of UVF will radiate under a black light and certain colors can be seen at very long distances both in and out of water. In addition, UVF can also be seen with a standard low strength UV light.

UVR or Ultra Violet Reflectance are the shorter wave lengths the human eye does not usually perceive. These are what we are primarily concerned

with because of their prevalence in the natural world. UVR reflects through a material or is emitted by the species and cannot readily be seen by the human eye unless very expensive equipment and filters are used.  What you can sometimes see under a UV light is a bluish purple tint on honest to goodness UV enhanced materials.  Many in our industry continue to claim it is UV when actually some of it is not. In addition many feathers and furs emit their own UVR signature and many common patterns used today will in fact emit some UVR.

Bill has worked closely with well respected world class dyer and fly tier Dave McNeese on this process. McNeese works intimately with insects and is a famous butterfly collector at the university of Oregon where he is in the process of classifying all species of moths, butterflies and beetles by their UVR finger print. He has just discovered two new species which were identified using UVR. So now that you know that, here is what is even more intriguing about UVR.

“The UVR spectrum is extremely common in the animal/insect world. Way more than you might think. This is how bees and butterflies find flowers and mayflies find mates.”

Bill Black adds this, “Also consider the many species of mayflies.  They must radiate a strong UVR factor simply because they have a extremely short time to find a mate then lay eggs. On hotter days the smaller flies may have less than 24 hours of flight time. In addition they are competing with other species in the same space so the UVR signature they give must be unique and strong. So it makes sense that nymphs, emergers, and adults tied with a UVR factor will allow an angler a distinct advantage.”

Bill has made an informative video explaining the UV2 products in a much better way and he even shows us what normal products look like compared to their UV2 counterparts. If you’re having trouble understanding all of this, the video really helps.

I’m not sure if I can say anything that hasn’t been said about Clear Cure Goo. What I thought I would do is explain my own experiences with the product and what I truly feel about it.

I never wanted to mess with epoxy, so I haven’t. As soon as I heard I would have to turn my fly continuously for longer than several seconds just to get the epoxy to dry evenly, I refused to try it. When I learned that I could accomplish the same with Clear Cure Goo without the trouble, I was excited to try it.

I’ve used the Brushable and the Tack Free Clear Cure Goo extensively and I’m convinced the stuff works and I’m completely happy with it. Here are a couple of things to remember when using Clear Cure Goo. When using the Tack Free it is better to use a thin coat if possible. It dries quicker and much more easily. Make sure when using your UV light you get as close as possible to the material. If you are holding your light about three inches away, your light is not able to function at its full capacity. Move it closer and it will do its job. I have not been able to achieve a completely tack free finish.

I have not had the chance to try Clear Cure Goo’s new Hydro yet, but I’m hearing nothing but great feedback about it. I’m hearing this from tyers that I trust know what they’re talking about. Hydro is a very thin material. If you watch the Clear Cure Goo video about it below, you can see just how thin it is.

It is also made to be flexible after it dries. I recommend watching the videos from Clear Cure Goo about the products you’re interested in. They are very informative and tell you a lot about the product. You can find them on their website.

One of the company’s strengths is they have 13 different flavors of CCG. This helps you use exactly what you want for a specific application. For example, I use the Brushable on my fly bodies for bonding purposes and I like that it seeps through the cracks. I use Tack Free on my thread behind the eye of the hook for a shiny good looking head.

I wanted to quickly mention the new eyes CCG came out with this year. I’ve used the stick-ons and the dumbbell eyes and love them both. The eyes on the Grandpa’s Chickenhawk fly pattern on my previous post below are Smoke Dumbbell Eyes and I love the look!

 

A new product on the fly tying market manufactured by Hareline Dubbin is Senyo’s Intruder Wire. Greg Senyo helped bring the product to market, hence the name. It comes in a standard size which is best for hooks 6 and larger and thin size that works best for 6 and smaller. Even though this is made to be wire for trailing hooks on Intruder style flies, it is great to use for articulated streamers. Most fly tyers have been using a product called Beadalon, but Senyo’s wire comes in 8 different colors to match the color of your streamer. I’ve already used it while tying and I like the flexibility and small diameter of the wire. The thread is able to grip the wire casing well too. I’ll definitely be switching to this as the bond between my streamer hooks. I was very happy to see the chartreuse color because I have a green articulated streamer that I tie a lot called Bernard’s Green Bomber, named after my grandpa. Below you can see how Senyo’s wire looks tied onto the hook shank.

I went ahead and quickly connected some blue Senyo’s wire to a Daiichi 2557 size 1 Intruder/Trailer hook so you could see what the wire was actually made for. The wire is stiff enough to hold the hook in place and doubled over the breaking strength is said to be 50lbs. The color will really make those steelhead flies pop! This is just one of the cool new products out this year from Hareline Dubbin. I’ll be reviewing more in the near future.