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Welcome back to the new NEFF. Take a break from Twitter and Facebook. You don't go to Dicks for your fly fishing gear, you go to your local fly fishing store. Enjoy!

What's your most useful piece of fly fishing gear

MACFLY

MACFLY

Too many streams too little time
As I have said before Im a bit of a gear junkie. Over the years I have bought some truly useless accessories but I have found a few good ones as well. One of my favorite is Hat Eyes. My vision went to hell about 2 years ago and these have made it possible for me to fish late into the evening when threading flies becomes a chore. I'm still contemplating vision correction surgery one day cause it's only going to get worse:) other useful tools I like are my hemostadts from rising fly fishing and my visor light for night fishing which is small but throws out adjustable levels of light as needed.

The most useless tool I found was the Ketchum release. So what do you guys like and hate:)
 
I think the Zinger is used the most used and most useful. I have them attached to my nippers and my forceps. Second is the Ketchum release as it save flies from getting mashed by forceps.

Once you start to catch fish you will come to see how useful it is. Or i will let you practice using it releasing my fish.
 
How do you fit it when the fish you catch are so small.
WBDluver said:
I think the Zinger is used the most used and most useful. I have them attached to my nippers and my forceps. Second is the Ketchum release as it save flies from getting mashed by forceps.

Once you start to catch fish you will come to see how useful it is. Or i will let you practice using it releasing my fish.
Click to expand...
 
sunsignarcher said:
Dude?

That ketchum tool is hands down my favorite tool. What's wrong with you man???
Click to expand...

Well it's a pretty long list. How much time do you have?
Seriously I never felt comfortable using it. Pair of curved hemostadts seek so much easier
 
+1 on the Hat Eyes. I kept my close vision till fairly late but when it goes it goes. Lasik won't help either, it is due to loss of flexibility in your eyeball, not an issue with lens curvature. I am also a fan of the hemostat/scissor combo, you can clamp, cut and use them on split shot.

Steve
 
My most useful piece if fly fishing gear is the fishing rod in my hand, or maybe the hook, perhaps the line...without these all other gear is useless, unless you need a fingernail trim, or a roach clip.....

wtf is a ketchum tool?
 
I have one of those...somewhere in one of my dusty tackle boxes from a past life......I should look for it...
 
When dry fly fishing, it has to be the Amadou Fly Dryer pad.. love that piece of fungus..

When going on long hikes/fishin WTS I love my camel back.

When nightfishing a headlamp with a low red light option so your night vision doesn't get f'd up.

When spinning deer hair - Fugly packer
 
Thursthouse said:
When dry fly fishing, it has to be the Amadou Fly Dryer pad.. r
Click to expand...

those work, huh? I might have to pick one up. I use the collar of my flannel fishing shirt or t-shirt. Better than frog's fanny IMO.

Favorite piece of gear…

Kind of hate all my gear, to be honest. Nothing's quite right.

There is a piece of gear I wish I had… maybe somebody's got a lead… A way of storing a two or three fly rig, like a dropper/dry, or a cast of wets, etc.

I generally use old tippet containers for this, or sometimes a film canister. The trick is winding the tippet so it doesn't tangle. But there must be a system out there for storing these.
 
I'll second the fungus. That shit really works.

for spinning hair GSP is the greatest thing ever.

mob, there's a box out there just for that. It houses what looks like elongated skinny pez dispensers in slots. Wrap your rig around it and snap it in the box. I saw it at Effingers, I'll see if I can turn it up online
 
leatherman or other multi tool of you choice. Always have one with me and never need another fishing tool. Also very useful when not fishing. But rod/reel/line/fly do come first.
 
It has all been and will always be. The most useful piece of equipment that a fly fishermen in his arsenal is his own brain.
 
Does'nt really count as a tool .....I think frogs fanny made catching more than one fish
on a given CDC pattern more attainable.....Before that product , cleaning and drying your CDC dry pattern was actually ridiculous, and even after spending some time on ur fly after a catch , the CDC would never fluff out and look rite....

Frogs fanny changed everything and made using CDC patterns a pleasure...:smiley-sniffer:
 
Thursthouse said:
Do parachutes or winged drys get smashed in these? Are they mainly just for nymphs?
Click to expand...

Yes. They don't accommodate larger-winged dries or extended body stuff. I rarely lose dry flies though, and as a result I don't carry nearly as many. I carry twice as many nymphs/wets.
 
For some reason I also have trouble using that damned Ketch and Release tool and gave up on it! Everything on my vest is essential but my top tool really is my wading staff because without it I wouldn't be able to negotiate a stream to use everything else. The Simms folding wading staff has saved my life, helped me climb steep banks and traverse tricky stream bottoms. It's the best $100 I ever spent.
 
Yah, I don't know how I got by w/o that staff. I just bought my kids the new simms staff for XMAS, waaaay nice.

you need two free hands to use the Ketchum tool most of the time. I've never realeases one like they do in the videos above because they're always netted. Tuck the net under ur arm or lay it down, hold the line taught with your left hand, slide the tool down the tight line with ur right hand to the fly and back it out.

forceps destroy flies this tool protects them and is much much easier on the fish.
 
MACFLY said:
As I have said before Im a bit of a gear junkie. Over the years I have bought some truly useless accessories but I have found a few good ones as well. One of my favorite is Hat Eyes. My vision went to hell about 2 years ago and these have made it possible for me to fish late into the evening when threading flies becomes a chore. I'm still contemplating vision correction surgery one day cause it's only going to get worse:) other useful tools I like are my hemostadts from rising fly fishing and my visor light for night fishing which is small but throws out adjustable levels of light as needed.

The most useless tool I found was the Ketchum release. So what do you guys like and hate:)
Click to expand...


I just picked up a up a pair of Hat Eyes yesterday. Just playin around w/them they look awesome. I've been using sunglasses w/cheaters. They work well but tinted magnifiers ain't worth a shit when it's dark n you need em most.
 
WBDluver said:
I think the Zinger is used the most used and most useful. I have them attached to my nippers and my forceps. Second is the Ketchum release as it save flies from getting mashed by forceps.

Once you start to catch fish you will come to see how useful it is. Or i will let you practice using it releasing my fish.
Click to expand...

I thought for sure DD Luver would have chosen his net with the suggestive handle, or has he moved on to bigger and better nets?
 
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