The Best Fly Tying Vise In 2024: Top 5 Tested & Reviewed

For the avid fly fishermen, there are few things as enjoyable as tying your flies. Doing so allows you to customize each fly to your liking, which typically bolsters an angler’s confidence.

There is something truly magical about boating a trout that has been caught on a hand-tied fly. However, a certain amount of gear is necessary to begin tying your flies, including a fly vise.

Premium fly tying vises feature only the most durable components and are highly adjustable, allowing an angler to arrange every facet of their fly tying effort as they see fit.

Best Fly Tying Vise For The Money

Best Fly Tying Vises 2024

Here’s the top 5 fly tying vises that can help you customize your next fly:

1. Peak Rotary Vise
2. Griffin Spider Vise
3. Griffin Montana Mongoose Vise
4. Atlas Rotary Fly Tying Vise
5. Colorado Anglers 2001 EZ Rotary Vise

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Buyers Guide: What You Need to Know

C-Clamp vs Pedestal

Fly tying vises come in two main types of mounting configurations; C-Clamp and Pedestal. Each of these two styles carries its merit, as well as disadvantages. Therefore, to select the option which best suits your needs, it is essential to understand the nuances of each configuration. 

C-Clamp

A C-clamp style fly tying vise clamps to a table or desktop, serving as its mount point. This vise style is relatively easy to set up and is easy to store away for the season when your fly tying duties are complete. C-Clamp Style vises are also lightweight by design, making them relatively simple to maneuver and anchor in place.

Pedestal

A pedestal-style fly tying vise features a flat base, which you can place upon any smooth, level surface. This means that you can use a pedestal vise on a table, counter, or even a boat seat. This can be pretty handy, especially when traveling for the fishing trip of your dreams. Pedestal vises also tend to be easy to carry, making them ideal for use on the road.

In the vast majority of cases, the task of selecting which style of vise to purchase comes down to a matter of personal preference. While some anglers quickly flock to pedestal-style vises, others remain very fond of C-Clamp vises and feel that they offer a superior range of adjustment.

Fixed Jaw vs Rotary

Another important consideration when selecting fly tying vises for purchase is choosing a fixed jaw or rotary model. While many anglers automatically assume the rotary fly tying vise is superior to its fixed jaw counterpart, 360-degree rotation is not always necessary to tie a quality fly. In any event, every angler should understand the differences between each style of the vise.

Fixed Jaw

As its name would suggest, the fixed jaw vise is completely stationary and offers no degree of rotation. Therefore, when set in place, an angler must work around the vise itself, rather than simply rotating their vise to achieve the exact work angle, which is preferred. While a rotary fly tying vise is undoubtedly more efficient in access, quality flys can indeed be tied on a fixed jaw vice with a bit of practice.

Rotary

A rotary-style fly tying vice allows an angler to manipulate the angle at which their fly sits. This provides a greater amount of access when attempting to arrange each fly as intended. While a rotary vise will not make you better at fly tying, it will allow you to be more efficient in your endeavors and possibly save you a little time along the way.

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Questions & Answers

A fly vise is used to support the hook of a fly, thereby allowing an angler to work around this hook as they see fit. To get started tying flies, you must first set up a vise. To do this, begin by adjusting the height of your vise. Ideally, the vise needs to be set at a comfortable level when tying is in progress, whether from a standing or sitting position. Using the swivel, adjust the holding jaws to a level that is only a short distance above the desktop clamp.

Next, you will open the jaws of your vise using the unit’s rotary shaft. Place your hook in line with the jaws of your vise, and tighten it in place, again using the rotary shaft to facilitate these adjustments. Before beginning work, it is crucial to verify that you are happy with the positioning of your vise. If anything appears as if it would impede progress, make any minor adjustment tweaks now.

Also worth mentioning is that your vise can be repositioned at any time during the fly tying process to achieve better results.

In the world of fly fishing, the debate continues as to whether or not fly tying is a worthwhile venture. While proponents state that tying flies is an excellent way to save money, others claim that you can save no true money over purchasing flies outright at a local retailer. So naturally, this begs the question, is fly tying worth it?

Purely from a financial standpoint, tying flies makes sense in an angler who fishes quite frequently. This is because one must expend a certain amount of money to procure all needed when jumping into the world of fly tying. Therefore, an angler who fishes regularly and typically goes through many flies in a given year will offset the purchase price of these materials far quicker than someone who only fishes 1-2 times a year.

However, the actual value of fly tying goes far beyond cost savings. There is little that brings as much excitement to a fly fisher as watching a rainbow trout strike a fly that they tied. This provides anglers with a sense of pride at a job well done and leaves one feeling even more determined to soldier on in their fly tying endeavors.