The Sexiest Fly Tying Vise Ever? Meet the Special Edition Master Fly Tying Vise from Renzetti

I walked around the 2007 Fly Fishing Retailer in Denver for a full day. My feet were tired of the concrete floor and I thought I'd seen it all. I was ready to hit the town and kick back with industry types. As I was heading for the exit, I was stopped dead in my tracks, not by a new fly rod or a drift boat, but a fly tying vise.


The brochure was left on a table near the door that was littered with event information, schedules, and the like. When I first saw the advertisement for the Special Edition Master Vise from Renzetti, I wasn't entirely sure I was looking at a catalog aimed at fly tyers; the slick marketing brochure made the vise look more like a Porsche or a Bentley than a fly tying tool. I read the specifications and looked at the sleek lines, the matte black finish, the powerfully designed jaws. In a word, I was impressed.


After returning home, I thumbed through the pages of the brochure and just kept coming back to the Special Edition Master. Like many type-A saltwater fly tyers, I am a sucker for sexy design and solid engineering so naturally I had to get a Gamakatsu SC15 in the jaws of a Renzetti Special Edition Master Vise -- STAT.


The Renzetti Special Edition Master Fly Tying Vise

Retail Price: $729.95

Specifications:

- Design inspired by fly tying genius Bob Popovics
- SPECIAL EDITION non glare black finish
- Advanced rotary actuator (the independent positioning of the fly and crank arm affords total versatility in all rotary functions)
- Precision dual ball bearing rotary head
- True 360 degree rotation
- Adjustable rotary tension
- Adjustable, hide away material clip
- Helical cam operated jaw mechanism
- Solid brass bobbin cradle support
- Anti corrosion coated cam jaws
- Painted adjustable jaw hinge to accommodate the full spectrum of hooks
- Stainless steel stem

What’s the word . . .

Renzetti's Special Edition Master Fly Tying Vise is the king of saltwater fly tying vises. Period. This vise is smooth, versatile, tough, lightweight, and elegantly designed.

I set out to really put this vise to the test, so I sat down tied about 30 large saltwater streamers on 1/0 and 3/0 hooks. From start to finish of each fly, the vise responded brilliantly. The repeatability of its tension, hook after hook, wrap after wrap, was remarkable and its rotary action was silky smooth. There was plenty of room to work around the jaws and the adjustable arm and well-placed material clip were quite useful when I pulled out the really long yak hair to get some gnarly length with my baitfish creations.

After these saltwater offerings, I decided to tie up some Stimulators on #14 and #16 hooks. The vise was easy to adjust and held these smaller hooks with just as much solid power, giving me the confidence I needed to tie some killer bugs. I was impressed by the stability of the vise's base and overall construction -- it really did feel like driving a well-engineered sports car instead of a clunky truck or SUV.


Next up were the really small #20 midges. Again, the Special Edition Master performed flawlessly. I don't tie too many flies smaller than size 16 mostly because of the type of fishing I am usually pursuing, but I was pleasantly surprised by this vise's ability to securely hold a very small hook while leaving me room to actually produce a great fly!

From the first fly to the fiftieth, and in a range of hook sizes, the Renzetti Special Edition Master performed just as it should, and it looked great doing it!

Features . . .

Hard-nosed engineering and construction meet the functional elegance of great design in Renzetti’s Special Edition Deluxe Master Fly Tying Vise. This vise was inspired by the wildly popular fly tyer Bob Popovics and is quite simply the finest vise available today. The advanced rotary actuator of this vise allows for independent positioning of the fly and crank arm for maximum versatility at the bench, while its precision dual ball bearing rotary head is smooth fly after fly. Rotary tension is adjustable and the material clip can be positioned away from the working space near the jaws. The Special Edition Deluxe Master takes a full range of hook sizes and its anti corrosion coated cam jaws ensure durable performance. On top of it all, the black finish looks sweet and reduces glare, letting your focus on your fly, not unwanted reflected light.

Fit and Finish . . .

This vise flat out performs and has the sleek and bold design to back it up. The matte black finish on this vise not only gives it the pure aesthetic of serious machinery, but it also serves a function: it absorbs bright and reflective UV rays, the bane of saltwater fly tyers everywhere! The brushed gold accents smack luxury and the quality machining of all of the moving parts is remarkable.

Reliability and Durability . . .

This vise is bomb-proof, a fact that becomes evident as soon as you open the box and begin to assemble it at or workspace. The durability of the black finish is yet to be fully realized, but if Renzetti's prior products are any mark of the Special Edition Master Vise's long-range quality, fly tyers everywhere should be producing bugs by the billions on these fantastic vises for years to come.

With a solid lifetime warranty backed by Renzetti, the $729.95 sticker shock should soften a bit. Renzetti is a family operation and their customer service is quite good.

Overall Rating . . .

Renzetti's Special Edition Master Fly Tying Vise truly is the sexiest vise to ever hit the market. There are certainly vise options designed wholly for lasting durability and there are those constructed purely for aesthetic staisfaction, but the Special Edition Master is sexy because it marries these design approaches seamlessly and elegantly. The price tag may turn some tyers off, but for those who bite the bullet, the investment should be well worth it.

Renzetti Special Edition Master Fly Tying Vise

Pros: The smooth full-rotary action, solid construction, elegant design, and strong jaws do more than offset its hefty price tag.

Cons: Checking in at a stiff $729.95, the Special Edition Master Vise is an investment.

Bottom Line: If you tie lots of flies or are heavy on saltwater flies, this is the vise for you. In fact, spend the $729.95 today, and you'll probably never buy another vise again.


Evan LeBon is a regular contributor to beyondthebug.blogspot.com

photos in this post used by permission from flyfishingoutfitters.com and lelandflytying.com

Beyond The Bug | Fly Tyer Profile: Keith Westra

It was 1993 and I was a freshman at Humboldt State in Northern California. I lived in a dorm nestled beneath towering redwoods with a view of the Pacific. I learned the art of fly fishing – instead of attending freshman orientation – from Matt, another guy that lived in my dorm. We fished Coffee Creek near the Trinity River and needless to say a spark was ignited.

In that same year, I received a fly tying kit for Christmas. Like most generic fly tying kits, it lacked the appropriate materials and had really low end tools, but heck, it meant the world to me. I still remember my first fly. I tied a #14 Light Cahill, and I remember how frustrating it was trying to follow along with the book and its poorly taken black and white photos. But it was a start, a start that fueled a passion just as big and great as fly fishing itself.

Now, in 2008, I can look back and see how far I've come and how I still learn more and more each time a sit down at a vise and make the first wrap. For me tying is such a huge part of the sport and it sometimes occupies more of my time than fly fishing itself. Whether I'm tying up some Charlies for my next bonefishing trip or spinning some sweet deer hair poppers for a trip to the Sacramento River Delta, the tying drives me to become better – I don’t want to simply perfect my flies, but I want to become more imaginative and creative in my designs.

I often lie in bed, assembling materials and the elements of a new fly in my head. Sometimes I can’t sleep because I’m trying to solve the next problem or puzzle in fly tying. How do I make it float better? What can I use to make it swim better? Is this new material a more durable choice than what has been used in the past? Take more time looking in the craft store... Maybe that glue I saw in the hardware store would be better than the last stuff I tested! Piecing the puzzle together is rewarding, and probably what keeps me coming back for more time at the vise.

As a fly tyer I pride myself in continuing to hone my outside-the-box thinking. I don’t want to just add or take something away from an existing pattern, I want to make it completely different. With my own fly designs, I want to re-imagine the craft.

I've spent the last 3 years developing a new series of tube flies for steelhead. Umpqua Feather Merchants has picked them up and they'll be marketed for 2009. These tube flies are unique, something I considered getting a patent on, not just a variation on a variation of any existing pattern. Ultimately, this is what fly tying means to me, taking it to the extreme, coming up with something new, getting out a set of Prismacolor markers and sketching out the idea before I ever sit down at my vise. It means giving away patterns I spent long hard hours developing and tying. Often I'll hand off my creations just to see if they work for pike and muskie for a Leland Fly Fishing Outfitters customer in Norway. Recently I tied up some sweet crabs that helped a Yucatan-bound buddy catch his first permit on fly tackle. These are the rewards of my work and what pushes me to be a better tyer and fly designer.

Keith Westra is a regular contributor under the name "on the fly" to beyondthebug.blogspot.com

photos in this post by Ian McNemar, a regular contributor to beyondthebug.blogspot.com

Striper Fishin'

This is a Bug I originally tied up for surf fishing in Hawaii, and it worked great for jacks. The fly was brought to the west coast by a old timer form the east coast, so I'm guessing it was originally tied for stripers. This last weekend I used them in the Sacramento River Delta to catch stripers with Keith, Evan, Shunji, and Ian. No stripers were found. Though I did land a large mouth bass with this yak bunker fly.

I tied this one on a size #2 811s TMC from Tiemco. The goal of this fly is to layer white buck, white yak, white buck, blue yak, red yak, eyes, and color the side stripes with a Prismacolor marker! Then your ready to fish. I have found that this fly is a very effective patter for just about any water anywhere, and it casts great because of the low-weight materials used in its construction.

This is a Clouser with a great color combination (thanks to Josh Frazier). White buck, grey buck, and purple buck.

photos by matt "mj" jones, a regular contributor to beyondthebug.blogspot.com

Designing a Fly Tying Blog

de·sign
- verb (used with object)
to plan and fashion artistically and skillfully.
to intend for a definite purpose: a fly designed to catch FISH.

Fly tying is a millennium-old angler’s practice that weds form and function with the ultimate goal of fooling hungry fish. In the earliest times, simple flies were tied with just a few materials; fur, feathers, and silk were wrapped around a roughly cast iron hook shank to resemble the aquatic insects that grayling and trout call breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The earliest Macedonian fly fishers were probably more interested in catching their own dinner than casting their flies for sport (quite a foreign concept to us moderns, wrapped up in our own recreational pursuits of catch and release game fishing). Even so, the very oldest fly patterns served a purpose and were deliberately created and constructed to achieve a goal.

Over time, the fly angler’s ultimate goal has certainly shifted and morphed. We now tie and cast flies to just about anything that swims. The world’s now got flies for tarpon, sharks, muskie and pike, bass poppers, giant squid patterns for stripers and billfish, and funky feathered creations for steelhead and salmon. We truly have gone beyond the bug.

For all of this progress and nuance, the fly essentially remains the same: it’s a highly designed piece of functional art – yes, art – and Beyond the Bug should be thought of as an online art gallery of sorts. We’ve created a clean and modern space where the ideas behind the function and beauty of the world’s very best fly designs can shine.

As we move forward, following the trends of today’s new generation of fly tyers, we’ll show you interesting tying ideas, post reviews of materials (new and old), highlight tyers we think are “on to something good,” share step-by-step tying videos for some of our favorite flies, and above all, we’ll fill these crisp, digital walls with the angler’s art: good flies.

photos in this post by Ian McNemar, a regular contributor to beyondthebug.blogspot.com