By Norvise ambassador Brian Davenport 

​Congratulations on your new purchase. Hopefully you also bought a Norvise Automatic Bobbin as well.  If you haven’t- you should go do that right now!  The two go together like peanut butter and jelly.  The only way to get the full potential of the Norvise system is to have both the Norvise and the Norvise Automatic Bobbin

There is a bit of a learning curve with the Norvise, but there are some things you can do to shorten the curve tremendously! 
 
First things first, start by watching the video that came with your Norvise to see how the system works.  If your brand new to fly tying this will be a great help and you will learn a lot. If you’re a seasoned tier, this will show you how to use the system, and how it differs from your prior setup. 
(to see the video Brian is talking about click HERE)

After watching the video, I sat down behind my Norvise and got to work. 
 
Now a Norvise Automatic Bobbin is a special tool that you will learn to love!   In the video, Norm demonstrates how to wrap the thread around the leg of the bobbin, to provide adequate tension.
Here is a little trick to help with that.  Once you have the thread through the tube on the bobbin, attach it to the thread post across from your vise.  Do this by placing a few wraps of thread around the button.   At this point, your bobbin will be hanging from the button on the thread post.  Make sure the bobbin is oriented with the thread coming off the bobbin towards you. With your thumb, push the thread through the legs of the bobbin, and catch it with your finger on the back side. Bring it down, around the spool.  Do this twice and then the tension is set.  This helps so that you don’t accidentally pull the thread back out of the bobbin-- and once you’re done it is already secured to the post.    

During the learning curve, this will be something you do quite a bit of!  Part of the learning curve is to make sure when you cut your thread, to use your hand to put tension on the bobbin hub, so that it doesn’t zip the thread back through.   It will happen-so just prepare for it!  After a few times of having to rethread your bobbin, you’ll get the muscle memory down to do it and then you will do it without even thinking about it.
 
One of the things I missed when watching the video, is which way you spin the vise.  It seems pretty straight forward, but I had a few issues with my flies until I watched the video a second time.  If you watch carefully, Norm spins the vise towards him, rather than away from him. When I really thought about how I used my old vise and wrapped the thread on the hook, it makes sense.  You need to turn the vice toward you so that it will wrap the thread away from you like on your old vise.  Small detail, but easy to miss. And can make your first few interactions on your new vise frustrating if you don’t get it right.

Learn to tie a half hitch.  The half hitch is your best friend when using the Norvise system. If you break your thread, it will save your fly from completely unraveling. It will also help when you use the vise for other techniques such as dubbing.
 
Also, when you go to move the bobbin off the thread post, be sure to keep enough tension on the thread, so that your material doesn’t unravel.
 
One final thing— materials go on the hook very easy with the Norvise—sometimes too easy! So it is very easy to crowd the hook eye.   If you start your thread in the spot where you want your materials to end 

Brian gives some sound advise in this article about the vise and the bobbin. Hopefully this will shorten the learning curve with your new Norvise. Till next time...


                                                                                                                                                                Tight Lines, 

​                                                                                                                                                                    Tim 

This is a very proud moment for us here at Norvise. We are honored that our new Magnum Brass Hubs have been chosen for an Editors Choice Award from Fish Alaska Magazine. Here is what they wrote; 

Norvise Magnum Hubs are bigger, thus 40% heavier than standard hubs, and they spin a little longer and with more momentum than the standard hubs. Our tester has used these for the past several months and comments he doubts he will go back to the standard hubs. All three Norvise jaw configurations will fit in Magnum Hubs.

We are so humbled that one of our products have been chosen to receive this award. It is really cool for Norvise to have received this award. You have probably heard me say this before, machining is the best trade in the world! In what other career can you take an idea from your head, draw it on a computer, turn raw material into a finished product and then win an award for it. I am so proud to be able to do just that. 

Thank you to Fish Alaska Magazine for choosing us for this award. It really means a lot to us! 

​       High Country Fly Fishers, Utah’s chapter #599 of Trout Unlimited, has been serving Summit and Wasatch counties since 1989. Recently the club found itself looking for a new monthly meeting location. We were welcomed by the Deer Valley Lodge and manager Anthony Bartholomew.
 
Mickey Anderson owner of Fish Tech Outfitters and a local T.V. personality on KSLOutdoors would be our first presenter. Dave Allison past president, and Norvise ambassador, was asked to do the tying presentation. Dave demonstrated the Purple Chubby Chernobyl Ant and a Hippie Stomper on his Norvise Legacy. The meeting was well attended with 52 members. I would have to say, High Country Fly Fishers has found a new home. 

In this video Norvise ambassador Brittany Davenport of Hackles and Hurl shows us a cool hair wing Steelhead pattern. I really like this video for many reasons. First Britt does a fantastic job of explaining what she is doing during each step. This is something I believe is lost in a lot of today's videos. It seems, instead of teaching, many of today's video posters have adopted a "look at me" mentality and they forget the instructional part of tying videos. There are also several instances here where the Norvise and it's rotary function is used perfectly. Great video Brittany,  thank you for sharing it with us. 

Here is a simple yet effective pattern from Norvise ambassador John Schultz. John is a stillwater trout junkie. That concept is so foreign to me as we don't really have Trout in stillwater out here in Delaware. I can see this pattern fitting in in multiple situations; Trout, Smallmouth, Largemouth, Steelhead, basically anything that eats Minnows. 

Awesome job John, thank you for sharing this with us. I am going to have to get out there and fish those stillwater fish with you sometime. Till next time...

​                                                                                                                                          Tight lines - Tim 

This is another fantastic video sent in by Norvise ambassador Dave Allison. Exceptional video work here allow you to really see some of the techniques Dave it using to build this pattern. There will be a few of these in my box for sure. Sit back, relax and enjoy the Film Critic. 

 This popped up on one of our social media platforms last week. When I read it I was moved by the message and by how well it was written. I immediately asked Keith if I could post it. He was gracious enough to say yes, so here you go. 
The Muddler Minnow, by Keith Hendrickson 

​When I was a kid, we had a small pond down near the house. Pop had a fly rod and a few flies. One was a muddler minnow. Mainly pop and my brother used that rod. It was too complicated for me. I remember that pop bought a Herter's Fly Tying Kit. It had a poor excuse of a vise but it got by. The tying material was anything from some small popping bug corks to some brightly dyed chicken feathers. We kids quickly used up all the good materials including the tying thread....so we would raid mom's sewing thread. Gawd we made some ugly flies. Seems like I remember that muddler minnow being about the best fly pop had. He caught pickerel, bass, bream...you name it...if it was in that pond, he caught it on that fly. I can recall that when that fly got totally torn up, we tried to repair it with some of mom's sewing thread. Once I got my own fly rod...a whole other story...I would save my yard mowing money and ride my bike up to the hardware store to buy a fly kit. They came with about a dozen different flies, one of which was a muddler minnow. All the rest were about useless to me...that muddler though...… So here's to killer flies that rank high in your memory. The Muddler Minnow.

For this weeks post I have chosen a video by Norvise Ambassador John Schultz. As the weather cools my mind and thoughts change from Smallmouth and worm water species to Trout and ultimately Steelhead through the winter months. John and his buddy Dave Allison (also a Norvise ambassador) spend a lot of time chasing Trout in the still waters of their home area. Still water Trout fishing has always intrigued me. I have never done it, and I want to learn more about the tactics and tricks for catching Trout in still water. 

IN this video John shows us a very simple, yet effective Damsel Fly  pattern. I really like the way he blends the 2 body materials to get the taper or silhouette he is looking for, good stuff. Also, you just gotta love "box filler patterns". Flies that are effective that you can crank out in a hurry after a long day of fishing. 

We will be posting more videos in the coming weeks. If you have something you think you might like to see let me know, I will see if I can get one of our guys to shoot a video of a particular pattern or technique. 

That was a great video, Thanks for sharing it with us John. Till next time...

                                                                                                                                                    Tight lines - Tim 

Recently our friends Rob Giannino of the "Fly Fishing Journeys" podcast and Tim Cammisa of Trout and Feather recently took a trip to fish the North Platte River in Casper WY. Rob's podcast Fly Fishing Journeys is a fantastic place to hear some of the great names in our sport. If you attended any of the "Fly Fishing Shows" last you probably heard Rob and a guest live casting right there at the show. Tim Cammisa is a master fly tyer and his You Tube channel, Trout and Feather is jam packed with videos of fly patterns and tying, Fishing and product review. Tim did a fantastic, in-depth review of the Norvise system back in 2016. You can see that review HERE. I have watched this review and I believe it to be one of the fairest, and best reviews on the Norvise out there. We look forward to working with Tim and Rob more in the future. 

So, take a look a their Wyoming adventure.