I tie most of my Tube flies using a Regal Revolution rotary vise. When I first began using the Pro Sportfisher Flexineedle to hold my tubes, I secured the tool with the vise jaws at an angle, and this is the configuration you will usually see pictured in You Tube videos and articles.
At some point I can not remember, I figured out that if I cut off a few inches at the back end of the Flexineedle, I could secure it in my vise with the head parallel to my fly bench. Doing so allowed me to rotate my vise and tie on all sides of the fly, including the underside of the fly.
This photo shows a ProSportfisher Flexineedle at top and a shortened Flexineedle at bottom. I simply cut off a few inches from the back of the needle with heavy duty wire cutters.
This photo shows a Pro Sportfisher Micro Tube and Hook guard mounted on the regular Flexineedle at top and the shortened needle at bottom.
This photo shows a tube fly mounted on a Flexineedle with the vise in the angle you usually see featured in a wide range of articles and videos.
This is what happens when you rotate your vise with the Flexineedle mounted in the vise if the head is positioned at an angle.
This is a tube fly mounted on a Flexineedle that has been shortened and mounted with a Revolution Series Regal vise positioned parallel to the fly bench.
This photo shows that the fly remains parallel to the fly bench when the vise is rotated. This configuration allows me to tie at any point around 360 degrees of the tube by simply rotating the vise.
I wanted to share this technique of shortening the Flexineedle in case it becomes useful to you, and wish everyone good times at the fly bench this and every season.
Jay Nicholas winter season 2016/17
Sometimes less is more