Problem with dumbbell eyes

[Xenopus 0]

I tied a bunch of Clousers and related flies over the winter and after a few hours of casting them in a lake all the color is coming off. I was hoping for some suggestions as to brands or types of eyes that would work better and not render the fly abut useless after one day.

 

[utyer 0]

Just use brass or tungsten hourglass eyes. They come in several colors. All painted lead eyes, will loose the paint as they hit things in the water. Easy to repaint. Or tie on the eyes, and add a thin coat of epoxy and let them dry before tying in the rest of the fly.

[vicrider 0]

Like Utyer said, I buy the eyes designed with flat sides. Then I stick glue-on eyes on them and put a coat of Crystal UV and lock them in. When you do this it also has the nice effect of giving flat eyes a bulging look and can be seen better from the sides. Don't worry about eye color, just get color you want without paint and do your own eyes on them. I've also tied up some big flies with BIG aluminum dumbbells that have very little weight to add but give a HUGE eye when sticking on eyes and covering them with Crystal UV or epoxy. I just have gotten to really like the UV cement versus epoxy. Instantaneous and tough.

[djtrout 0]

ditto both the comment on epoxy and brass/tungsten eyes.

I've gone to using dumbbell eyes with the sockets for gluing in prism or 3d eyes, then cover the eyes with epoxy. On my painted heads, since I epoxy my heads anyway vs head cement, I just cover the head with a thin layer of epoxy.

Oh, but please don't think your fly is useless; I have serious doubts that lack of prominent eyes really affects catchability of your clouser. Until you get around to re-painting just keep throwing it with confidence.

 

Also echo the comment about UV - I haven't used it yet but I bet it's a great fix. I might get around to it when the price of a UV light comes within budget.

 

A veteran fisherman's flybox often looks more like a mini-war zone than a gentleman's domain ...

[tidewaterfly 0]

Oh, but please don't think your fly is useless; I have serious doubts that lack of prominent eyes really affects catchability of your clouser.

 

Agreed! I sometimes paint or use a permanent marker to make them all black & coat them with epoxy. The fish don't seem to care either way. I like how the eyes look, but have caught plenty of fish on plain unpainted eyes too.

 

What the others have said about coating with epoxy or the UV cure stuff is about the best you can do to slow down the process of them getting beat up. My main issue had been lead barbells breaking. I've gone more to the brass & tungsten as the others also mentioned.

[flytire 0]

So what's wrong with using the plain old unpainted ones? They caught fish long before someone decided to paint them!

[tidewaterfly 0]

So what's wrong with using the plain old unpainted ones? They caught fish long before someone decided to paint them!

 

Exactly! Not a thing wrong with it!

[flytire 0]

whether you paint them, epoxy or uv resin coat them theyre gonna hit something and the coatings are coming off. none of these coatings are bullet proof

 

like tidewater says youre only slowing down the process of the coatings coming off

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

I use a ton of lead eyes in four different sizes. In some cases I don't paint the eyes at all (for bonefish bugs and others where I want a subdued appearance. In other patterns I really want the eyes to stand out so they're painted (with either a white, yellow, or red background and as large a black center as the eye size will support. I use an alkyd enamel (supposedly quick drying, but it's anything but quick drying....). After each paint the eyes (in a pair of threaded rods fixture) are baked for 20 minutes at 300 degrees to dry and harden them up. This is not something you'll ever do with your wife at home -and you'll want windows opened to vent out the fumes... when using an oven to bake out solvent based paints. The eyes will usually survive a fish or two before the paint begins to chip away -but they'll still catch fish as long as they're intact... Here a few photos - the first shows very small unpainted eyes on a Mitch Howell bonefish bug, the second shows painted eyes on a bonefish Clouser, next is the "fixture" I use to be able to handle large numbers of eyes for painting, last is the paint and the improvised tools I use to paint with...

[utyer 0]

If you do get into painting small batches, you already have a painting and drying rack (photo below.)

 

[Brian Myers 0]

Lead dumbbells get the snot knocked out of them. Any color comes off and the lead distorts as they bounce through rocks. Just keep fishing them until you lose them or you only have a hook left.

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

My gear takes a terrible beating since it's in use day after day (and pretty much used until it fails - that goes for flies, leaders, rods, etc....). As a result one of the most useful skills I have as a tyer is the ability to "re-cycle" bugs we've used and abused. Some only need a new weedguard, others maybe a new set of eyes (along with the materials that need to be replaced until the fly is back in business...). At the end of every fly session (I average at least four bookings with spin or conventional gear for every fly booking...) I take all the used bugs and carefully rinse them in freshwater, then allow them to dry. Some will go back into use others will joing the pile of flies that need some attention before they can get back into the mix...

 

That's just one of the reasons that all my lead eyes are painted and baked in advance... That way they're just one more component of any pattern when they're needed...

[tidewaterfly 0]

If you don't mind going thru the effort anyway, powder paints would be a good choice to use. They take more abuse than other paint types, but as has been said, nothing will last forever.

 

For powder paint you'll need a heat source that won't melt the lead, like a toaster oven (don't use the wife's or one that's used for cooking) and a final baking as Capt Bob has indicated does improve the durability. You'll also need a tool for holding the eyes since they'll be hot. Forceps work fine. I've powder painted jig heads, and a few barbell eyes, but don't do the eyes on a regular basis. It takes a bit of practice, but is not difficult to work with. One other advantage with powder paint is there's no solvent fumes to deal with.

[flytire 0]

powder paint and a lighter

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p6MH4bhaHo