Clouser

[flytire 0]

so what did the super glue do to the eyes or wrappings of thread for the eyes to break off? what did your analysis conclude was the problem?

[Dave G. 0]

I've always bought the brass eyes. Right now I have Spirit River solid (machined) brass. But I only tie for myself and don't buy by the thousands to supply lots of people. I've never had dumbbell eyes break.

[McFlyLures 0]

I've always bought the brass eyes. Right now I have Spirit River solid (machined) brass. But I only tie for myself and don't buy by the thousands to supply lots of people. I've never had dumbbell eyes break.

I usually use brass myself, they are cheaper, and I'm a cheapskate! Haha

[FIN-ITE 34 0]

so what did the super glue do to the eyes or wrappings of thread for the eyes to break off? what did your analysis conclude was the problem?

 

 

It took a bit of detective work but I found that securely anchoring those particular dumbell eyes (the standard style - not the presentation style I use today...) meant that the eyes would break off instead of shift a bit from an impact. The shop thought I was using some kind of cheap imported eyes (but they were the same component that Wapsi has been producing for years and years..). I went back to tying the eyes without super glue and the problem disappeared... Who knew?

 

To this day I still buy my lead eyes by the thousand per size and think they're an important part of many of the patterns I do...

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

What I believe happened is that the super glue worked all too well.. It held the thin barbell portion of the lead eyes fixed to the hook so an impact to the eyes resulted in the eye on that side breaking off.... The presentation lead eyes from Wapsi cured that particular weakness since the overall shape was more of an hourglass instead of a "barbell"....

 

Since we're on the subject, I always paint my lead eyes before using them (and bake them in the fixture -each coat to harden the paint and provide the best possible job). Here are a few pics of the process (the stuff shown is becoming a red eye with a black center - much more common for me would be a white eye or yellow eye with a black center...).

[tidewaterfly 0]

I never had a big problem with lead barbell's breaking, but have broken enough to understand what Capt Bob is explaining. Like Capt Bob, I found the shape of the barbell helped, and I wasn't using super glue. The basic Wapsi barbell seemed to break more than other brands & shapes for me as well.

 

On some flies, not just Clousers, I was epoxying stick on eyes over the barbell instead of painting. (I filed a flat spot so they would stick & used the holographic eyes, then epoxied over the eye.) They looked great, but man, was a real bummer when the barbell broke after going thru all that effort!

 

I still use the lead, but have gone to using brass more & more. The primary reason is they don't often break, and the majority of fishing I've done to this point has been in fairly shallow water, so the brass works fine. I used the heavier lead sometimes in heavy tidal currents, but found that switching to a fast sink line, with short, heavy leader usually no longer than 3', and I could get a lighter weighted Clouser just as deep. I've also added some packs of tungsten barbells to my tying supplies for when I need the extra heavy, but not something I will rely on a lot because of the cost.

[L. B. Fly Tyer 0]

What size hook is that clouser?

[McFlyLures 0]

What size hook is that clouser?

Mine? 1/0 I think...

[Cold 0]

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