fun with foam

[agn54 0]

I've been messing around a lot with foam lately, just one of those phases I guess

 

Stealth bombers

 

went a little crazy with the legs on this one but I figure I can always cut the top ones off if I don't like it in the water

 

foam diver for the salt

 

a good old crease fly

 

And just to mix it up a bit and go off topic, a soft hackle (sorry for the crappy picture, I don't know how you freshwater guys photograph such small flies so well)

 

And a bassy looking clouser

[SILKHDH 0]

Totally like the color combo on that clouser. I'm copying that! I like the chartreuse and black foam with hackle tail too.

[mikechell 0]

Nice foam work ... "catchy" group of flies!

[ditz2 0]

Foam is fun.......very versatile. Imagination is your only limit. I am very limited

[scgobbler 0]

Man alive!

 

Those all look really good!

 

I really like those dive bombers!

 

The SC Gobbler

[flytyer56 0]

agn54, check and see if your camera has a Macro setting. That's what I set mine to so I can take close up pictures.

[vicrider 0]

I've got a few years into my return to tying now but the two biggest frontiers left for me are spinning hair and foam. Since foam should be the easier of the two to work toward I'll be using your pics to begin the foam tying. My success spinning is nil so maybe I can do better on foam. Very nice work all down the line on your flies.

[agn54 0]

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

 

Flytyer56, I took those with my iPhone which I don't think has a macro setting. I should break out the camera for those little ones. Is the macro setting the one with the flower for close-ups? Or is there some other setting I need to do manually?

 

vicrider, foam is real easy to work with, and it's really cheap so you can experiment and practice with it until you get it as you want it. Spinning hair is much more tricky. I haven't spun hair is a while but will probably get on another kick for it soon enough. I was always more comfortable stacking hair than spinning it

[mikechell 0]

Depending on the camera ... mine has two settings for close-ups. The "flower" setting is for items approximately 15 to 30 inches from the camera lens. Then it's got a large flower image to indicate items that are less than 15 inches from the lens. I still can't take pictures of anything less than 5 inches or so unless it a direct on shot to a flat surface. I believe the built in "range finder" or auto-focus is off center from the lens. So, if I am wanting to shoot REALLY close, I have to have the object lying flat on a surface.

 

It's one of those "read the instructions" moments most men hate. If you don't have a copy of the instructions for your camera, you can find a copy online.

[agn54 0]

Thanks Mike. Instructions are for sissies though, like directions, we may be lost but I'm still not asking for them, unless my wife is with me. She can be very persuasive in those moments

[ditz2 0]

Hey VC....Don't let spinning scare you. Put a size 2 hook in your vise. GSP 100 or some heavy thread. Leave a little room at the rear of the hook for a tail. Start the thread, cut a pencil sized bunch of body hair, pull out al the under fur, lay the bunch across the hook shank at a 45 degree angle, put 3 loose wraps of thread around the center of the 'bunch', slowly tighten the thread. As the thread tightens the hair will begin flareing and then it will start spinning around the hook shank..Tighten as much as you dare without cutting the hair, put 2 thread wraps in front of the spun hair and then a half hitch, put left had finger nails behind the bunch, put right hand finger nails in front of the bunch and squeeze the bunch together, put a nice sized drop of head cement at the base of the hair. Repeat procedure until shank is filled and finish head. Trim body to rough shape and re attach thread at rear of hook and tie in the desired amount of bucktail and cover the wraps with some red chenille or estaz and whip finish. After you get the feel of the spinning you can tie in the desired tail first but to start I found spinning over the tail wraps troublesome. The method I oultlined will get you some very nice Tap's poppers. If you want a more aggressive 'pop' take one of the poppers and put a thin coat of goop on the face of the bug. I just apply it with my finger tip. It will close up some of the air gaps and make the face much stiffer. Try them with and without the goop. They will fiish differently. IMO the bottom should be trimmed very close to the hook shank to improve hook gap. The first flies I ever tied 50 years ago were hair bugs so they can't be too hard.. I had no SBS or pics to guide me, It was all trial and error. Believe me you can do it. ......As a young man I found it difficult to trim the bodies close enough and man they were hard to cast. I was a mediocre at best caster back then and I found those big bugs very frustrating to throw. I now throw size 6 and 4 bugs on a 5wt and sometimes lighter rods. I do mostly natural color bugs but I tie a few in yellow and some in black. I like red faces and sometimes a contrasting color band just to be different. I don't think the fish care one war or the other. When I tie in a weed guard I use stainless wire.

[vicrider 0]

ditz2, thanx for the lesson. The first thing I was messing up on in early attempts is trying to spin bucktail. Now I have learned that it's body hair. What really makes me mad is that my nephew had a nice buck all skinned out and laying in the grass for me last fall and all I cut off was the tail. I have to get some orders in soon and body hair will be one of them. I had been in a couple of top water swaps that made me feel guilty when I'd send in a cork or foam popper and get back some of the same, but mixed in would be some beautiful, multi colored hair bugs that I'd never fish but mount on the wall. Some of the guys in the swaps are wizard with hair and tho I seriously don't have enough time to get to that point, I am going to try to do some basics, like Muddlers or some Wullf type dries.

Again, thanx for the breakdown of the technique. I will be trying it.

[mikechell 0]

Just a note on hair spinning. My first two mistakes were both so stupid I am almost ashamed to admit them. But most of you know, I am not that "shy".

The first mistake was a literal translation of the "instructions."

"...lay the bunch across the hook shank at a 45 degree angle, put 3 loose wraps of thread around the center of the 'bunch'..."

I would hold the bunch of hair and wrap two or three wraps around just the bunch. Then wrap around the hair and the hook. Then start tightening that mess. It was only after many times (years) of giving up and trying again that I finally got the right directions. (This was all before the internet)

 

My second mistake was the same as vicrider's. I was trying to spin with the hair that came with my tying kit, which was buck tail.

 

Now that I know those two details, spinning is much easier.

[FlaFly 0]

Your first mistake.... what's wrong with that? Did it work?

[JSzymczyk 0]

Stealth Bombers can be wickedly effective, and tied in quite a few variations. I even sprung for the Spirit River cutter set a couple years ago....