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Riding On Air

 

Recently West Water Products home of the Thingamabobber located in Pleasant Grove, Utah came out with a new product they call the Thingamabody. This product is simply a small piece of enclosed tubing that allows a fly tier to attach an air bubble to a hook making a fly virtually unsinkable. This product is rather costly, but what if there was a way to accomplish the same methodology with a more inexpensive product? Just think a fly riding on air.

 

With this thought in mind several years ago I stumbled onto such a concept while using Heat Shrink to repair an electrical cord that had been damaged. The idea was simple just take a small section of Heat Shrink and use a low wattage soldering iron to reduce the size of the ends and then crimp, plug, or seal by crimping the ends Walla, you have an unsinkable air bubble to attach to a hook. (Examples)post-23663-0-83460200-1515016716_thumb.jpg

 

Since I tied the first Heat Shrink fly, I have found better Heat Shrink materials and developed tying techniques that have allowed me to produce unsinkable Heat Shrink flies that look and act on the water very much like the natural insects. This material and methods allow a fly tier to modify the patterns he or she ties in such a way that they can look like traditional flies or something entirely different. By different we mean more life-like because there is no longer a need to provide lots of foams, hair or hackle to achieve floatation and maintain buoyancy (Examples). post-23663-0-80689600-1515016925_thumb.jpgpost-23663-0-59145600-1515017233_thumb.jpgpost-23663-0-41482300-1515016974_thumb.jpgpost-23663-0-44629500-1515017420_thumb.jpgpost-23663-0-13157600-1515017796_thumb.jpgpost-23663-0-08357000-1515018014_thumb.jpgpost-23663-0-79627100-1515018382_thumb.jpgpost-23663-0-73334900-1515018539_thumb.jpgpost-23663-0-28253600-1515018599_thumb.jpgpost-23663-0-49335400-1515018894_thumb.jpg

 

 

Could this method of fly tying have the ability to revolutionize how dry flies are tied? Possibly, because Heat Shrink tubing allows a tier to attach an air bubble applied to the hook which then makes the fly unsinkable. This air bubble provides unsurpassed floatation in any type of water, and if properly tied makes a fly that has the characteristics of real insects. We created a blog (http://unsinkableflies.blogspot.com/) to keep tiers informed of new and different techniques as well as products that have been found to be useful in tying flies using Heat Shrink to make them ride on air.

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How does this feel to the fish, by that I mean does the fly have hard edges at the ends of the HST ?

 

Would a fish like a trout spit this out faster then a mouth full of diesel fuel ?

 

They remind me of the molded plastic body flies of the 80's ..

 

But and there is always a but - If they have soft edges, sit on the water correctly, behave on the water correctly and are durable..

 

Then GREATBRINGTHEMON!!!

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Everything old will be new again.

 

It's a cool idea, but hardly "new", and "revolutionize" is on the get-real side of optimistic.

 

I think this has great possibilities for bass poppers and bream bugs and things like that, and less so for trout flies. Not to say you can't catch trout on poppers, but you know what I mean.

 

We've been dinking around with enclosed air bubbles in flies for decades, at least. The Japanese style cellophane balloon extended mayfly bodies immediately come to mind. No doubt heat-shrink is more durable, but less lifelike (or whatever).

 

 

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how much does a 1/2 inch long piece of heat shrink tubing weigh?? :dunno:

 

i'll bet these unibobber weigh more than heat shrink tubing

 

ub.jpg

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holy crap if you can't make a fly float with hackle cdc or something else what makes you think an air bubble will work any better plus with the added weight of the heat shrink tube I'm not so sure it would float anyway

 

 

Specific Gravity of THIN WALL CROSS-LINKED POLYOLEFIN in clear is .95 which means it floats without any air bubble. Colored thin wall products weigh more up to a specific gravity of 1.4

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how much does a 1/2 inch long piece of heat shrink tubing weigh?? :dunno:

 

i'll bet these unibobber weigh more than heat shrink tubing

 

ub.jpg

 

Unibobbers are made of a harder polymer like polyehtylene LLDPE with a specific gravity of .96-.97 which means they float. THIN WALL CROSS-LINKED POLYOLEFIN in clear has a specific gravity of .95 the difference is that it is softer. Colored THIN WALL CROSS-LINKED POLYOLEFIN depending on color can have a specific gravity of up to 1.4. You can use the Unibobber and THIN WALL CROSS-LINKED POLYOLEFIN together.

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Interesting idea, I'd be curious what the fish think.

 

 

I have tied all types of dry flies with THIN WALL CROSS-LINKED POLYOLEFIN heat shrink. They work as well, if not better,m than traditional dry flies without the use of floatants. If you really want them to float high add floatant.

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How does this feel to the fish, by that I mean does the fly have hard edges at the ends of the HST ?

 

Would a fish like a trout spit this out faster then a mouth full of diesel fuel ?

 

They remind me of the molded plastic body flies of the 80's ..

 

But and there is always a but - If they have soft edges, sit on the water correctly, behave on the water correctly and are durable..

 

Then GREATBRINGTHEMON!!!

 

THIN WALL CROSS-LINKED POLYOLEFIN heat shrink is soft unlike the molded Unibobber. If you used heat and thread to attach it to the hook there is very little to no hard edges. Heat shrink is tough and will outlast other materials on the fly and if tied correctly will float like a real insect.

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holy crap if you can't make a fly float with hackle cdc or something else what makes you think an air bubble will work any better plus with the added weight of the heat shrink tube I'm not so sure it would float anyway

 

 

Specific Gravity of THIN WALL CROSS-LINKED POLYOLEFIN in clear is .95 which means it floats without any air bubble. Colored thin wall products weigh more up to a specific gravity of 1.4

 

Okay you lost me with that one.

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