CoachBob

I'm going to use this opportunity to ask a question. First, the background. I have yet to find a good looking wing material for this style of foam dragon fly that (1) will float and (2) won't cast like a propeller. I've tried natural and synthetic hair, packing foam, super thin plastics, etc. etc. No luck. When they float, it's like trying to throw a box kite. Any suggestions?

Reading Randy Kauffman's dry fly book today he likes 90-180 seconds. He even tells you step by step how to do it.

I think you're not getting any feedback because foam flies really don't use templates. For dragonfly bodies and hoppers, beetles and humpys, etc. the foam sheet piece is rectangular. Also for frogs. The only real difference is the width. For punched out bodies, the foam is (obviously) cylindrical. For crabs it's sort of oval, and you can buy crab punches from J.Stockard on sale now. For wings its roughly long oval, and punches for those are also on sale. For shaped or carved bodies, the initial shape of the foam is almost irrelevant. :thumbsup:

First, properly cared for Gore-Tex is good for the life of the garment. Go to http://www.gore-tex.com/remote/Satellite/c...ng-instructions and you will get care instructions. Cabelas and BassPro both have good choices in many varieties and brands. For cold weather, the best option is good Gore-Tex layered over Underarmor and fleece. Getting a thick heavily insulated jacket is often a problem -- and you can't make it any cooler as you can with layers.

With the exception of Gunnison, Colorado, I've never been to a Wal-Mart that had enough fly stuff to be competitive with local shops. Bass Pro and Cabela's are another thing entirely, but we're starting on Wal-Mart here (and we're not talking about on-line discounts either) As for foam, neither Wal-Mart, Michaels or Hobby Lobby carry patterned foam. A small shop could and it would sell. Here's the point. I tried to succeed in the commie tackle market for years and a small shop can't compete with the big boys selling plastic worms. But, smaller shops can focus on carrying fly stuff that the big box stores don't have. There's plenty out there to fill a shop's shelves. I'm willing to say that I've looked at practically all the inventory in large stores and small stores and fly tying items are generally not a competitive market. As for BassPro and Cabela's (Academy doesn't carry enough fly stuff to be worth the gas to go) their prices on things like thread and materials are no better than most small shop prices. Their prices on things like beads and eyes are terrible compared to shops. It's really the rod/reels and clothes that would seem to present a problem to smaller shops.

Two questions: 1 -- what tools? Always looking for new tools.... 2 -- how do you arrange the hook eye and tail eye in those flies? Wire? Spinner bait gear?

A few threads on this forum have discussed the ego in naming a fly as if it were innovative. Most experienced fly tyers would not have the gall to claim to have invented a fly unless it was significantly different from any earlier similar construct. Moving from hair to foam was innovative at one time...at one time. Changing from peacock herl bodies to holographic floss bodies was innovative...at one time. Why? Because it was a truly significant change. The real question probably is: how many things do you have to change before it is a new fly?

Loose glitter is the hard way to do it. Buy nail polish with glitter in it. CVS has several varities.

So the unwrapped hackle, that is going from indentation to indentation, is inside the foam? When I've tried these types of flies in the past, there is hackle in the grooves and hackle between the grooves when it moves to the next groove. Doesn't look very good. Never thought of passing the hackle and thread inside the foam. Sounds tricky but workable. or do I still misunderstand?

Read the instructions. Still trying to figure out how you got the hackle only in the indentations.

Can't put this diplomatically. Sorry. Way way way too much hackle.

Here's some science I just received at flyanglersonline.com. Tells why super glue and foam make a permanent seal. Craft foam is a polyurethane closed cell foam. It is a polyol (weak base) resin reacted with an isocyanate..the isocyanates are similar chemisty to the super glue. So not only does the super glue react with the thin layer of moisture on the foam, but it actually crosslinks with the polyol resin (left over unreacted sites) within the foam..so the Bond is much greater and will hold better and longer. You will proabably see a failure in other areas of the foam before the foam - super glue- foam bond breaks. Sounds permanent to me.

answered my own question jannsnetcraft.com got all the pieces parts you need for cheap

Looks a bit like a sproat hook shape. My redfish flies are all tied on a 34011 or 34007. The mistake I see most often is the size of the hook. A #4 or #6 is big enough.

Two bead storage options from Wal-Mart I haven't seen before. They still carry the box of boxes that look like tic-tac boxes, but these are round with screw on caps.

Question number one is: Where did you find a clevis that small?

If you want to carve foam, look up dremel popper in the pattern data base. Different from what others use but the best way to do it. In this instance, I know exactly what you're trying to do and have suffered through the foam wrapping process myself. Here's a few hints: (1) the interior foam cylinder should be a lot smaller than you would think. (2) measure out the EXACT length of the sparkle foam needed to wrap around the interior foam cylinder and pre-cut it. Cutting several pieces at the same time is a good idea. In this what when it is wrapped and glued it will fit around the interior cylinder and the ends will butt up to be glued together. (3) use a 2x-4x long hook because the head is going to be big enough to hide the hook point (like yours have done here) (4) since most sparkle foam is stick backed you will be tempted not to glue it. Don't. Paint the interior cylinder with super glue then wrap the sparkle foam. (5) make sure there is more foam ABOVE the hook shank than below. The rubber legs will help keep it horizontal, but if you're not careful the fly will float upside down. An easy way to insure this is, rather than running the hook through the interior cylinder, to make a small slit in the bottom of the interior cylinder and glue the hook in the slit. In this way it is way off center and the final foam will be above the shank. (6) don't neglect the importance of a well tied tail that is proportionate to the size of the popper head (7) if you are doing green you can use much larger baby doll eyes to represent a frog (8) it is not necessary to puncture the foam three times for three legs unless you are especially going for that look. Two or three round rubber legs in the same hole will splay when you separate them.

search "fish perfume" at flyanglersonline.com

Design and tying aspects look good except around the eye as noted before. My question would be color. Every woven fly out of floss (which this appears to be) should be water tested (you sink is fine) to see what color the fly is when wet. What you have might end up a dull grey that isn't quite right for your target waters. I have tied flies in black and olive only to find that the olive disappears to black when wet. Red can turn to maroon or brown. You get the idea.

No, no. If you leave the top off the solvents that keep it liquid will volatilize and you end up with a gel then a rock.

The bobbin rest will do you the most good wtih a rotating vise. You hang the bobbin and rotate to wrap practically anything on the hook. You want to put in a half hitch before you hang it though. Other than that I haven't found it to be that much help.

Check out "Flies for largemouth bass" article on FAOL. Think you'll get some answers there.

I got mine at a fly shop. But you can go to www.drillspot.com and put "stick on Magnifying lens" in the search window. You can find the same at amazon.com but it'll cost you 50% more. The key to using these is to have CLEAN glasses and put them exactly where you want them. They are removable, but I clean my glasses (just not like King Kong) all the time and they stay on.

Polarized prescription amber lens. When I forget these, which is frequently, I have polarized wrap arounds with bifocal stick ons (that work just fine). I actually prefer the wrap arounds, but they make me look like Cyclops from the X-men, so I usualy opt for the teardrop prescription instead.

Let's talk about Dave's hopper for a moment. The same general materials appear in most directions. - deer hair head shaped at tyer's discretion and no eyes -- deer hair collar or overwing --yarn body with palmered hackle --pheasant tail legs but only two -- red bucktail tail --turkey wing Put it all together and it sort of looks like a hopper. Not the easiest of ties and what you end up with is a generic shape and generic yellow hopper colors. Now go to http://swedneckflyfishing.com/hoppers.htm and look at the options and shapes and colors there. Most are easy to tie. I think foam wins.