DHC

Tying the Salmon Fly of Your Dreams Im going to show you how to tie a Salmon Fly that will out perform all others simply because it presents right profile and size. Stop here if you are not into different materials because this fly is definitely non-traditional and the main body is not tied but assembled. This fly floats like a cork and is impossible to sink always popping to the surface even in the roughest of water. The ideal fly is 2 ½ to 3 inches long (6-8 Centimeters) (Click to Enlarge) The materials are as follows: Hook size 2-6 any brand 4-6x long with as light of wire as possible Thread - brown and metallic orange Body ¼ inch colored or UV reactive orange heat shrink or orange latex tubing Head ¼ inch gray polyethylene closed cell foam Wing - home made wing material with black netting and some type of sparkle (follow this link to see how to make https://unsinkableflies.blogspot.com/2012/02/making-fly-wing-material-fly-tying.html) Antenna brown monofilament Legs - brown rubber Eyes - black mono or vinyl Egg Sack ¼ inch round black foam Collar - brown saddle (optional) (Click to Enlarge) Shown in the pictures above are the materials to be used and a 15 watt soldering iron used to segment the heat shrink fly body. Note the two body materials the top one is orange UV Heat Shrink and the one below the top one is the colored heat shrink. (Click to Enlarge) The heat shrink bodies above have been segmented and assembled prior to attachment to the hook. If the body is latex segmenting is performed by pulling the thread tightly around the hook shank. The egg sack and head is super glued into place along with shrinking with the soldering iron. The eyes are super glued into place. (Click to Enlarge) Directions: 1. Wrap the hook shank with brown thread. 2. At the rear of the hook tie in the assembled fly body (6-10 wraps). 3. Tie in the rear legs (location of legs varies depending on amount of segments). 4. Work you way up the hook shank applying 6-10 wraps at each segment and tie in the middle legs. 5. Near the eye tie in the tie in the front legs. 6. Whip finish at the eye with the brown thread. 7. Tie in the metallic orange thread at the first or second front segment. 8. Attach the wing or wings (1 to 3 depending on the fly). 9. Whip finish with the metallic orange thread and apply a small amount of head cement or super glue long the hook shank. This will stabilize the body and keep it from rotating on the hook shank. 10. Under side of finished fly. The top three flies below do not have the optional brown saddle collar. The reason most salmon fly tiers add a collar or fur as wing is to provide flotation. This is not necessary on a salmon fly like this because of the air trapped inside the fly body. (Click to Enlarge) On the underside one can cut the bottom off the optional brown saddle to provide a better profile on the water. "Doubter’s there are many, believers may be few, but you’ll never know until you try."

Updated with pictures

The flies listed below are mating and emerging flies made with air trapped inside. To view more pictures and see the recipe just follow the link provided. Damsel Fly Link (Recipe Rated-X Damsel Fly) - https://unsinkableflies.blogspot.com/2017/12/mating-damsel-fly.html Crane Fly Link (Recipe X-Rated Crane Fly) - https://unsinkableflies.blogspot.com/2017/12/mating-crane-fly.html Salmon Fly Link (Recipe Bing Bang Coitus Fly) - https://unsinkableflies.blogspot.com/2017/12/matting-salmon-fly.html Stone Fly Link (Recipe Coitus Stonefly) - https://unsinkableflies.blogspot.com/2017/12/matting-stonefly.html Emerger with Shuck Link - https://unsinkableflies.blogspot.com/2017/12/emerger-with-shuck.html Bubble Emerger Link - https://unsinkableflies.blogspot.com/2017/12/daves-bubble-emerger.html

All the flies on my Blog (https://unsinkableflies.blogspot.com/) use wing material I have made using this technique

fshng2 - There are a number of flies on my Blog - https://unsinkableflies.blogspot.com/

Making Wing Material (click to enlarge) Making top quality wing material is a fairly simple process once you have all the supplies necessary. To start you need a pressing talbe and scissors as well as the following items: (click to enlarge) 1. Iron 2. Heat-n-Bond® ultrahold 3. Netting or Polypropylene (PP) Hair 4. Polyethylene foam sheeting 5. Alcohol ink for additional coloring 6. Teflon® Pressing Pad The pressing table can be an ironing board or any padded surface that can withstand high heat. The recommended iron is a Hobbico® 170-watt custom sealing iron, but you can use a regular pressing iron (although it should only be used for this process). Heat-n-Bond® ultrahold iron-on adhesive is made by Therm O Web® and is available at most sewing supply stores. Netting and the Teflon® pressing pad can be acquired at most fabric stores. PP hair is available on the web at a number of suppliers. Alcohol ink is available at a number of hobby shops. Step-by-Step Process (click to enlarge) 1. Coloring the polyethylene foam sheeting 2. Laying black netting (bottom) PP hair (top) 3. Adding 2nd layer colored PE (optional) 4. Heat-n-Bond folded into a sandwich, ready to press on Teflon® pressing pad 5. Iron on hottest setting foam, netting, and hair inside first pressing 6. Sandwich turned over 2nd pressing 7. After cooled completely, peel back one side 8. Peel off to remove wing material (click to enlarge) Examples of dry flies made with this wing material (click to enlarge) Examples of nymphs made with this wing material (click to enlarge)

A real simple bead stonefly -- quick and easy to assemble and add tail, legs, and antenna. Simple Bead Stonefly Hook : Aberdeen 4-8 Body: Black and Amber Beads Tail : Goose Biots Antenna: Brown 20# Monofilament Legs: Sriped Turkey Feather

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. THIN WALL CROSS-LINKED POLYOLEFIN is one type of heat shrink and there are many different types. This is the best that I have found so far for fly tying. Sorry for the confusion.

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.

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.

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.

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

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) 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). 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.

Will What does it mean on the contest form Phograph "Hook-UP"

Can flies tied with heat shrink be entered?