Foamulator stone/hopper

[BigDaddyHub 0]

A new addition to the fly pattern database has been submitted by BigDaddyHub:

 

Foamulator stone/hopper

 

[FishyboY 0]

nice. love the creativity.

[Floyd 0]

Looks like you have the extended body thing down pat. Good looking fly. :thumbsup:

[BigDaddyHub 0]

Thanks, Floyd. Sending this one to Dart. Hopefully it will turn a few trophy gills for him.

[Dart 0]

Thanks, Floyd. Sending this one to Dart. Hopefully it will turn a few trophy gills for him.

:headbang: I'll do my best! If anything can get them, this can. Thanks, Chris.

[camoham 0]

nice tie.

 

like that one.

 

camoham

[tidewaterfly 0]

Chris, that's wicked! I'll bet it'll catch a load of fish!

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

BigDaddy, great tie! I like the natural colors. I've got to ask though about the hook. Is there a reason you used that type hook? I'm not a trout fisher or a regular dry fly tier so, forgive my ignorance. I do tie sponge spiders for bluegills and have noticed that the closer the end of the body is to the hook bend and tighter the hook is up to the entire bottom of the body the more hook ups I get. Of course that is less important the larger the bluegill get but most of the fish in my area are in the 5 - 6" size.

I do like the segments on that body and wonder how you get the individual segments without a crossing wrap of thread. Are those two sheets of foam glued or just tied together? I think I may tie up some of these for the gills but I'll have to use a standard dry fly hook, I don't have any of those curved ones.

 

Kirk

[BigDaddyHub 0]

BigDaddy, great tie! I like the natural colors. I've got to ask though about the hook. Is there a reason you used that type hook? I'm not a trout fisher or a regular dry fly tier so, forgive my ignorance. I do tie sponge spiders for bluegills and have noticed that the closer the end of the body is to the hook bend and tighter the hook is up to the entire bottom of the body the more hook ups I get. Of course that is less important the larger the bluegill get but most of the fish in my area are in the 5 - 6" size.

I do like the segments on that body and wonder how you get the individual segments without a crossing wrap of thread. Are those two sheets of foam glued or just tied together? I think I may tie up some of these for the gills but I'll have to use a standard dry fly hook, I don't have any of those curved ones.

 

Kirk

 

 

Kirk,

 

Wonderful questions! This particular fly is tied on a Mustad curved nymph hook, Sz 8 ( also favor a Tiemco 200 R for this style of pattern.). I like to have the hook "hang" below the fly, kinda like a stinger hook, for smallmouth bass. I typically fish this pattern for smallies tied in a 6 or even a 4. I have found allowing the hook to "hang"improves the"gap", as it were, and improves hook ups when bass fishing. It's just a style I prefer and just stuck with it for this particular fly. Hopefully this fly will be used to target big gills and hook ups won't be a factor. I fish this fly in 8 and 10's for gills and have not experienced any frustrations when targeting big gills. The body itself is made (segmented) by a very simple technique. I cut two strips of contrasting foam-equal width and length (3mm craft foam in this instance). The foam should be the width of the gap of the hook on which you are tying. Place a sewing needle in your vise. Start your thread on the needle(just three or four wraps)Next, "sandwich" the needle with the foam, with the ends of the foam slightly overlapping the thread. THis will be your starting point. Wrap the foam with three or four tight wraps. Using your fingers, splay back the foam. Advance the thread up the needle a few wraps. "Sandwich" the foam against the needle, make two tight wraps. This will create your first segment. Splay the foam again, advance your thread, replace the foam against the needle and make two tight wraps. This will make your second segment. You simply repeat the process until you get the length of the body you desire. To finish the body, I whip the last segment. Using slight pressure at the starting point, you can now slide the entire finished body of the hook and the thread remains hidden within the body itself. I use Xrta long sharps (needles). It allows me to make a body up to 2 1/2 to 3 inches long. Once removed from the hook, I cut in the middle of two segments to create three shorter bodies. Great when tying multiples of the same fly. When you cut the foam at the segment, the foam with expand, putting tension of the previous thread wrap. THis allows you to add a drop of your favorite adhesive to the wraps and secures the body and keeps it from coming apart. Another way to start the body is to place the end of the foam directly at your tie in on the needle with the foam extending towards your vice, not the needle. Wrap the foam with several tight wraps, advance your thread, then fold it forward to create your fisrt segment. THis gives the tail/abdomen of the fly a nice rounded end much like the yellow panfish stone/hopper I posted the same day as this little jewel. You can get faster results by googling foam tying techniques or by searching foam flies on Flyanglersonline. That's where I first came to learn this technique several years ago. Floyd rekindled my love for foam last fall. Thank you, Floyd!

 

Hope this made sense, I often ramble with my explanations....sorry. Below is a pic of the round tial I was attempting to explain.

[BigDaddyHub 0]

Chris, that's wicked! I'll bet it'll catch a load of fish!

 

 

Thank you, TWF.

 

The stimulator was one of the first more advanced ties I learned. Have loved them ever since. I love incorporating foam into the pattern. Really enhances the versatility of an already versatile fly that imitates multiple species. I know, preaching to the choir, I know...just humor me, J!

[idahojake 0]

Love the extended body!! I'm going to have to try the needle technique. Also like hook choice, the segmented body should ride right on the water driving the fish crazy.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Big Daddy, -- man, that feels funny calling another man Big Daddy...

 

Let me start again:

Hub, thanks for taking the time to explain your fly's hook and the segmented technique. I'm going to have to print that out and read it at the vise and try it. I think I may try that hook hanging method for the hell of it too. That's better.

 

Kirk

[BigDaddyHub 0]

Hope the information was "cipherable". Again, I often ramble and have a tendency to "over-explain". Flyanglersonline has an excellent tutorial on this subject.

[NJ All Day 0]

BigDaddy love love the fly gotta tie some up, they would be killer at the local pond for some gills and bass. Anyway got a question.

 

Can you explain the rounded end like the one in the pic above, also I see a little tail of some flash in there? If you could explain how to do that would also be great.

 

love your flies.

[BigDaddyHub 0]

Sure....

 

To add flash to the tails (an open tab tail like the posted pattern or a rounded tail like the later) here's what ya do. For an "open tail" you simply tie in a few strands of your favorite flash material with the initial wraps on the NEEDLE, not the foam. Then you procede with the other steps. To add it to a rounded tail, you do the same. Start you thread on the needle, tie in you flash to the needle, tie in your foam and procede. When you fold the foam forward to create your first segment, it leaves the flash exposed , sticking out of the end of the body. Great on smaller patterns to imitate ovi-positing (egg-laying) caddis and stones. If that sounds too simple, it's because it really is. Here are few pics....home by myself right now so the pics are mediocre at best. The pics are in order to the instructions in the above posts about tying rounded tail abdomens.