Bass Tidbit .28

Many of the flies you'll want to fish for bass will require weight. Lead 'dumbbell' eyes are ideal for many of us. They can be used to control the attitude of a fly and keep it riding hook up when that is deisired, in addition to the primary use of sinking hte fly.

The things are getting expensive, though, and the places we throw them when bass fishing is not conducive to long fly life. You can lose a lot of weighted flies in cover during a days bass fishing.

Of course, if you are a cheapskate like me, the obvious solution is to fabricate your own dumbbells. The comericlaly made ones are centrifical castings, and that equipment just isn't justified for a hobbiest fly tyer. There is another way, though.

All you need are some 1/8 lead based solder (or you could go all the way, as I did, and find a supplier that will sell you a whole roll of 1/8 inch lead wire) and a couple of tools to make all you can use easily and cheaply.

The key to this is making the 'waist' area of the dumbbell. You need to get (or find in your old tool stash) an inexpensive pair of wire cutters, what we used to call 'dikes'. You also need a pair of 'flush cutting' or 'sprue' cutters (any Radio Shack sells a 'nippy cutter' that will cut solder and lead to a clean flat end).

You have to 'modify' the old wire cutters. What you need is a 'hole' in the blade. How I did mine was to gently close the blades onto a spinning 1/16 inch grinding bit in my Dremel tool. This is easy if you just take it slowly.

Now, to make the eyes, just flush cut one end of the wire. Set the wire into the modified wire cutters and squeeze to make the waist. Goes more evenly if you twist it a few times as you compress the lead. Once you have the 'waist' made, flush cut the long end to match the short and you have a finished dumbbell.

You can adjust the 'weight' of the individual eyes by the LENGTH of each side. Try to keep the ends even, doesn't need to be exact, close is fine.

When completed, these are flat on the ends. I prefer this since I glue home made 'domed epoxy' eyes to the ends of mine, and the flat surface works better for me.

If you really want that 'domed' shape that the commerically made ones have, it's easy to do. You need another tool, a cheap hammer. One of those 'girly' little things that won't drive a nail but look cute. Take a round grinding bit in your Dremel tool and grind a depression in it that matches the shape of the bit. A 1/4 to 3/8 ball size is about right, and you only need to go into the face of the hammer a short ways.

To get your rounded ends, put the lead eye back into the wire cutters and gently tap the exposed end with the hammer. Flip to do the other side. This gives a good shape and base for painted eyes.

A spool of 1/8 inch solder is pretty cheap, less than $10. The tools shouldn't cost more than a few dollars (get cheap tools at the dollar store, you don't need good stuff for this). From that spool you can make several THOUSAND dumbbell eyes. Takes about ten minutes to make a hundred or so of these.

Whether or not this is worth the effort to you, I can't say. I do know that it works, and if you like to 'do it yourself' this is another way.

Good Luck!

Buddy