Fun with Foam

[jeffnles1]

Buddy,
I really like that first fly a lot.

I'm going to keep playing around with different ideas until something works.

On that first fly, it looks like the foam is just pushed through the hook eye is that right? Did you wrap in front of it to keep it form sliding back off?

Jeff

[Uncle Jesse]

I have tied a couple of the first pattern and caught fish on them,. As I remember you can added your tail materials, and belly dubbing, chenille, lead wire to the shank and secure it. Leave a space the thickness of the foam behind the hook eye. Poke the eye through the center of the foam strip and add a drop of super glue. Tie down the end of the foam. I added a half a BB size split shot to the undersde of the lip on one and about 1/4 in of lead tape to the forward edge of the lip on another. It will dive a foot or so and has a nice wobble. You could probably add a rattle somewhere and get a little attractor noise also.

[Buddy Sanders]

Jeff,

This is really simple fly:

Hook: Sproat hook, (I use Eagle Claw 455 spinnerbait hooks for it, but a 3366 Mustad or Tiemco 8089 will work just fine. So will most straght shank worm hooks)

Thread: I use .005 clear mono sewing thread. Anything will work.

Weight: Lead dumbbell.

Underbody: Cactus or ice chenille, color of choice. But just about anything will work: body braid, yarn, regurlar chenilles, etc. whatever gives the color you want there. Not critical.

Overbody: 6mm (1/4 inch) craft foam. Cut into strips. Varies on the size of the bait, but 5/16 to 7/16 is about right. Leave the strips long, you 'trim' them on the fly.

Tail: Any tailing fibers and flash you like. I use bucktail and some flashabou or krystal flash.

Eyes: painted, glued on doll eyes, prismatic dome eyes, or none (I like eyes on these).

Here's how I tie these:

Tie on the dumbbell eye. Leave just abit more than the thckness of the foam between the dumbbell and hook eye.

Wrap thread to just above the hook barb.

Tie on the body material.

Wrap the body material forward to just behind the dumbbell, then back to just over the barb. Tie off and trim the body material.

The thread should be hanging at the back of the body.

(I will have precut the foam strips...usually about 5/16 to 7/16 wide and 11 inches long..you can get several flies from one 'strip').

Cut the angle on the end of the foam strip...I use a sharp razor blade for this, I just eyeball it (you can use one of those hobby mitre boxes if you want to, so the angle is consistent).

Take a large needle or bodkin and poke the hole through the foam where you want the hook eye to come through...center it as best you can..if you don't trust your eye here, measure it. How long you make the lip will effect the action of the fly, but too long of a lip and it will roll. It's always best to leave the lip a bit long and then trim it to what you want after the fly is complete.

I put some CA glue on the upper surface of the dumbbell where the foam will touch it, and along the back of the body material.

Slide the hook eye through the hole in the foam and pull back and down on the strip. Pull it tightly against the weight and the top of the body where you put the glue. You want the stretch the foam ever so slightly. This is why you don't trim the foam strip to length first...much easier to handle it 'long'...

Tie the foam strip down tightly right where you ended the body.

Trim the foam strip..I stretch it slightly and cut it off leaving about 1/4 inch past the tie down point to help support the tail (if you 'stretch' the foam as you cut it, it forms a nice curved end...I like how that looks and how it supports the tail).

Tie on the tail...I prefer bucktail with some flash material in it, but anything you like should work just fine. For bass, I want a long tail...for the smaller sizes for 'gills and such, a short tuft of marabou works well.

I almost always use some kind of an eye on these...wiggle (doll) eyes add some rattle to the bait, but the domed epoxy eyes look great...or you can paint on an eye...or just stick a trimmed ball head straight pin into the foam with a bit of CA on the shaft...whatever works for you...

That's it.

Wht keeps the foam in place is combination of the CA glue and the tension between the tie in point and where the hole in the foam is. Unless it tears from a fish, and I've had a few pike do that, it won't come off.

I use lead dumbbell for the weigth for two reasons. First, it keeps the attitude of the nose of the bait down, it's enough weight to make sure it dives and stays down without popping back up too quickly. Second, the width of the weight helps support the foam.

When you fish with this bait, always use either a snap or a loop knot.

Here's some photos of some other color options I like.

Buddy

[Uncle Jesse]

I see a big difference, besides he's a much better tier than I, he's making a large fly. I used a No. 6 aberdeen hook and produce a much smaller fly, probably catch smaller fish. Although, I have caught some 6 lb. class bass on no. 8 aberdeen flies.

[CoachBob]

Buddy,

I like your take on this fly:
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flyt...113098fotw.php
I have tried this pattern and never could make it run right. I'm sure the dumbbell eyes will make all the difference.
THANKS.

Bob

[Buddy Sanders]

Coach Bob,

My problems with the 'wiggle bug' are what lead me to experiment and come up with version you see here. It's basically the same fly, and it's what I started with at the beginning of the process.

The lead dumbbells are one of the keys that make this bait run correctly. I had trouble keeping the standard tied wiggle bug under the water without stripping like a crazy man. Adding the weight alleviates that problem and lets you work it slower.

Notice that I use a much shorter lip on my version. I had trouble tuning the wiggle bug and keeping it moving in a straight path. The shorter and broader lip tracks truer over a wider range of retrieves. You can tune these baits to run true just by gently twisting the lip. Doesn't take much.

Uncle Jesse,

What you see in the photos are built on 1/0 spinnerbait hooks. The baits run about 5 inches nose to tail. Not what you'd call small, but I'm using them for pike, largemouth and smallmouth. I have tied them much smaller, and they work in any size. They make a great panfish fly, and I have to admit that the largest bass I ever caught on one of these came on a size 10 while I was fishing for bluegills.

On smaller versions of this fly, I tie them similar to how you described. I either use some lead wire behind the hook eye, or slide on a bead, or use bead chain. You just have to play with how much weight you use to get the depth and action you want. The tail on the small ones is usually marabou, as the bluegills seem to like it and it's easy. 2mm foam and small doll eyes work great for flies down to about size 14. I don't have any pictures of the smaller ones, but they work really well on 'gills, and if you trail a small nymph behind it, the action of the fly really makes the nymph come alive.

Another plus to this design is that it's amazingly weedless. The lip kicks it over brush and limbs, and you'll be surprised at how it comes through thick cover.

The wiggle bug platform is a lot of fun to play around with.

Buddy

[white43]

What you're trying to reach is a typical and old tie called a Wiggle Bug. I tie my by doing a basic wooly bugger on the shank. I cut a piece of door knocker foam about 3/8ths or so wide. Use a razor blade to slice an edge off one end of the foam. A little triangle, if you will. Use your bobkin to punch a hole in the sliced edge, then fit over the eye of the hook with the cut edge toward the hook point. Restart your thread at the back of the hook, near the bend. Lay the foam over the top of the bugger and tie it down. The action will be quite similar to the old Lazy Ikes, and are quite deadly to both major bass species. I'll see if I can figure out how to post a picture, although I'm sure if you goggle wiggle bug you'll find just what I've described. JGW

[white43]

Oh, never mind. JGW

[Uncle Jesse]

Buddy,

I you don't mind telling where do you fish for smalljaw bass in AZ? I know there are some pike up in Gemrod's hood but I haven't heard anything about smallmouth.

[jeffnles1]

Thanks for the responses guys. I like what I'm seeing here.

Buddy and gang, with the lead eyes, is the foam boyuant enough to get the fly to float back to the surface?

What I'm thinking is a fly that would act something like a rapala where it floats, you twitch it, it goes a foot or so under the surface and then floats back to the top.

I'm going to attempt to tie some of the wiggle bugs Buddy has suggested.

Jeff