Cabin Fever Retreat

[iaflyfisher]

Every year of bunch of fly tyers get together at the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Springbrook State Park Conservation Educaton Center for a weekend of fly tying and other fun things. This is a fantastic place to have a group meeting.

This year I wanted to experiment with some new patterns and here are some I tied up.

Spoon Fly - This is a saltwater fly used on redfish. I hope to use it on walleyes and smallmouth bass. It has a fantastic action in the water.
http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af163/iaflyfisher/Spoonfly-red.jpg

Video of the action of the fly:
http://s1004.photobucket.com/albums/...t=Spoonfly.mp4


A co-worker wanted some bumblebee patterns so here are some I came up with.
http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/...fisher/bee.jpg

http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af163/iaflyfisher/YellowBassPopper.jpg

http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af163/iaflyfisher/BumblebeeBassPopper-Neal.jpg

Devil Bug - this is an old pattern that I want to try on bass.
http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/...r/devilbug.jpg

[Uncle Jesse]

Interesting assortment, well done. I have a couple of spoonflies I have been wanting / meaning to try out. I cheaped and found some chrome artifical fingernails and hot glued it to a hook. Let us know how that works on the smallies.

[Panman]

I like the body on your bee fly. Would you be so kind as to share how and with what you constructed it?

Thanks

Tim

[PA Dave]

May I ask how the body of the spoon-fly is made? I need to make a few of them for the salt.
Thanks
Dave

[Bass_Bug]

I like the body on your bee fly. Would you be so kind as to share how and with what you constructed it?

Thanks

Tim

Panman, It looks like laminated foam. Check out my Dremel Swap thread for my version. Looks pretty close to what I do.

[quivira kid]

Is that a cure or a way to make it worse? Getting together with a bunch of folks and tying all day would make me wanna hit the water BAD! Cool flies!

[iaflyfisher]

Panman, Tim - I got the inspiration from FAOL for the foam bodies:
(http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/082205fotw.php ) on using a dremel tool. The foam is regular craft foam (1/8 and 1/4 inch) glued up with Scotch 77 spray glue. I then use a brass tube drill bit to 'drill' out cyclinders. To turn the bodies I super glued the foam to a bolt head and put the bolt in my cordless drill. The drill acts like a lathe and the dremel is the cutting tool. Seemed to work pretty good considering all the work involved. Here is a picture of the setup:
http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/...the-dremel.jpg

PA Dave, Dave - the spoon fly pattern came from this Internet site and it has patterns for the hook and plastic. I thought this method was better than nails as I was after the Daredevil look.
http://www.nwmangum.com/spoonfly/index.html

And finally, quivira kid, We did do some fishing in our favorite smallmouth river. The fish didn't bite but there was lots of ice!
http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af163/iaflyfisher/icefishing.jpg

Tight Lines - iaflyfisher

[Bass_Bug]

iaflyfisher,
I found that when turning the soft craft foam that the actual shaping is more melting it that actually sanding it off. I've used toothpicks as a mandrel which actually holds fine, until you put too much pressure from the emery board, then the toothpicks break. After switching to the nail, problem solved. By the way the nail I'm using is a paneling nail. It's about the diameter of a standard round toothpick, but has small ring shanks in it that hold the foam great. If you put too much pressure on the foam, you can stop the foam and strip out the hole rending the body useless. Like anything else, it just takes a little practice.

[Byron haugh]

Spring brook or Springbranch??

[kelkay]

I especially liked the spoon fly. Great job!