Trout poppers

[pittendrigh]

RE> A couple questions.

Couldn't you turn the yellow into hopper tan with a couple swipes of a waterproof brown marking pen ?? and the gray into green drake olive with a dark brown or olive marker ?? Most of the green drakes that I see around here have pretty dark bodies - dark enough that I would tie them in black if I didn't have olive material that gets really dark when wet.

Yes and no. I do that. But it always ends up a bit ugly. Fish don't care. But I do for some stupid reason. The color fades quickly too.

Second question. Have you tried using a fairly wide strip of thin flexible material at the tie in point of the foam to protect it from being cut by the tying thread ?? instead of using the method of building them on a needle and then gluing the body to the hook ?? When I was looking at the material on Jesse's linked thread ( McMaster ) that possibility, using a strip of thin skin or winging material or larva lace or something like that, immediately came to mind. Curious what your thoughts are ??

Yes. I have used spawn sack (nylon netting) a lot. But it's a pain in the fly box. Other flies get their hooks stuck in the spawn sack like velcro. Wrapping tightly is no good for another reason too: it collapses the foam and thereby reduces its buoyancy. It's still best to wrap loosely and then rely on glue. No matter what.

Also, for some reason I can't explain in words, I've become addicted to tying on a needle. For all kinds of flies. I like the idea of an (almost) independent hook.

[maodiver]

Dunno what kinda foam it is, but those kneeling pads can be found at michaels, target, wally's, and sometimes the dollar store.

Same kinda foam as the thin sheet stuff we use to tie all sorta flies.

[CoachBob]

Simple suggestions:
1. 6mm craft foam sheets (if you want that thickness) are available from: http://www.craftsuppliesforless.com/...amsheets2.html in a wide variety of colors.
2. O-rings can be placed on the collar of a fly for relocation adjustment http://www.oringwarehouse.com/ OR http://www.allorings.com/. Allorings has a good size chart. You use forceps to put one on a fly. Put the O ring on the forceps, open the jaws, put the fly between the jaws, close on the fly and roll the ring onto the fly.
3. Easy stiff tubing is available in the form of cocktail straws (there are two sizes and any bartender will give you a bunch). Besides, the search can be fun.
4. Gurgler patterns work great as strike indicators. I wouldn't suggest 6mm foam for this but a great option is taking two different colored sheets of sticky back 2mm foam sheets, sticking them back to back, and making two tone gurglers. Gurglers can be adorned with bucktail tails or wings, flash tails or Christmas wrap foam wings.

[Uncle Jesse]

I just got back from the river, one of those days where things did not go right and I had no one but myself to blame. Had one foot in my waders and realized I did not have a PFD. Fished off the bank a little, limited opportunity for quality fishing in this area doing so but I used a foam grasshopper as a strike indicator. I used a 1/16" slice of a unused cather tube tied with about an inch and a half of mono to the hopper. My leader looped through the slice, pretty much like a 1/8" O ring. One of the two strikes I got was on the hopper, Sandy's point made with me anyway.

[AlanB]

Also, for some reason I can't explain in words, I've become addicted to tying on a needle. For all kinds of flies. I like the idea of an (almost) independent hook.

Why take the dressing off the needle?

http://www.graysofkilsyth.com/needle-flies.htm

Cheers,
A.

[Skip48]

I know nothing about foam to speak of, but if this stuff is the same kind these guys have it in colors. I have no idea if Cross-linked makes any difference.

http://www.wifoam.com/cross-linked.html