Stretching the foam, starting the initial wraps as wide as possible with lots of tension and very little overlap, then decreasing tension and increasing overlap created the taper I was looking for. Also switched to the Dai Riki 135 (scud hook) to get a little more weight on the underside.









Took it out for a test drive and it landed upright and floated like a champ, even during a downpour. Didn't catch anything on it (managed a very nice squawfish on a foam skwala) but I'm not sure there are any trout in the part of the stream I was fishing anyway.

Regards,
Scott