Little help requested for tying with Rainy's Float Foam

[pittendrigh]

I should have held my tongue.
I bought $300 worth of closed cell EVA foam (same as EVAZOTE....ethylene vinyl acetate) about 20 years ago for making boat seat cushions.
I dropped out of commercial boat building soon there after, and now have a lot of 2lbs per cubic foot foam. I bought it from a wholesale only outfit in Seattle, named Industrial Rubber.

I recently found a retail supply for 1.8lbs per cubic foot (EVAZOTE is 4lbs per foot...but what I got was half the weight) and thought: "now I can talk about this stuff, because now it's available to everybody!"

Except now I can't find it. I'll poke around. I'll post a retail source as soon as I find it. I still have a lifetime supply. Which is perhaps why I was so careless with that link. I'll find it again.

The following link has 1.7lbs per cubic foot polyethylene foam (used for making life jackets). But the minimum piece is big and 40 bucks.
I'll keep looking
http://www.marinefoam.com/polyethyle...ink_type=image

[ducksterman]

Folks have talked about picking up used life jackets at thrift stores.

I just got to wondering ....Now that memory foam ...[.tempurpedic mattress foam] ...is more available would it be useful?
pittendrigh...it ought to be right up your alley....soft and chewy

[pittendrigh]

I think memory foam is open cell, no?
What I really want is a supply of 2lbs per cubic foot closed cell foam (available retail) in grasshopper tan.
I have dark gray, yellow, orange and white. But not in grasshopper olive/tan

And I cannot find a marking color that sticks to EVA foam. Marking pens work on polyurethane open cell mattress foam. But not on any closed-cell foam I've found yet.

[jszymczyk]

Rainy's float foam is very low-density, squishy stuff. It is not the same as the foam cylinders used for posts and popper bodies.

[Draketake]

Update,

Morning all.

Was able to try some of the methods offered here, The easiest and less messy method for me was to use the nail clippers. I found that the small size of the halved rubber, was easier for me to flatten out on my fingertips. I then take the nail clippers and snip out the "filling" as it were. The "filling" is actually the center of the round rubber foam. It is like an aerated foam core. When I pinched the sides together, the "filling" did not squish out far enough for me to get a bite, thus the resort to flattening out the foam. However the larger diameter foam may allow the pinch together method of removal. Like I mentioned earlier, the exterior, finished, rubberized foam looks remarkably realistic.

Thank you all for your help and information.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Bob Duff
AKA Draketake

[Draketake]

Attn: pittendrigh,

Looking at the 2011 Cabelas Fly Fishing catalog, they carry evasote foam in various colors. Don't know if this is the foam you are looking for or not.

Have a good day.

Bob Duff
AKA Draketake

[Silver Creek]

Why is float foam better than the craft foam from Michaels or Joanns? The reason I ask is that I don't think real beetles are high floaters and like ants they sink. I think they are actually heavier than water.

My second question is if you use a high floating foam fly, why is the "smooth" upper border of the foam important? The fish never see this on a floating fly.

[Draketake]

Silver Creek,

Agree with you on both points. Not sure about the craft foam or what it looks like but will check it out at Michaels' tomorrow. Ive bought foam there before. Usually there is no difference between the foam sold there and the foam sold in the fly shops. However, I have never seen the Rounded Rainy Float Foam in the craft stores.

I like the looks of this foam due to the fact that it creates a rounded look to the fly, quite similar to the rounded body styles of the naturals. My thought is when the fish look up at the bug, this more accurate body style may make that selective fish more eager to eat it. I have the pleasure of being able to fish one of the most beautiful, public, Spring Creeks in the West, this being the Metoliu, in Central Oregon. At times, the fish can be extremely picky attributed to pressure, tricky currents and some flat water sections.

The style of foam I am talking about also will allow, if I desire, a "plop" of the bug as it enters the water. Again I feel this may be a possible trigger.

Lastly, the foam I am talking about, and the pattern I am talking about, creates a low floater, sitting barely above the film.

You know how it is. Tying is an addiction. all about tinkering and adjusting. My fishing buddy swears this pattern is/was the ticket on the Madison. For years and years, we always used the flat foam type beetle patterns. Now he wont fish anything but the Rainys Rounded Float Foam Pattern. I forgot to add, my friend also told me the Rainys Float Foam is vastly more durable than the old flat foam patterns we used to fish.

We shall see.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Bob Duff
AKA Draketake

[Silver Creek]

I'm always looking for a better method and materials. Keep us informed if Rainys makes for a better bettle.

Good tying,

[ducksterman]

If it is the cylinder shape that makes it better couldn't those of us that make our own plugs do as well?