WHats the easy way to attach foam bodies to hooks? THose little premade foam ones for water boatman bodies ect. I was thinking crazy glue on a thread wraped hook. and then a few coats of clear nail polish over the finished body.
How is it done the easiest, taking durablity into account, as the trout are just smashing the boatman flies a buddy of mine bought.
-Hillard
build a flat base along the shank of the hook by tying an appropriate sized piece of mono on both sides of the shank. you can coat this w/ head cement. or not. I usually don’t. then lash the foam on into place w/ a few snug wraps. not too tight or you can cut the foam. proceed w/ the rest of the fly.
Hillard,
I tie lots of these, mostly for warmwater, but trout will hit them if you can’t find bass or bluegills to fish for:
You can either glue them on, tie them on, or do both. Which you use depends on a few variables.
Do you ‘want’ the body to stay solidly attached to the length of the hook shank? If so, glue it down onto a thread base before tying on legs, etc. You can slit the body or not (splitting makes it look better and gives more glue contact surface, but takes more time and the bodies can tear easier). This is fine for larger lures, but allowing the abdomen to fold upwards away from the shank under pressure can help with hooking on smaller baits. If you want this movement, then leave the shank bare under the abdomen and tie/glue from the leg joint forward only.
I find that tying is more secure than just glue. I prefer to glue AND tie where I can. I never ‘just’ glue. I’ve also found that while I like the ‘look’ of the spiders/boatmen with the legs ‘threaded’ through the bodies and glued in place, these are less durable than actually tying on the legs. The fish don’t seem to care either way, and the threading takes a lot longer to do.
As far as ‘easiest’, this is how I do it:
Wrap a thread base from behind the eye back to where you want the thorax to begin.
Wrap the body on with a few tight wraps. Let the abdomen ‘float’ above the bare shank.
Wrap on the legs to both sides (for speed, wrap all four pieces on TOP of the body with two snug but not tight wraps, pull the legs to both sides and add several tight wraps to secure).
Lift the thorax portion of the body and advance the thread forward under the body to where you want the head to begin.
Wrap down the forward end of the throax and build a small thread head.
Whip finish or half hitch.
To increase durability:
Place one drop of CA glue under the body from the leg tie in point to the head.
Done.
You can tie one of these in about two minutes or less. Takes longer to type it out than to do it. Quick, easy, sturdy.
While you CAN go through several additional steps to make these more ‘durable’ or ‘look better’, I’m not convinced that it’s worth the extra time.
I know that boatman/spiders work for trout, but they have to be one of the deadliest bluegill flies ever devised. Probably should be illegal.
Good Luck!
Buddy