Here are 3 of my favorite flies from balsa wood bodies Charlie Brown designed, and created. I think these are 3 of my favorites. I painted and dressed the flies. I just tried to do them justice.
Kelkay,
I really like the paint job on the green one.
Balsa is lots of fun to play with, ain’t it?
Buddy
Thanks Buddy. Actually the spots are darker on the green one than it is showing in the picture. They are all as dark as the top middle one. I guess the shine made it look lighter. I put Bug Bond on this whole set of flies. I used the Lite Version. I am very happy with the Bug Bond for protection and covering the balsa wood bodies. I loved the balsa wood bodies that Charlie made.
I liked the paint job on this one, but it was harder to dress. If I am not mistaken that one has a rattle in it, and it is probably by far the largest fly in the batch. I love balsa wood, but I have to be in the mood to paint the bodies. Once I am done with a batch, I don’t want to do any more immediately. But once I start again, I enjoy it very much.
Very nice flies Kelly. I too like the paint job on these. Now, just find time to fish them.
Well I probably won’t fish two of them. I have several others I have done. I usually set aside the better paint jobs for viewing. (which they are in the minority) I have a quite a few foam poppers, and some balsa wood ones now to try out. Glad you liked them Rookie. Now I have these under my belt…it is time to move on to Salmon flies again…hehehe. I am just starting out in that direction, as you know. Still waiting on some materials, and also I have some in the freezer just waiting for me to play with them…fashioning flies out of fur, and feathers. What a great hobby… 
Very nice job on all four. I especially like the lepopard frog diver. Super paint job capturing the spots just right. Now, let’s see you go cast those beauties deep into the brush where the big bass are hiding:)
Jim Smith
Nice -Very nice!!!
Watch out working with Balsa making poppers .
I can lead you to the dark side into plug building.
But it is a great place also–ha ha ha
wet
Wet, For me it was just the opposite. I was carving wood crank baits that led to in-line spinner baits. When thumbing through a Jann’s catalog for spinner blades, I kept stopping on the fly tying stuff. I had no idea what a bobbin was at the time, but once I got my first vise a few months later the Emperor and a Sith had me firmly in their grasp.
Kelkay, great flies! Balsa is a great medium to work with. Keep up the good work.
Very nice Kelly; thanks for sharing. My favorite is the diver … fantastic!
Thanks guys. Yes, I know I already was looking at plugs when I was learning more about the balsa wood flies. I must stay away from any thought in that direction. I have my hands full with fly tying, balsa wood flies, weighted spinners, and spinner flies. I am just starting to learn how to tie Salmon flies as well. I must of lost my mind. But the beauty of the flies, that really gets me going. However, the pocketbook cannot quite catch up to the fly tying materials wants…lol. If I had known how much in the hole I would be tying flies, and making spinners, I think I should of stayed away…only for financial reasons. But for the relaxation, and benefit of being creative, that alone is the only thing probably keeping my sanity. I have two older teens, and I am on my own. I have to have an outlet, and tying keeps me out of trouble…lol. I must not build one rod,nor a plug. To do so would be sheer craziness. I have to be in the mood to paint the poppers and deal with them. They take a lot of work, and I am not always up to the paint jobs. When I am I really enjoy it. When I am not, I just don’t do it.
Great looking poppers Kelly and glad you woke me up so I could look. I like making poppers too, but have never tried Bug Bond so will have to look at that too. That Chartreuse is looking good!
Very nice!
Skip
Thanks Skip. I really do like that color I got from you. It is excellent. Better than I thought…it matched really well to my application that I was striving for.
Great Looking Balsa Flies!!! Thanks for posting pictures!
Lebengeek, thank you for commenting, and you are quite welcome!