A take-off on yarn furled-body flies like the Fluttering Stone, John Scott’s FEB series. I was looking for a body that provided a bit more floatation, trying to find a way to incorporate foam.
Got the idea while watching Jim Slattery making dubbing brushes
Unfortunately, a lack of additional appendages preclude photographing furling sequence so here’s the text version:
Use a clipboard to hold one end of the foam strip (instead of my pant leg)
roll the foam across the surface (putting a foam sheet down greatly increased friction, making it easier to create uniform twist)
slide a bodkin underneath the noodle at the mid-point, lift and allow the foam to twist back on itself, creating the furled body
hook - Dai Riki 280 #10
thread - UTC 140 hopper yellow
body - 2mm foam strip (furled)
wing - deer hair
head/collar - elk hair dyed olive
legs - medium foam brown
indicator - foam orange
Part 1
mash barb, start thread to establish width of head; finish a bit back from the eye
clean, stack, measure (hook length) a clump of ungulate hair, trim to length (add width of head to the equation and the tips usually end up eve with the bend of the hook)
two soft loops (spin the bobbin beforehand to tighten up the thread/minimize diameter); holding the hair, pull slowly/firmly on the bobbin to flare the hair, release, allow it to spin, take a few wraps through the butts
trim butts
measure body for length (extend gap width past bend), tie in, brush on a little Super glue, trim
clean, stack, measure (body length) a clump of deer hair; tie in/trim
push hair back, evenly surrounding hook eye
pull hair back, take 2 soft loops, pull slowly/firmly on the bobbin
add legs and indicator; whip, SHHAN (give the head a coating, too)
trim out collar on the underside
dig out the Smartwool socks (with poly liners), Capilene (top and bottom), windblock fleece, fingerless gloves, go freeze your butt off and catch trout in a proper manner
I’ve come to really like furled bodies for many flies. They are a great way to keep the weight down (using smaller hooks) on large flies. I use them for nymphs as well as dries and like the wiggle on the nymphs. I hadn’t thought to try foam, but that looks like a great idea and something I will try soon.
I do not believe there are any skwalas in Georgia, but I don’t think bream know that. That will attacked like 8 pack of chicken down at redneck family reunion.
No tearing (maybe a bit of tearing my hair out), but until I put a sheet of foam down on the clipboard to roll the strips on I wasn’t getting a uniform twist and the bodies came out a bit lopsided. That seems to have helped a good bit.
Scott, have you tried placing the end of the foam strip in your vise and twisting the strip and just folding the twisted body on it self? I just did and it seems to work…found out though that it is important to have the strip a uniform width.
I’ve played around with doing a lot of materials that way…even fly line after watching a video when a guy was playing with making a furled dragon fly adult body with fly line. I don’t like it very much but the foam should be a good idea.
