I am tying the foam beetle shown on the Rainys website. It is made out of that Rainys Round Float Foam. The instructions are that you cut off a piece of foam. You then split it in half. You then take fine point scissors and essentially hollow out a wedge shape on either end. This reduces the bulkiness when tied on/off. It also allows the rubber foam to not only go nicely over the peacock body, but also allows the foam to mold around the sides of the fly, making a sharp looking shell back/wing case. In addition the extruded rubber adds a very life like finish to the shellback. My fishing partner swears by this bug.
My question is this. Has anyone tied this particular bug ? If so, is there an easier way to remove the foam than to just carefully and painstakingly, snip it away. Not only is it time consuming, but the snipt off minute pieces of foam, go all over the place creating a mess.
I haven’t tied that particular bug. But I do have an observation.
Some foams are denser than others. Dense foam is harder to compress. But dense also means heavy.
Some of the denser foams on the market are so dense they barely float.
That round rope-like foam is dense stuff. There are lighter and better foams available.
I think Evazote is the lightest stuff commonly found in fly shops. Evazote is approximately 4lbs per cubic foot.
It is possible to buy closed cell foam as light as 1.8lbs per cubic foot. But you cannot find that ultra-light stuff in fly shops.
You have to dig around or it. Evazote is a lot better than the very dense, round in cross-section foam you asked about.
Thank you for your reply. I understand what you are saying, however this particular foam, though dense, floats like a cork. It is great for salmonfly/golden stone adults.
My friend who loves the beetle pattern which uses the Rainys Round Foam that particular foam, used it in the Madisons turbulent waters, for years. When I lived back there, I used that Evasote Foam for the same beetle pattern. I used to buy the Evasote foam at Blue Ribbon Flies. I loved that foam and that pattern. That said, my friend told me this Rainy’f Float Foam is much more buoyant and durable than the Evasote Beetles I used to tie for him/us. In the past, he bought the Rainys Foam Beetle at Arricks, in West Yellowstone. According to my friend, Arricks isnt carrying that pattern anymore.
Bob, two suggestion for hollowing out your bug body. If you have a metal tube about the size of a ballpoint pen refill you can put it in your rotary tool. A brass refill cut to length and flushed with solvent, alcohol will work, will do a good job. the other is to use a small ball pointed burr tool in your rotary tool. (I’m assuming everyone has some type of rotary tool)
Having visited the Rainy’s page, I wonder if there’s an easier way to go about this fly. How 'bout if you cut the cord lengthwise in half, then cut the length (with a bit of wiggle room). If at this point you squeeze the foam between your finger and thumb, a bulge will form on the cut side. Take a straight nail clipper, and snip that bulge off. When you release the pinch, it’s slightly hollowed out. Then pinch the ends (separately), and angle cut/snip with the clippers. Voila! Ready to tye the fly! That’s a kewl looking beetle!
I tried that once upon a time, much easier ways to do this.
Cut a strip of of 2mm foam as wide as he hook gape. cut one end into a narrow point.
Tie the narrow point down at the end of the hook shank. Bring thread to 1/3 behind hook eye
Tie in peacock herl. Wrap herl forward to your thread and tie off.
Pull foam forward and tie off where you tied off the herl.
Tie in is small piece of foam (white, orange, red, pink, yellow) on top of the foam where the foam is tied down. This will work as a bright spot indicator and help you spot the fly on the water.
Add rubber legs on each side of beetle at tie-down point. I just use one on each side. Cut to desired length.
Tie under the foam lip to the eye and whip finish.
Cut the foam lip even with the front of the hook eye to create a head. Round corners if desired.
…the real test of “floats like a cork” is what happens when you hang a weighted wet fly off the bend of the hopper hook.
The ultra-lightweight stuff will stay on top even with a jig-head streamer hanging behind.
Take your strip of Rainey’s Float foam cut to the length you want it. Put the strip of foam into one of those squeeze type paper holders (the black triangluar shaped ones with the two silver wire handles you have to squeeze to open the clip). This will do two things for you. 1. It will squish out the foam so that you’re cutting the center out not cutting it in half and 2. it will hold the foam tightly for you for the cutting process and keep your fingers away from sharp objects. Now, take an exacto knife (a double edge razor is actually better) and make a V-cut in the foam the depth you want. When you remove it from the clip, the foam will return to shape with a little coaxing and you will have cut out the center in one piece rather than lots of tiny clips flying around the tying room.
Pittendrigh, I googled closed cell foam to look for that ultra-lightweight stuff, but didn’t really find anything, can you give me a clue what to look for?
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.