I started fly tying by tying egg flies out of glow bug yarn and some knock off brands that i could find around here for cheap. They were marginal, at best. I bought some McFly foam this weekend and my flies have never looked better. I can tie them smaller and they are still just as dense as the big ones. Has anyone else noticed this with their tying?
CD
Nothing better than McFly Foam for eggs. I use it all the time. I only have trouble when it comes to locating my favorite color - Early Girl - no one stocks it and usually isn’t listed in the catalogs. I have to get that color special ordered by my local fly shop, but it is the most realistic when wet for a ripe rainbow or steelhead egg.
Kelly.
Kelly,
There are several places you can get the “Early Girl” McFly foam. Just check out eBay, they have it listed right now, J. Stockard has it and you can even find it on Amazon along with several other places.
Click Links
CD,
I just made up two dozen to take with me next week to Michigan. I really like the stuff, easy to work with. 
Check out this video "Easy way to tie Glo-Bug Egg patterns"It coldn’t get any easier then this.
Great stuff, thanks!
Kelly.
I tried the foam, decided I like the old yarn eggs better, and went back to glo bug yarn. I have the exact color I like, the fish really could care less whether the fly is the actual size of a real egg, and they are easy to make.
I find no difference between ‘brands’ of egg yarns.
I’ve even tied quite a few, especially the smaller sizes, with craft yarns because they come in wider array of colors.
It all works just fine.
Buddy
I respectfully disagree concerning the difference between McFly Foam and any other type of egg yarn. There is a definite difference in feel and tie-ability. McFly Foam is definitely much different, and the range of colors is mind-boggling. If one hasn’t used it, you need to try some in order to see the marked difference and ease of tying this material.
Kelly.
Tied with the method below, this stuff is self shaping. Love this stuff.
http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/details.cfm?parentID=122
Charlie’s method is exactly how I do it with the exception of using a razor blade. In order to get a smooth cut and round egg the material must be cut fairly quickly and a razor would be a bit too unsafe for me. I use a sharp pair of scissors and make the cut smoothly and quickly.
Kelly.
Agreed. You can also use it to make flies like crabs, and as an alternative to a wool head.
Put hook in vise, heat with lighter, press plastic bead of appropriate size and color to hook, paint with off-white/flesh colored finger nail polish, fish. Have tried all the other materials, and just not worth the effort.
I swear I could tie a Mcfly egg faster than the heating, coloring, etc.
With McFly Foam, two wraps over material to bind on hook, two wraps behind material, two wraps in front - behind eye, tie off, pull up material, trim and you’re done - seconds. Fastest fly I tie.
Kelly.
I “need to” ?
you need to try some in order to see the marked difference and ease of tying this material.
In order to see the difference, yeah, you would need to work with it.
The best or at least fastest tyer of egg flies I have ever seen insisted that glo-yarn is the only way to go. He was cranking out flies at about one every minute while carrying on a conversation with several of us watching him. I do think that the mcfly foam is a little easier for those of us who don’t produce thousands of them for sale every year. He said that he used the rare out of round ones for his own fishing as the steelhead are less picky than the fishermen
This is Mcfly foam:
Yessir, that’s the way I tie them. Simple and fast. The material is so easy to work with and is not as dense as foam, thus the ease in tying.
Kelly.
That’s how I tie them as well, but I can’t see any difference between the ‘McFly Foam’ and ‘Egg Yarn’ when it comes to ease of tying.
I have both, and use them interchangeably. Also, plain old nylon yarn works just as well too.
Buddy
The first time a saw a steelhead caught on a fly I tied was a egg pattern made from McFly Foam but It wasn’t on my line.
I also use it to tie egg sucking leaches.
Most of my egg patterns now are made with hot glue sticks. I like how they sink faster than the yarn and shot. Easier to cast too.