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Shane,

You can use a variety of foam types, as long as they are closed cell and will float. I have used inexpensive craft foam, which is widely available and inexpensive.

Rainy's Flies has a ton of different special foam products for fly tyers, also sheets:
http://www.rainysflies.com/foam-products/cross-link-sheet-foam

They also have a ton of pre-shaped foam products, which might be useful:
http://www.rainysflies.com/foam-products

You can glue the foam with good, old fashioned contact cement - also cheap and easy to find. Thin layers on both surfaces, let dry, press together is the method. Super glue can also be used.

For the wasp bodies you make a stack of yellow and black from about 1-2 mm foam, let it dry and then punch out cylinders with a small metal tube, maybe filed to have a sharp cutting edge in one end. Simply punch the tube through the foam with a hammer over a wooden board.

You can also opt for finished bodies like these:
https://www.lurecraft.com/Bee_Wasp-Foam-Bodies-1_4/productinfo/13X1203/

Martin

foam

Can you please let me know what size foam and where you got it from? also, what type of glue are you using to hold the foam together please.

Mojandomoscas.com.ar

I love this type of flies, specifically this pattern I did not know, so it will surely be part of my fishing box next season. Thank you very much for sharing. A hug from Patagonia Argentina

Me encantan este tipo de moscas, específicamente este patrón no lo conocía, así que seguramente será parte de mí caja de pesca en la próxima temporada. Muchas gracias por compartir. Un abrazo desde la Patagonia Argentina

Hi Martin

Hi Martin
Sorry to hear about you having Covid19 but I'm glad that you are on the road to recovery. My daily fix of GGF is always such a mix of recent and archived articles that I don't think I really noticed a reduction in new articles lately. Anyways, thanks as always for your wonderful work and all the best for a full and speedy recovery.

Good news

Good hear that you are on the mend Martin. Stay positive!
John

Good to hear!

Good to hear that you're back at it Martin. GFF is such a big part of my online reading and you've done an absolute great job at it over the years. Here's to your good health!

Martin,

Martin,
So glad to hear you are recovering! I am sure that I am just one among many who appreciate what you have created here and painstakingly maintained over the years. Thank you, and hope you are back to full strength soon, friend!
JK

Great looking fly

Jeff,

That's a nice looking little baitfish. That would be able to catch a lot of different species.

Martin

Pink Floyd

This is a very effective pattern for landlocked salmon. It’s origin is from the Moosehead Lake Region here in Maine I believe. I’ve used it with great success in many areas of Maine. Beautiful tie.

wow

Wow, that was a very nice video to watch. I love chasing chub with dry flies and this is a great example of the amount of fun you can have doing so. Thanks for sharing this video! Can you share which river this is? Or is that a secret?

You can

Patty,

You are welcome to use the images as inspiration for your paintings. I see no problems in that as long as you don't blatantly copy the photos onto paintings and start selling them. Most of the flies are tied from generally available pattern descriptions anyway.

If you would share some on the finished pictures, it would be great!

Martin

Can I do watercolor paintings of some of your fly photos

The flies are amazingly beautiful and I would love to paint some of them if I can get permission to do so. It would be greatly appreciated.

A simple way to cut the pieces

I was looking at these pieces and being the owner of some fairly large hole saws I thought that a easy to make the pieces would be to simply use what is normally the waste from when you cut a hole and use them for the round pieces for this project. They will have the same size hole and will be perfectly round. You can then use a bolt the same size as the hole for the axle. If you use a backer board when you cut the circles you should get fairly smooth edges.

Great article! Thank you!

Great article! Thank you!

When developing leaders for my custom leader company, I’ve found that Maxima Chameleon offers the stiffest nylon. This I generally use for the first two butt sections. We switch to Maxima clear for the middle taper sections. For the final taper and tipett, we’ll use a supple material.

The above allows for great casting and line layout, depending upon the application. The diameter of the the line used can be changed as needed, also depending upon the user’s requirements for casting delicacy.

indicator

One good reason not to use indicator is that... it can be forbidden!

About Leader Material

I am a fan of Maxima and have used it to make leaders for many years but would like to add a word of caution. I use a micrometer to check diameter of every spool of material I buy and over many years, Maxima's diameters has been very inconsistent (diameter understated between .002 and .003 in heavier lb. test). Might not sound like a lot but unless you check, you're leader will be far heavier than you thought.

True enough

Leonard,

It's quite true that the synthetics we use as fly tyers and fishermen will most likely add to the vast amount of plastic and other synthetics that litter the world - including micro plastics. I'm not quite on the wagon with tying using natural materials only, but I certainly do think about the nasty footprints we set on this planet - and anglers and as consumers.

In fishing as well as in all other matters I try to recycle, make sure I treat waste properly and limit my use of plastics, but it's still very tempting to add some color and flash to a fly using some of the many materials shown here.

Martin

Synthetic materials

Great article and there’s certainly a wide choice of inexpensive materials available today however are these same materials adding to the micro plastics problem that does pose a very real threat to fisheries and the environment?

alternative eyes

Ive used different size nail heads to do this job. I set the nails into a wooden handle and ended up with a set of four in sizes I use the most.
But I will try the dowel trick to see if I prefer it.
thanks Bob

Super ingenuity

Thank you Michael!!!... for this demonstration of ingenuity, knowledge of material propertys and wisdom. Simple and definitely Effective!

Lots of new stuff

Eric,

Sure I do promote older material now and then, but there's also new material coming out. Not as much as I'd like, but certainly some.

Published until now in January:
https://globalflyfisher.com/period_articles/2021/1?type=all

Published in December 2020:
https://globalflyfisher.com/period_articles/2020/12?type=all

You can see an overview over all publishing activity here:
https://globalflyfisher.com/about/rhythm?type=all

I'm constantly trying to add new reviews, articles, patterns, galleries, videos and such, but I'm a one man show and depend on others to contribute if I am to increase the frequency of new articles.

Martin

Activity

Hi - I love the site and I am concerned about the future of it. All of my favorite posts are several to many years old. Is this site going to continue bringing wonderful articles, fly recipes, photos, and other information? I hope it will - I only recently found it and I don't want to lose it.

Flytying and fly for rivers and stillwater

Very nice and eficient fly
Thank you for your video
Albert

Ian Warrilow

Hi , this might be a long shot but I’m looking to get in touch with a mr Ian Warrilow who made a comment on this post please.
I bought a used 2 piece fly rod with his name and date the rod was built on it in 92 . It’s a beautiful rod that he built but would like some more information on the rod .

Many thanks
Spencer