I have always thought of the egg pattern as a seasonal fly, I usually use them in the fall when the Browns spawn, or later in the winter when White fish are doing their thing. I have had good success with the glo-bug and the LaFontaine patter that uses marabou tied in a half circle over a body of pink antron yarn. It occurred to me while making these eggs that it would be easy to replace the antron in that pattern with a hot glue body, which might make it an even better fly.
Anyway, next time I am in a situation where an egg pattern is called for I will tie both the hot glue and glo-bug versions on together and see which one works best.
It is always fun to learn something new.
On Saturday, March 15, 2003, at 09:24 PM, Tom Davenport wrote:
I just got back from the SLC Sportsman's Expo and learned a new (for me anyway) method of making egg patterns from hot glue sticks. An alcohol lamp was used instead of a glue gun, and forceps instead of a vice. First small chips of glue sticks are cut off on the tying table. Then the hook shank is heated and allowed to melt into one of the chips. This gentleman started with a clear glue chip. Then the chip was heated quickly over the flame until it melted into a bead. The hot bead was used to pick up a chip of a different color (a kind of cheese orange glue stick, available at most fly shops). The bead was placed over the fire again and the new color melted into the clear. Finally a bit of a red opaque color was used. The result was a very realistic looking egg, and the whole process was quick and very easy since the egg could always be re-shaped with just a little more heating if it didn't look right. When he had the result he wanted, the whole thing was popped into a glass of water to set the glue. Very slick indeed.
Has anyone had success using hot glue stick eggs? How well do they perform compared to the more imitative glo-bug?
Tom Davenport
