Tony,
Where did you find that?
Mike
----- Original Message ----- From: "Tony Spezio" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, March 25, 2005 4:15 AM
Subject: Re: [VFB] Fly tying Life Preserver
Wes
I found the foam used in furniture piping will float like a cork. The piping is the bead in the trim used on stuffed furniture.
It comes in coils and is sold by the foot, very inexpensive. It is round, not flat, I have it is 1/8" and another size that is close to 1/4". It has all the characteristics you have listed below, it will not water log. It is white.
I make sausage shaped poppers with it along with other floating flies. On the poppers, I cut off a length about 3/4" long, slit it and glue in the hook, slip it into a length of colored mylar braid tube. Flare the tail end of the tube for the tail, tie off the head and glue on some eyes. I also make cricket and hopper bodies from it.
Tony
I tried to send this yesterday, still having problems sending mail on this address.
Wes Wada wrote:
The subject line might make an interesting topic thread all by itself. *grin*
In this case, the post is just about the mundane topic of tying with foam, and the long search for the perfect fly floating foam.
To my way of thinking, the perfect fly tying foam needs to have these characteristics:
1. small bubble closed cell foam
2. as buoyant as possible
3. as light in weight as possible
4. not too hard or brittle
5. at least white in color
6. the more colors the better
7. durable, with high tensile strength
8. shapeable or formable
Keeping in mind that I am a trout flyfisher, primarily, my choice of foam is for flies that float well and stay afloat. I don't fish poppers and the like, which probably would perform best with a foam different than that described above.
For a lot of uses, and in my favorite flies, Rainey's Float Foam in cord form is hard to beat for convenience. It works well, floats decently, and is available from a lot of sources. (If you want a Chernobyl Ant that casts well, tie it out of Rainey's medium float foam cord. C. Ants tied with craft foam cast like kites).
However, my particular needs of late have been foam for wing cases, and to suspend small flies in the surface film. And that foam search has been particularly frustrating. You're talking about a very small amount of foam to float a metal hook covered with absorbent tying materials.
Craft foam just gets waterlogged quickly, and never stays afloat very long. Other foam is adequate, but I was really looking for the ideal stuff for this application, and I finally found it! And when I thought about this... I felt pretty damn dumb.
I picked up a white foam keychain float as a giveaway at a sportmen's expo. Swooped down upon it would be a better description. I wanted that type of foam but wasn't willing to purchase a life belt! This is the very light weight, white, shiny surfaced foam they use for water skiing belts and life jackets. Go figure, the best foam for my use was the same as used in life preservers. Like I said, wasn't seeing the forest for the trees.
You just use a sharp razor knife blade and slice the foam into uniform strips. A metal straightedge comes in handy for this task.
I was using strips about 1/8" x 3/16" for my fly tying. One application would be tie in the end of the foam, with the remainder pointing back toward the bend of the hook. Wrap peacock herl around and along the foam toward the eye of the hook. Pull the foam over the herl and tie in at the eye, forming a floating wing case. In the case of the suspender midges, I would also leave about an 1/8"-3/16" tag of foam sticking above the hook eye.
And man, does this stuff float. Just unsinkable. Tried to drown the fly in a glass of water, and it was still buoyant as heck two days later.
This life preserver foam is pretty strong stuff as well. I wish it came in 1/8" round cord, maybe an idea for you entrepreneurs out there. The white is easily colored with art markers. I am definitely going to try to see what is available in keychain floats at the stores and advertising speciality shops. A life belt would be a lifetime supply.
It's worth the effort.
Wes Wada Bend, Oregon
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