Foam Swap

[mike borba]

Sent them out yesterday. Mike Borba

[Hairstacker]

Well, I finally settled on a fly pattern for this swap and I believe it's a really good one. I fished it twice on the Delta with my 2 wt. rod to test it and found it consistently landed right, was highly visible, is easy and quick to tie, and the panfish loved it -- in fact, it worked better for panfish than any topwater fly pattern I've yet tried on the Delta and I've now settled on it as my go-to topwater pattern for this venue.

Here's a couple pictures of the prototype I tested -- please keep in mind this is what it looks like after being mercilessly and viciously attacked by several dozen Delta bluegills and redears, which also says something about its durability:





The materials list is as follows:

Hook: Tiemco TMC5212 (i.e., 1x fine, 2x long) size 10
Thread: Danville's 3/0 Waxed Monocord, color tan
Foam: 2mm closed cell foam, color yellow
Body: 100% pure new wool yarn, color tan
Wing: deer body hair, natural
Legs: Sili Legs, barred yellow/gold-black

I rate this fly squarely in the "beginner" category as far as tying difficulty. By the way, it's hard to see in the picture but the wool yarn completely encircles the foam to create the body of the fly.

Also, I found the wool body tends to soak up water and causes the fly to sit in the water film but the foam keeps the fly afloat. I didn't use any floatant but I think I would recommend adding some to the body and wing. I also thought about substituting waterproof dubbing for the body but the fish seemed to like it so well already that I decided not to mess with the formula.

I got the wool at Michael's and it came in this big, multi-colored skein:



The colors seem to change every 10" or so, and as you can see in this close-up, these are great colors and I can see this one skein being very useful for tying up a variety of trout subsurface patterns, like caddis larvae:



The nice thing about yarn like this is that it's so easy and quick to tie with. In any event, I'm relieved to have finally settled on a decent pattern and I hope Sierra trout like it as much as the Delta panfish have.

[Mike O]

am sending some foam back spinners as well. they are easy to tie, and I needed to tie some anywayz

[Hairstacker]

Flies are ready to go, just need a mailing address.

[Scott V]

Flies are ready to go, just need a mailing address.

Just send them all to me Mike, my little bass and gill pond will eat 'em.

I should have my flies done this weekend.

[Hairstacker]

Scott, I'd be happy to do that but I'm thinking everyone else in this swap would prefer I didn't.

[nrvi]

[Scott V]

nrvi, those look real nice. Rancho Seco will be one of the places I plan to use that fly, every winter I see dead bees on the water and have wondered if the trout would take a bee fly.

[nrvi]

Thanks, I know they work on the E. Walker, I substitute them for the hopper in a hopper dropper combo.

[Ben Kobrin]

Sorry for the delays in getting my address to a few of you. It's been a while since I've been able to sit down and catch my breath. I have many sets already in and several more on the way. I'll do a comprehensive update shortly!

-Ben