extended body mayflys

[drumat26]

Here are some patterns i experimented with today. Sorry for the low clarity pics. Phone doesn't take the best pics. Let me know what you think! In both pics, right is a green drake, left was tied with march brown dub.

 

[tctrout]

Thanks for sharing; what did you create the extended bodies out of?

TC

 

[drumat26]

i use 2mm foam. I cut small strips of foam and fold them in half and put on a small sewing needle. Tie in the moose main fibers on the needle then fold the foam over and bind down. add a little bit of head cement then bind down some more and dub. Whip finish and snip thread. Make sure you leave some foam in front of the dub to tie to the hook. I can try to post step by step pictures if needed

 

[osprey]

Very Nice!!! Try downsizing the foam , extended , part and use it in your stonefly and caddisfly patterns tied in at the top of the bend and then complete by tying whatever ........ the foam floats all day. GOOD JOB.

 

[Festus]

Lookin' good Drumat26! I love tying these extended body flies and I do pretty well on them at times. Here are a few of mine:

 

[GenCon]

Guys, those are some really nice looking ties. Festus is that silver badger on your spinners?

GenCon

 

[Festus]

Thanks. Sure is GenCon. It's getting pretty hard to find to.

 

[sipe]

Festus, I'm pretty new to tying, but I'd like to tie up some coffin fly spinners like those in your pic. Could you post a link to the foam you use for the body? Or if you have a video link, that would be awesome. I'll continue looking on YouTube. Yours look great!

 

[Festus]

Thanks. Below is the link to the method that I use by DeFranks Flies. It's very easy to do. I use 1 mm foam that I buy at Walmart or Kmart. BTW....I would stay away from the foam wings. They are time consuming and very fragile. You can get the same profile using dyed mallard or poly wing material. Also, I switched to a straight eye or up eye scud hook for better hooking qualities and use Danville 6/0 thread. I think the hook is a Tiemco 2488 if I remember right. Good luck!

Here is the link:

http://youtu.be/tUInntGclS4

 

[lv2nymph]

That's a lot like the way I make them works very well. Once you get good at it you can make them pretty small.

 

[Festus]

Yes. I've also found that Razor Foam is very stretchable, and you can stretch out for real small segments on little stuff.

 

[MrMustard]

Festus,

What color foam is used on your dun pattern in image 3 above? I'm also looking for some drake patterns to try and that looks quite nice to me.

 

[Festus]

I start out with white foam. The bottom of the abdomen is colored with a Pantone art marker color #101-T pale yellow. You can also use a yellow Sharpie, but you have to color it, then wipe it off while it is wet until it fades to the desired shade. The top of the abdomen is colored with a Pantone as well, color #119-T medium olive, then a single dot of brown Sharpie on top of each segment of the ab.

 

[MrMustard]

very nice, thanks.

 

[sipe]

Great, thanks for the link! Is the foam flat?...like in a sheet?

 

[Festus]

Yup. It comes as a sheet.

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