First Surf Candies (Pics)

[outdoorsman816]

My buddy loaned me his drying well the other day, so I took the plunge, bought some epoxy, and hit the vise. Tied on a size 2 TMC 800S. Any and all suggestions, comments, and critiques are welcome and appreciated.
Thanks.

Oh, and yes I am fully aware of the fact that I can't take a good picture of a fly to save my life!

 

[skiltonian]

nice tie! I caught more blues and stripers on that fly than anything else. never have to worry about the tail wrapping around the fly and super durable.

 

[Alpabuck]

Looks pretty good to me!

 

[sandfly]

Nice job, Epoxy looks real good.

two things you could change for the salt though. Leave some mylar out towards the tail so it flutters in the water and do not cut the tail leave it tapered. Bad thing with epoxy it yellows in time, I went to using frabric paint (gelles) in clear and stays soft (chewy). You don't need a wheel to dry either.

 

[outdoorsman816]

Thanks guys. I did correct the tapers of the flies afterwards, but adding a little extra flash in the tail sounds like a good idea too.

 

[wetflyguy]

Sandfly,

Where did you get the clear fabric paint ?
Do lots of epoxy flys , no wheel would be great !!!

wet

 

[sandfly]

Joann frabric's under the name (Gellies) by Tulip. bought on line. real chewy when done. workin on a minnow pattern now to try for local lakes. when dry I'll post a pic. I'm takin step by step pics of appling the coating. here are few pics now: gellies applied looks white when dry clear, rainbow is covered in gellies. the surf candy has one coat of tulip glitter in pearl, when that drys I'll use gellies to finish. the minnow has gellies.

 

[Ramcatt]

epoxy will yellow and crack
the puffy paint does not look good

ClearCureGoo

http://www.clearcuregoo.com/

5sec cure
stays clear
you can build nice even head and bodies
durable

 

[snuffysmith]

By the time you spend all that $$$$ on the clearcuregoo, you can have all the colors of puffy paint, I have seen sandflys flies they look great when done. just take longer than others to dry, but why be in a hurry tying.

 

[sandfly]

here is the end result after dry over night. Looks preatty good to me, and whats nice cheap. plus no yellowing and its chewy..

 

[1stfly]

Have you ever tried using clear silicone caulk? I was told that it works well, but have not tried it yet.

 

[BrandonMH]

Going down to LBI at the end of Sept. Been toying with the idea of getting a fly outfit for salt for over a year now. I have an old 9ft 8wt scientific angler rod (cheap one, I know. Bought it years ago, hardly used) I just need to get a reel, line, bite tippet, tippet and flies. I looked and the Barnegat Bay Orvis shop closed last year I think, can't find it. Might pick up some stuff at Sporting lifestyle if I do tho. Anyone fish down there? I do have spin tackle for surf tho.

 

[Fishidiot]

Brandon,
Good luck with your trip. By all means take your spin gear as salt FFing is unpredictable and difficult for newbies.

As for a shop, I like Fisherman's Headquarters which is actually on LBI (on the right when you first arrive on the island). It's mainly a conventional bait/gear shop but they have some FFing and tying stuff. They also have a reliable fishing report:

http://fishing_report.home.comcast.net/~fishing_report/lbi_nj_fishing_report.htm

 

[BrandonMH]

Yea, I love that place. Been going down to LBI for as long as I can remember. Ever since that place opened up, they have good prices and usually have a great selection of bait. Last year it was like a desert in the ocean, I usualy use a mullet surf rig, I may have caught a dogfish. My bro-in-law uses gulp and clams, and caught your typical bottom-fare of dogfish, cat sharks, etc. I was tough last year. Still don't know if I popped the cherry on my Quantum outfit and caught a fish on it yet or not. The Penn I know I did. The year before I lost a plug and a mullet rig within minutes of each other. Had a blitz happen when I was down, not sure if a striper took the plug, I almost had it beached when the line or knot gave...that was florocarbon line too. We spooled up with PowerPro braided now and I re-evaluated my knot tying skills after that. I was pissed, lost two nice fish in about three mins. that day.

 

[snuffysmith]

that's just normal for losing stuff, most likely a blue cut you off. even with power braid you should top it off with enough mono to cast. braid is ok but will cut you up for sure. if you want to learn you should contact sandfly, he spent a lot of time on the beaches, and can read the water..

 

[BrandonMH]

I'm good with reading the water. Been surf fishing there for years now. That one that took the plug, that was like a 4-5 in plug, I think was a striper. I thought blue as well, but they are tail biters, to have that whole plug up to the knot would be a hell of a fish. The other was a mullet rig and that has the coated steel leader on it. That one was probably a blue.