I am getting ready to tie a bunch of Chubby Chernobyls for upcoming fishing trips. I have used craft foam in the past, but wanted to ask.... Do you use a single layer for a fly, or do you double it up by gluing two sheets together? For what it's worth, I am tying size 10 and 12 flies. I looked at some You Tube videos, and most of them were using a single layer of foam....
Thanks in advance!
You don't need double layered foam on a C.C.
Stick to one layer of 2mm on the #10 and larger and *maybe* drop down to the 1m thin foam for smaller sizes. Definitely use the 1mm if you are trying to tie anything smaller than #12. The 1mm foam is hard to find in craft stores but can be found online for much cheaper than what fly tying suppliers charge.
Using two layers of foam, particularly two layers of 2mm will make it difficult to get your wraps tight enough to secure the wings and legs, particularly on the sizes you mention.
I've tied and used chubbies a lot. The most critical component for flotation is the wing. Tie the wings longer and a little on the heavy side. You can always trim them shorter and thin them out on-stream with your nippers.
Also, while the commercially tied chubbies are usually on a 3x hook, I go one size up in a 2x to take advantage of a wider hook gap. Same body and wing proportions, just on the nominally larger hook.
And finally, get appropriate sized leg material. In #10 and especially #12 most silicon or sexifloss leg material will look stupid thick, even some of the small or "micro" legs. I get all my leg material for chubbies from Fly Tyer's Dungeon. They have the sexifloss style of material in a range of small sizes that are suitable for everything from the smallest to largest. The prices are also very resonable. I get my wing mateiral there also, check out the crinkle hair.
Between using them in small sizes here in PA and burning through a few dozen of them in a few weeks spent in MT every year, I've got Chubby Chernobyls figured out pretty well and what I've written hear is what I've settled on. Small or micro chubbies are my go to on dry-dropper rigs here at home and tied small enough with the 1mm foam and appropriate sized legs, they make a top notch searching or attractor dry for small streams. Heck, I even use them during the grannom hatch with good results.
