Gorilla Glue Flies

[JobyKSU]

So, rather than doing actual work, I was surfing through youtube (as usual). I came across a demonstration of using the new quick-cure gorilla glue for floating flies.

I found this quite interesting, and began playing around. The quick cure gorilla glue will actually take the hue if activated by food coloring. Once you get used to it, it is easy to work with, and floats extremely high in the water.

Using the gel-type food coloring mixed with water I was able to get some pretty decent coloration. I was using a set of neon-colors, so I think the normal colors will work out pretty well if you're going for realism. Also, the regular liquid food color will likely be a perfect substitute for water in the mixture.

Pictures 1 is my finished product (orange head):

I started by tying in the tail (flash 'n slinky synthetic) and laid down a green thread undercoat almost to the eye.

I then tied in saddle hackle directly in front of the tail (I tied in the quill end), though wrapping it will be the final step. It's useful to put a quick loop around the hackle and tail, then tie it off. This keeps the hackle out of the gorilla glue once you put it on your hook.

Prepare the glue mixture - mix it well! Using a toothpick, put a bead of the glue on the hook shank where you would like the head centered. You will likely need to rotate the fly a few times to get the shape and location you want and to give the glue time to set, which it will promptly.

Let the head set and dry - 1 hr is a good estimate to make sure that it is nice and solid.

Once the head is solid, I wrapped the saddle hackle in relatively thickly all the way to the head. Tie it in and whip finish the thread, then a carefully placed hit of head cement to lock it in.

Things I've learned:

1 - The glue will stick to saran wrap, aluminum foil, and just about everything else. Stick with wax paper!

2 - It is important to get an uneven underwrap on the hook before the glue goes on. Your creation will rotate freely around the shaft otherwise

3 - Careful rotation can get you into some nice shapes, but you only have about a minute to get the head to the shape you want it.

4 - Use less prepped glue than you think you'll need. It expands more than I expect and it is easy to surpass the gap in your hook.

5 - Everything doesn't have to be perfect - the expansion covers up a lot of mistakes

6 - Don't get too much water in the mix or things go poorly - you'll know you have too much if the glue doesn't mix evenly

My next experiment is to find out if I can build a useful mold for heads. A simply cylinder cut at an angle and lined with wax paper should form popper heads really well. If I can figure it out, nice swimming lip should be possible also.

A few more pictures -

I have included a poor water/glue mixture ration (green head) - the darker green spots are actually indentations where the glue did not get mixed with the colored water - It could still be effective though, I'm looking forward to finding out.

The final picture is a method for making poppers (purple head), though they aren't as smooth on the sides as they could be. That picture also documents my discovery that you must have a thread underlay to keep the head from moving. My attempts at poppers have to set closer to 2 (maybe 3) hours before they're safe to work move around. If there is interest, I'll post some pictures if I get some decent looking ones.

[slider]

that was a great video. your stuff looks good also. the first thing that came to mind was trying to tie a cricket or a grasshopper. i wounder what the different colers of dipandye would do fore the glue? thanks fore posting this video jobyksu slider

[strangercreek]

don't get to much of that stuff on your fingers

[Kansas Fly Fisher]

Cool idea!

John

[Gavin]

Havent tied any flies with it, but I use it a lot for other things. It cleans up with acetone..cheap vodka does the trick too.

[Seth]

Looks like a great way to make some hardy egg patterns.

[Jeremy Hunt]

Great idea.