Brian K. Shaffer Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 Foam really works well for bass flies - and I use all blank for ants and beetles. The key is to have VARIETY. Not all the same shape and size drives fish crazy. I like that shade of yellow because I am color blind. Fish like it too, especially in the early AM. the fly below is painted foam - QTpie Ants are favorite - but these little yellow things come off right away - poo dpitt and FishnDave 2 Just once I wish a trout would wink at me! ozarkflyfisher@gmail.com I'm the guy wearing the same Simms longbilled hat for 10 years now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netboy Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 I use a foam body for all my larger dry flies... Elk hair Caddis, Sulphurs and BWO's. Floats really well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdmidwest Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 Throw a couple thread wraps over the chart foam on ants and it will hold. Daryk Campbell Sr 1 "Life has become immeasurably better since I have been forced to stop taking it seriously." — Hunter S. Thompson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjackson Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 I've used small Gurglers in saltwater for cutthroat both stripped and skated. Haven't tried the Gurglers in a river, though, so YMMV. Also, I hooked one of my largest trout ever on a small midge pattern that had a small, foam block as a wing. I was sitting on a rock, flipping the fly in the run at my feet when the bugger did a perfect head-and-tail rise to take the fly. Since the nail knot was inside the guides, he didn't stay around long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flysmallie Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 Gurglers are perfect for smallmouth. They pop, they swim, they skate, but some of the best takes are on a dead drift with the tiniest of wiggles occasionally. FishnDave and Daryk Campbell Sr 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Adams Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 My gurglers are not as pretty as Flysmallie's. I have a few tied in white and yellow. I tied a few woolly worms with foam bodies once. I thought they'd be good for panfish. I called them the Unsinkable Molly Brown's b/c I used a brown body. But I've never used them, so who knows! Foam beetle is literally top 5 fish catcher for me. I tie on a yellow scrap instead of gluing, fwiw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjm Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 I only make two foam flies, my gurglers look like Flysmallie's far left model, basic, simple, easy to see and Neosho bass love them; my "beetles" look like nothing natural but the RRSP trout gulp them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flysmallie Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 9 minutes ago, tjm said: I only make two foam flies, my gurglers look like Flysmallie's far left model, basic, simple, easy to see and Neosho bass love them; my "beetles" look like nothing natural but the RRSP trout gulp them. Most of mine that I fish look like the far left. The ones with long legs give you something a little different when dead drifting. The ones with rabbit get a little water logged and are good for swimming or blooping along like a frog. But one of those white ones skated on a 5 wt is my favorite for smallmouth. It doesn’t produce huge fish, it doesn’t provide great hookups, but it does provide big fun. tjm and Nick Adams 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjm Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 17 minutes ago, Flysmallie said: it doesn’t provide great hookups, I don't seem to miss hookups using 4XL hooks on the 14" and bigger fish, but I've smaller ones hit the fly on 4-5 consecutive casts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flysmallie Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 1 hour ago, tjm said: I don't seem to miss hookups using 4XL hooks on the 14" and bigger fish, but I've smaller ones hit the fly on 4-5 consecutive casts. I’m not speaking in general but skating one across a tail out for smallmouth will result in multiple misses. It’s just the nature of it. Using one as a popper or dead drifting it you won’t have any issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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