Foam Terrestrials

[Krazo]

Never tied these, but I now have a ton of foam and want to start.  Id like to get some hopper, ant and beetle patterns I can use for trout & panfish. Big questions in my mind, for those who tie these flies, what is the thickness of foam your using?  where do you get it?  I think I bought a variety pack of foam in the WalMart craft area and its fairly thin.  I was going to glue some sheets together for color variations and thickness. any thoughts on this.   Also, do I need a foam cutter for these patterns?  I'm guessing it would be easier with precut pieces but seems like scissors would work just as good as the foam cutter.    

 

Anyone up for a fly swap?  Havnt seen one posted on here in a while.  I was thinking maybe panfish flies.  I might do some hoppers.

[dpitt]

I ty a hopper pattern for the White using this thick black foam I got from Micheals. I don't have to fold over I can use one strip.    You can also double up thin foam, but for hoppers thicker the better, needs to be as buoyant as possible, and if you're targeting big browns off the bank, they have a little larger profile. 

 

 

[Flysmallie]

I use different thicknesses of foam but usually 2 and 3 mm. I buy it wherever I find it but that is rarely from a fly shop. Mostly at Hobby Lobby. Scissors and razor blades work great. Those foam cutters are nice but scissors are quick and easy. I have some cutters that I never use. 

You can glue sheets together if you want or you can just stack them. Gluing isn't necessary in most cases. 

If I was going to tie a foam fly for a panfish it would be a black ant. simple and effective. 

 

[Nick Adams]

I tie the Charlie Boy Hopper in tan, yellow, green and black (as a cricket). It's easy and effective, I think. Video below.

 

 

[Gavin]

Foam is great at times. My go to with foam is a Pink pookie style tie or a Rainey’s Hopper. An old school Madame X in various colors usually out fishes foam flies 2-3 to one. 

[Krazo]

17 hours ago, Nick Adams said:

I tie the Charlie Boy Hopper in tan, yellow, green and black (as a cricket). It's easy and effective, I think. Video below.

 

Good video,  speaking from inexperience, seems like an easy one to tie.  I'll give it go and post results when I get a few done.

One point he makes at the 1:00 min mark is about thread choice, and its importance here due to the differences between Danville and Uni.  Hoppers aside, and just regarding tying in general, anyone here have an opinion or thought on the differences between these two?  Ive been tying some very basic flies for years but I have no clue as to the best application of either of these.  I just grab the color I need regardless of which one it is.  

[tjm]

My foam terrestrials are all simple rubber legged beetles. Since terrestrials are accidental food for fish, road kill essentially, I don't think the fish are selective about them. Instructions that approximate my style - here and here. I often don't even make an underbody, just tie the foam tightly to shank from tie in point to bend, tie in legs and fold foam  to front and tie down. I'm not convinced that color of foam matters either, as long as I can see it.

[Nick Adams]

Here's one I tied. It worked well at RR this summer. Hopefully I'll get down to Taney this week and try it there.

[Nick Adams]

On 7/30/2022 at 8:21 AM, Krazo said:

between Danville and Uni

I don't know much about thread. I use UTC Ultra Thread 140 for just about everything. You can cut through the foam though. That's just craft foam from Walmart.

[tjm]

 " Danville and Uni. "

An article that kinda explains thread- https://www.theessentialfly.com/blog/fly-tying-threads-size-comparison-charts.html

Brand names don't matter, because each brand has many threads. Key things are the material, nylon, polyester, silk, kevlar, GSP, whatever  etc and the thickness as well as strength. Ought thickness 3/0, 6/0 8/0) applies only within  the brand as a comparison, and not from brand to brand as there is no standard, denier applies only in the same material because it is a weight to length ratio and some fibers are heavier or lighter than others.  

We could write a book or two about thread choices, but, the take away is you can tie flies with absolutely any thread you have as long as you can secure the material without breaking the thread. 6/0 Fly Master from Danville is one of my "choice" threads, however I use rod winding threads, various sewing threads, unraveled embroidery floss, fishing line and some other threads depending on the day or fly. Most of my threads were bought in the '80s and no longer have stickers on them, so I grab a color and tighten the thread wraps on a bare hook until I break the thread and after doing that a couple  of times I know how much tension I can apply with that thread, (I like to keep thread very tight as in "just before it breaks" tight) As a rule I probably use slightly  larger diameter threads than the YouTube tyers and make ten times fewer wraps. I generally prefer nylon over other materials, but they all work.