Fly tying with foam?

[zimtrout]

Hi there
I have recently bought some fly tying foam, with the idea of tying some small terestrial patters for this summers river fishing, i fish small streams mainly, down here in cornwall. is there any good reading of websites out there that have some step by step guides, or any experts out there who know how to get started? any help would be great cheers zimtrout!

[MARAZION MIDGE]

You tube has some great step by steps,
just type in Tying a foam beetle, hopper, spider or what pattarn you fancy in foam.
Mike

[arkle]

Hi zimtrout & welcome along.

Tying flies with the many different types of foam, available is a very wide subject. How experienced a tyer are you ? As many foam patterns can be very complex indeed for a beginner. If you've never tied before, then foam is NOT the place to start. If however you can tie reasonably well & consistently then it might be worth a shot. If you could expand a little on your level of experience then we can advise accordingly.

[zimtrout]

Alright boys, well cheers for the start, i have been tying flies for about 12 years no, on and off, mainly recently small dries for small stream river use!

[arkle]

If you google ulf hagstrom he does some amazing terrestrials with foam. Another source is the realistics section of Fly Tying
There's a book called Tying Foam Flies by Skip Morris
Another google link to try is just "foam flies" & don't forget to do a google image search as well.
Gwent Angling Society has some superb videos on tying technique.
Deer Creek - Flash Intro has a selection of interesting foam products & some very nice foam flies tied by Johan Put & others

[zimtrout]

Here you go chaps, getting there, youtube has been fantastic, some amazing videos on there! what you think then?

[jindra]

Originally Posted by zimtrout

Here you go chaps, getting there, youtube has been fantastic, some amazing videos on there! what you think then?

I think you have some cracking flies over there, though I'm not certain if all of them are suited for small Cornwall streams.

I would expect the smallish beetles to work perfectly, but on the other hand I would be slightly suspicious of the Chernobyl ants (the big black monsters). It is likely the fish on your streams will not be used to seeing bugs of this size and may get spooked. The pattern originated in Western US, where they have quite different insect life.

J.

[zimtrout]

Indeed jindra
the chernoble ant would frighten the life out of most self respecting cornish brownies, just tied it to practice really. much refinement needed of the other patterns methinks!

[A. Fluker]

Some good looking Chernoybyls there.

[jindra]

I totally agree . The Chernobyl is a productive pattern, just more in its place in Alaska or Mongolia (hope to get to fish these one day...) than Cornwall.

Oh, and I did the math and it seems you are tying with foam for little over a week - that is pretty cool, your flies look great.

Originally Posted by zimtrout

Indeed jindra
the chernoble ant would frighten the life out of most self respecting cornish brownies, just tied it to practice really. much refinement needed of the other patterns methinks!