Playing around with foam
- Thread starter Nappy
- Start date
HenryDavid
Well-known member
Susquehanna smallies would eat those up
Solitario Lupo
Moderator
Looking good nappy. Think they would look good also in grasshopper colors.
HenryDavid
Well-known member
Could also make some white fly imitations, I'd buy a bunch from you.
Nappy
Well-known member
Just curious?
What size rod
Leader length
Tipped size
And hook size do you normally use for your white fly fishing?
HenryDavid
Well-known member
I use an 8wt. which many say is overkill but I like to be able to control and land the smallies, in my opinion a 6wt is too light, 7 wt. fast action would probably be ideal.
Leader length is minimal, I would say just enough to turn over the fly and get a decent drift. There were nights when either I had a tangle or break off and ended up with 5 foot of leader with tippet and was still hooking smallies. A lot of the white fly action happens at or after dark so leader length and tippet strength is not as important. One of my mentors Joe Ackourey once told me "Smallies will hit it on a rope" and I believe him. I would never go lower than 8lb test for tippet, 10 would be more like it, or the heaviest line you could get through the eye of the hook, so 2x to 3x and I would start with about 5 foot of leader butt material and about 2 feet of tippet. A delicate dry fly presentation isn't necessary, just slap it out where the rises are and be ready. While wading at night a lot of the rises will be right in front of you which can be troublesome. A good sized smallie will blow up and go crazy when hooked and wrap around your legs, I'm pretty sure they think a pair of legs in the river are trees they can rub against or wrap around to get free of the hook, either way that can result in an easy break off.
Hook size is also a matter of opinion. Size 10 hook would be ideal, during a heavy hatch I like to have a larger size 8 fly to make it stand out amongst the smaller flies, plus it can be easier to see at night. You will see a lot of weird looking cripples and 2 white flies kind of stuck together floating down, the smallies don't care, sometimes the bigger the better. I wouldn't go smaller than a size 12 fly for this hatch, if you wanted to be scientific about size a size 12 would be a closer match.
The standard design is a White Wullf or White Miller dry fly. Smallies will make a mess of a dry fly in no time, and drying them off to keep them floating is a pain. An ideal white fly imitation would float a long time and have some glow material to make it easier to see at night.
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HenryDavid
Well-known member
That looks like a Coffin Fly, it could work.
Nappy
Well-known member
Yep. That's where the idea comes from, body anyway. Still trying to add more foam in the pattern to float longer. Also more foam to add UV resin plus powder coat glow for after dark flys. The mixture sinks flys at the moment.
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Solitario Lupo
Moderator
I would do away with the uv resin and powder coat. Stick to more synthetics for the color to make it glo. Krystal flash maybe.
Solitario Lupo
Moderator
Are you using dry fly hooks.
Nappy
Well-known member
The hook is actually an egg hook. The reason I'm using it is for the larger gap size on a small 10 hook.oh ya and because I have a bunch lol. The powder coat glow lasts the longest so far to see at night. The craft foam is sweet for shaping but does not float as well in the smaller sizes. A dry fly hook would help on the wieght a little but with the sacrifice of strength.
Solitario Lupo
Moderator
Any light wire helps but that’s the reason why I don’t care for them is they are very easy to bend and have no real strength to them.
