Capt.Castafly Posted June 27, 2009 Report Share Posted June 27, 2009 Here's a simple way to make perfect foam bodies each and every time without the expense of costly dies. Take any thin piece of hard wood and shape, cut and sand to desired size. Never trace again. Forget about the transfer process with pens. Saves time. Eliminates the use of sissors and ruff edges caused by shearing. Dies will lose their sharp edge over time. Razor blades are cheap. Foam gets trapped inside die. Using a common utiliy knife works best with the wood templates. Cuts are perfect 90 degree angles. Just watch you fingers while cutting. Keep 'um behind the blade. I use a common house shingle as a cutting surface. Nothing flies by me without a hook! If my fly is down, That's a good thing. Public Access.....It's a shore thing. My daily requirement of "Vitamin Sea". Capt. Ray Stachelek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flytyingguy1 Posted June 27, 2009 Report Share Posted June 27, 2009 Excellent Idea! I bought one of those die cutters just because I wanted to see what they would do. I'm one of those impulse type of guy's & love to have all the new gadgets! Well Not impressed what so ever.Don't get me wrong great Idea & made fairly nice but I wouldn't buy another! Tks for the tip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt.Castafly Posted July 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 Quote: C. Regalis Ray- I like your template thread. Any way you could show the shape of the pattern you use? Or is it fairly generic? It's just a generic pattern. Really!!!, When you think about it, it depends on what type of hook length you intend to use per pattern. That's another reason why I don't like the die cutters. They never tell you the hook it was design for in the first place. My best advise is to just draw a half design on a sheet of paper and lay it along the hook you indend on using. Watch for hook gap clearance. The other thought should be the location of the hook eye. The eye should begin at the bevel. Start large and keep trimming where needed. Than transfer a full pattern to a piece of thin wood. Make several patterns for different size hooks. __________________ Nothing flies by me without a hook! Nothing flies by me without a hook! If my fly is down, That's a good thing. Public Access.....It's a shore thing. My daily requirement of "Vitamin Sea". Capt. Ray Stachelek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommycod Posted July 8, 2009 Report Share Posted July 8, 2009 good tip; thanx Still chasin' tail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miamiwitz Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 I use small change for crease templates: a nickel, a penny and a dime. For a longer body/head, overlap them. Then I impress the outline with an empty ball point pen ink barrel (or a stout bodkin) and skizzer it out of the sheet foam. It doesn't matter if the edges look a little chipped. I use a variety of prism and lure tapes over the foam (after cutting the shape), color depending on what fish I'm after. A sliver prism tape imitates many baitfish, with or without a bit of color added. I also cut a deeper notch on the topside of the body than I see on other tyers' crease flies. That creates side wings, which let me make the body a little bulgy, and/or fold the wings forward to look like flared gills and push more water. The foam body does not cover the whole hook shank, just from the eye to about halfway back. To imitate a mullet, use the silver prism tape over pink or red foam. Long-fiber hairs make the tail and rear body. Start the rear body/tail portion beginning with a white belly tied on the sides of the shank, about halfway on its length. Then on top add a layer each of light gray, medium gray and charcoal or black, topping with peacock herl. I like Neer Hair and Congo Hair best for mullet flies. Craft furs also work very well. My favorite, Gherke's Fish Fuzz, has short fibers but catches light better than any other, so I like to work in some of that as well as silver or pearl Krystal Flash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt.Castafly Posted April 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 That's a blast from the past. A moldy oldie brought up from the deep dark cave. Nothing flies by me without a hook! If my fly is down, That's a good thing. Public Access.....It's a shore thing. My daily requirement of "Vitamin Sea". Capt. Ray Stachelek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miamiwitz Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 I haven't figured out how to post photos here, but if anyone's interested enough to want to see some of my coin-template flies, I can email pix to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saltyh2ofly Posted April 8, 2014 Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 Get a some index cards and practice the shape. I learned in a few sessions how to cut the shape free hand....fold the card over, start your cut on the side that is flat, next then cut a small belly up to the top fold for as long as your hook or fly, then make a cut back on top the other way. Too big thin it down, messed up.....get another piece of index card. If anyone wants some templates send me a PM and I'll bang you out a few and you can use them to get use to cutting the shape. Long shank popper hooks are great because of the gap but you can use smaller hooks with a large gap. Check out these two....the first is short shank with the bucktail tyed separately and placed in the tail the Atom is a long shank with the hook set way in the back. A really rough template for you all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slip n slide Posted April 8, 2014 Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 Is there something about the atom that makes it any different than any other crease fly? Miamiwitz,welome to the board! If you look at the reply section there are 6 boxes at the top.The 4th one over has an icon of a landscape shot as it's first one.Click on that and you can load pics into your replies.Lookin fwd to seeing some of your flies.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saltyh2ofly Posted April 8, 2014 Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 Is there something about the atom that makes it any different than any other crease fly? Miamiwitz,welome to the board! If you look at the reply section there are 6 boxes at the top.The 4th one over has an icon of a landscape shot as it's first one.Click on that and you can load pics into your replies.Lookin fwd to seeing some of your flies.... You have to remember that Crease Flys are not really poppers, the can be popped if you build the mouth open and put a plug in. They are a surface fly that can lay over on it's side then twitched an left quiet then stripped again. Or, just simple one handed pulls. The mouth will not withstand real hard popper strips, use a Banger for loud pops. The Atom just has a different profile and hook....that's all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridgetroll Posted April 8, 2014 Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 Extra longs, for chopper blues Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mauro Brazil Posted April 8, 2014 Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 Quote:Originally Posted by Capt.Castafly Here's a simple way to make perfect foam bodies each and every time without the expense of costly dies. Take any thin piece of hard wood and shape, cut and sand to desired size. Never trace again. Forget about the transfer process with pens. Saves time. Eliminates the use of sissors and ruff edges caused by shearing. Dies will lose their sharp edge over time. Razor blades are cheap. Foam gets trapped inside die. Using a common utiliy knife works best with the wood templates. Cuts are perfect 90 degree angles. Just watch you fingers while cutting. Keep 'um behind the blade. I use a common house shingle as a cutting surface. Would be possible a frontal pic of the die? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgg Posted April 9, 2014 Report Share Posted April 9, 2014 Is there something about the atom that makes it any different than any other crease fly? I think the Atom reference is just paying homage to the classic Atom Striper Swiper plug and its iconic color scheme. Cool fly salty! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidDkivahh Posted April 9, 2014 Report Share Posted April 9, 2014 Quote:Originally Posted by cgg I think the Atom reference is just paying homage to the classic Atom Striper Swiper plug and its iconic color scheme. Cool fly salty! That fly caught my eye as well sure is a beauty. Brought me back to the 60's when we used to throw them . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saltyh2ofly Posted April 10, 2014 Report Share Posted April 10, 2014 I think the Atom reference is just paying homage to the classic Atom Striper Swiper plug and its iconic color scheme. Cool fly salty! That fly caught my eye as well sure is a beauty. Brought me back to the 60's when we used to throw them . Bob Pond was a friend of mine and so it is just as you thought.......just a thank you to a wonderful man who fought to save stripers in the early years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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