Beside the standard lacquer head cement, there are
several new adhesives available to the tier. The use of
adhesive can help you make durable flies with less
thread wraps and time. If you put a drop of cement on
the hook shank before you start your tying thread, the
fly is less prone to twist. Also apply a drop of cement
as you tie in slippery materials. Use adequate
ventilation with adhesives. A small room air purifier is
a nice addition to a tying room.
Cyanoacrylate.There probably isn't a tying bench without these
"super glues". Zap-a-Gap is one of the most popular.
Judicious use of it can make very durable flies. It's
quick setting and very strong. Use a bodkin or toothpick
to apply it to flies to prevent having a completely
solid fly when you squeeze a little too much glue out.
With super glue, a few drops can be put onto a piece of
plastic, and you can use your bodkin to accurately apply
it from there. When you have a quantity of super glue
out, it takes quite a while to dry. It works great to
rescue a fly when you break your thread. Dave Whitlock
uses it in place of a whip finish on small flies. I use
super glue to attach foam popper bodies to the hook. If
you are using large amounts of super glue, a drop of
Accelerator will fuse the entire amount instantly. Gel
super glues won't run and take a little longer to set.
Epoxy flies are one of the most popular styles of
flies because of their simplicity and realistic
appearance.
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Epoxy. Epoxy is used a coating and as a body material. Ten
years ago there were just a few saltwater-flats flies
made of epoxy, now there are numerous fresh and
saltwater flies that utilize the resin. Epoxies cure
from a chemical reaction caused by mixing the components.
Epoxy won't shrink like solvent base coatings do as they
dry. It forms a tough, smooth clear finish and will fill
in gaps on a fly.
Epoxy flies need to be rotated until
cured to prevent sag or fall off. This can be done by
hand, but a rotisserie is much more convenient. Epoxy is
sold in different cure times. Longer set epoxies are
more flexible when cured, allow you time to coat more
flies, and will have less air bubbles. The bubbles have
more time to surface before it sets. Quick-set epoxies
are easier to use without a rotisserie and won't flow
into materials as much. One-minute epoxy works best as a
underbody on multi-layer flies. Five minute is the most
popular. It gives ample time to work on the fly. Thirty
minute is flexible and will give you enough time to coat
a dozen flies. Epoxy is temperature sensitive. If it is
cooler than 70 Fare height, it will take much longer to
set. Heat will speed up the set time. When checking to
see if the epoxy is set, check the excess epoxy you
mixed not the fly. Epoxy gets very tacky before it sets.
If your epoxy is sticky long after the cure time, coat
it with nail polish. This will set the outer layer.
Epoxy can be thinned or cleaned up with either
acetone or isopropyl alcohol. Isopropyl is much nicer to
work with. A drop is all that is needed to thin it. Too
much will affect cure time and make it a milky color.
Thinning epoxy is done to make it easier to paint on
with a brush, and it will help get out air bubbles.
Warming epoxy by holding it under a warm lamp will also
help with air bubbles. Epoxy can be tinted with minute
amounts of acrylic paint, epoxy pigment and fabric dyed
mixed with alcohol. A plastic bait dye called Dip It,
will dye it after it is set. Glitter can be mixed in
with it too. Hareline sells a fine glitter pigment combo
called Fishscale Powder. Epoxy can be bought at fly
shops, tackle stores and hardware stores.
Foil tape texturing can creat an effect
like fish scales.
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Epoxy Substitutes. Hot glue and Soft Body are used in place of epoxy. Hot
glue can be used to build bodies or to attach material.
It is feed through a glue gun which melts it and then it
quickly cures. Doug Brewer of World Specialties is the
guru of hot glue and sells colored glue sticks and
videos on glue flies. He makes egg patterns, molded
eyes, flats flies and about anything else that could be
made of hot glue. The only drawback to hot glue flies is
that in extreme heat they can melt. I melted a box of
crabs once in Belize on the deck of a boat. Keep them in
a place with reasonable temperatures. I will also coat
mine with head cement, in case they melt, the mess won't
be as bad.
Soft Body from Angler's Choice is a clear, water
based, plastic resin for coating flies. It comes in thin
and a thick versions. The thick can be used like epoxy
for making thick coats on flies, while the thinner resin
penetrates natural materials better. It sets in about 20
minutes and cures to be waterproof in 24 hours. It is
much less toxic than epoxy.
Nail Polish. Nail polish for head cement has been used for years. It
is my favorite. Nail polish bottles are one of the best
head cement applicators. The brushes can be cut down for
smaller applications. Thickened up nail polish makes
nice one-coat gloss streamer heads. Other colors besides
clear can be used to paint flies. A coating of thick
nail polish before you wrap a hackle will make for a
very durable fly.
Wader Repair Glues. Shoe Goo, Goop, Zap-A-Dap A Goo and Aquaseal are strong
flexible adhesives. They work great for gluing on eyes
or coating bullet head flies for durability. Their
flexibility helps prevent bass bug eyes from getting
broken off. Also they are tacky enough that you can put
it on, stick on the eye and not have to hold in place as
it dries. Use it to glue the rabbit strips down on
zonkers instead of tying them off.
Make bass and pike flies by applying silicone
to rabbit strips.
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Silicone. I use silicone caulking to reinforce the back of rabbit
hides. I mix glitter in with the silicone and spread
onto the hide. The rabbit will still have its pulsating
action because silicone is super flexible when cured.
The silicone backed Sluggo fly can be fished like a
plastic bass bait and it will hold up to a number of
pike. Bob Popovic's silicone bass and saltwater flies
are interesting flies. They are tied out of flared lambs
wool trimmed to shape and then coated with clear
silicone caulking. The silicone helps trap air in the
wool and to hold a broad shape.
Contact Cements. Contact cement works very well for flexible bonds. Coat
both sides of the desired bond, let it tack up and push
them together. You now have a permanent bond. I use a
pure natural latex cement called VAL A Tearmender for
gluing rabbit hides together for my Double Bunny fly.
Latex can also be used to glue down wing cases.
Water Base Cements. A variety of distributors make a water-based head cement
that appears to be less volatile and toxic than standard
varieties. They come in thin and thick varieties. These
cements come from paint technology. A type of chemical
reaction helps them to set. They take longer to set than
solvent based cements. Let them cure overnight before
fishing. These less toxic adhesives make sense when
tying in less ventilated areas. I feel they are adequate
tying cements but not great ones.
Duct tape Squid.
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Double Stick Tape. This tape is great to wrap around the base of foam
before tying it down. It prevents the foam from being
cut with the thread and fuses it in place.
Tape. Adhesive lure tape is used to cover the heads and
bodies of saltwater and warmwater flies. It is sold in
many holographic minnow finishes, solid colors and
patterns. You can quickly cover a foam cylinder to make
a beautiful popper or a nice side on streamers. It can
be used to form caddis, dragonfly and terrestrial wings.
I use duct tape to make the carapace on my Duct Tape
Squid. Aluminum foil is used to make the
covering on life like poppers and lures. It is first
glued to the body and then textured to make scales.
Aluminum foil tape (for air ducts) can be
purchased at hardware stores and saves you time.
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