The Caddis Fly: Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

In this video, Jay ties a beautiful and effective summer trout spey fly that could be used for trout or steelhead.

With different color combinations and hook sizes you could easily adapt these flies for the fishery of your choice. Tight lines.

Summer Trout Spey

Shank: Aquaflies Return Eye 27mm
Trailer Wire: Berkley Fire Wire
Hook: Gamakatsu Octopus Black Sizes 4-6
Thread: Lagartun Black 150D
Hot Butt: Angora Goat Fl. Orange
Rear Collar: Hen Pheasant Natural
Body: Lagartun Flat Braid Peacock
Underwing: Angora Goat Fl. Orange
Wing: Ostrich Olive
Collar: Grizzly Marabou Soft Hackle
Adhesive: Zap a Gap

As promised, Part 2 of our review will deliver the highly opinionated thoughts and observations regarding the very wide range of products available to us fly tyers for use during the process of crafting our works of art and devices that we hope will entice great and small fish to bite.

I organize these fly tyer‘s products in categories as follows.

1. Petroleum based cements
2. Water based cements
3. Loctite family of adhesives
4. “Zap” Super Glue family of adhesives
5. Non-Solarez brand UV cures
6. Epoxy type of cements
7. Unique Fly Tyer”s Cement Products

Photo caption. Note two things here. First, the 3M Poster Tack that I use to keep my glue bottle from tipping over. Second, the way I use a find needle squeeze bottle held in a tiny little hole in the top of my Hard As Hull Hareline Penetrator cement.

Now, let’s begin the review.

1. Petroleum-based Head Cements
• Hard as Hull Cement – all purpose head cement. This is my go-to for larger traditional flies, and especially for my steelhead wet flies. It is not a good choice for small dry flies as it too viscous.
• Hard as Hull Penetrator – This is a fine choice for all wet, dry, and nymphs with heads that do not need to be shiny or glossy. I will sometimes mix standard hard as hull with this penetrator to the in-between viscosity that is a little glossy but still soaks into the threads well.
• Hard as Hull thinner – If you tie with a petroleum-based cement you must have this thinner. Otherwise your cement will be too goopy to be of any use rather in short order.
• Dave’s Flexament – This cement is a miracle if you tie with materials like turkey feathers for wings, because you will be able to brush this flexible thin cement over the wing segments so as to make them resistant to splitting apart when you add pressure with the thread tying the wing into place.
• Soft Tex 3.5 oz jar (flexible, never cracks) – This is sort of like Dave’s Flexament on steroids. It stinks to heaven but you can brush it on big streamers for saltwater and pike-musky flies to help keep the wad of materials from getting tangle and fouled on the hook. Some tyers dip the front 1/3 of their big streamers in the jar and some brush it onto their streamer wings but only around the foreword portion of the fly. Not for the faint-at-heart, or those sensitive to the fumes, please use this goop with proper ventilation. It is a very old product that remains viable because it is so useful. The Flex UV products can do what Sof-Tex can, but at greater cost.

• Fritz Von Schlegel - My goodness, this is another long stranding petroleum based cement, but it is very dependable, the built-in applicator is unique, and the cement works well on the vast majority of flies from the vary largest down to about a size 12. Smaller than this and you will probably slop cement all over the fly instead of on the head only.

2. Loon Water-Based Head Cements
• Loon Soft Head Cement – Perfect for building/painting popper bodies made of foam or cork.
• Loon Hard Head cement – create shiny black heads on steelhead patterns, building up a chironomid body, building mass and durability on stonefly nymph bodies

3. Loctite Adhesive Products
All of the Loctite gel family of products are my go-to adhesive for either temporary or permanent placement of eyes on my flies. Depending on the pattern, I may only use the gel to secure the eyes; or I may add a coat of UV cure over the eyes after placement with Loctite.
• Loctite Ultra Gel Control – slowest gel
• Loctite Extra Time Control – slow dry time
• Loctite Liquid Control – modest dry time
• Loctite Gel Control Bottle – slow gel
• Loctite Brush-On Super Glue – thinnest fastest dry time; similar to Zap

Photo caption. Note the 3M Poster Tack that I use to keep my glue bottle from tipping over. This is the best investment you will ever make and it is available from most craft and office supply stores.

4. Zap Products (Super Glue)
• Fly Fishing Zap-A-Gap – medium, micro-tip applicator
• Zap CA Super Thin – thin, micro applicator
• Fly Fishing Zap Gel – blister pack, 0.1 oz tube use to stick on eyes, mend holes
• Fly Fishing Zap Goo – 1.0 oz gel, stick on eyes & mend holes
• Zap Gel – non-blister-pack
• Zap CA Plus 1 oz Green Bottle – Medium viscosity, , micro applicator
• Zap CA Plus 1 oz Pink Bottle – Thin viscosity, micro applicator

5. Non-Solarez UV Resins
Loon UV Products: these are all dependable, high quality UV Resins. Fly tyers are prone to be “brand loyal” and prefer Loon over Solarez. I have used both and can vouch that both are excellent resins

• Loon Thin UV Clear Fly Finish Large Bottle
• Loon Thin UV Clear Fly Finish ½ oz bottle
• Loon Thick UV Clear Fly Finish Large Bottle
• Loon Thick UV Clear Fly Finish ½ oz bottle
• Loon Fluorescing UV Clear Fly Finish

Pro Sportfisher UV Products
• Thin Flex UV Resin

Deer Creek UV Products
• Diamond Fine Flex black UV Resin

6. Epoxies
• Z-Poxy 5 Minute – a true old-time epoxy requiring mixing two materials; sets in 5 minutes
• Zap Quick Set Epoxy will set up in less than five minutes
• Flex Coat Rodbuilders Epoxy Glue 4 oz – Probably the best general use rod building product for one guide or a dozen.

7. Unique Fly Tyer’s Cement Products
• Tear Mender –This silly stuff is the very BEST adhesive for gluing rabbit strips for Double Bunny & MOAL Leech flies. I do not know how we got by without this. Oh yeah, now I remember, we used Zap. This stuff is far better for bunny hides.
• Crystal Clear Liquid Fusion similar to epoxy, but thinner and takes longer to harden; dip fly heads in this or brush on wings to prevent hook fouling, use sparingly.

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While you do your level best to digest this vast treasure trove of information about what we refer loosely to as “cements,” you can look forward to the next installment, which will be locked onto the Solarez family of UV resins we have come to depend on so often these days.

Thank you. Be well.  I hope you can tie flies that will last you through the year. Or perhaps one season, or at least the month after we start fishing. Each of us can only tie as fast and as creatively as we can.

Jay Nicholas – May 2020

In this video, author Jay Nicholas ties another variation of a classic salmon and steelhead pattern using new materials such as Bling Rabbit Strips and Flash Blend Baitfish Brushes from Just Add H2O.

This fly could be tied in a variation of colors and sizes and used for steelhead, salmon, bass, panfish, you name it.

Join Jay and Chris Daughters as they discuss their years of experience dealing with materials and the many possibilities that these materials could be used for.

New Materials Linked Below.

Variation with New Helix Flash

Materials:
Hook: Ahrex PR320
Thread: Veevus GSP 150d White
Eyes: Double Pupil Lead Eyes Yellow/Black
Tail: Bling Rabbit Strip Black/Pink 1/8″
Body: Just Add H2O Flash Blend Baitfish Brush
Head: Carded Chennile Pink Md.
Zap A Gap

These saltwater flies were tied with Super Glue and UV resins.

This is chapter 1 of 4 in my review of cement, epoxy, and UV resin used by fly tyers in 2020.

I hope you find these remarks interesting reading in this time of the pandemic. If you stumble upon this blog post in 2030, ten years after the catastrophic event has swept over us, then take comfort that even in difficult times, we fly tyers were and are a resilient lot, able to amuse ourselves with these relatively trifling matters.

Here we go.

When I began tying in the early 1960s with little but an already outdated instruction manual and my teenage enthusiasm, I had one option: a bottle of petroleum-based cement offered by Universal Vise Corporation. This fly tying materials company had a proud rooster on its logo, and was the source for most of my supplies, other than the occasional treasures I purchased from Audrey Joy, professional tyer at the Meier & Frank Company.

I used my bottle of stinky clear cement in two ways: 1) to harden the parachute posts and the entire base of the parachutes I often tied, and 2) on the whip-finished head of my flies. For at least two decades I didn’t understand the different ways one could use cements of various viscosities indifferent ways throughout the construction of different kinds of flies.

While I was working mostly alone, crafting my bucktail caddis and blue uprights, other tyers were already longtime experts with multiple coatings, high-gloss varnish, and sturdy saltwater-resistant epoxy, long before I discovered the diversity of cements and why they were important in fly tying.

General thoughts regarding fly tying cement, epoxy and UV resin – for the moment, I will refer to all of these as “cement.”

Viscosity.
If your cement is thick, lumpy, and difficult to apply, it is time to replace it. This will occur with any of the materials we use, because of exposure to the air, bits of dust and fly tying materials contaminating the material, and sunlight exposure.

Durability.
Any fly that you tie, from a #22 Adams to a #4/0 albacore streamer, will be more durable if you use a little cement to secure the elements of your fly along the way. This is not to suggest that you must use cement throughout your fly’s construction, but it is something to consider.

Be careful.
All of the “Super Glues” are difficult to work with. You must be careful, because it is easy to glue fingers together, cement fly eyes closed, and make irreparable wads of gunk in carpets and on desks.

Spills.
It is worth your while to develop some sort of system to secure your cement on your desk so as to make it “spill-resistant.” I use a 3-M product intended to hold poster paper up on walls, but this tacky, malleable material that is the consistency of silly putty really works for me. I secure my cement to my desk with this stuff and it is protected from. My clumsy hands sweeping across the desk and knocking the cement over.

Proportional viscosity.
Small flies require thin cements, large flies require thicker, more substantial cements.

Epoxy vs. UV Resin.
Epoxy is wonderful material. It also takes time and experience to use it properly. If you are an epoxy tyer, you might be surprised to use a product like Solarez Thick-Hard UV resin.

On UV resins generally.
The UV resins we have at our reach today are amazing, far better than I used ten years ago.
As good as modern UV cures are, be forewarned, they have their own properties that require practice and patience.

Be patient.
Be willing to practice and learn as you begin using UV cures.

Objectivity? What’s that?
Brand Loyalty is a distinct human character trait. Some people develop and allegiance to one cement type over others, based not on the superior qualities of the product, but on their sentiment. This is fine, as long as it does not prevent the person from testing other products that may be better in b the long run.

Room temperature?
The ambient temperature of your fly tying environment makes a difference to your fly tying cement. This is true for Epoxy, petroleum-based cement, or UV resins. If you are tying flies in a garage (like me) and it is a cool room, your UV resin can be warmed by use of a glass of warm water on your fly bench. Make sure the glass is narrow enough that the UV bottle will not tip-over, and it will make your resin flow more easily.

Glue your thread.
I learned how to run my super glue brush along my thread from Bruce Berry. His technique involves keeping a wet drop of Super Glue handy near his vise and applying it to his thread with a bodkin when needed. Greg Senyo makes liberal use of super glue on his thread during his. Fly construction, and often does not even whip finishes flies, relying entirely on the SG-treated thread to hold his fly together. Greg’s flies are the best, so if it works for him why not?

Glue on small flies?
Objectively, I’ve decided that it is irrelevant to apply glue at any point of my small flies (#10 or smaller), but the habit acquired during my construction of large saltwater flies is so entrenched, that I find it difficult to shake. Do it if you want to, or if you feel you must, but it is not necessary.

Black cement.
This is handy to have on your bench, because it will cover up many of the last-minute scraps of material and places where our thread wraps fail to cover up brighter materials underneath. I first discovered how helpful black cement could be when I was tying bucktail caddis flies. It is so easy to have an errant fiber of deer or elk hair left not quite covered by the thread – and these gaps in the otherwise neat thread head do not look professional. Voila! A dab of black cement covers up the deer hair gaps and the finished product looks great.

Colored cement.
We have an awesome portfolio of colored cements and UV resins these days. These make for attractive heads on our flies as well as color spots on materials of all kinds, including of course on popper bodies.

Epoxy versus UV Cure.
I know good tyers who claim that old style epoxy can’t be beat for toughness on saltwater flies. Although I have not put this claim to the test myself, I doubt seriously if the time advantage of the UV resin can possibly be diminished by any slight reduction in durability. I also wonder if their belief is based on the newer formulations used by companies like SOLAREZ or if they are thinking back to the “clear cure goo “days. For my money, sanity, and experience, the UV resins are superior. If you are an ardent believer in traditional epoxy, I salute you.

Small bottle versus large bottle.
The large bottle usually gets you more quantity per penny. If you use it up before it gets lumpy then fine. If you loose value through dried out or too thick to dilute, then consider the smaller bottle next time.

Water-based versus petroleum-based cements.
I have been using the stinky cements since about 1963. Look at me, what a mess it has made. Joking. I have never been a fan of water-based cements, except for Tear Mender. That said, for anyone under the age of 70 might do well to consider water-based cement, super glues, or UV resins in place of petroleum-based products. Me? I’ll probably continue using all of these at various times.

So ends chapter 1.

Best wishes to you all.

Jay Nicholas, May 2020