[Josh Frazier]

Hello! This is my first post. I am new to fly tying and have been trying to tie a stimulator. However the dubbing I have been trying to use just does not seem to give a tight body. The wapsi superfine dubbing is excellent but does not come in yellow and orange. Does anyone have a suggestion for yellow and orange dubbing?

[Scud]

To use what you have and avoid buying more dubbing, try a little dubbing wax on your thread, or try putting the dubbing in a spinning loop.

[flytire]

dont try to dub the entire package of dubbing on the thread. try using the least amount of dubbing. you can always add more

[pmklein]

Depending on what size stimulator you are using I would use yarn. Yarn is cheap and available. Most yarn from the store is three or more individual yarn strings together that can be seperated to tie smaller flies. Good luck!

[tarheelflyfishing]

Take a small amount of dry fly dubbing and stretch it out a little (where it isn't clumped into a tight ball). Drop the dubbing and if it slowly floats to the ground (like a feather), you have just the right amount of dubbing for a Stimulator (or any dry). If the dubbing drops quickly, you might need to take a little bit of dubbing away.

[Cyberfish]

Josh:

I've been tying my stimulator bodies with strips of foam for over thirty years.

Simply take a sheet of soft closed cell foam and cut 1/8 inch wide strips with a straight edge razor. Scissors will not allow for a smooth clean cut. Do not use the 2mm foam sheets from a craft store, those are too dense and won't form the desired shape.

Trim one end of the strip to a point and secure to the hook shank near the bend on top of the tail material. Wind the thread forward to the 2/3 area of the shank. The foam strip is then palmered forward to the thread, tied off and the excess trimmed. Take care not to pull too tightly on the strip while palmering or the air bubbles in the foam will be condensed. When the hackle is palmered forward, the stem will sink slighty into foam creating nice segmention. Because the hackle stem is protected by sinking into the foam, fine wire ribbing is not necessary.

The soft foam should form a smooth round body that also floats very well.

Go to the Brent Holladay Pattern Index of this forum, there is a section for stimulators. Check out the Yellow Foam Stimulator for an example. I call it a 'Foamulator'.

Hope this helps...Cyberfish

[Josh Frazier]

Thanks everyone! I think the synthetic dubbing I have is meant to blend with other materials or dubbed using the double loop method for nymphs. It is just much more coarse than other materials I have seen or own. I am going to try the foam and/or yarn method. I'm not anywhere near a fly tying supply store so I will have to mail order some foam.
-Any suggestions on where I could get it? Cabelas has a "craft foam" I suppose would not work properly.
-Also, in referral to the yarn only, can it be purchased at a craft store?

[pmklein]

Any craft store. Michaels also has foam, which is very very similar to what you buy in fly shops except you get about 10 times as much for half the price. Sometimes you can find very fine mohair which makes great nymph bodys also.

Patrick

[flytire]

Originally Posted by Cyberfish

I've been tying my stimulator bodies with strips of foam for over thirty years.

a little more history perhaps??

[Cyberfish]

No Problem With My History:

I've been tying grasshopper patterns using strips of soft foam with hackle palmered through the abdomen since learning the technique in 1977 at a flyfishing shop in Bakersfield, Ca. The 'Fishing Hole' was owned and operated by Kelvin Greggory from about 1974-1982. The palmered foam body was easily substituted into the stimulator pattern when it came on the market.

Randall Kaufmann's 'Yellow Stimulator' was introduced to the public in 1980. Since 2010 is almost upon us that would make it the 30th anniversary. Since I can document that I've been using the technique for 33 years, please excuse me for stating that I've been tying stimulators that way for over thirty years.

Now, I believe that's enough regarding the history....


As I stated before in my original post do not use the sheets of 2mm foam that are found in craft stores. The stuff is too DENSE!!!
'Larva Lace' is a good brand of SOFT foam. It is available in sheets or pre-cut packages.

Josh: If you will PM your mailing address to me, I'll gladly send you some pre-cut strips of foam in assorted colors and some saddle hackles.

Cyberfish