Instructor- Jake Watrous

Date:  NEW DATE !  September 21, 2020

Time:  7:00 p.m. Jake will send out a Zoom invitation to club members closer to Sept. 21st. 

In advance of the club's salt water outing on Sept. 26th, Jake will teach members how to tie two different flies- Clouser and Surf Candy.  This Zoom class is open to all NFA members, regardless of whether you are attending the Sept. 26th outing. You do not need to register on the NFA website to attend this class.  Jake has taught fly tying classes on Zoom for Trout Unlimited and is very good at using dual cameras for his classes. 

Recommended Materials 

Clouser:

• Hook:  Any size between #4 and #10. I recommend a straight eye, standard length, and extra strong, stainless hook if you’re headed to the salt.  I’ll be tying on Tiemco 811S, Tiemco U401s, or Daichi 2546 hooks, but if you’re not headed to the salt any straight eye, standard length streamer hook will work just fine.
• Thread: I recommend white thread. Smperfli Nano Silk 6/0 is good stuff, but any 6/0 white thread will also work fine.  If you’re tying with UV epoxy, monofilament is something you may want to get anyway for other fly patterns as well- it absolutely disappears in the resin.
• Belly: White Farrar blend, synthetic bucktail, Bucktail, ultra- hair, or super hair-basically any white streamer body material.
• Optional:Sides:  Krystal Flash in pearl or UV pearl, Lateral Scale, or something similar.
•  Back: Olive or chartreuse Farrar blend, synthetic bucktail, ultra-hair, or super hair-basically any streamer body material.  Angel Hair in Peacock or Blue will also work fine.
• OPTIONAL Back Addition: Peacock Herl
• Eyes: Barbell eyes sized to the hook.

Surf Candy:

•  Hook:  Any size between #4 and #10. I recommend a straight eye, standard length, and extra strong, stainless hook if you’re headed to the salt.  I’ll be tying on Tiemco 811s, Tiemco U401s, or Daichi 2546 hooks, but  any straight eye, standard length streamer hook will work just fine.
•  Thread: I recommend white thread. Smperfli Nano Silk 6/0 is good stuff, but any 6/0 white thread will also work fine.  If you’re tying with UV epoxy, monofilament is something you may want to get anyway for other fly patterns as well- it absolutely disappears in the resin.
• Body:  Flat braid in pearl or white.  Prices are all over the map on this stuff, but for my money Bill's Bodi Braid or Flat Diamond Braid are hard to beat, even when compared to the 2x more expensive Lagartun Flat Braid.
• Belly: White Farrar blend, synthetic bucktail, Bucktail, ultra-hair, or super hair-basically any white streamer body material.
• Back:  Angel Hair in Peacock or Blue
• Eyes: 1/8" stick-on eyes (I like pearl).  You’ll be gluing the eyes on anyway, but the stick-on feature really helps.
• Glue: Used for attaching eyes only if you aren’t using UV Epoxy. Zap-A Gap or Zap Goo (thicker) work well. Though cheaper than UV epoxy, some disadvantages to glues are odor and the risk of tubes or nozzles drying out.

If You’d Like to Tie with UV Epoxy, You’ll ALSO Need:

• UV Epoxy:  Thick or Thin Loon or Solareez UV cure epoxy.  Thick builds up faster but doesn’t penetrate.  I’ll be using both, but you’d be okay with either.  UV epoxy is cool because it is odorless and stays workable until you shine a UV light on it-at which point it sets up almost instantly.  Fly tying magic.
• UV Light:  The best lights I’ve found are the Loon Infinity light ($60) and the Loon Bench Light ($40).  They aren’t the cheapest, but in my experience cheaper lights fail to cure (dry) the epoxy well, take longer to do so, and don’t last as long.  Loon and Solareez epoxies are both designed to work best with Loon lights (it’s a physics/light wavelength thing).  Between the two, infinity light seems more powerful (quicker cure time) and is rechargeable.  It’s a little more but, ecology and power aside, if you’ve priced batteries you may find it is “worth it”.