Fire tiger Gilly Minnow and nice Smallie

[RICHYD4U]

True. I almost lost it once but lucky for me I swim fast and it was warm out. That near loss almost retired it but spending that much time making a lure and not luring anything with it bothers me more than the thought of losing it. Besides balsa is cheap and I have a variable speed dremel tool now!

Colonel-
How long does it take you to make one of those flies?

-Rich

[colonelmeyer]

Other than time allotted for drying of epoxy/paint/top coat I have it down to about 35-40 minutes. That is an average when I am doing a run and a simple two or three color paint job. They aren't the prettiest but they look great in the water and are still as durable as I need em' to be to catch good fish. I just get the closest size balsa to what I plan to imitate I can and bevel the corners of the strips down to where I want them on the top and bottom, "jig" out a trench down the middle of the strip deep enough to affix the hook, then cut them and taper the head and tail to shape. Just like with anything after I put a little thought into it and found the right tools it is a breeze. Hobby Lobby sells the balsa in long strips, in several sizes.