Hot Glue Eggs

[Zach Matthews]

Hey guys –

Anyone using Hot Glue to make egg patterns?

[prairiespey06]

I have used these with good success( Cry(s)tal Meth- third one down- unfortunate name)-

http://www.fishusa.com/FishErie/Flies_.asp

I tie in small clumps of

[anonymous]

They work pretty well. However, I know there are a few Fly Fishing Only streams that do not allow them.
If you add material that resembles the milky veil of eggs when they are in a stream then you can use them.
Some folks add a small amount of crystal flash for a small tail as well.
Just my opinion. I could be wrong.

[T. Wiles]

Zach,

I tied(melted) my first batch of hot glue eggs prior to my last 2 trips to the Little Red—(just returned from another weekend trip).  They look great, sink fast, and are very durable.  My buddies and I haven’t had much luck on them as of yet.  Most of the early spawners have been preferring soft hackles.  Later in past seasons…December or so…I have had tremendous success on an orange bead egg that looks just like the hot glue, but is more fragile—I’m expecting more success then.
Haven’t tried gummies yet.

To Tie:
I wrap red thread on a scud hook & whip finish.  Place the hook in hemostats and add a dab of hot glue.  Rotate the hook until the glue slumps in the shape you prefer–then cool and set by dunking in a cup of water.

Yarn eggs were working well, and always have.  Best colors were pale orange and light pink.  McFly Foam is my favorite material for these.  This stuff makes the BEST strike indicator I’ve ever seen(just spray a little camp/waterproofing aerosol on it and dry)—far superior to any yarn indicator in the flyshop—a shop in Nashville sells it as an indicator.

Met a steelhead guide today from Ohio who keyed me in on using a baby blue color yarn egg.  He said eggs turn a bluish color after being fertilized.  His rod stayed bent on several big browns…so I’m going to try them out.

Travis

[paul taylor]

i found this while perusing fly patterns.

[anonymous]

I’ve played around with them quite a bit for Erie steelhead and have found them to really not be worth the effort.

[Ian Crabtree]

I have to agree with Snaggletooth. We fooled around with these a little bit in Alaska on Dolly Varden, and found that both glo bugs and beads out-fished hot glue eggs by a significant margin, and I have no idea why. Dolly Varden aren’t exactly the pickiest fish in our river, so I was doubly stumped.

I’ve thought about forming the eggs around a dubbing needle and inserting small beads into the glue as it hardens to create a hot glue bead that has a fast sink rate. A lot of guides in Alaska prefer glass beads to plastic because of their greater density – unfortunately glass beads break when they hit anything hard while casting. Forming hot glue beads this way would allow you to do some pretty killer customization with shiny beads inside the glue, and maybe even adding some glitter into the glue to give it some sparkle. I wonder if there’s something you could add into the glue to decrease its density and make it float higher in the water column…

I’ve actually thought about adding hot glue over the lead eyes of salmon patterns (in a MOE style) to give them greater durability. I haven’t gotten around to it yet, but the egg sucking leeches I’ve seen with hot glue heads seemed pretty cool.

[Zach Matthews]

Ian –

I got some glass egg beads the other day but was at a loss as to how to put them on the hook.

[Ian Crabtree]

I suppose you could put it on the hook itself if it would fit, but I’d worry about it closing off the gape of the hook.

I’d fish them like beads, and in that case you’ve got three options:

1) Pegged – Stick a toothpick into the hole of the bead to peg it above the hook. Just jam it into the hole and then use a pair of nippers to clip off the excess toothpick. Regs on some rivers in Alaska require that it be 2 inches or closer to the hook to prevent the hook from injuring the fish on the strike. Basically, the length between the bead and the hook is how far the hook could potentially stick the fish outside of it’s mouth. Hypothetically you could hook a six inch fish in the tail if you pegged the bead six inches from the hook. I’d suggest you follow the two inch guideline. Some people favor using heavy monofilament instead of a toothpick to “peg” the bead.

2) Free Sliding – Just thread the bead onto the leader and let it slide. This works, but I’ve always suspected the bead ends up settling right next to the hook, which might spook fish. You probably get better drifts this way. An additional benefit is very few hook-ups outside of the mouth with this method.

3) Best of Both Worlds – My favored method takes the best aspects of the two methods listed above. Rig up your leader and tie on the tippet leaving long tag ends on the blood knot. Thread the bead onto the leader and then tie in an additional length of tippet with long tag ends. Tie the hook onto the last length of tippet about two inches from the last blood knot. You can crimp your split shot above the first blood knot, and the bead is allowed to slide between the two blood knots, but is prevented from getting too close to either the split shot or the hook. When you get a take the bead slides down the leader and compresses the tag ends of the blood knot above the hook and keeps sliding all the way to the hook- effectively acting like a free-sliding bead would. The tag ends should be able to keep the bead from moving over them while casting – keeping the bead in the “slide section” of the leader.

I’ve never seen anyone else use this method, but there’s too many creative people in the world to think that I’m the only one doing it. This rig probably wouldn’t be legal on rivers requiring the 2″ rule. The only drawback I can think of with this method is the additional blood knot giving you one more knot to potentially fail, but I think the benefits far outweigh that downside.

The tag ends of the blood knots should be around 1.5x the diameter of the bead.

Rudimentary Drawing

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[Eric DeWitt]

I’ve had good luck with Nuke Eggs, Estaz Eggs, and also bead eggs in lake michigan tribs.

[Mark Landerman]

Ian –

I got some glass egg beads the other day but was at a loss as to how to put them on the hook.  Do you just string them tube-style and peg them right above the bar hook or what?

Zach

I usually just heat up the hook with a lighter, then slip the egg on over the eye.

[Ian Crabtree]

I’ve done this with plastic beads, but I didn’t think it would work with glass beads. Zach you’re going to have to try it in the name of science.

[Author]

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