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Fishing with your imagination

One of the greatest facets of flyfishing is that you can use your imagination and visualize a pattern, construct your vision and actually fish with what was once only your imagination. Your fishing success is only limited by the limits of your own imagination. You not only imagine the appearance of your pattern, but also, its behavior and then select materials, shape and construction accordingly. Much of the challenge is in finding the materials to achieve your imaginary goals. New ideas often have materials that are not that well known or readily available. It is a rush when a pattern you've designed in your mind performs as well on the water as it did in your imagination. It is an even greater rush when the fish appreciate your vision as much as you do, especially the first fish. You need no further critic than the fish, but it is kind of fun when other anglers are lusting over your flybox or the fish on your line. The FoamSkin Flies are a great way to exercise your imagination, improve your fishing and torture your fishing buddies. If they are still nice to you while you are acting so rotten, you should make them one.

What is a FoamSkin Fly? (and why do you want one?)

Well, it can be a frog sneaking along on the surface in the evening with a pair of flexible legs and floppy feet, kicking and splashing as it dives under and climbs over the lily pads. It can be a mullet skipping over the surface or diving and wiggling on saltwater flats in the early morning calm. It could be a shiner that lies wounded on its side at the top and then suddenly turns upright and dives downward only to become exhausted and float back to the surface on its side again. It can be a shad that slaps its tail on the surface attracting any hungry bass in range. Perhaps, it is just a hatchling fry with a tiny wavy tail just before it gets sucked in by a big bruiser bluegill. Or maybe, it is a crab floating along in the current on the full moon with its legs wiggling in a swimming motion. It could just as easily be a shrimp or in freshwater a crayfish. It might be a fat juicey bug gurgling on the surface. Wherever fish rise to terrestrials, it might be a misdirected grasshopper, cricket, spider or an ant in peril. In a stream, it could be a dragonfly or a Mayfly. And yes, apparently, it could even be a floating snail just before it is slurped down by a fat trout with an apetite for escargot.

FoamSkin Flies can be any prey item that you want them to be. They can be all foam or a combination of foam and synthetic or natural materials. They can be designed for fresh or saltwater. Warmwater or coldwater. They are generally floaters or floater/divers, but they can be fished deeper with sinking lines and design alterations. They normally float high on the water, yielding an easy pickup, and they allow casting relatively much larger offerings due to their light weight. They do not absorb water no matter how long you use them or how long they sit on the water. Their tough but soft, flexible skin coating has an amphibian-like feel to it. So, fish hang on to them, and there is no need to hurry the hookset. Each one is unique with its own particular behavioral action dynamics, and you probably couldn't make two exactly the same even if you try. Some individual bugs can become your own personal favorites, requiring pet names and causing you much anguish and pain when a fish is successful at taking it away from you.