Fly Tying

[wapak ice dawg]

I've been ice fishing since the late 70's , watched my dad make a lot of his own baits, rods, etc, I eventually progressed the same and took it a notch higher, made my own molds to inject plastics, poured the leadheads , made my own bobbers just about everything to do with ice fishing I've made, now I've decided to try another hobby and add that technique to ice fishing and that's tying flies.  They won't be the fancy ones you see posted on trout fishing magazines but rather little nymphs and maybe a little flash on crappie jigs to make it a little different from other baits we've become normalized with ice fishing. All that just to ask this, how many other guys or gals have tied their own flies for ice fishing, if so, what is your best go-to fly you make?

[Ntoiceman36]

I'm not a fly maker but interested in seeing your creations so make sure to post pictures.

[wapak ice dawg]

Hopefully it loads, I don’t have much luck with pictures on this site

[g]

Looks good dawg. Hope you get to try them out soon.6

[slabslayer]

Those do look great!   I love to tie up jigs and flies too.   

These were color patterns my son picked out this week and we tied up. 

[holehopper]

go for it,i have been making my own ice jigs for years...........

[wapak ice dawg]

Those do look great!   I love to tie up jigs and flies too.   

These were color patterns my son picked out this week and we tied up.

    slab, do you remove the lead barb or pour jigs without the barb?

[slabslayer]

If I tie a bigger jig I do remove the barb.  But most of the time I use just a small ball head anywhere from 1/32 all the way up to 1/100 of an ounce. I just buy them in bulk. They come unpainted with no barbs, and then I just powder coat them. You have to do it quickly and you can’t use a regular torch, I just use one of those long lighters. Hold it  in the flame for maybe 5 to 8 seconds and then dip it in the powder coat and they come out perfect.  Then tie the materials of choice on and you’re set.   Most of my ice jigs are very small.  I can’t find a mold for 1/100 ounce.  I only find the tiny ball heads online in bulk. 

[wapak ice dawg]

Yea Slab I really downsized all my ice jigs this year, I'm using size 10 all the way to size 20 hooks and wrapping thin gauged solder or colored wire for weight along with a tungsten bead for the head ( a 100 of them fit on a quarter... lol extremely small), for less than 10 bucks you can make close to 50 micro ice jigs, of course, this is after you buy the initial tools needed for fly tying.

[wapak ice dawg]

Some of the micro jigs I’m going to try, I hope the photo is attached

[slabslayer]

Those are awesome looking!   I do the same thing.  I have down to size 22 hooks.   But this year I got hit with a little of the old age eyes and had to get a lighted magnifying lamp to see the tiny stuff.   And today I ordered a bunch more powder paints so I can do pretty much any color under the sun now.   The UV coating was back ordered, but aside from that, I now have every color of Pro Tec paint.  Fly tying  and jig making are a major source of relaxation and enjoyment for me.   

[wapak ice dawg]

Thanks slab,  Yea I had to buy the lighted magnifying glass, and that was hard to get used to,  I think I have all the Pro Tec paints as well, not sure I'll ever use all the powder up in a lifetime,  I'm bout to try the fluid bed for the powder paints to see if it's all what they say it is, but I make about 500 jigs every 3-4 years so I'm  not really sure if I'll benefit from it... just hoping we get ice to try these little dudes out on my palm rod/reel combo

[slabslayer]

That cool!   That’s what I do.   Make a ton and then have a break for a while.   I just ordered 100 unpainted tungsten jigs, so I’m anxious to try some colors on them!   We’ll see how it goes.......
Here’s a pic of my bench.