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Do the fish
really care if streamers have eyes? I don't know. Some well-knowns
like Lefty say they make a big difference, yet others (can't think
of names - sorry) tend to poo-poo the idea. I've caught fish on
streamers with no eyes, streamers with jungle cock eyes, and streamers
with painted eyes, so I can't say definitively one way or the other
if they really make much of a difference. Even so, I tend to feel
better about the fly when it has eyes, and thus I fish it a bit
harder and with more confidence. The flies just plain look better
to me, and I'll pluck them out of the fly box ahead of a fly without
eyes almost every time.
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Can
you see the eyes? I bet the fish can, too.
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Not that many
of my streamers or bucktails lack eyes these days. In fact, none
do. Well, maybe a couple old ones.
For featherwing
streamers, I still like the traditional look of jungle cock
eyes. The contrast of the white, black, and brilliant orange might
not look like an eye from an iris/pupil point of view, but they
to jump out of the fly box. They catch your eye, and not just because
they are expensive feathers. I feel they catch a fish's eye as well.
I've heard
a lot of folks ask questions about adding eyes to flies, and while
my method might not be perfect, it does work and it's pretty simple,
so I thought it worthy of a small article. I was tying up a batch
of bucktails, so the timing was right.
In short, I
use a simple hobby acrylic paint ($1 or so at a craft shop for those
little connected tubs of paint), some quarter inch dowels sharpened
in a pencil sharpener, and some nail polish.
Ok, then. Let's
go.
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This is what
the unfinished head looks like. It has just a coat of clear nail
polish to seal the threads.
This is one
time where your aim is not for a tiny head. If you're going to paint
eyes, you want to paint large eyes, so you're going to need a large
canvas to paint on.
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| These are the
sticks I use to paint eyes. I bought a couple feet of quarter inch
dowel at a hobby shop, cut it up into smaller pieces, and sharpened
each end to different sharpnesses. This gives you different sized
tips for different sized eyes and pupils. |
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| It's important
to pick your eye stick so that the size of the tip is about the same
size as the head, so the white or yellow "iris" fills the
head space. This looks like a pretty good match. |
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| Do you remember
these little hobby paints? You can get them anywhere, and for our
purpose, they last almost forever. Every now and then you gotta wet
your finger and put a drop of water in the paint to reconsitute it,
but I've been using this set for years and it's far from used up.
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| You want the
paint thick enough so it doesn't run on the head, yet not so thick
it will form a crown when you dab it on the head to form the eye.
I mix with a toothpick and look for a consistency where it will form
a good blob at the end of the toothpick, but not drip off. |
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| To load the
stick, just touch the tip to the paint so that the tip gets a drop
formed. You don't dunk the whole thing, or you're going to risk a
mess. |
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| Hold your breath.
Here we go. A steady hand here is helpful. If you can't keep your
hand steady, rest your wrist on something to help, and skip the high
caf coffee. |
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| Phew. The Iris
is complete. Notice how the paint did not run into the thread grooves,
yet did not "crown". You got a nice even coverage of paint,
and the white acrylic easily covers the black head in a single application. |
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| Here's the iris
from a straight-on point-of-view. Notice how it fills the entire head
area. This is why we wrapped a relatively large head. Big head equals
big eyes, and big eyes are easier for a fish to see. Big head, big
eyes, big fish? Hope so. |
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| Don't do one
fly at a time. Do a bunch of 'em all at once. Mass production is the
only way to go when painting eyes. I spent my fly tying time tying
flies. I can do the eyes in between other chores around the house.
It only takes a couple minutes to dab on the eyes, and I can walk
away and let them dry. |
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Ready to add
the pupil. This stick has a slightly smaller tip. Aim for the middle
of the iris (duh). NOTE: This
is only done once the iris is completely dry. These acrylic paints
dry dull, so if the eye still looks glossy leave it alone. Do not
touch it to test it, 'cause it will smudge for sure.
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| Pupil done.
In the middle. Beauty. |
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| See how they
dry dull? |
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| Nail polish
is compatible with the acrylic paints, but not so with some other
paints, like the hobby model enamels. Unless you brush hard, the eye
will not smudge if you use nail polish. |
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| The finished
head (and a blurry photo - sorry). This is after two coats of nail
polish. The upside to using nail polish is that it is designed not
to chip of flake off. This eye will outlast the fly. I use Sally Hansen's
Mega Shine. |
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Submitted December 6th 2007
Hi Bob,
NIce article. I've been painting eyes for almost 50 years, but instead of wood dowels, I've been using different sizes of nail heads. Large construction type nail heads for iris and smaller finishing nail heads for pupils. I've also filed some heads to oval shapes for some of my poppers.
Oldman