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Claus Eriksen's Simple Foam Fly

A simple foam fly for Baltic sea trout. It is the fly's movement in the surface that is crucial. Claus often uses shrimp colors like gray or tan, but has caught fish on pink, black and even blue foam flies. Select the color of thread, foam, hackle and rubber legs to match your desired result.

Claus Eriksen
Cold saltwater fly
Easy
  1. Start the thread in the rear. Bulk is no problem since the whole body will be covered with foam.
  2. Tie in the tail and the flash.
  3. Take the thread forward to the front of the fly.
  4. Cut a narrow 2-3 millimeter wide strip of soft 2 millimeter foam.
  5. Tie in the foam in the front of the fly.
  6. Tie in the hackle by the base, shiny side forward.
  7. Wrap the foam to the rear of the fly in touching turns, tie down and trim.
  8. Wrap the hackle in the grooves formed by the foam. Tie down and trim.
  9. Cut a strip of 2 millimeter foam, about 5 millimeters wide. It must be at least twice the shank length
  10. Cut one tip pointy.
  11. Tie in the foam on top of the hook in the rear of the fly, the pointy tip protruding slightly over the tail.
  12. Tie it down with tight turns, whip finish, cut thread and glue or varnish.
  13. Start the thread in the front of the fly.
  14. Pull the form forwards, tie down with a couple of tight wraps.
  15. Bend the tip back to form a head protruding over the hook eye.
  16. Tie it down over the existing wraps.
  17. Whip finish, cut thread and glue or varnish.
  18. Trim the foam on the back, and cut it to a pointy shape.
  19. Rubber legs (optional) can simply be glued into the grooves in the foam or they can be pulled through the front foam loop and glued in place.
sea trout (sea run)
Hook Any light, long shank streamer hook, size 4-2
Thread Brown or black 8/0
Tail Small tuft of Arctic fox with a few straws of flash mixed in
Body Narrow strip of 2 millimeter foam wrapped around the hook/tube
Body hackle Short fibered, soft saddle hackle, trimmed on the underside
Shield A strip of foam folded and doubled in the front of the fly
Legs 1-2 sets of rubber legs, simply laid in the fold of the foam and glued with superglue

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