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Waterproof surgical tape is an excellent material for wings on insect imitations

The Lifejacket Nymph is tied with 2mm diameter silicone gasket foam

This is a dual purpose stonefly pattern tied on a jig hook. It can act both as a dry fly and an indicator

An extended body caddis pupa tied with latex ribbon - the al dente tagliatelle of fly tying materials.

Mouse patterns can be highly effective on some species of fish. A small mouse is a good meal for most predators, and this pattern is easy to tie, and a great rodent imitation

Dron Lee from Malaysia has created this excellent little popper using a combination of foam and braided tube - and a rattle for some extra noise

This emerger pattern uses CDC and foam to create the floating thorax that’s typical of emerging insects

This ragged looking caddis pupa from the hands of Norwegian Viggo Larsson will work well on both fast and calm water

Fishing Baltic sea trout in the surface with waking foam flies can be a lot of fun. Here’s how to do it – and a pattern that works.

This pattern, which takes its name from the popular appetizer Guacamole, was inspired by the 'Bar Guac' special at a local fly fishing hangout.

Australian Rob Meade's flies are totally crazy contraptions using foam in strange shapes, odd constructions, rubber legs, large eyes and lots of color. Flies just after my heart!

Snails can be surprisingly high on the trout menu, and a snail imitation can sometimes be a key to success - on stillwaters and ponds in particular.

Russian fly tyer Dmitri Tseliaritski from St. Peterburg ties some mean looking imitations. Here's an example of his foam wasps

A small baitfish imitation that swims in the surface and lures sea bass and other predatory fish hunting bait high in the water.

The Poly Dodger imparts its own action and sound by deflecting water via mounting a polymer clay disc onto the main hook itself.

A top producing outlaw with a catchy name. An excerpt from Michael Jensen's newly published book "Tying and fishing The Booby Fly"

Somewhat an oxymoron - a fly that's a mammal - but still a fun fly to tie, and not least to fish when the large fish are tuned in on a mouse menu.

These foam flies were sent to us 10 years ago, and this article has been long underway... High time we did something about it! Digging into the digital archives we found this bunch of crazy foam flies.

David Cowardin's concept for preventing flies from sinking is slightly different—as are his flies. They are different creatures! Most anglers can put a name on them, but the way they are tied... or more like built. Different is not quite enough to say that these are not like your average dry fly.

Fly fishing guide Charles Robinton has put some serious trial and error into the design of his Chuck's FlutterStone. He thinks the result has the ideal amount of action, buggyness and overall attractiveness packed into the perfect stonefly profile.

Foam Toads are flies just as I like them!

This strange popper came out of Martin Joergensen's vice recently and has already proved its value several times. See why it might be interesting to you, how to tie it (in meticulous details) as well as how it moves - and in video too! And learn why it's called Burning Man.

A nice thing about this Bibio is that it's versatile. Play with it, use lighter of heavier hooks, fish it with or without floatant, wrap a thinner or denser hackle, and so on. But make sure you have some Bibios in your flybox spring suddenly is here.

It has been a hot and dry summer in Scandinavia. Wasps have been a plague in many areas. They have been in every apple, every drink and every house. Some of them may have crossed a stream or river, winding up on the surface before continueing the rush. Some of them never left again.

Bass love 'em

Harrison Steeve's story about a brand new foam material for terrestrials and many other flies. "You guys are crazy to spend so much time messing around with that loco foam." Needless to say the name stuck. Read the whole story here.

"My, what an ugly fly!" Henning glances with disgust at the brightly colored foam fly shining from the hook rest on my 5 wt. Learn more about the Morrisfoam Diver for sea trout.

I'm not sure how floating bass flies got the name "bug", but it certainly has stuck. Whether constructed of wood, plastic, foam, or hair, they all seem to be lumped into the generic category of "bass bug".

What stirred my interest in this book was Charles Garwood's article on foam flies for panfish. In this he mentions Skip Morris as his inspiration. During a recent visit in Seattle I stumbled over the book, and as it's absolutely reasonable priced and looked very interesting, I immediately bought it.

The first fish I caught on the Morrisfoam Diver was a small sea trout which I took on a nightly outing with Maj-Britt and Henning

I purchased a copy of Skip Morris' book on tying flys for bass and panfish and another of his books on foam flies. His books are excellent and I recommend them above all others for beginning tyers. The pictures and instructions are superb!