Peterjay

Bucktail certainly is hollow. Belly hair might be more buoyant, but it's strictly a matter of degree. There's more air in the butt ends than in the tips, but it's there, most tyers are well aware of it, and I don't care what Bob Clouser supposedly says on the subject. Cut a piece of bucktail and a piece of sheep's wool, wet them down, put them in a bowl of water, and see which one sinks. That's one of the reasons why bucktail works so well on bendbacks. The buoyancy of the wing helps keep the fly swimming correctly.

The dyes in Kool-Aid are as colorfast as any other acid dyes. Rinsing thoroughly will prevent running for the most part. ANY dye will eventually fade if it's exposed to a lot of light. Just a word on Rit dyes: Rit dyes are mixed dyes meant for fabric, and when used on animal products, won't get you the colors you see on the bottle - the material won't absorb 100% of the dye, and what you'll get is a muted version of the color. I use Rit when I'm looking for natural-looking earth tones and Kool-Aid when I want bright colors. You can buy acid dyes (Jacquard, etc.) but unless you need a specific color, Kool-Aid will work just as well and at $0.20 per pack, the price can't be beat.

Just to add my $.02 worth: you can put a nice bend in mono by carefully passing a cigarette lighter flame under the spot you want to bend. I've never done it for frog legs, but that's how I make my weed guards - no reason why it wouldn't work for your purposes.

Snob? Me, a snob? I've got half a mind to go up there and have my butler give you a thrashing. I didn't come here to be insulted. (I don't need to go anywhere to be insulted - I get plenty of that here)

I've poured a lot of tin - I'm not sure I'd mess around with pewter. The beauty of tin is that unlike lead, it holds its shine very well - the other metals in pewter might possibly cause you to lose that. I can't speak to durability or weight, since I've never used pewter. The best way to buy tin is to watch eBay like a hawk. There are occasional deals on there, but they don't last long. I bought up 50 pounds a while back for $8/pound shipped, which is less than half the going rate. If I see anything reasonable, (a lot of it isn't) I contact the seller, and sometimes they'll work with you just to unload it in bulk. You can also use tin solder, but it's usually very expensive. BTW - I usually make my own molds, but I've poured a lot of tin flutter jigs using a Do-It mold, and they came out terrific. Tin is about 2/3 the weight of lead, and the difference in lure action is considerable. The fact that it's non-toxic doesn't hurt either.

It'll most likely work if you use the right media and don't overdo it. Tumblers are capable of doing some really delicate work. If you're building in quantity, it may be well worth your while to do a little research before you decide. I'd talk to somebody at Lortone or Thumler about your needs and see what they say. Rio Grande, which specializes in jewelry components, tools, etc., has good descriptions of various types of media in their catalog. ($10 refundable last I knew) I suspect a tumbler would do the job for you, but I would avoid the cheap ones. Also, I wouldn't rule out the type of tumbler that turns on rods - that's what I use for metal lures, although with plastic media, there's no reason why it wouldn't work on plastic baits. You could probably build one, but you'd need a better motor than a rotisserie motor, (way too slow) and smooth-surfaced containers that are made out of something akin to semi-rigid rubber - by the time you added up the materials and labor involved, a homemade unit would probably cost more than a quality commercial unit. http://www.riogrande.com/

I've been looking without much success for sheets of holographic Mylar, particularly the kind with designs on both sides. All I've been able to come up with is the adhesive-backed type, which I can't use. I actually need it for making flash on offshore saltwater flies, but I was hoping that maybe you guys might have spotted some at your foil sources. I know the stuff exists, because I still have a few sheets that I bought at some long-forgotten craft shop, but of course, I threw the label away at some point, so even the manufacturer is a mystery. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You might want to give H2O from Fly Tyers Dungeon a try. I've only used the silver, but it's stiffer than Flashabou and less prone to tangling. The hanks are smaller than Flashabou, but they're only a buck apiece.

swimb8s took the words right out of my mouth. Almost anything that saltwater gamefish will eat should work on pike. Bob Veverka's "Innovative Saltwater Flies" and Lefty Kreh's saltwater fly pattern book have a lot of great ideas. BTW: if you really want to try something different, you might give circle hooks a shot. Any fish that turns when it strikes is made to order for circle hooks. I use them on bluefish, and at last count, I still had ten fingers.

I've noticed the same discoloration when melting tin, but it doesn't seem to show up in the finished product. My guess is that it's nothing worth losing any sleep over.

What's an Enrico fly?

Tom - this place swarms with gurus, but you might want to start by doing a Google search for Larry Dahlberg moldmaking videos - that should give you a basic idea of how the process works, and you'll know what questions to ask. Making a mold isn't difficult once you know what you're doing, (and have a prototype) but it would take several hours to explain the whole process. You could also check out Husky's TU thread on molds using cheap silicone from Walmart. - that would be a great way to get some practice without breaking the bank. One tip: pourable RTV silicone is a much better option for a beginner than silicone putty because of the longer working time. Dahlberg makes using the putty look easy, but there's no margin for error and the stuff is expensive. If you're going to be making clear big game trolling heads, you're gonna want to get it right the first time, since you can't paint over flaws and the plastic isn't reusable. I've thought about doing some big game heads for the fun of it, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Like Dave said, you're opening the mold too soon. Once the metal cools, it won't crumble. Give it 5 or 10 minutes and see if there's a difference. Work backwards from that and you should be able to figure out a demold time. There's a huge difference between a silicone mold and an aluminum mold as far as demold time goes. Also, a silicone mold will retain heat longer - you might want to let it cool down a bit after a few pours, otherwise, you'll be increasing your demold time even more.

If you haven't seen this video, you might want to check it out. This isn't something I've done myself, but I enjoy watching this guy work, and it might be of some use to you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjmefnZ13YQ

BP - I agree with you that mold putty can be a useful tool, especially if you want to get a mold done in a hurry, but my point was that it can be a nightmare for beginners - it's amazing how fast three minutes can go by when you're struggling with the stuff. I've seen Larry's videos - he's really good at making molds with putty, but I doubt that many beginners can work that quickly.