An “unsinkable” dry fly might be the Underground’s holy grail (I’m the guy who can’t get his soft hackles to sink or his dry flies to float). And on a daylong smallstream jag, those little trout can turn your dries into nymphs in a matter of minutes.

So when Oregon’s David Cowardin sent me a copy of his Unsinkable Dry Flies book for review, I – being essentially lazy – paid attention.

Will heat shrink tubing replace floatant?

Will heat shrink tubing replace floatant?

Cowardin uses heat shrink tubing to construct his flies, sealing the tubes with a soldering iron (sample assembly instructions on his blog). Essentially, he’s creating flies that operate on the same principle as your float tube.

It’s an interesting concept; I initially shook my head, but quickly realized that foam is now a staple material among western tyers – why not heat shrink tubing?

It seems like it would be especially useful for big dries

It seems like it would be especially useful for big dries

Sadly, the book and handful of sample flies arrived in the middle of winter, so I still can’t speak to the effectiveness of the flies.

As for the method, I’m intriguided, but because I’m a lot better at a keyboard than a fly tying vise, I’m turning to the Underground’s Department of Fly Tying Geeks Wizards, which includes the heavy-metal rich Singlebarbed (who frightened us yet again with another militaristic fly tying materials post) and newly obsessed Atlantic Salmon Fly Tyer Dave Roberts (who actually could kill you if you got in his way).

We’ve got questions. They’ve got answers. More as we hear it.

The Big Idea

You’d automatically assume the technique would be more useful on larger patterns (like salmonflies, the season for which is fast approaching), though Cowardin has developed a full set of patterns, including BWO emergers. He admits flies smaller than size 18 are sometimes difficult to tie, but seems to have otherwise developed a fairly complete set of techniques.

He colors tubing with markers or even by coating them with an adhesive, which is then used to anchor dubbing or other colored “dust” materials.

A Heat Shrink Emerger?

A Heat Shrink Emerger?

Given my love of Quigley Cripples, Cowardin’s emerger/cripple pattern (see purple fly above) is an especially interesting idea (though I think the hackle’s tied a little on the heavy side), though each fly tyer will have to decide if heat shrink is a better “floatant” than closed cell foams.

Prior Art

Heat shrink tubing for no-sink flies?

Heat shrink tubing for no-sink flies?

A quick search of the Internet didn’t turn up much in the way of prior work (surprisingly), but then Cowardin’s own book didn’t come up on Google until the middle of page 2 (which means it’s time he invested in the Underground’s SEO program for unknown fly fishentrepreneurs).

In Hatches Magazine, we found an article about Euro tyer Ulf Hagstrom’s use of heath shrink tubing on his frighteningly realistic flies, though that’s limited to appendages like legs.

All in all, Cowardin’s self-published Unsinkable Dry Flies book offers some interesting glimpses into a fly tying technique that probably isn’t wholly new, but likely hasn’t been fully explored either.

You can read more about his technique (and order his book) on his blogger site. If you do, the Underground would love to hear your feedback.

See you at the bookstore, Tom Chandler.

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