chironomid finish

Look up the Silver creek UV resin, here on WFF. Stuff is great.

I have been using Hard as Hull on mine. Dries in 15 min to 1/2 hour. Pretty tough with a thin, glossy finish.

Nail polish would probably be about as good and quite a bit cheaper.

What you are describing is "tackiness".
You have a couple of options for dealing with it.
1. Set your patterns out in the sun to finish the curing that your light didn't accomplish.
2. Wipe them with rubbing alcohol.
3. Throw a coat of Sally Hanson Hard as Nails over the UV cure.
4. Buy Silvercreek's cure and light and not have to deal with tackiness in the future.
Hope this helps.
SF

Well put Stonefish!

Silvercreek, Silvercreek, Silvercreek, Silvercreek. Oh and you might want to check out Silvercreek's resin.

Silvercreek's stuff works flawlessly for me.


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Try Silver Creek but also don't be scared to try most of the modern (last 2 years) formulas. Most UV resin has become much more refined over the past couple of years and most major brands produce a decent hard, non greasy, non yellowing finish. I've had recent success with Loon Flow, Deer Creek thin, Clear Cure Goo etc. I find the thin formulas work the best for putting a nice finish on chironomids with one coat. Also, spend the money and buy the Loon UV Mega light. One quick zap and you are done. It's a little pricey but I've found it well worth it after messing around with tiny little pencil lights etc.
Finally have a look at the flyfishfood website. They do a nice review of most of the major UV resins in one of their blog posts from a year or so ago. That should help you narrow it down and find a brand you like.

Chirno's are kind of greasy anyway. You just matched the hatch.
Haven't tried Silver Creek's yet, but the Loon Thin works good as does the Clear Goo Tack Free.

Lue and I soak our 'mids in smelly jelly, I like the garlic scent! !!

Thanks fellas for all the great info. I think you guys helped me to solve my problem.
Bob

Steve Kokita said:

Lue and I soak our 'mids in smelly jelly, I like the garlic scent! !!

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I used the shrimp brand got a deal off Ebay best to soak over night

I use brush able Loctite and give it a good coating.
It a type of superglue so it dries quickly.

Adds depth and a sheen to the fly so it looks like gas envelope.

I have found the tackiness goes away after a while with the UV cure.

Lue Taylor said:

I used the shrimp brand got a deal off Ebay best to soak over night

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I don't waste my time with smelly jelly and stuff. I just eat my dry salami and then rub the extra oil off on my fly.

A final coating of the Loon UV Flow should fix that.

Be sure to see how your finished fly looks underwater. Several years ago, I bought Ralph and Lisa Cutter's video, "Bugs of the Underworld." They show what actual trout food bugs look like underwater. A very handy source for making comparisons to what's being imitated.

Irafly said:

Silvercreek, Silvercreek, Silvercreek, Silvercreek. Oh and you might want to check out Silvercreek's resin.

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Other than this one, Silver Creek is a good one too.

Seriously, if you haven't tried it.... you're just crazy!

I've actually used it to repair a gash in my type V sinking line, just 30 ft from the end.

That part of the line is either constantly shooting through the eyes of the rod, or being stripped or reeled in with a fish on.

It's on its third year now....still holding up.

I use Clear Cure HYDRO, and don't have the tackiness. The regular clear cure was tacky. But it tastes like crap! I'll have to try out some silvercreek products.