Fly Fishing Creek

Often the word “flyfishing” or “flytying” is like the word “microwavable.” Slap it on something and you can charge more for it. This phenomenon is often seen in many outdoor sports. A great example of this is the use of “head cement” as your lacquer.

However, there is a difference between true head cement and other similar lacquers. Head cement is actually formulated differently – the lacquer itself is thinner, so that it properly penetrates. The idea isn’t simply that the thread or other material be coated with the head cement, but that it gets absorbed into the material as well. This will mean that the head cement fully binds the thread material to the hook and other materials. Head cement is also designed to be very quick drying. There is literally no wait time between applying it and going on to the next step in the fly tying process..

Virtually any clear (or colored, for that matter) nail polish can serve as head cement. However, if you use nail polish for this purpose straight out of the bottom of the container, you’ll end up coating the material. Instead, you should use a proper thinner (usually sold as that brand’s nail polish remover) to thin the lacquer down slightly. The thinned nail polish will then act just like the more expensive head cement.

Regular, unthinned, nail polish is great for finishing a fly, as you get a smooth, hard, shiny coating. It’s especially useful if you color-code your flies for any reason. For instance, you might want to use red nail polish to create red heads only on all of your weighted flies.