I can’t begin to explain how excited I was to try this product out. When I first heard of it, I searched high and low locally for it, but it wasn’t available yet at the shops I stopped in at. I was so close to buying it online when one of the shops around here finally got some in stock. At over twenty bucks Canadian I was a bit apprehensive on the price, but boy was I ever glad I made the purchase.
I’m not going to beat around the bush here, when I first applied the Loon Fluorescing UV to a nymph I just tied, I was disappointed. I expected the thickness to be like Loon UV Thin, but instead it came out very runny. I used way too much, and essentially ruined that fly. Furthermore, I had this vision in my head that this would sparkle brighter than a thousand suns. Yet, I couldn’t notice a difference when I applied it to that first fly. I have to say, at first, I thought I had just thrown away twenty bucks.
However, once I turned on that new Loon Infiniti Light I recently purchased, she lit up like your crazy neighbour’s house at Christmas. This product cures quickly, is rock hard, and shines like the eyes of that pretty girl who is way out of your league from the bar last weekend. It has the same low viscosity as Loon Flow UV Cure, but with the bonus of reflecting a ridiculous amount of light, even in low light conditions. I’ve started using it to coat all my chironomid patterns, or any flies that just need a thin coat of cure. This adds durability to fly, makes it look like you kind of know what you’re doing, and gives the bonus of making it stand out to those pickier fish. Furthermore, it has become my go-to top coat of any thicker cures I use on my flies. This gives my flies just a little more shine and strength before I break them off behind me in those STUPID trees.
Let’s break this down a little further here:
Pros
Curing Time – Seriously, this stuff cures quickly. Using a high-powered UV light will cure this resin in about 5 seconds. Typical resin curing time is about 10 to 15 seconds, depending on the power of your light.
Application Amount – After using this cure a few times, I’ve really come to appreciate how little you need to use to coat your fly. You should need much less that a full drop to sufficiently cover your fly in resin.
Durability – This stuff is hard as nails! I found that other resins chipped or have broken easily, but this resin is resilient to wear and chips. Furthermore, I have found this product is quite scratch resistant. The other cures I’ve used will start to look the like top of your fly box after its used once, not this stuff. It will stay clear and hard with repeated use.
Tack – This stuff has low tack characteristics. This means that once its cured it doesn’t feel sticky like a lot of other UV cures have.
Fluorescing – This is the real the difference between using Loon UV Flow and this cure, the light reflecting abilities. When you put it under your UV light you can see the light reflecting particles. When you get these flies deep they are going to shine brighter than if you used regular Loon UV Flow.
Cons
Viscosity – As stated above, you only require a little of this product to coat a fly. This means that you can often apply too much an ruin a fly, as a lot will come out at once. Even with the awesome Loon applicator head I have accidentally used way too much of this product, causing me to throw away an otherwise perfectly good fly. However, once you have a good understanding of how much to use this won’t be an issue.
Messiness – If you have stuff that flows out quickly, it’s going to make a mess. This product gets everywhere and can make a real mess if you’re not prepared. My first few attempts using this stuff has made my vise look like I was tying in the middle of a glitter party.
Cost – This cure a little more expensive than it’s Loon UV counterparts. Realistically, it’s not much more money, but will the fluorescing abilities of this fly make a difference compared to using regular UV Flow? Moreover, unless I only need a very thin coat of cure I still reach for Loon UV Thin first before using this product. This means if you’re like me, you will need to buy both UV Thin and UV Fluorescing, which more than doubles the cost to add a bit of fluorescing to a fly.
If you’re looking to try out a cool and innovative fly tying product, I suggest you give this cure a go. Just be sure to take your time when applying this to your flies. I might suggest practicing on a piece of paper to get an understanding of how much product will come out. However, if you do pick this stuff up your flies are going to look better, last longer, and if you’re like me, you can keep pretending to know what you’re doing.
Tight lines!
