Burnt monofilament eyes

Very realistic eyes can be made by taking a short length of monofilament and burning each end with a flame. The sample I have tied here is from 40 lb material and these are the eyes I use in my mudeye fly.

• Monofiliment eyes

Beads and cones

Strictly speaking these are not eyes but they are incorporated into a lot of flies as the head. They are flashy and its possible that fish see them as eyes in flies like bead head woolly buggers.

• Beads - adding weight or eyes to a fly

Plastic bead eyes

Sometimes these are strung such as those used on a mudeye fly other times there just loose as used in a BMS.

• Beads - adding weight or eyes to a fly

Dumbbell, real eyes, sink chain eyes and glass rattle eyes

These are all basically the same shape and are all tied in in a similar way. They consist of two "eye balls" connected by a shaft and are tied onto the top of the hook shank, that has a foundation of thread, using firstly figure of eight wraps and then a couple of wraps under the eyes but over the hook to lock them into position. Whilst they are traditionally popular in salt water fly tying there is and increasing incidence of their use in both trout and bass fly tying.

• Tying in dumbbell type eyes

Holographic stick on eyes

These are available in many styes and color combination's. They can be applied to real eyes or can be stuck straight onto the side of the fly.

	Deceiver

Booby eyes - bean bag bead eyes

Two matching bean bag beads can be held in a piece of stocking material and then lashed onto the shank of the hook to create very effective eye as in the booby fly.

• Booby eyes

Booby eyes - Floozeyes

Marketed by Veniard Floozeyes are very easy to use but I suggest that you tie them on with wool rather than thread as thread may cut the 'bar bett' that holds the two eyes together. Also its worth noting they are not quite a buoyant as bean bag bead eyes.

	Straggle fritz booby

Jungle cock feathers

Whilst they are getting harder to get and more expensive. If you can get them they do make very realistic eyes when tied just behind the eye of the hook as in the yeti fly and other smelt type flies.

	Yeti variant

Tinsel cut to diamond shape

This is a relatively old technique for adding eyes to flies. It works very well and of course is almost costless. Its a great alternative to Jungle cock.

Dolls eyes

These are inexpensive yet very effective on flies with a relatively solid flat surface that they can be glued to. I generally stick them on with 5 minute Araldite and then give them a coat of clear varnish when the fly is finished. Thy them on poppers, Mullet flies, Dahlberg Divers and the like. They also have the added advantage that the little black pupil inside the chamber moves around and rattles when the fly is retrieved.

	Popper

Jiggy Heads

These are similar to bead heads used on trout and bass flies except they are much heavier and incorporate a recessed area on each side incorporated to accommodate stick on holographic eyes.

	Jiggy heads

Plastic bead chaine yes

These are fantastic and as cheap as chips. You can buy plastic beadchain at most habidashery shops such as Spotlight ir Lincraft and generally the bead chan costs around just 4 dollars per meter. That's enough for heaps of flies. Better still the bead chane comes ina a couple of sixes and several colours including black, red, white silver and gold.

	Big prawn Pregnant prawn Brown Bomber - swim bait

Painted Eyes

Last but not least - perhaps the easiest way to indicate an eye on a fly is just to paint it on as is often the case with deceivers. Paint can be used in conjunction with some of the other systems above or in some case by itself.

	Foam beetle Booby