Hareline Beavertail Foam Body Cutter

What it is

The Hareline Beavertail Foam Body Cutter is a foam fly body cutting tool built with double-edged steel blades set into a durable hardwood body. It’s made to slice foam cleanly and precisely, giving you repeatable body shapes without ragged edges.

What to tie with it

Use it to cut beavertail-shaped foam bodies with integrated thorax and head sections, which speeds up building consistent terrestrial and floating bug profiles. At the bench you’re basically pressing or pulling the foam through the double-edged cutter to make matched bodies, then tying them in as a single piece for the back, thorax, and head.

Flies and the fish they're for

This style of cutter is commonly used for beavertail-bodied foam hoppers and other foam terrestrials, which are standard trout flies on rivers and streams all summer and into early fall. The same beavertail foam body shape also scales up into big foam bass bugs, where you’re targeting largemouth and smallmouth in ponds, lakes, and warmwater rivers. Tyers also use beavertail-cut foam bodies when building simple panfish foam patterns on dry fly hooks, aimed at bluegill and other sunfish in neighborhood ponds and slower water.