Hareline Beetle Foam Body Cutter

What it is

This is a handheld cutter for punching out beetle-shaped bodies from fly foam. It’s built with double-edged steel blades and a hardwood handle, so you get sharp edges and a grip that holds up at the bench. The point is repeatable shapes: each body comes off the cutter with the same outline, which helps your finished flies sit and track consistently.

What to tie with it

Use it to cut foam beetle bodies and other beetle-style foam shapes, then tie them in as the main body over a thread base. It’s also handy for shaping foam sections for modern foam flies where you want matched profiles, and it speeds up batch tying when you’re making a dozen identical terrestrials.

Flies and the fish they're for

Foam Beetle patterns are a staple terrestrial for trout on rivers and creeks when fish are looking up for bugs along banks and under overhanging cover. The same style of foam beetle also gets eaten by panfish in ponds and small lakes, especially when you want a buoyant bug that stays visible and fishable after a bunch of strikes. In either case, the cutter’s consistent body shape helps the fly float right and look the same from one tie to the next.