Been using a very simple pattern for pike - just a short body of red or orange Fritz & a tail of holographic tinsel around 2.5" long & it fishes well & the pike like it.

I'd now like to add a couple of eyes but have been told you need to use epoxy & a rotary fly drier to achieve this.

Surely there must be an easier way?

That depends on the kind of eyes you want to attach. Weighted dumbbell eyes can be tied on with figure of eight wraps. If you want to add epoxy to really secure them then mix it with a little fine silica sand to help it grip.

Teddy bear eyes do need to be epoxied on, and it will run if you don't rotate it. However 90 second epoxy will set fast enough for you to consider rotating them by hand. If you want to make a rotary drier then the motor which turns the plate in a microwave is ideal. (It runs on mains and at the right speed) Find an old microwave and use that. The foam discs that you stick the flies into are from the car polishing industry.

Also get some crocodile clips from an electrical supplier and mount a pin in them, point out, where the wire would go. Then you can put the finished fly into the clip and spear it into the foam. This is easier to do than stick a hook in the disc and causes less damage to the disc. also can be done with the disc running.

Cheers
OT

Just don't wear glasses.....you will soon have an eye well and truly mounted on your flies..

Just read an article describing adding a small muddler head & super gluing the eyes to that. Surely there's an easier way than having to build a drier from old microwave parts?

You can buy one for about £20, or build one for about £4.
Like I said the other way is use 90 second epoxy. It means you have to mix a new batch for each fly but it dries fast. I use it at demos, so I can hand out the fly without waiting for ages for it to dry. It will not run after about 45 seconds.

If you are going to use super glue then I recommend using an accelerator, like Zip Kicker, with it. In my experience eyes stuck to deer hair soon come off no matter what you use to fix them.

There are two other alternatives. Paint the eyes on. Or do what the salmon fly dressers do - use jungle cock!!!

Cheers,
OT