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Moose Hair

3K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  flytyer 
#1 ·
I tied up a batch of dark grease liners the other day and used moose for the wing. They riffle hitched awesome and was quite happy with the results.

I have never used moose before and was curious if someone could shed some light on the boyancy/durability properties of moose compared to elk and deer hair.

Thanks,

-sean
 
#2 ·
Moose body hair or mane hair is generally a lot longer and more durable, stiffer and about the same boyancy as deer & Elk.
There are many types of moose hair depending on which part of the body it comes from
I use it mostly for underwings to prop up the wings and keep them stiffer.
The shorter moose hair or tips of the long ones is ideal for making split tails on small dries.
Check your PM
 
#3 · (Edited)
Sean,
My experience with moose hair is that it isn't as buoyant as deer or caribou, however it is much more durable than either. Because of the stiffness inherent to the hair it riffles better than anything else I've used, certainly much better than squirrel, calf tail or bear. I've never tried to spin it to use on a dry fly, but I don't think it would float very well anyway. I use it almost exclusively on most all wetfly patterns, and have had wonderful results.
Tight lines!
Sayow
 
#4 ·
Sean,

Moose is one of my favorite hair for tailing flies. It is my hair of choice for tailing Humpies, Wullfs, or Waller Wakers. It is a nice stiff hair; but as has been noted by others, it is not quite as bouyant as deer or elk. The Riffle Dancer originated by Mark Pinch of Spokane for Clearwater and Grande Rhonde fish uses moose hair over the top or the hook eye so that it riffles the fly and lets it rock back and forth on its deer hair outrigger wings (I like to use moose hair for the wings instead of deer hair). I suppose I should post a scan of a Riffle Dancer so folks can see what it looks like.

The stiffness is why Lani Waller used it as the throat on the Waller Waker.
 
#6 ·
Sean,

I thought you used the Riffle Dancer. Moose use as the outrigger wings allows you to tie the wings in separately then simply cutting the wing stubs a bit past the eye for the carapace. This allow you to combine 2 steps into one: the deer hair wings, and the moose hair carapace.
 
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