Hey, have any of you ever tried using human hair or maybe dog hair to make flies? I've got four hairy dogs that need haircuts rather often, so I was wondering if I should ask the barber for some of the hair back. :hihi: My doggies are white, black and various shades of brown... some of their hairs are soft and others a bit stiffer.
What about human hair? I can't get any from my very manly crown, but I can still get some from the sides. :chuckle:
Let me know if you'd tried either of these and if there were any downsides or performance problems.
And no, I'm not so cheap that I don't want to buy stuff from fly fishing shops. The problem is that there aren't any of them over here; This way would give me an immediate source of tying material.
Any and all feedback welcomed... including funny stuff.
I can not remember his name but I knew of a guy on the Cape that used Dog hair in his flies.... and I suppose why not?....He, like you, had several dogs and I see no reason why they would not work.... you would just need to determine what flies would work best with that material... what action and what you are looking for.... a streamer fly would obviously need a type of movement as oppose to the numph, etc... Things like that.
If you use human hair, best to get it from someone of the female persuasion. As Wilma Patterson and Peter Behan point out in their book _Salmon and Women_ [ISBN 0 85493 201 1], women exude an salmonid-attractive/neutral pheromone on their skins and (presumably) hair. Men, just the opposite. Male pheromones are repulsive to salmonids.
A friend of mind ties up a pattern he calls the "Wifey Special." The wing is created from some rather special Wifey hair. He hasn't found the pattern particularly effective, but he has all sorts of fun gathering the materials.
Thanks to all for the useful input. I'll give it a try soon. I think that streamers would be the obvious first choice.
As I live in SE Asia, I think that there could be a difference in performance between my hair and, say, my wife's hair. Asian hairs are basically round (when cut, looking at the end), while caucasian hairs tend to be oval. Black folk's hair is flat. This seems to me to that it would offer different action.
Hmm, I didn't know about the attractants in female hair Eric... does that apply to female dog hair as well? :smokin:
Hi
I used to tie bonefish flies for my dentist that used hair from my Golden Retriever. He said they looked and worked great. Her under fur also dubed really well on nymps.
Larry
My old pal Hobbs the Alaskan Malamute (now deceased) was a great source of materials. His long black & white guard hair was just like bear. His undercoat made great dubbing.
I use my red hair dogs hair to make the body and tail of fly as you would dubbing. Pan fish like blue gill will not pass it up.
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