[broche]

Greetings folks;

I will be attending the Fly Fishing Convention in Somerset, NJ this weekend and will be looking for saltwater tying materials other than bucktail. I'm looking for something a little more supple for tying juves/spearing and would prefer natural over synthetic material (I'm somewhat of a traditionalist). Any suggestions? Thanks to all/any in advance.

 

[tomd]

take a look at the artic fox tails. very supple, soft and great for smaller size flies. you can save the underfur for dubbing use later. it comes in may colors, but the best IMHO(in my humble opinion) are the natural white, light olive, and silver/gray. if you want to give the synthetics a try, go to fibre blend or polyblend. they are a polarfibre like material with the flash built into the mix. it looks great and moves great, and is easy to work with. also, look at the vise prices, I saw some great deals(I already own too many). Tom D

 

[broche]

I just thought of something - maybe I should switch to synthetics - bucktail is one thing, but arctic fox and other less common species is another. Has anyone discussed the ethics involved with flytying? I remember Jungle Cock being a hot issue 20 years ago.

 

[juro]

Funny the discussion took this turn... I was just about to mention polar bear. It used to be the material of choice for saltwater streamers in the early coho salmon flyfishery in the pacific northwest. It has a beautiful irridescence and semi-opaque color.

There is a little bit of legal PB fur to be found. Our connection out west has lengths up to several inches long. Doug Burgess was looking for some for the same purpose and if you're interested he or I can order some for you.

I'll call out west today for details and let you know. Heck, I think I will just buy enough so if anyone else wants to try it I'll have it on hand for them.

RE: Synthetics - I think it's a good way to go because of a toothy critter called "bluefish". With a thump, the fly is gone and the leader cut like a razor. Something to factor in anyway.

 

[Bob Pink]

When you are there see if Bob Lindquist is at one of the tying booths. He's using a long Llama fibre that's sold through <a href="http://www.rootsoriginal.com/" target="_blank"><!--auto-->http://www.rootsoriginal.com/</a><!--auto--> that looks very nice. I haven't used it yet myself but am about to order some test hanks...

 

[artb]

How about Yak hair? It is long, I have tied some blue water flies using it. It has some kind of sheen to it also

 

[Bob Pink]

Problem I've had with yak is that it's tough to get some where the fibres are straight. Anyone with a trick for dealing with that?