Hair is used primarily for wings and tails, an example of which would include flies of the Wulff family. Remember the wax experi- ment, very coarse materials will not form any kind of rope and will therefore be un- suitable for most bodies. The hair of some species is hollow (deer and elk are prime examples) which make them excellent ad- ditions to any fly needing a little extra buoyancy (think muddler). Most other hairs are not hollow and are either used for wet flies, in particular those of the hair winged salmon and sea trout family or for very re- alistic nymph legs and tails.
Fur is an altogether different story. Fur is used for fly bodies, is generally very fine and will form a rope very easily. Species such as hare, rabbit, muskrat, mole, seal and squirrel are some of the commonest purveyors. Look at a piece of fur (rabbit for example), you'll notice a layer of stiff guard hairs under which you'll find the soft under fur, this is what we want. When any kind of fur is applied to a thread it ceases to be fluff and miraculously transmogrifies into something known as dubbing. Dubbing can be bought in ready-made form or on the skin; your choice is personal preference. If you want a very fine dubbing and have bought 'on the skin' then you'll have to re- move all the little guard hairs (this takes a very long time). It's a bit like bubble wrap, once you start it's very hard to stop, at the end your nerves will be shot, your patience will be gone and you'll start to realize how truly sad fly fishermen can be. The other side of the coin is that you could walk into a shop and ask for dry fly dubbing.
For some flies it is essential to have a spiky body, this is where buying on the skin can outweigh ready-made. There is no hassle, you simply select some guard hair and mix it with the appropriate amount of under fur to bind it all together and hey presto, spiky dubbing. As with many of the sub-
jects discussed so far there are no real rules, animals renowned for their hair will also have useful fur and visa versa. You could stay with soft for bodies and coarse for everything else or you could mix and match. Different furs and different hairs combined can create a huge range of tex- tures for every occasion you'll ever face. You can do pretty much everything with shop bought dubbing but have a go all the same; you may even find something new.
Ruffled and Ready
Oh dear, I've really not being looking for- ward to this bit, I'm a simple angler, I use road kill!! Give me a break!!! Feathers, they're wonderful things, Icarus didn't think so but I do. Practically every fly has some kind of feather tied to it. Tails, wings, legs and bodies, to live without them we would simply be hook chuckers (or bait fishermen, shudder!). There are two many kinds of feather to mention, the subject really deserves an article in its self (not by me) so I am just going to give what I think are some useful points.
Useful Points
A feather consists of various components, each have their own use and will vary de- pending on the type of bird and the area from which the feather has been taken. It is therefore a general guide and a very ba- sic one at that.
The barbs - Are the fibres that stick out from the central quill (the stiff bit up the mid- dle). Most barbs have tiny fi- bres pro- truding
I Shoot and Fish E-Zine December 2011
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