Dubbing & Hackles

[flyfishgb]

I am ready to move on now to dry flies, Now am I better off purchasing a Dubbing container/dispenser with antron dubbing mix or should i start with beaver/possum/hare fur.

Another question is what hackles can I buy that will overlap eachother, making it able for me to tie multiple patterns. I know i should buy grizzly hackle for Adams Dry, but what grade? What other colors are most used, I like to fish with all different flies.

[Mark Patenaude]

If you are launching into dries I would recommend that you purchase "Superfine" dubbing in lieu of anything else. Possum dubbing is not a dry fly dubbing and is used in nymphs and has a pretty high count of guard hairs. Beaver dubbing is a good dry fly dubbing because of the natural oils but can be difficult to work with to obtain the tight tapered body that you will want to achieve. Superfine is the best and easiest to work with when first starting out.

As for hackles, I wouldn't purchase anything less than a "silver" grade. I would also purchase a neck over a cape. The better grade necks will have a higher count of feathers that can be used in smaller flies and typically have finer stems and less webbing for a better finished product. Blue Dun, Creme, Grizzly, and Brown and/or Coachman Brown will cover the vast majority of flies that you will need to tie.

Metz sells the necks in 1/2 necks that combine two colors and are a good buy.

If I may also suggest starting with tying Parachute patterns before you get into the classic Catskill style. This will allow you to work on your body proportions and hackling skills without having to worry about winging, which can be difficult to learn, especially getting the flare/angles correct.

Feel free to email me directly with any questions.

Mark

[yashuone]

+1 on the superfine dubbing for dries. the multi packs of dubbing can be a good buy and it's very nice to have a wide color assortment at your fingertips for "matching the hatch".

i like keough tyers grade hackles. they generally have a high feather count, are of a high quality (minimal amount of "webbing" in the feathers) and have a good assortment of different sized feathers (a good quantity of very small fine feathers for use in #20 and smaller), plus they are relatively easy on the wallet.

[Mark Patenaude]

I agree that Keough is also a good buy but in my opinion have a bit too much webbing on the common sizes (14-16) and too many large feathers. I'm partial to Metz and like the 1/2 necks that they offer so you can purchase colors you need don't use very much of. I'll typically buy brown and creme in the full necks as I tie alot of dries with these two colors.

As for the Superfine dubbing, they come packaged in two different color schemes when you buy them in their dubbing box selections and its a good idea to have both that they offer. However, I have found that their BWO and Light Hendrickson color is somewhat inconsistant so I prefer to blend my owner in my dubbing blender.

Mark

[yashuone]

now that's a skill! being able to blend your own dubbing consistently. anyone can throw a bunch of fur in a coffee grinder i'm a long way from any sort of consistency but i still enjoy the process of coming up with your own materials and experimenting with different things. just one more more of the little joys of flyfishing.

where do you get the colored materials to blend and is it hard to find consistancy in that supply?

and just to compound the question a little more...
how do you then deal with inconsistancy in your supply (if that's ever an issue)?

i would imagine that some of the skill must be having an eye for color matching and then on top of that, experience. is that so?

[Mark Patenaude]

Mixing dubbing is like baking. Use equal parts until you come up with the color that you want and write down the proportions as you experiment with the colors so you know what to do next time.

As for the materials, they are only the off the shelf dubbings and sometimes Antron hanks and hare's mask guard hairs that I cut up and mix in. I have found that most BWO colors lack enough brown in them and that the color that I custom mix the most of.

As for inconsistancy with my colors, I always keep a small amount of a color that I'm satisfied with to match against the next batch that I make up.

Mark

[yashuone]

cool! good advice!

[FishinCane]

I'm a big fan of the Whiting 100's (especially for size 18 - 20's)

www.jsflyfishing.com/cgi-bin/item/NM-630025-0000/75000/Whiting-100's-Saddle-Pack.html


As far as dubbing goes.... I've used the coffee grinder routine many times but have found the packaged stuff to be just as good and a lot easier. Superfine for dries and antron for nymphs.