Dubbing

[Copper John]

I am a novice fly tyer, by that I mean less than 2 months of experience. I have a question on some dubbing that I bought at Sportsman's Wharehouse the other day. I bought some dubbing called Hareline Dubbin Brown and Krystal Dub Black. Can these dubbin materials be used for dry flies as well as nymphs. If not is there some dubbing material that can be used for both dries and nymphs. Thanks.

[jdubya]

I don't make a distinction between dubbing (especially the ones you refer to) for nymphs or dries. There is a pseudo-heavy dubbing for nymphs (can't remember the catchy name) although I don't really think it makes much of a difference.

So in general, any dubbing works for either.

[Ouzel]

is correct, most dubbing material is made to use on any fly and only the soaking of a fly in a product like Water Shed and/or adding a floatant at water side will effect a change in the floating properties.

If you do want to lean one way other the other in your tying materials towards flies that float or sink think of the type of materials first. Natural materials will for the most part absorb water, CDC being an obvious exception, but will float better as they take floatants well and are lighter. Synthetic materials tend to shed water as they do floatant treatments and are denser on a volume bases so they sink better.

A short lesson in textiles- natural fabrics have what a called 'nodes' and systhetic materials don't. Think of a length of hair vs a mono line of the same dia. and length, the hair will have hundreds of nodes (holes,cracks & crevasses) and the mono line will be very smooth. That is why silk, cotton, wool, etc. is easy to dye with lighter finer dyes and sysn's need a caustic dye that must be applied at high temps so it will take the color.

[Copper John]

Thanks for the replies and the advice, it will help me tons. Ouzel, so d you perfer natural or synthetic fibers on you dries?

[Jason]

CJ, for dry flies I rarely, if ever, use a hares ear blend dubbing. I like to use a fine synthetic dry fly dubbing. Especially for mayflies, you'll want to dub a nice slim body and fine dry fly dubbing works great. It dries much quicker as well. For more robust bodies such as caddis, a good poly synthetic blend works great. The Krystal dub might be good for this purpose. There are dubbing blends you can buy that have different synthetic/natural ratios. 25/75, 50/50, 75/25, etc. I like to use synthetic blends for my dry flies. They seem to repell water a little better than the natural fur blends. The natural fur dubbings, like the Hareline Dubbing lines, are great for nymphs, emergers, buggers, wet flies, etc. They have a very buggy-lively look to them under the water.

So my suggestion is to use synthetic dubbings for dry flies and natural/synthetics for nymphs. The two dubbing packs you have would be great for nymphs such as a Gold Ribbed Hares Ear.

[Utah DaveII]

Superfine dubbing is my favorite. The only place that I know that carries it is Fish tech. Great Stuff!

[Larry S.]

If you are free Tuesday evenings for the next couple months Bob Trowbridge will be teaching a tying class at Logan High.

If you don't want to do that feel free to attend our UOTF Far North Tying Club meetings on the 1st Tuesday of each month at the Whittier Center in Logan.

You can ask all the questions you want and get your answers with a cookie. Plus you can meet a bunch of great people (some with dubiuos reputations).

[Copper John]

Larry S., that sounds great. Do you happen to know the cost of the fly tying class and what it will cover. I just took the class offerred at USU through Steve at Rivers Wild and it was great, but I would hate to double up on certain things. Doubling up on other points may be a great help though. Even if you know how I can contact Bob Trowbridge would be great. I count on seeing you at the Whittier Center next week if I don't have to work. Thanks for the info.

[Larry S.]

Watch the Herald Journal or watch your mail for the announcement from Logan City Schools evening classes. I don't remember for sure but I think it is in the neighborhood of $25.00 including cost for materials.

[Ouzel]

There is a book, "Advanced Tying Techniques" by Darel martin (?) which not only tying techniques but a number of high (very high) magnification pictures of various tying materials.

For dry flies I always try to use natural materials and then I always use Loon's 'Hydro Stop' to soak them in for the mfg's 5 min. limit. Steve at Loons said his was the most viscos on the market and would penetrate at a submicro level.

Syns also have a place in my tying, how could they not, but with dry bodies and abdomens I like to use a natural yarns.