snowshoe hare's feet fur vs. CDC

[ezlehappy]

I just started tying midge patterns with some snowshoe hare's feet fur. I really like it. I like it a ton more than CDC. CDC always seems to fail me. I tied a CDC midge made of just microchenille and a CDC puff and it seemed like the second I picked the fly off the water, the CDC would compact and the fly wouldn't float high on the water.

Am I the only one that thinks this way?

[Flytier]

Ezlehappy,

Once the CDC gets waterlogged or if the feather structure otherwise gets compromised, its floatability goes to pot.

From your description I deduce a couple things:

You have likely been pretty skimpy in your amount of CDC. Less is not more in CDC.

I would think you tied the CDC pointing back over the body, like a downwing. These patterns can be very effective, but there is a small trick you may want to try to make a permanent separation between body and wing. This way the wing simply cannot collapse. False casting will fluff up the CDC barbs, and the pattern will ride again.

CDC and snowshoe rabbit are not interchangeable materials. Both CDC and snowshoe rabbit have their strengths and weaknesses. I suggest you try to play to their strengths, and avoid or minimize the materials weaknesses.

Cheers,
Hans W

[cardiac]

EZ- listen to "The Man". He knows his stuff.
Welcome Hans glad to have you here.

[Trouty]

Ezlehappy,

Once the CDC gets waterlogged or if the feather structure otherwise gets compromised, its floatability goes to pot.

From your description I deduce a couple things:

You have likely been pretty skimpy in your amount of CDC. Less is not more in CDC.

I would think you tied the CDC pointing back over the body, like a downwing. These patterns can be very effective, but there is a small trick you may want to try to make a permanent separation between body and wing. This way the wing simply cannot collapse. False casting will fluff up the CDC barbs, and the pattern will ride again.

CDC and snowshoe rabbit are not interchangeable materials. Both CDC and snowshoe rabbit have their strengths and weaknesses. I suggest you try to play to their strengths, and avoid or minimize the materials weaknesses.

Cheers,
Hans W


What is the trick to separate the body and the wings when using CDC as a downwing?

[Flytier]

Here is the image, and the detailed tying instructions:

http://www.danica.com/flytier/hweilenmann/cdc_micro_caddis.htm

Cheers,
Hans W

[cheech]

You ought to check out jason's tool thingy that he uses with CDC. it's pretty cool. CDC will piss you off pretty fast if you don't have good quality stuff. jason can get some pretty sweet stuff, ask him about it. I personally aviod CDC a lot, and use snowshoe hare foot a lot.

Jason, What if you did a loop with both CDC and SFH (Snowshoe Foot Hair) That would have some pretty sweet properties...

[Jason]

I think CDC and snow shoe are completely different in texture and tying uses. Yes you can substitute the two in some situations, but each has advantages and disadvantages. I personally use CDC a lot. I like the subtle "realism" it creates for mayflies, midges, and even caddis. The texture of CDC is much softer and delicate than snowshoe. I think it looks more realistic on my flies but that's just my preference. Snowshoe has a much courser texture, is stiffer than CDC, and does not have a 'delicate' soft property like CDC. Snowshoe does hold up better than CDC, but if you dress your CDC flies properly they can last a long time and float high and dry. Unlike Cheech, I think CDC is very easy to tie with. It does take some practice like most other materials. I have been using snowshoe on some of my flies and it works great. I think its all a matter of personal preference.

Regarding dubbing loops; CDC is much easier to use on dubbing loops than snowshoe in my opinion. Snowshoe is very course and doesn't spin as well as CDC, but the technique is adequate for snoeshoe if used sparingly. I have not tried using both of them together, but I think the texture and result would be cool. I'll have to try it out. BTW, the Magic Tool is a must have for CDC and snowshoe. It makes dubbing loops much easier to manage.

I have access to premium CDC in bulk for a reasonable price. This is the best CDC i have found. Shoot me an email if you're interested.

[nightfish]

SFH?

It sounds so exotic! Where do I get some? Is it more expensive than regular snowshoe? Does that come from the House of Hairrop?

[Jason]

House of Hairrup!? Nice. LOL. That was a good one Nick.

[Lonnie]

Jason,

I agree, but think were Snowshoe has an advantage is tying the really small flies like 26 and smaller (not that I tie any thing that small). I think this is why cheech prefers it in smaller sizes. The other advantage to snowshoe is that you can trim it and not loose any of it's bouyance, which also help tying smaller flies.

They are both great materials.

L