Dubbing Material

Hi,

Ok. I'm sure this is only new to me but ...

A while back I found some cotton balls in the medicine cabinate. Most were white, but there were also pale yellows, pale blues and reds, etc. I grabbed a pale yellow one, and used this as body dubbing material for a light cahill. Worked so well, I tied up a bunch in sizes 12 down to 18. The cotton dubbed one really easily, produced a nice tapered body, and having fished them, hold up well after multiple takes.

Looking at my supply, one cotton ball looks to be enough to tie up a huge number of flies (multiple dozens). Also, the colours are very subtle.

For those who dye their own materials, cotton takes a dye quite easily, which makes all those white ones very tempting.

- Jeff

Would mildew be a problem?

That remains to be seen. Hasn't been so far. I dry my flies on my vest patch before putting them back in the box. I was thinking that since a lot of threads are made from cotton, it should be ok though?

- Jeff

Jeff, I don't know the answer but there must be some significant reason why it's hasn't been used...

I do know from reading that unithread used for furled leaders has a mildew problem.

Thanks for the warning. I'll keep an eye out to see if anything bad starts happening with these flies. It could be that mildew is a problem with the leaders if put away damp? Since this causes hooks to rust, I leave my flies on the vest until the next day (at least) before putting them back in the box, so it may not be a problem? I don't know either, but if you hadn't given me the warning I wouldn't know to look out for it. Thanks.

- Jeff

Jeff,
The old time fly tyers never used cotton, and as they invariably tried everything available to them, the North Country includes Lancashire, the heart of the Victorian cotton manufacture, cotton would have been cheap and readily available. Thus I feel that ducksterman's advice may be the reason. As to cotton thread, no doubt people have used it, but in all the recipes until the introduction of man made fibre after WWII, only silk was mentioned, which was also the strongest thread available at that time.

Hi,
Now, of course, I'm going to worry something awful! I've only tied up 8 or so. The ones I've fished have dried out, and still look ok, but I've not fished them a lot. Will keep any eye out for mildew and see how it goes.

I just checked up on Unithread at http://www.uniproducts.com/english/produits.html and apparently Unithread is made of polyester (" 8/0 UNI-Thread is made of continuous polyester filaments, ...".

Anyway, I'll keep these ones separate from the rest, and see how they last. So far, they've been dunked and dried once and look ok, but that's hardly the final word.

It's a shame if mildew does turn out to be a problem because it works really well as a dubbing material.
- Jeff