Has anyone tied with Alpaca

[Danny Gober]

Today we visited the local Alpaca farm. Alpaca is a long fine fleece, the hairs are hollow. Natural white, black, and brown colors. I was given some to tie with. I tried dubbing with it with good results. Plus I tied a clouser pattern that looks nice, can't wait to fish it. Anyone ever use it and what patterns did you try. Dan

[Gringo]

Just thinking out loud here... would alpaca handle the same as goat? I know some people here use goat in preference to deer hair in some flies like Humpy etc to get a nice fine fly. Wonder how it would go there?

[Danny Gober]

The alpaca I got was finer and softer than goat and dubbed easier. dan

[Extremely Low Budget FF]

Dan and everybody

I prefer tying with alpaca over mohair. I've done quite a bit of tying with it.

Also I tie quite a bit with llama. The average llama has hair that is more coarse than the average alpaca. Individual animals vary. I have a neighbor whose llama is as nice as alpaca.

If you would like some llama send me a SASE 9 x 12 inch envelope and I'll fill it and I'll stuff it and send it back. ( Dan, I believe I've moved since we last swapped, PM me for my current address)

Ed