U.S. Source for Flexibody?

[BigFlatBrook]

One of the recent Fly Tyer magazines has an Oliver Edwards article on tying small stoneflies that uses Flexibody. I don't think there is a U.S. source for that material, as a google search failed to turn up anything useful. Substitutions haven't been satisfactory. (Not ruling out my skill as a tier).

Does anyone know the definitive story on this? Is it strictly a British Isles/Continental material?

[Normand]

One of the recent Fly Tyer magazines has an Oliver Edwards article on tying small stoneflies that uses Flexibody. I don't think there is a U.S. source for that material, as a google search failed to turn up anything useful. Substitutions haven't been satisfactory. (Not ruling out my skill as a tier).

Does anyone know the definitive story on this? Is it strictly a British Isles/Continental material?

good luck finding it. scud back is an alternative according to a few sites. you would need to cut the flexibody into strips anyway.

scud back

[Hans Weilenmann]

BigFlatBrook,

Does anyone know the definitive story on this? Is it strictly a British Isles/Continental material?

The definitive story, eh?

Well, here goes.

In the late eighties a Dutch tier called Hans de Groot developed and started to distribute paper-backed sheets of a product he named Flexibody. Mid nineties Hans de Groot suffered a fatal heart attack, and production of the product ceased.

Hans' son, Milosj, may or may not have restarted producing the sheets. I will see what I can find out on that score, and if so, will report back here.

Cheers,
Hans W

[BigFlatBrook]

I'm asking partly because scud back doesn't really achieve the desired effect in my mind.

That's interesting information. I think Oliver Edwards is on record saying that flexibody is the most important innovation in materials of the past 25 years -- or something like that. He must have a secret cache of the stuff.

Why would Fly Tyer publish a pattern that depends on materials that's so difficult to obtain?

I like those little stonefly patterns. Those little stoneflies always show up in my local sampling. Mostly I've been tying slim-bodied hare's ears for them, but I'd like to try something different.

[flyfshr]

A few years ago I picked up some of the origional European flexibody at Fly N Field in Glen Ellyn, IL. You could try giving them a call. Someone is currently selling a product in the US called flexibody. J Stockard fly fishing has it available right now. I bought a bunch from Stockard and it wasn't the same cool colors as the origional stuff and the packaging was very different but it was the same material. WAPSI distributes a product called thin skin that is very similar (if not identical) to flexibody and the thin skin comes in some cool patterns like bustard and fly specs.

[BigFlatBrook]

I do see that on the J. Stockard web site. It didn't show up on a google search. Thin Skin might be the identical material, I just don't know.

[whatfly]

Contact Steve Korbay at Fly Tying Specialties (http://www.flytyingspecialties.com/). He carries Flexibody along with a lot of other specialty materials from the other side of the pond. I cannot vouch for the authenticity, but supposedly this is the real McCoy.

[BigFlatBrook]

Contact Steve Korbay at Fly Tying Specialties (http://www.flytyingspecialties.com/). He carries Flexibody along with a lot of other specialty materials from the other side of the pond. I cannot vouch for the authenticity, but supposedly this is the real McCoy.

That web site has a lot of interesting materials. Even though I'm definitely not a realistic tier.

I was able to find some Thin Skin locally, and was actually able to produce some stonefly nymphs that I was happy with. It wasn't the right color, but a prismacolor marker did a pretty good job with them.

I like those patterns. Hope they catch some trout for me.

[Hare's Ear]

Rocky Mountian Dubbing out of Lander, WY is a distrubutor of Flexi-body, flexi-tail, and flexi-wrap. We also have their products listed on our web site. I think Wapsi also offers the flexi-body.

Bill