First Deer Hair bugs

[jeffnles1]

OK, guys, don't be too harsh.

These are my first attempts at tying deer hair bugs.

The whole trimming thing must be a black art. I tried a razor blade and I tried scissors. I came closer to having something that looked like a bug with the scissors. The razor made them pretty slab sided. I guess it takes practice.

The razor was good for making the bottom side flat.

Here are some photos. Let me know what I did wrong.

Thanks,
Jeff

[Bass_Bug]

Looks good Jeff. One of the tricks to trimming deer hair is having a high density of spun hair. The trick to dense hair is not packing it as you spin it (although you do need to do this), but using more hair at a time. A common description of hair amount is a "pencil worth" meaning a bundle of hair the diameter of a standard pencil. 2 to 3 'pencils' at a time will get you a good density 4 will be even better. It usually takes time to get to the point you can comfortably work with that much hair, but the end result is worth it. Just keep at it.

[WarrenP]

Jeff,

I have yet to try spinning deer hair and may one day. I think you are off to a good start. On the trimming, I have read that some people use a battery beard trimmer. I don't know if that is a help or not, so, you will have to let me know.

I think you are doing good...

[Alberto]

Jeff,

Those are some nice bugs - wish my first attempt came out that nice.

You did a nice job keeping the hook gap clear of deer hair and the symmetry of the bug's body is good both from the side view and the top view. Looks like you have some good quality deer hair for spinning - probably the most important thing.

Did you just spin bunches of hair or did you pack them? I think your bug body could be a bit more dense. It's tough to tell from the photo, but it looks like you used some black deer hair for the bug's eyes. You could always cut a little indentation with your scissors after you are done trimming the bug and then glue some doll eyes into them.

Trimming a deer hair bug is just a matter of practice, practice, practice. Remember you can always bend the razor blade to help you cut curves on the bug. I like to use a razor blade to get a nice flat bottom, then I rough shape the bug with curved scissors, and "smooth" it out with the razor blade.

Hope this helps,

Alberto

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Jeff,

I hate spinning deer hair so I let my wife do it. A couple things I've noticed when she's working.

There's no such thing as overcleaning deer hair. She makes sure all the underfur is out of her bundle before she spins or stacks it.

Once the bundle is spun, she packs it tight against the preceding bundle, gives her very dense looking bugs.

She uses curved scissors with micro serrations to rough trim the hair then tidies up with a double edge razor blade that she breaks in half. The double edge is thinner so it bends easily to fit the curves of the fly and it's sharper than a single edge blade. Cover the broken side of the blade and the ends with a couple strips of duct tape.

REE

[jeffnles1]

Thanks for the tips.

I did try to pack it as best as I could. I used the hollow end of a ball point pen (had to cut it back some to fit over the hook eye. I would tie in a bunch, pack it back, tie in a bunch, pack it back, and keep going until I got to the end.

Is there a better way to do it? I've seen tools for this, are they worth the investment?

As for the eyes, I wish I was talented enough to use black deer hair. I cheated and used a sharpie.

I tried to use some super glue and glue doll eyes on like I do with my poppers.

On poppers, gluing the doll eyes isn't a problem. For some reason, on the deer hair, I ended up making a mess and gluing my index finger to my thumb with a doll eye between them. It was actually kind of funny in a "you had to be there" kind of way.

I'm not really sure how to spot good spinning hair from not good spinning hair.

I picked up a yellow patch and a green patch at a shop a year or so back that looked heavy and dense.

I used a fine tooth comb to comb out the fuzzy under fur before I tried to spin it.

One trick I learned after my first fly was to not lay down a thread base. It seems the hair spins around the bare hook a lot easier than it does when there is thread there. I'm not sure if that is right but it seemed to work better for me.

I'll try to find a way to pack it better. Also, I may not have used big enough bundles. A pencil thickness. I probably used half that amount.

On the "stripes" that's an average of 2-3 bundles per stripe. I guess if I used more hair per bundle, I'd have 1-2 bundles per stripe.

I'm reasonably happy for a first atempt. I reckon they'll catch fish.

I thought it was fun to try something new. It's kind of a mess with all the hair on the table after I cut it off. I think next time, I'll figure out a way to have something to catch it in so I don't have to sweep off the table so much.

Also, I've seen some deer hair bugs with a really flat face like a popper instead of the way mine turned out. Mine are more like divers or "sneaky Petes". How do you get that nice flat face on the bugs?

I tied these on Gamakatsu stinger hooks (smaller size 4 and the larger 1/0). What other hooks would you guys recommend or are the Stingers appropriate for this type of fly?

Sorry about all the questions. You guys can help save hours of trial and error and I appreciate the answers and feedback.

Jeff

[Kaboom1]

Jeff
Two words for you...Chris Helm...

http://www.whitetailflytieing.com/

This is his website, but a search will turn up much more.

Brad

[Steven]

I will second the Chris Helm mention. He has two DVD's out on Spinning Deer Hair. Highly, highly recommended.

[hugefish_80]

Jeff, good spinning hair will come from the deer's flank or stomach. if you look at it compared to the other hair it will look much larger and coarser. As for hooks, I prefer to use mustad 37187s, I think the new number is c52sbln. they are a bit longer and a bit lighter wire than the b10s's that you are using.

[coughlin]

I'll third Chris Helm!
The packing tool I think best is the one Helm uses. Rather than slipping over the eye, as do most packers, which means the diameter of the packer is larger than that of the shank which results in pushing against the hair above the base, his is like a hand sprung clamp and moves the hair back right at the point of contact with the shank.

Having said that, Jeff, yours are much better than my first attempts! Bass_Bug's advice about the amount of hair spin is excellent, though It takes time and practice to handle four pencils worth of hair.

Happy spinning!
Coughlin