What's YOUR secret to deer hair?

[jimmadsen]

Okay - I've been trying to tie some deer hair bugs to go after the bass in the pond down the street from me.

But here's the catch. I've tried tying about a dozen or so, and they all look pretty pathetic. I'm sure they may fool the dumb fish - but I'm going after the smart ones and I think these bugs need to look better.

I've been using smaller amounts of hair, all cleaned and stacked, looping 2-3 wraps of thread around it THEN pulling it tight and letting it spin around the shank, and then repeating until I'm almost to the eye.

And they still look like Billy Idol's hair on a REALLY bad morning.

So the question is - what is YOUR secret for tying deer hair? What's the "touch" that I'm missing out on?

[Bluegill222]

The key is in how tightly you pack each clump of hair you tie in against the rest. The tighter you pack the hair, the better the bug will float, the better it will look, and the more durable it will be. The rest is hedge trimming. It takes practice to trim the hairs so everything's even and nice. Having said all that, I'll bet you're being more picky about it than even the smart fish will be. Try the ones you've already tied, you might surprise yourself.

[Betty Hiner]

My secret for deer hair? Don't tye them at home!! <then I don't have to deal with the little, pokey, hairs all through the carpet!!>

A pair of nice curved scissors, a nice pair of straight scissors, and half of a double sided razor blade (break it in half, lengthwise) will curve "just right" to get the proper profile.

[lastchance]

Just like anything else practice, repetition is what it takes. Keep at it and you'll see improvement.
Bruce

[dudley]

- what is YOUR secret for tying deer hair? What's the "touch" that I'm missing out on?

I've convinced myself that the "buggy" looking ones work best

[rainbowchaser]

I asked Chris Helm about similar problems with bass bugs at a show once. His advice was to forget the small bunches of hair. For big bugs he uses several big bunches of hair packed tightly rather than a whole lot of small ones. He said that the small bunch thing is common with guys who tie trout flies. If you are going to tie a lot of hair bugs you might benefit from getting one of his videos

[Clay]

It's one thing to read about how to do it and yet another to see it done by people that do well at it. I have always enjoyed watching Kelly Galloup tie deer hair. Even though this video is of him tying a zoo cougar you can apply the same techniques to any stacked hair bug. He does a wonderful job of teaching while he ties. It's a little longer video but watch it a couple of times and really listen to what he has to say and then let us know how your next couple of bass bugs come out. Good luck man!

http://www.theweeklyfly.com/index.ph...o-cougar-37-59

[Steven McGarthwaite]

Deer Hair for the bodies on Bass Fly Patterns, I use the belly hair. Ther two most commonly ways of doing the body, are spinning or stacking.

Al Campbell did some articles as part of the Intermediate Fly Tying Series that just might help you.

I can send you the PDF (adobe reader) versions of these file, just email me at parnelli@comcast.net , or if you want, I can mail you a CD of all the fly patterns that have run on FAOL (13 years), at no charge. ~Parnelli

Muddler Minnow
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flyt...ate/part33.php


Simple Deer Hair Bass Bug
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flyt...ate/part34.php


Standard Deer Hair Bass Bug
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flyt...ate/part35.php


Diving Bug
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flyt...ate/part36.php

[Ron Eagle Elk]

My secret to spinning or stacking deer hair like this?



I ask my wife to do it for me. I hate that part of tying. Way to messy and time consuming for me. VEE, on the other hand, loves it.

REE

[billknepp]

The secret to learning lies in video!