Quote Originally Posted by whatfly View Post
Have only tied a few of these mostly for experimentation, but I'm curious are you folks tapering the mop strands with scissors? The reason I ask is the only ones I've found so far (i.e. car wash mitts) are pretty thick. I realize that there are other sources, but was curious because of some of the photos I've seen it looks like some tiers are stylizing their mop flies. TIA.
I don't stylize my mop flies. I think the "natural" taper of the piece is one the reasons they're so effective. The flies in the pictures are tied with pieces from car wash mitts that I picked up in a local auto store(Pep Boys). That's the actual size of the mop piece on them. I've been able to find them in chartreuse, pale yellow/cream and gray. The rest of the colors are either dyed or colored with a permanent marker. They're the only thin ones I've found. I've found them in four sizes. Mini-mops, about a 1/2 inch long with a thin diameter, short mops, about a 1/2 inch long and as thick as a "standard" mop piece, pieces about 1 to 1 1/4 inch and large, pieces 1 1/2 to 2 inches long.
P2160131.jpg

Those I'm going use for bass and I also plan to tie them with a foam head.
This is the prototype of how I plan to tie them.
P2160126 (2).jpg