Mcflylon

[john52948]

anybody have any experience with this material, im thinking of substituting it for snowshoe rabbit for wings on my caddis dries. was wondering about its floatability.

thanks

[whatfly]

Just another polypropylene yarn. Works fine as caddis wings.

[martinwestbeek]

Good stuff. Use it for posts and strike indicators but on a fly Snowshoe Hare is superior in floatability

[Bruce Norikane]

I recently ran low on snowshoe foot and started replacing it with synthetic fibers for wings on small flies. You need crinkly fibers that look like snowshoe. McFlylon works fine but is not better than crinkly poly yarn, Para Post, etc... Actually, McFly Foam (used for egg flies) works surprisingly well for small flies.

The downside from snowshoe, all of the synthetics need floatant, either factory applied like Para Post, Float Vis or EP Fibers, or at the vise with Water Shed or Gink on stream. They don't absorb water, but without floatant, they wick water on their surface. Instead of floating on top of the surface film, they will suck down into the water.

Try dropping some untreated McFlylon or poly yarn in a glass of water. It'll quickly suck down into the water. With floatant, they will float as long as you care to watch.

[john52948]

thanks for the response's guys, I think bruce told me what I needed to know.

thanks again

[Bruce Norikane]

Here's a tutorial from Fly Fish Food where they substitute EP Fibers for snowshoe wings on an EZ Wing version of their Bunny Midge. I tie a similar midge emerger, but I don't figure 8 the wings. I just run a few wraps around the base. I push down on the wing post to spread it out. I also create a bit more thorax with dubbing under the wing.

http://www.flyfishfood.com/2013/02/bunny-midge.html

Note: this photo from Fly Fish Food, may be the original snowshoe foot fibers.

[cheech]

Thanks for posting that Bruce. That pic is of the original fly with rabbit wings. The fibers that the new fly are tied out of are EP trigger point international fibers that are designed specifically for dry fly wings, and are treated with water shed. They are really good for a small fly because they are very fine fibers. If I were tying something size 14 or larger, I'd maybe go with McFlylon, or even Hareline Para Post material.

Cheech