Bucktail alternative

[Jim Sentell]

Those of you who tie and use the Clouser minnow; what alternative materials do you use instead of the traditional bucktail? On their Bass tape, Lefty and Bob suggest using a "translucent" material for more action and flash, but don't say what that material is.
Any ideas?

Jim

[chucke]

Jim i have used yack hair when i want a larger pattern. Chuck

[wayneb]

Hi Jim;

I they're using polar fiber, at least that's what Bob uses in his book. An inexpensive alternative would be "Congo hair" available from Fly tiers Dungeon. Any of the synthetic baitfish materials would work, they just give you a different effect depending on amount used and "bulkiness" of the particular material.

Wayneb

[Bamboozle]

Jim:

I like and use Thompson's Ultra Hair.

It comes in great translucent colors and it is kinky and somewhat stiff so it stands out almost as good as bucktail. It also has a nice action and look in the water.

The only negative to using synthetic fibers is losing the raggedness of the fiber ends that you have with natural hair. I remedy this by using a pair of barber's thinning shears on the ends of the fibers to get that uneven look. BTW - coarse thinning shears seem to work better than the fine ones they sell for fly tying. I got my thinning shears at Wal Mart.

[Dub]

For small streamers you may want to try Possum guard hairs. The length of the hair is cream and has a short black tip. The hair itself is soft and transluscent. Usually very inexpensive if you can find a source.

Dub

[Fatman]

You could use the REALLY GOOD craft hair that Punisher Lures use on their Float-n-Fly. Just go to Punishers site and if you want lot's of colors they have a pack for $30-35 dollars that has all of them in one pack. Really nice to tie with too.

Fatman

[Eight Thumbs]

Hi Jim

I really like Polar Fibre or craft fur for my Clousers. It's easy to tie and has great action in the water. As an added bonus, you can save your trimmings from the wings, pop them in a coffee grinder and have a great dubbing material. There are also lots of other types of material like Ice Fur Polar Dubbing, Iceabou, Mirror Image, Super Hair and probably 20-30 other synthetics that make great Clouser. The sky and your pocketbook are the limit. 8T

[WarrenP]

I use guard hair from squirrel, fox and coyote.

[dudley]

I tie some long surf flies from halloween wigs that I pick up at discount sales after the holiday
This year I got myself a nice glow-in-the-dark white one that That I'm looking forward to trying

[JohnScott]

I haven't used it, but some of the really good fly tier's / fishermen I've watched at demos do - EP fiber. Looks like it is very easy to work with, just about any length and color you could want ?? My recollection is that it seemed a bit pricey when I looked at it at the fly shop after the demo, but I really don't have a point of reference on that.

Try this link -

http://www.flytyingforum.com/materialEP_Fiber.html

John