Help with mohair

[Ray Kunz]

I am having a problem in achieving good fuzzy bodies using Uni brand mohair yarn. There always seems to be a heavy strand of non-mohair within the yarn. It's almost like the yarn is wound on a plastic cord as you would make a dubbing rope. Am I doing something wrong or is my material at fault? I stroke the wraps back as I wind but this cord-like strand keeps coming up as loops along the way.

[NJTroutbum]

Don't overthink mohair. Lift it up above the hook as you wrap and sweep back as much as possible....then wrap. Wrap it tightly and the body will fall in place.

[James Smith]

Ray,

I use mohair quite a bit especially for leeches. When I tie, I try to stroke the long mohair fibers out to one side of the yarn so that they naturally lay down towards the rear of the fly as I wrap the yarn towards the eye of the hook. Then I use hook and loop fastener (the hook side) to tease up the fibers.

I find plain old mohair yarn purchased off of ebay does as good or better than the stuff sold specifically for fly tying. I have quite a bit of black mohair if you'd like to try some just send me your mailing address via PM and I get some out to you.

Jim Smith

[quivira kid]

What I've found works best is to "unwind" the mohair a bit and not palmer it too close together. Give it a little breathing room!

[kelkay]

I pick the hairs out with a metal comb, or you can use a toothbrush, or a bodkin...tease it out quite a bit, and that will help. I also like to wrap the fly with a thin copper ribbing to help it last longer.

[WarrenP]

After I have tied in the end of the mohair at the tail tie-in point, I take an old toothbrush and brush the mohair strand good before palmering up the hook shank. As I palmer, I always stroke the mohair fibers back. Try brushing the mohair before wrapping and see if that helps.

[EdD]

Uni Mohair, in fact I think all of the mohair yarn that I have ever seen, has a core around which the mohair is. You have been given several ways to make your flies shaggy and I expect that all of them will work.

Ed