Interested in tying Comparadun Patterns?? Good Hair.

[Silver Creek]

You also need to know that comparadun hair is not good for elk hair caddis or for any "down wing" pattens. Hair that flairs gives you a high wing profile and when you see a caddis on the water, it has it's wings folded flat over it's back. So you want hair that does NOT flair as much.

Al Troth, when he first published his EHC, noted that it should be tied with hair that did not flair, but that fact has been lost on fly tiers. This type of hair is difficult to find especially for smaller patterns and now virtually every EHC now is tied with a prominent flaired wing. Commercially tied flies tend to have high profile wings because that is the hair they have to tie the flies.

Larry Solomon and Eric Leiser's "The Caddis and the Angler" published in 1977 has the original elk hair caddis pattern on pg 200. You will notice that the hair on the pattern is tent like and does NOT flair much.


Al Troth's original EHC from "The Caddis and the Angler. Notice the flatter tent like wing profile like a natural caddis.








Here are are two EHC patterns tied close to the original. The first is closer to the original Al Troth pattern.

http://www.flyfishersrepublic.com/pa...k-hair-caddis/

http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/fly...fm?parentID=44

Compare the Cabela's EHC:

http://www.cabelas.com/dry-flies-tan...:referralID=NA


I label the hide side of my hair with the pattern like "EHC", or "Comparadun, or "Stimulator", and the size of the pattern that the hair is for. For example, I have size 14-16 comparadun, and size 18-20 comparadun hair. Since the black tips must be very very short on even on size 18-20 comparadun hair and this hair is extremely rare, I never use my small fly comparadun hair for larger flies. It is simply too precious to waste.

I want to emphasize the importance of a white background when sorting hair. I said to carry a 3x5 card to use as a background. It also works for grading hackle. I simply write what I want to buy on the lined side of the card and use the plain blank side to sort hair.

Here's another tip - Even I don't always carry a 3/5 card with me all the time. But I do carry a white business card in my wallet. I use the back to examine the tips of deer and elk hair.