I was doing some browsing for some animal hides and came accross some Angora Rabbit, which I believe is also referred to as “Lapin” in europe. I know angora rabbits have some very long fur but was wonder if it’s about the same as a regular as far as fur for dubbing and other fly tying material. Has anyone used this type of rabbit before, better, worse or the same as our regular rabbit fur and hides ?
Thanks,
Mike
Just an initial response and haven’t checked on this. However, I believe Angora Rabbit is used to dub Atlantic salmon flies because it is a substitute for seals fur.
Allan
Allan I think you maybe referring to Angora Goat, allot more courser I believe, then rabbit.
Mike
Sorry! My error. I was indeed refering to the ‘Angora goat’.
I just did a search for ‘Angora rabbit’. Seems to be an extremely soft fur used for yarn. I’m just guessing that it would be excellent for dubbing. One concern might be its absorbtion if used in dry flies. Cute little things.
Allan
Yea they’re a really neat look rabbit … all fur … I mean really long fur all over their body! 
I wouldn’t really use it for a dry fly, rabbit is pretty absorbant material.
Here’s a picture of one incase someone maybe interested:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/EnglishAngoraRabbit.jpg/220px-EnglishAngoraRabbit.jpg
Mike
I have an all black angora rabbit fur pelt that I use mainly for leach tails etc, and it is the best rabbit fur I’ve ever used. Nice and thick and I can make the tails pretty much as long as I want to. Angora rabbit pelts are very much the same as regualr rabbit fur with the exception that the fur is extra long.
Jim Smith
Jim haven’t found any pelts yet just 2gr. packages with about 10 different dyed colors that go for about $3.10 a package.
Mike
Mike,
Although rabbit is absorbant, using it for dubbing a dry fly does not effect the floatation. Counterintuitive but true. Almost always and regardless of the material, the amount of dubbing on a 12, 14, 16 and smaller hook doesn’t matter. For the most part, same is true on larger flies. Add in, if you like, the use of the tiniest amount of floatant and then there is no advantage to almost any material except perhaps some of the synthetics. Point of interest: All of the mayfly nymph, dun and spinner bodies as well as the caddis’ are tyed with rabbit dubbing at Al Caucci’s Delaware River Club and many of the other shops and tyers in the area. I know of some tyers that also use lambs wool for dry flies.
Just an opinion - It’s how fine and soft that are the most important traits of a good dry fly dubbing.
Allan
Lapin is French for rabbit…
Thanks Alan great info to know.
I learned yesterday that “Lapin” is the french word for rabbit. 
Mike
Mickalo,
You might want to try contacting the Iowa chapter of the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA). My wife and I raised show rabbits for a number of years when our children were young. There are an amazing number of people who raise rabbits. People quite often specialize in a specific breed or even a color within a breed. They have shows where judges come in and people win best of breed and best in show. There will be hundreds of rabbits of all breeds at any given show. At the larger shows, there are often vendors that sell tanned rabbit pelts that people use for arts/crafts etc. While the breeders love their rabbits, they are still live stock that they have to cull if they want to be a successful breeder. The standards are very specific so for example, a rabbit with one toe nail that is the wrong color would be disqualified, therefore a breeder would remove that rabbit from the herd to prevent that trait from being passed on. Breeders cull for a variety of reasons such as body shape, fur density or even a rabbit that is a poor mother that won’t nurse her babies. The bottom line is that if you’re looking for some Angora rabbit pelts, these people will very probably give you the names and numbers of people who you can contact locally for what you want. Just a thought…
Jim Smith
Thanks for the info Jim appreciate it, I’ll check it out. I didn’t even know they have those here in IA.
Mike
Hi All,
I did find one Angora rabbit pelt for sale on line, $60. Reading up on them shows that they grow them for the fur which is sold for making into yarn for knitting, and it sells for 10-15 dollars per ounce. They shear them just like they do sheep. Some folks just have a couple, which they shear for the fur that they themselves knit. They aparantly are quite gentle and don’t protest shearing.
It looks like it would be great for tailing Peter Frailey’s bunny buggers. I would like to find some for that purpose. I like bunny buggers, but finding long fur is a problem, that the Angora rabbit fur looks like it would solve.
I might add that I use rabbit for most of my dry fly dubbing, even for very large stone fly dries. When treated it floats fine. I only use other furs for specific colors, and if I want to tie a traditional pattern.
I don’t know if this is correct, but one source stated that the fur is quite warm for sweaters, because it is hollow. I somehow doubt that, but if so, it would even be better for dries than normal rabbit dubbing.
Regards,
Gandolf
I wish I could have found a nice pelt, but no luck locating one yet! So going to be ordering some 2gr. packages of the fur in assorted colors to try out. The only draw back no long fibers unless each package containd all the fur, including guard hairs, along with the under fur.
Mike
I traded some stuff for a bit of Angora Rabbit fur from a lady that raised them for yarn.
Works well for anything you’d use regular rabbit for, but want longer fibers.
I’ve often wished I could get Angora Rabbit hides dyed in good bassy colors, and asked the nice lady about getting some full hides. She was horrifiied at the thought of killing the bunnies…probably burned that supply source simply by mentioning that.
Nice stuff.
Buddy
We use a lot of rabbit strips for the leeches we tie in huge quantites here… We buy hides at a local craft store and cut them into strips. For our purposes, and for anyone using strips you want the terrible rabbit skins, not the good ones. Both hide thickness and amount of fur determine how good a strip will be for a fly. Too much leather and the fly weighs a lot more, fast! It also takes forever to soak through, sink, and swim properly. Too much fur also slows down the speed with which it sinks and swims.
Then, once you get a plump fly fishing you realize it takes a LOT more effort to get it out of the water and then huck it back out there.
I am in the middle of tying 5 dozen Dali Lamas and my rabbit strips are horrible! For each fly I am skiving the leather edges and trimming as much leather as I can. To say it makes tying them slow is an understatement!
Rabbit is great dubbing and it is easy to add good synthetics to it for sparkle, UV color, or plumping up. Tying Polly Rosborough’s Fuzzy Nymphs with rabbit and adjuncts is easy and the rabbit makes the dubbing rope more durable because it binds with the other materials really well.
art