Hi there,
I have been looking at some salmon flies that have Arctic Fox tail in the wing. I don’t have any and have not used it, what is it like?? Is it like “underfur and guard hair” that you have to separate to use for wing material or is it more like a deer tail, long straight hair? Some pictures I see, it almost looks like a synthetic frizzy type of material.
I have seen it used on salmon fly wings, but how about other types of wings like dry fly rather than using calf tail?
The stuff we got is sorta like long rabbit fur…soft and fine.
We often us it for dubbing brushes to use for bodies or collars. GRAND stuff.
This is NOT tail, but body fur, I think.
The tail hair is long, fine, soft and a little kinky. Much softer and smaller diameter than calf tail. It makes a full wing with alot of action in the water. It doesn’t stack very well and so I haven’t tried it on dries.
I received a nice patch of arctic fox
from a friend. It quickly became my go to
fur for wets for my bluegills. It’s a
silky hair with fantastic movement in the
water. They can’t resist the lifelike
undelation of the fur.G Warm regards,
Jim
I use it more and more. I love to use the body strips (basically a zonker or crosscut strip of rabbit). Is an excellent alternative for marabou.
It is a soft hair, so I’d suggest only using it for other soft materials. If you want a rigid hair, it may not work as intended. But has ALOT of action. I’ve replaced it on alot of salmon flies that have called for marabou. Great thing about it is it’s integrity. Can withstand multiple fish with ease (where the marabou would be almost gone).
I use it in many patterns and it is my favorite natural streamer material. You can get good quality Artic Fox fur very reasonably from hideandfur.com. If you need different colors, it’s very easy to dye and is wonderful material to work with.
I like to use it in place of Marabou,Especially where it would be used in the tail portion of the fly…Much more durable and just as lively in the water…
Use both body and tail fur.Many shops/catalogs are now selling this and other furs as “Furabou”…Kewl stuff.
“I’ve often wondered why it is that so many anglers spend so much money on,and pay so much attention to.the details on the wrong end of the fly line.If they took as much care in selecting or tying their flies as they did in the selection of the reel and rod,They might be able to gain the real extra edge that makes it possible to fool a fish that has,in fact,seen it all before” A.K.Best
Everyone wants to excel in this sport but at the same time we let traditionalists place restrictions on our tactics, methods, and ideas. I always assumed that fly fishing was a sport that allowed imagination, creation, adaptation, investigation, dedication, education, revelation? : Fox Statler, On Spinners (Not the dainty Dry Fly kind) “Spinner’d Minner Fly”
I like to use artic fox fur when I want a lot of movemnet in my flies. It also has a nice sheen when wet. The fact that the fur is soft, I would not recommend using it as a subsitute for calftail.
Frank
Oh my gawd! How stupid of me. I NEVER even thought about it. UH…this does not bode well for my wife’s full pelt white artic fox Indian piece with rawhide, feathers, bow and arrows on the wall! Extreme danger here. I must be sly and cautious. Think I could just sneak a little bit?
Gem
[This message has been edited by Plain Old Jim (edited 16 January 2006).]
