I like using calf tails but some of them don’t have straight hairs. To fix the problem I tried washing one, combing the hair while while hair drying it (look at me the fly stylist lol) but it didn’t do much. How do you guys fix this problem? I’m sure somebody is going to say “don’t buy such calf tails with curly hair” but I had a really hard time finding one in olive so I had no choice.
Thanks in advance
I like a certain amount of curl …otherwise use calf body hair.
I forgot to ad that for some reason I have a really hard time with buck tail which is pretty straight.
Does calf body hair act like calf tail?
I have had moderate success by pulling calf tail hair clump straight away from the skin at a right angle to even a clump as much as possible before cutting. After cutting I then “roll” the clump between my fingers.
When you do this the direction of curve in each fiber will be held right against a fiber curving in a different direction. All the fibers may now be sort of “averaged out”.
Give it a try. Of course there is a limit to how severely crinkled the hair is when you start.
I wonder if any of those “hair relaxers” you see in the drug store would take some of the curl out without damaging the fibers? Also don’t know how it would effect the dye job. I admit I look through a lot of calf tails before I find ones with the right amount of curl, but I’m usually using white and just about every flyshop has 3-4 of them. Don’t know if buying and dyeing would be an option since I’d imagine calf tail would be a lot harder to work with than something like rabbit fur or marabou. Best of luck.
Regards,
Scott
I guess the reason why I like calf tail is because it is very easy to work with, buck tails is a heck of a meterial too but for some reason I can only tie big flies with it. I’m not sure if this happens to you all but the fly keeps on loosing fibers after it has been secured, glued and epoxied. Maybe that’s the first thing I should try to do, learn how to tie with buck tail…
Martin,
I usually use bucktail for saltwater flies like Clousers and Deceivers, with nothing smaller than a #2 on up to 5/0 so the flies are good sized. I had problems with hair slippage, like you, and found the best way to combat that was:
- use smaller bunches of hair
- apply a substantial amount of cement (Hard As Nails, Fleximent, etc) to the end of
the hair and then tie it down (soaks up into the thread and helps bonding - apply maximum pressure to the thread (usually flat-waxed Danville)
Don’t seem to have too many problems now.
Regards,
Scott
I’ll try aplying hard as nails. The problem is that the fish around here only bite flies around 6 and 4, some recomend you tie them a bit smaller if you’re going for surf perch.
Thanks for the help, at least there is hope for me lol.
With other hair (not for fly tying, not calf-tail, please don’t ask) I’ve had success with an iron. Put a towel on your table/ironing surface. Soak the thing to be straightened in water. Put in on the towel. Put the iron on top of it and slowly pull the material out from under the iron.
I’d recommend trying a small sample before trusting a large batch of material to this method, though.
Martin,
With flies that size, I can see why you want to go with calf tail; that’s what I use on Crazy Charlies. Have you given stuff like Icelandic Sheep or any of the synthetics like craft fur a try? Flyfishing for surf perch sounds like a blast; I know they have quite the following on the left coast.
Regards,
Scott
Jeff, I saw somebody doing that to somebody’s hair once…I did try it but I didn’t get the result I say on that person’s hair.
I have tried super hair I believe and I do like it but I don’t have olive. It’s one of those things you just prefer to do but I’m willing to try synthetics one of these days.
Thanks everybody