Deer Hair Bass bug tying questions

Fly Patterns
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1

Got a couple questions:

  1. How do you make the front of a popper flat? My hair wants to tilt forward. It’s packed pretty tight and it naturally wants to lean forward.

  2. What can I “waterproof” them with? Do you all use some type of water repellent on them?

  3. I tied a collar at the rear of my fly using tips. When packing the hair for the rest of the fly, I seem to deform the collar. Any way around this?

-wayne

2

Wayne,

  1. I learned a neat trick to making the faces of my poppers flat from the book Tying Bass Bugs by John Likakis. Take a small washer and put some vaseline on one side of it. Coat the “face” of the popper with plenty of head cement or clear nail polish, then put the vaseline side of the washer against the popper face and clamp the washer in place with a pair of hackle pliers. After the cement dries you can take the washer off (or use it as a template to cut a nice round face to the popper). The face of the popper below was shaped that way:

  1. I used to waterproof my poppers with Scotchguard (the one in the green can - for outdoor use) but since last year I stopped doing that and just carry multiples of one pattern. I did not like the smell of the Scotchguard.

  2. What do you mean by deforming the collar, are the hairs spinning around? Are you crushing the collar?

Hope this helps,

Alberto

3

Wayne,

First, the hair will lean forward. That’s normal. You can always do as Alberto recommends if you don’t mind using the glue on the face.

I don’t do it that way. I just trim the face flat (or to whichever angle I want) with a razor blade.

As far as waterproofing goes, I use a spray silicone waterproofer sold for waterproofing clothing and boots that I buy at Walmart in the camping section. I just spray it into a container and dip the bug/fly then let it cure at least overnight. No smell and it will not soak up any water.

Rather than tie in a separate ‘collar’ of hair and worry about moving/deformig it while spinning/stacking the rest of the body, try using the first bunch of hair that you spin/stack to form the collar. Even the tips of the first bunch in a stacker, then tie it in where the collar is the correct length. The forward portion of the flared hair becomes part of the body, the ‘tips’ form the collar. After shaping the body, you can trim/cut away any areas of the collar that aren’t where you want them to be.

Hope this helps,

Buddy

4

waynep,
I am tying a bunch of deer hair bugs now. My plan is to fish the river this year for smallmouths and I want to be ready.

(question #3):
My trick is to tie in the first bunch of deer hair full length (with tips). Then, every bunch of deer hair that I tie in now, I cut the tips off. So, when you now spin the deer hair on, do tips will be showing (just your first bunch tips).

Hope that helps!

5

Thanks all . .

Alberto: Nice looking fly!! Hopefully someday I’ll get mine to look that nice.

  1. Last night I tied up a popper. Put the collar on. I let the butt ends of the collar hairs make up part of the body. However when I pack the hair. I seem to get into the collar with my left hand while packing. I hold the back of the fly with my left hand and use the hair packer with my right hand. I end up deforming the collar.

-wayne

6

Wayne,

I think I have your ‘problem’ now. Your ‘fingers’ are pushing the collar out of position as you ‘pack’ the hair? Happens that way EVERY time, at least to me.

It’s normal. Don’t concern yourself with it. AFTER you have stacked all the hair you can reposition the collar before trimming. Deer hair is flexile and bendable stuff. It will go back to where it belongs with a bit of coaxing.

A couple of ‘tips’ to make it go smoother:

When you start the spinning thread onto the hook, make a couple of VERY TIGHT wraps on top of each other and add a drop of CA glue. This provides a nice ‘dam’ to pack against.

Try to use your thumbnail and the nail of one finger (index or middle) on your left hand to pack against rather than the soft skin of your fingers. (push the fingers under the collar and pinch just behind the jam knot with the fingenails).

Add a couple of warps of thread to the hook shank after packing each bunch of hair and pack THAT tightly, then add a drop of lacquer (head cement-not CA glue) before adding the next bunch. This holds the hair in place and ‘glues’ it solidly to the hook shank. You want lacquer for this rather than CA glue because it still needs to move a bit during the spinning/packing process-CA will harden up too fast.

Decide before you begin whether or not you are going to spin the deer hair body before or after you tie in the tail of the fly. It’s much more efficient to tie in the tails on all you plan to tie at sitting first, THEN spin all the hair. I’ll tie in the tails on frogs/divers before I spin the bodies, but on poppers I do the spinning first then add the tails later.

As far as waterproofing goes, be sure you WANT a waterproofed bug before you use it. Many fisherman I tie bugs for don’t want the treatment. Deer hair will eventually absorb water, but can be ‘squeezed’ out like a sponge. Such a bug sits low in the waters surface, and that action and sound is quite different from a totally waterproofed one. That being said, though, personally I like the deer hair watertight. I intentionally do not, ever, waterproof the tailing materials, though. These NEED to absorb water so that the bug has the proper action.

Good Luck!

Buddy

7

[quote=““Buddy Sanders””]

As far as waterproofing goes, be sure you WANT a waterproofed bug before you use it. Many fisherman I tie bugs for don’t want the treatment. Deer hair will eventually absorb water, but can be ‘squeezed’ out like a sponge. Such a bug sits low in the waters surface, and that action and sound is quite different from a totally waterproofed one. That being said, though, personally I like the deer hair watertight. I intentionally do not, ever, waterproof the tailing materials, though. These NEED to absorb water so that the bug has the proper action.

[/quote]

What do you use for waterproofing?

I am at it again tonight. Did not do a collar on this one. I am still working on getting the hair on the hook. I figure I’ll concentrate on that for a bit. It’s getting easier. Watching Chris Helm’s Spinning DVD really really helped alot. Duplicating his steps really made a lot of difference. Also being able to stack hair where needed really makes it nice to cover up spinning errors! :slight_smile:

-wayne