In the Winter 2008 issue of Fly Tyer magazine Bugs Logan wrote an article titled “Fine Tuning Fuzz”. It is a pretty good article about blending your own dubbing. Lots of good tips and pointers. Color me confused but the last segment is called Dispelling a Myth where he states “One stubbornly held and completely false belief is that flies having bad hair days contain built in wiggle. This just isn’t true. Dubbing fibers must exceptionally limber to exhibit any true movement…”
This seems at odds with my observations, particularly when you start factoring in stream hydraulic dynamics. What do you think?
Jim
Don’t know about fluid dynamics and wiggle. It does seem bushy flies, especially bushy nymphs and wets, catch more fish than non bushy ones. Perhaps it just looks more like a helpless fat juicy meal when filtered through the thumnail sized brain of a fish.
Jeff
I always assumed a “buggier” looking fly emitted a larger or more detectable hydrosonic signature in the water, making it easier for fish to locate?
Hmmm…
Outside of marabou and marbou type materials, I’ve never thought of dubbed materials moving underwater.
Now, I don’t know if this is part of the myth or not, but here is what I’ve always believed about “buggy” looking dubbed bodies (or bad hair day bodies) – the fibers sticking out don’t actually move, but as the fly moves through the water the “fuzzy” profile indicates movement – by being slightly out of focus or by having an irregular outline. I mean, a trout would have to be wearing its bifocals to actually make out the individual fibers!
Anyway, that’s my long held theory on why “buggy” looking nymphs catch more fish. Now, if only I caught more fish!
The guys correct, dubbing fibers don’t generally ‘move’ in the water.
It really depends on several factors, but if your nymph is ‘drifting’, then it’s static. The water isn’t ‘moving’ the fibers, the whole fly, including the fibers, are moving with the water. No applied force equals no movement.
If the fly is being held still in the water, then the fibers may ‘bend’, but then they will just hold in place until the force changes. Such movement would depend largely on the stiffness of the fiber versus the force of the current appied to it. Many folks think that the fibers will bend and then ‘spring back’ then bend again, etc… That will only happen if the force changes. Otherwise the fiber will seek a place of equilibrium. For most of the ‘fibers’ we use for dubbing, even the short ones are too stiff to be effected by the water’s movement.
What may cause some undulation in fine fibers is the turbulance caused as the water moves over the surface of the fly. Unfortunitely, this is not to evident on something so small.
If you are ‘striping’ the fly, then you can get movement of fibers. The wooly bugger is a prime example. The feathers and tail move as the fly is pulled then paused, because the appllied force changes. On smaller ‘body fibers’, though, the fibers are usually too stiff to move…they cut through the water rather than bend with it.
I’ve always noticed, though, that a nymph with lots of protruding fibers does catch a lot of air as it pased through the waters surface. It will hold these tiny bubbles until they dislodge from either water pressure or impacts. I’m pretty sure that the fish can spot these things…maybe that’s an atractant. No clue.
Buddy
…and hear was me thinking that the idea of dubbing was to introduce colour with translucence to the perimeter of the dubbed area. I wondered why the staple was so short!
O.K.
Further from reading Mr. Logans article:" …few hair fibers meet our expectations. If you wish to explore further in this direction, start by experimenting with dubbing loops and cul de canard or marabou feathers…" It seems to me that Bugs dosen’t think that hair fibers, generally, exhibit movement while in the water, but he feels that cdc and marabou are more likely to have such movement qualities. I find that, from my observations, that hair fibers do in fact exhibit movement when in the water . This is caused, from water friction.
So then is it not possible we can add movement to our dubbed bodies? Gills on nymphs move.
Jim
I am convinced sparse flies catch more fish and tatters beat perfection…
Trout are not the smartest fish we fish for…
but, they know the difference between something that is alive and something that is not alive, so, the more alive your fly looks while traveling in the current, the better the chances are that they will “hit” it…
That’s my story and I am sticking to it…I like buggy looking flies…
What Warren said!!
I thas been my observation that fact has little bearing on belief in this or other fields of endeavor. We believe what we believe, and few strongly held opinions will be altered by evidence to the contrary.
In short, I don’t really CARE if loose dubbing strands move or not. If the fly catches fish, then it is a fish-catching fly, and if not, then it is not. I don’t lose any sleep over WHY a fly works.
Hi Buddy,
While I would agree with you that regularly pinched and rolled dubbings will not generally move with water friction, they are not designed that in mind. But spun and touch dubbed dubbing fibers can and do move with water friction if they are designed to do so. Logan’s statement is quite puzzling, perhaps he had not thought it all the way through or was blinded by his own epiphany on making it so.
There are many hair hackled nymph and wet flies by the late George Grant that are designed with the movement qualities of the hair fibers in mind.
DG,
you are absolutely right, closed mindedness is everywhere. Thank God that there are those brave souls who are not afraid to think outside the box, or at least question common held beliefs. He Earth is flat isn’t it?
Do you ever loose sleep on why a fly is not working?
Hap and A.C.,
Would it be a good thing if we could tie are flies to that they are sparse, a bit tattered, add translucence and project a more life like color while adding movement (vitality) to the flies body and thorax?
No amount of data will make someone believe something they fundamentally do not want to believe.
Jeff