I’m curious if there is a particular dubbing that is better for dry flies??? I’m just starting to tye and I am getting some tying materials for Christmas and was going to order a dubbing assortment from Hook & Hackle but I am not sure what to get…Can someone help?
raiderhunter
i am just experimenting with dry flies myself, here in TN we dont have a great hatch, but we do get a little. from what i have seen so far synthetic dubbing has worked well for me but im still learning if i find something beter i will let you know, please do the same.
fishwater
I started with Superfine, and still use it for many dries. Its a synthetic dry dubbing that is very easy to work with.
Natural dry dubbing includes muskrat, beaver, and others. I’ve found natural furs a bit more of a challenge to dub in the even, slim, tapers necessary for good dry flies, but it can still be done, it just takes a little more attention to detail.
SUPER FINE waterproof dry fly dubbing is what i use a lot unless im tying exact antique paterns… for just all around dry fly tying, the super fine is great as well as inexpensive… also great for tying really small dries where just a wisp of dubbing is required…
raider,
As stated by others, if you are buying from Hook & Hackle then either of these would be great for dry fly dubbing:
SYNTHETIC DUBBING MATERIALS
(1) SUPER FINE DUBBING
This is a 1.2 denier, 1.5? staple synthetic material that is permanently waterproofed. It makes fantastic tight bodies on dries to size 28.
(2) FLY-RITE FINE POLY
Ready to use high floating dubbing material.
Larry —sagefisher—
As stated above: Super fine or similar. And if you lick your fingers you can get it really tight for small stuff.
if you dub the fibers parallel to the thread, you will also get a tight noodle of dubbing
if you cant see the thread through the dubbing you put on too much.
excellent info here
http://ukflydressing.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=sbs&action=display&thread=4046
AS everybody else said, superfine is great for drys. The adams color is great. The only bad thing about superfine that I find is it’s hard to blend. There is a certain blend of sulphur that works great in the Catskill and I had trouble blending large batches.
Beaver is what I ended up with. It blends great and looks super. Keep that in mind when you start to blend your own colors.
TB
Looking at it the other way, you generally want to avoid rabbit in dries – too spiky and it tends to get water logged in a hurry.
I’ll echo my vote for superfine too. Also I seemed to remember I read somewhere that if you’re going to dub a dry fly with natural materials you want to try and stick to fur from an animal thats at home in the water i.e. beaver or muskrat as their fur naturally repels water.
Hey Troutbum - care to share your sulphur dubbing blend recipe? I don’t get down to the Catskills all that often but I’d be interested in finding out the recipe.
Normand posted a site, that has probably one of the most comprehensive posts about dubbing you will find. There is another exhaustive review by Mike Connor about dubbing but I don’t feel at liberty to post it without his permission. He was kind enough to send me his complete web site. I will attempt to get in touch with him and get his blessings.
Normand, appreciate the information and the site. I have to agree that most folks tend to over dub. I use a full range of dubbing materials and techniques, but I must admit that the super fine is easy to work and a good choice for a genral purpose dubbing. However, I much prefer the naturals since that’s where I started many years ago. Thanks for your thread.
I have a sample from someone and had to figure out what they used. He wouldn’t get into specifics about it. That’s how I found out beaver works. I can send you a sample and you can blend to match the color. I use a coffee grinder I got for 10.00 to blend the batches. Let me know.
TB
Troutbum -
I’ll PM ya - Thanks.
Unless you’re going to get all crazy about using natural materials, go with Super Fine.
Remember, when dubbing dries, not to use too much. Think of yourself as “painting” the thread.
Hi Raiderhunter,
I am going to be in the minority, but I like natural dubbing. What you want for drys is natural under fur. Rabbit is great.
What you want however, is Dry Fly dubbing.
Often the rabbit dubbing you buy has a lot of guard hair in it. You want dubbing that has virtually NO guard hair in it for drys. I think muskrat is also great, and other natural furs as well. Rabbit or muskrat, etc. which has a lot of guard hair is very difficult to dub and get a smooth body, and is just plain harder to dub than fur or some synthetics that have almost no coarse material present. I think that is why so many above don’t like rabbit, as the vast majority of rabbit dubbing you find has loads of guard hair in it.
The guard hair is stiff, and makes for spikey buggy dubbing which is ideal for most nymphs, but terrible for drys. I make much of my own dry fly dubbing, carefully pulling out the guard hair when I make it. The good commercial dry fly stuff is sometimes made from rabbit fur that is from special types of rabbits that have no guard hair.
Good dry fly rabbit (i.e.: no guard hair) dubs very easily, and is easy to use to make tapered bodies. When treated with dry fly floatant, the flys float very well. I think they float better than those made from synthetic dubbing, because the floatant sticks to the natural dubbing better than to syntetics, at least in my experience.
You DON’T want dubbing that is described as “buggy” or something similar, because it is loaded with guard hair. You want dubbing that is described as “dry fly”, etc.
Regards,
Gandolf
It’s hard to argue against Superfine for dries as a general dubbing. Sometimes you might was a bit more sparkle (Hare-tron) or coarser bugginess (some natural dubbing e.g. squirrel), but Superfine is easy to use, repels water reasonably well (nice or tying dries), and is available in refillable dispensers with several colors for a variety of patterns.
Ed
or tie rat faced mcdougal and forget the dubbin
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw/122099fotw.php
Gandolf,
I could not agree more. There are a few colors of superfine I like, but I find furs dub better. Dyed Beaver is great for dries and rabbit can be good to if you get a blend with the guard hairs picked out or if it is angora rabbit. Remember no matter the material you are adding floatant to it, that is all the water proofing it needs.
Joe Fox