Tying some hairy caddis using squirrel body hair dubbing…
Really nice and buggy suggesting movement, too. Nice tie, Byron.
Thanks Lastchance.
Tried a couple photos of the pattern on the water. Coloration varies due to lighting. Really floats like a cork!!!
From below when on the water. The trailing shuck does “shimmer”, I believe…
Byron,
Nice tie. How did you apply the squirrel dubbing? I mean, directly to the thread or dubbing loop or split thread or what?
Joe
Thanks Joe,
I applied the body via a dubbing loop. I have used dubbing loops for many years, but must admit that that method was used in a minority of my flies.
I, fairly recently, have gone more and more to the dubbing loop method. I don’t think you can get a really spiky dub without using the loop method. I think the application of dubbing to the single strand of thread by “rolling” it on creates more of a matted body. Make sense?
Yes, but squirrel is so spiky it usually brushes out pretty well.
Joe
Joe, was going to mention that alternative. But, when you use a loop, you can control the length of the fibers by placing them in the loop either in the middle or to one side to adjust individual length.
Have you seen Kelly Galloup’s video on dubbing loops? He explains the advantages better than I can.
In addition to the traditional dubbing loop, I have begun preparing pre-made loops using the old wooden block and card system.
Very good explanation of dubbing loop benefits:
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KKgYNWCw_wc
U](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KKgYNWCw_wc)pdate: Just for fun, I left the fly on the water in my slant tank outside overnight. Today, it was still floating high…after nearly 24 hours being buffeted by the outdoor wind…
Checked again today, 2 days later outside in the slant tank, still floating around…
Had to share this photo of the same caddis, floating more than 2 days later in my slant tank.
I took this photo of the fly from underneath the fly. Apparently, at the correct distance and angle which shows what a trout sees at a certain distance as it comes up to see/take the caddis floating by. It creates a “double vision”.
Nice photos, Byron. I enjoy seeing how flies appear in the water before I use them.
Bruce
Yea me too, nice pics
Thanks guys! I might mention that I went out to check after 3 full days outside, floating in my slant tank, the fly had sunk to the bottom…
I find trying to see the flies as the trout might see them to be a fascinating subject. I guess that is why I enjoyed, so much, the books written by guys like Vincent Marinaro’s “In The Ring of the Rise”. I mistakenly was thinking of Fred Arbano’s book when I posted earlier. Arbano’s book is one of the best I have about insects and fly fishing, but not on the vision of the trout. Sorry if I misled anyone. I stand corrected…
Would greatly appreciate seeing any such photos others have personally taken…
Same pattern with lighter deer hair wing and lightly “salted” with Pearl UV dubbing as it sits on the water:
Kind of interesting sort of a purple hint to the UV material in the light. Brings to mind all the recent patterns coming out in purple and said to be so effective in recent years…
