Need Help Locating Materials

Okay, well, I think I mentioned a time or two that my most sucessful fly this last summer (for Bass) was a woolly bugger with a “purple” body wrapped over the weight on the hook. Well, the material supply is dwindling and I really need to find some more. So far my efforts have all come up empty. Due to this, I am throwing it out there to all of you for your assistance. Here is an image of the material:

Now, some of you might be tempted to declare that it is just Ice Chenille or one of the many variations of that, and depending on how far you take the variation theme, you would be correct. However, I have been unable to find either the same color or the same construction in anything I am able to find through fly tying material outlets. Here is the detail of this material:

As you can see, the center material holding the little plastic shavings is woven instead of just twisted together. This makes the material more durable and I also like the way it looks on the hook when I wrap it on.

So, can anyone help me locate more?

Thanks,

Don

[This message has been edited by drolfson (edited 01 February 2006).]

Don
Did that come from a fly shop or was it a craft store find? Just wondering where to look.
Brad

Try here at [url=http://www.hareline.com/synthetics.html:6dbe8]www.hareline.com/synthetics.html[/url:6dbe8] and scroll down to the “micro polar chenille. A little hard to tell from their picture, but the picture of the scud tied with it looks close. I have some regular “polar chenille” by Hairline Dubbin and it has the woven core as in your pics, but the fibers are finer and ~1” long.

I think I seen something like that at Hobby Lobby in the yarn section.

It looks like needlepoint/cross stitch thread like “diamond braid” or Estaz. I think this one is a “Fritz”.

A google search under “straggle fritz” will give you sources for this:

In by email:

Hi Don:

I just cannot tell from your pictures what exactly the material is. My
guess would be polar chenille from Hareline. However, there are a lot of
very similar materials from other suppliers. Estaz, Krystal hackle. If you
want to mail me a small piece I can compare to what we have on hand. Your
picture kind of distorts the size of the material.
Bill

Bill and Kathi Morrison
Bearlodge Angler
612 Grace Ave.
Worland, WY 82401
307-347-4002
307-347-3371 fax
bearlodge@bearlodgeangler.com [url=http://www.bearlodgeangler.com:a6e74]www.bearlodgeangler.com[/url:a6e74]

Hi Don,

I’ve got a bunch of that stuff. I got mine at our local CRAFT Warehouse. It’s label reads:
Trendsetter Yarns
Aura
Van Nuys, CA 91406

Tight Lines - Al Beatty [url=http://www.btsflyfishing.com:49af2]www.btsflyfishing.com[/url:49af2]

Well, looks like there are some pretty close, if not exact relicas, of what I am looking for. Both the straggle fritz and the micro polar chenille look at least close enough.

Thanks Al for the name of the Yarn you bought, that, along with Google, lead me to a few places that sell it in larger quantities than a yard or two. This is needed, cause it takes a couple of inches of material for a size 10 hook. (My most used for these.)

As to where I got mine, well, the kids had a couple of pens that are topped with marabou and flash strung together and the pen body is wrapped in this material. One got broken, so I decided to givr it a try, and was pleasantly surprised. (The pens came from a Scholastic book sale at school.) The second pen was used to write on the wall and ‘had’ to be confiscated. (lucky me!)

The pink material has made some nice Crappie candy bodies and micro jigs. The purple has been great for the buggers. The marabou from the pens that is pre-mixed with flash was great for the tails on both.

This makes the buggers material list a hook, thread, weight and the pen. I have been putting all of the weight on top of the hook shank so it would sink hook-up but flip on the retrieve.

Don

Found this on ebay and it looks pretty close to what you are describing: [url=http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/L-K-21M-OF-A-NEW-FLY-TYING-MATERIAL-WITH-LOTS-OF-USES_W0QQitemZ7216210544QQcategoryZ23816QQtcZphotoQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting:c7675]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/L-K-21M-OF-A-NEW-FLY-TYING-MATERIAL-WITH-LOTS-OF-USES_W0QQitemZ7216210544QQcategoryZ23816QQtcZphotoQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting[/url:c7675]

Where else can you post a picture, a question, and get so many GREAT responses? Great job people!!


Jude
Late to bed,
Early to Rise,
Guide all day,
Tie more flies!
www.customflys.com

drolfson,
Got a link to pics of your flies? They sound interesting.

lee;

Here is one of the flies I have a picture of. It has a darker tail and is more heavily hackled than most that I have used, but has worked. If you look close you can see the wire rib is bent a bit where I used pliers to get it back from a Bass. I will see if I can get something a little better over the weekend.

Don