A post was made by riverdancer about not being able to get certain materials anymore. This made me think about some material I just picked up at an auction. IT is a dubbing and all it says is Mel’s tubin times dubbin. And I believe it says “spectrumized” on it. Has anyone heard of this dubbing ? IT is pretty cool multicolored stuff. Anyone have any patterns using it?
What other materials do people have that are no longer available? Were there specific patterns that you tied with that material and have not found a good substitute?
The dubbing for the ‘Tups Indispensible’, or at least the original, is difficult to get. It happens to be an excellent dubbing. Going back in time, Theodore Gordon thought it was excellent. Sorry but I’m having a brain fart and can’t recall the tyers name, but he searched for the original blend recipe, made some and sent a package of it to me. It is a spectrumized, multi-colored type dubbing. Today’s immitations of it do not look like the real thing.
Hi ridderbos3!
The dubbing mix you have is very nice stuff for making leaches. It is made by Mel Moore in Idaho Falls. To make a mohair leach, attach a maribou tail about the length of the hook, make a dubbing loop above the hook bend and pull off pieces of the dubbing and place it in the loop. Then, using a dubbung twister, twist the dubbing into a rope then wind the dubbing up the hook shank to the eye and tie off. Take a piece of velcro or a dubbing brush and brush out the dubbing. You can put 3 or 4 strands of crystal flash on top of the maribou tail for flash. Mel makes the stuff in several different fishy colors.
RS Jones
The dubbing tyeflies (Allan) is referring to was made by Jeff Serena. You can make a pretty comparable substitute useing seals fur and some other ingredients of the same shade and texture. It’s really impossible to duplicate this type of dubbing, since as far as I know, the exact recipe was taken to the grave. Even the materials that Jeff came up with are just based on what he was able to gather by reading old books etc.
One of the other materials that I know of that you just can’t get anymore are Condor Quills. There were many patterns up till 1980 or so that called for it like the late Chauncy Lively, but they’re long gone. With the exception of full dress salmon fly materials that everyone knows about, that’s all I can think of.
Thanks. Yes, it was Jeff Serena. Too bad he doesn’t visit here.
The topic of this material came up about 2 years ago on another site. Jeff did some investigation and learned of the original recipe for the dubbing. It did not go to the grave with R.A. Austin, the originator. It was kept secret after his death by his daughter and GEM Skues. After the daughter retired from fly tying Skues described the dubbing in The Flyfisher’s Club Journal(1934).
Jeff went so far as to duplicate the original dubbing down to the specific species of sheep!
As is the song by Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell: “Ain’t nothin like the real thing, baby. Ain’t nothin like the real thing”.
From book by T. Donald Overfield(p106),
“… a mixture of wool taken from the scrotum of a tup(ram), which no doubt accounted for the yellowish tinge caused by the urine, to which was added a pinch of lemon hair from a spaniel, and seasoned with a small amount of fur from the poll of a hare, plus a little mohair to turn the witch’s brew a slightly pinkish shade.”
After some experimentation, Skues “suggested that the red mohair be discarded in favor of red seal’s fur, surely Skues’ favorite body material. That Austin agreed to the change is evident from subsequent letters. He also agreed to Skues christening of the fly the Tup’s Indispensable”.
“Urine stained” wool from the “indispensable” part of a rams anatomy,which is what gives this matreial it’s pinkish hue…NO…don’t have any…lol…and prolly never will…lol
“I’ve often wondered why it is that so many anglers spend so much money on,and pay so much attention to.the details on the wrong end of the fly line.If they took as much care in selecting or tying their flies as they did in the selection of the reel and rod,They might be able to gain the real extra edge that makes it possible to fool a fish that has,in fact,seen it all before” A.K.Best
“Spectrumized” is a terrible choice of wordage, to attempt to convey the attributes of the materials shifting colors. The meaning of the word “Spectrum”, is to break a color apart, into the basic components that make up the color.
While what is being talked about here, is the mixing the basic component colors. to create the new color, while the basic component colors remain seperate from each other.
I believe the proper word (or better choice) that could be used is either “Iridescence” or “Iridescent”, depending on the tense of the sentence(noun or adjective).
Iridescence (n) Rainbowlike play of colors.
“Iridescent”: (adj) Showing many colors that are constantly changing.
~Parnelli
[This message has been edited by Steven H. McGarthwaite (edited 18 May 2005).]
I dont know if I agree with you on that. The colors are not irridecent. They are colors, such as olive, that are made by combining maybe 10 or more other fiber colors. The overall effect becomes olive.
“Spectrumized” is also the name of dubbing material sold by Al Caucci. It is described in great detail in one of the books he coauthored with Bob Nastasi. For his dubbing blends he uses 4 primary colors to create other colors: white, blue, yellow and red.
I don’t know if scientifically ‘spectrumized’ is the correct word to best describe the blends created by the mixing of these primary colors. However, I believe it’s more correct than ‘Iridescent’.
Just moving this (multi-colored) thread into the sublime; white isn’t a primary color. Technically, if I understand physics, white isn’t a color at all, neither is black. White is the combination of all colors. Black is the lack of color. But I can still order black and white tying materials…
Ed
I have yet to find any Unabridge Dictionary, that has a listing for the word “Spectrumized”.
Only on the Internet do I find that the word “Spectrumize” gets any hits.
Most of the hits list the word as “Spectrumized ?” which means that is not a word but a Registered Trademark of Al Caucci & Bob Nastasi, for their product.
It has just as much meaning as “Martinized”, “Simonized”, or
“Parnellized”. Just adding “ize”, to the end of a word which has a legitimate definition, does not create a new word with a legitimate definition.
Spectrumized, does not have a definition, and as such has no meaning on how the word applies to a action, person, place or thing!
Al Caucci’s Spectrumized Dubbing, looks very similar to Ronn Lucas Sr. ('s) Iridescent Dubbing.
You find me a definition, in any Unabridged Dictionary, listing the word “Spectrumized”, and send me a email listing the site.
Actually, I didn’t bother to look up the word. I know it as a manufactured item that I guess is a trademark name.
By-the-way, our language often has words that have become almost inbred. “Xerox it” means make a copy. Has nothing to do (anymore) with the actual manufacturer of the machine being used.
There is an interesting article on Tup’s dubbing at [url=http://www.flyleaves.dk/.:98341]www.flyleaves.dk/.[/url:98341] Click on “Index” and a list of articles will appear. The Tup’s article includes pictures of the real thing. Bill