I have been reading an old book called ‘The Angler and the Loop Rod’ by David Webster.
In it he illustrates and gives the recipes for a range of salmon flies. The dubbing he uses is pig’s wool. Well, I am just an old fashioned city boy and I did not know you could get wool from pigs, I’m always learning something new.
Has anyone ever seen or used pig’s wool?
By the way the loop rod refered to is the kind of rod before reels were used.
He says his trouting rod was 13ft 6in 3pc, butt ash,middle hickory and the top was lancewood.On the top was attached a strong loop of twisted horse hair. The casting line was horsehair,18 to 20ft, with a loop on the end to connect with the rod loop. The gut line was 16 to 17 ft, so that the total length, to the last fly, was 34 to 37ft.
He recommended the hair line be tapered.
The book was written in 1885 and he died in 1904 at the age of 78.
Right! who out there is now going to build a loop rod, you’ve got all the info.
Donald/Scotland
[This message has been edited by Donald Nicolson (edited 03 February 2005).]
I seem to remember that the breed of the pig that the wool came from in bygone days in the UK is no longer around. It may be close to what is being used these days but I haven’t seen either the original or the new stuff. Just a guess, I bet they are close but that is just a guess.
The Hungarian Mangalica is a fat-type hog of medium body size with fine, but very strong skeleton. Fur of the Blond Mangalica can be found from grey to yellow and yellowish red in each variant, the yellowish red coloration is caused by keeping and soil conditions.
The fur is dense and long, curling like chips in winter, more tender, shorter and more straight in summer. The curling is a breed character, however the ringed, strongly curling fur and the coarse straight bristles on the back or flanks are not desired. The excessively fine “woolly” fur is not even desired. The seasonal moulting of Mangalica is very typical and due to the thick , curly winter hair is remarkable. Professionally kept and fed animals cast the thick hair in the spring, their summer fur is short - threaded with plain surface. The pigmented, dark skin shows better through the thin fur, therefore the colour of animals seems darker, brownish grey in summer.
Well I’ll be hornswoggled!! I grew up in the country (Arkansas & Illinois) and if someone had come up to me yesterday and bet his Wallyworld flyrod against my Sage that he had some pig’s wool I would have ended up losing my Sage.
Yur right, learn something everyday on this board!
I also know someone who processes and sells his own pigs wool. I don’t think he goes to length that Bill Bailey does to dye the wool. I have some and it is very nice. One thing about pigs wool is that it is very course. If you want I can send you his email.
Sometimes the materials used in fly tying sound like a prank that we camp counselors used to play on the kids. “Come on, let’s go on a snipe hunt.” “You can get an extra dessert if you bring me back some Pig Wool.” “Come on kid’s, I’ll tell you the legend of the Ghost Fibre.”
Good crap Diane, you got that straight!! My first thought when I saw the link from flyfisherjoe was that someone had used Photoshop to mess with people’s heads, but apparently not. Or all y’all are doain a really good job!
These are considered an endangered breed of Hogs. From what I have read, there are a only few hundred in Germany and a few thousand left in Hungary/Bosnia area.
Rich
It’s 50 degrees out. Someone asked about heading to the tailrace to flyfish for walleye. It looks like Holland from the bulbs that surely must be popping out from the snow. Then I happened on this thread. I had to look at my calendar twice to make sure this wasn’t April 1. I don’t know whether my leg is being pulled or not. when I saw the picture I literally exploded in laughter. I’m simply amazed. Is that Osama in the background, there? JGW
[This message has been edited by white43 (edited 04 February 2005).]
Here are a few pics of the pig’s wool my friend sells. In talking with him, he purchases boar hides from a lady overseas. The dubbing is actually the underfur. As you can see it’s very course. A lot of the old salmon fly patterns call for “pigs wool or down”. Google “salmon flies pig’s wool” come’s back with a lot of info. Because it is so course it is hard to work with, I believe most salmon fly tiers use seal fur instead.
[This message has been edited by quillg (edited 04 February 2005).]
[This message has been edited by quillg (edited 04 February 2005).]
Boy, sure was a lot of work to glue all that wool onto those pigs just to pull our legs. Nice job guys but you can’t pull the wool over my eyes! I ain’t buying it, so to speak.
Garic, “Snipe Hunting” is an age old trick pulled on Newbies on their first camping trip (usually). The idea is to get a kid (or very vapid adult) to take a bag - in the old days we used burlap sacks but now they use plastic garbage bags - out in the woods and set up along a trail. Everyone else then sez, “we’re gonna go down the trail quite a ways and drive the snipes back up the trail to you. When one gets there, catch it in the bag”. (Y’know, I never thought until now, who wants a snipe? What is a snipe? A bird that can’t fly is what I always thought.)
Anyway, the idea is to leave that poor victim out on the trail until he finally catches on and comes back to the camp only to find everyone sitting around the fire, or playing cards in the tent/cabin/whatever. Then he knows he’s been had.
As far as I know, there is no such thing as a snipe.
Ah, but there is such a thing as a snipe. And the snipe and purple wetfly is tied by Bill who traded me for some snipe wings last week. No kidding. You can trust me on this.
Now that I know “Pig Wool” exists, I feel a need to possess some. I feel my Fly Tying - Material’s Storage Room,is now incomplete, until I have stocked it with “Pig Wool”!
~ Parnelli
“Fly Tying is not an Addiction, it is an Obcession, there is a difference (I think?)!”
[This message has been edited by Steven H. McGarthwaite (edited 04 February 2005).]
Silvertop2, yes there is a snipe hunt prank that is pulled on newbie campers but Snipe hunting is as real as the upland game bird, Snipe. It is hunted in many states. And I’m truly not trying to pull the pigs wool (also real) over your eyes. If you look at this page on the Iowa DNR site you will see that last years Iowa Snipe Hunting Season was Sept. 6 - Nov. 30 and the bag limit was 8.
[url=http://www.iowadnr.com/wildlife/files/duck03.html:dec88]http://www.iowadnr.com/wildlife/files/duck03.html[/url:dec88]
Joe
[This message has been edited by flyfisherjoe (edited 04 February 2005).]
