Hi,
Just got my order of snowshoe rabbit feet from Blue Ribbon Flies today. Thought I would try using it in a Green Drake pattern.
Never thought I’d see a moose on snowshoes. Nice fly.
Regards,
Scott
Hi Byron,
You are doing some really great things on the several forum we visit. Good job, keep it up and good job on this fly. Take care & …
Tight Lines - Gretchen & Al Beatty
www.btsflyfishing.com
Byron, great looking drakes - They’ll fish!
Not sure exactly how to say this… but… something is not right with the snowshoe foot hair… The stiff crinkly hair on the bottom of the feet is the right stuff. It has quite a bit of soft hair mixed in a gives a great profile either natural or clipped. Further, snowshoe hare hairs are not black-tipped… So the hair does not look like any hair I have seen on a snowshoe foot.
Mind you, our season on them here in AK is only 365 days per year (well 366 this year) and there is mostly no limit and we like hunting and eating them… And I save the feet for tying by the very large bagful… and also tie with them… I have been intending to dye some for years… But those magic markers do a reasonable job anyway!
art
hap,
This is a dyed snowshoe rabbit foot from Blue Ribbon Flies. Just got several different colors the other day. Here’s a pic of the foot I used. You may note the toe nail at the top end?
And that confuses me even more… I just went through at least a hundred feet without finding a single hair with dark tip.
As you can see in your photo the desired, crinkly hair is on the bottom. Your fly photos look like smooth, black-tipped hair and it does not show up on your foot. Without your phoot photo I could not see the hair source as snowshoe. With your photo I am still wondering where on the foot the hair came from?
Hap,
Does this close up help you?
Okay, regional variation might allow snowshoes somewhere to have dark-tipped hair… but snowshoe foot hair is only different on the ground side and that is kinky, full, quite stiff, and the hair I have seen used for wings. The hair on top will soak up water fast and be a bit troublesome for dries.
Send me your mailing address by PM and I will send you some snowshoe feet to compare.
art
Stumbled into a tying supplier website today looking for the correct spelling on several materials for the book we are writing… and found something interesting… Checked a couple more suppliers and got my answer…
They are selling “Imitation Snowshoe Feet” and not the real deal… The hair in the original photos is not snowshoe in origin and there is a meaningful difference… I can be an overbearing sort when I know I am correct and I apologize in advance for that… And for the past, I guess… But snowshoe is the real deal for a reason…
As a member of this board who has chimed in on snowshoe patterns, and who has led several session on the Usual at our local club, I have to agree that the original fly picture seems to use fur from the top of the foot - which is not stiff enough and won’t trap air to float IMO. The krinkly hair from the bottom of the foot is preferred, and as well, the best fur is located between the heal and the ‘arch’ of the foot. In your photo that would be the hair from your thumb to the heel. Hair under the toes starts to become straighter and is less use (although it is good for tails).
And on the topic of using snowshoe feet, Byron, do you know that you can split the foot from toe to heel by driving a knife between the toes and then pulling them apart? Watch the bones, they can be sharp like a chicken. Anyway, when you have the foot in two sections it is very easy to cut the hair ‘straight in’ from the inside, rather than ‘diving’ down into the fur as you must when the foot is one piece.
Cheers.
Hap,
These feet came from Blue Ribbon Flies, I believe. I will check into it
T with Craig Matthews and get back to you
Byron
Love the fly. I bought snowshoe feet recently too. I wanted to tie the Usual, and a couple more patterns. This thread is very interesting.
Thanks for the splitting tip Greg.
Anyway to tell an imitation from the real thing Hap?
No matter the hair source, still a nice fly Byron.
Although purchased from Blue Ribbon, I note the package is “Natures Spirit”
Quite sure they are “real” though
Could be I used " wrong" hair from it. But it is no “normal” hare’s foot!
Byron
After dealing with literal mountains of snowshoe feet I am quite certian those are jack rabbit feet they are giving you. They are different. If you PM your mailing address I will send some positive snowshoe feet for you to compare.
art
Hap,
I thought I might show you this fly. It is tied with the same rabbit foot as the other fly. Only used fur more toward the bottom of the foot.
And this one as well! Although only the wing is from the “foot”
This one even more traditional part of the foot for the body. Tail and wing from higher up on the foot.
Greg and Hap,
Went back to the vise just now and tied a new fly using the more traditional hair from the Snowshoe Rabbit Foot I have. This is a pic of what I came up with.
I also explained your contention to Nature’s Spirit (or a wholesaler of theirs) and this is their response:
“If you ppurchased Nature’s Spirit Snowshoe Rabbit then yes that indeed is a true snowshoe. There is huge difference between and Jack Rabbit and a Snowshoe. The Dense fur on the back side of the foot of the Snowshoe is a dead give away that it is genuine. You wouldn’t find that on a Jack Rabbit living in the Artic.
Signed - Steve”
Worely Bugger Fly Co.
Well, as a person with more than a little rabbit and hare experience I respectfully suggest he is all wet… 
Would still be happy to send you proof from a positive source… we have only snowshoes and arctic hares… and those arctic hares make foxes look small… literally!
art
If I had time right now I would tie some with real stuff and post… will try to do it tomorrow…