Horsehair Overcoat

[letumgo]

Here is a photo of the thoroughly soaked flies. The horsehair becomes almost completely clear once it has been soaked. The underbody color shows thru very well. Overall I like the look of the abdomen.

Thanks again Ron!

2010_1204_211757AA.JPG

[CreationBear]

Would any of you gentlemen know if the horse hair sold by Feather-Craft would suffice, or am I looking at (another ) hard-to-find material? (Honestly, I'm afraid to catch a fish on a fly tied with the urine-stained fox Narcodog was generous enough to give me... )

At any rate, a great application of the material in these ties...I'd be tempted to tie some "horsehair" Quill Gordons before Spring.

[letumgo]

This is the only horsehair I've used, so I can not give a comparison. Perhaps some of the other members can comment if they have used multiple sources for horsehair. My guess is that they Feather-Craft horse hair would work just fine.

[willowhead]

Feather-Craft is a very good company, and i have never found any of their products to be anything but of the very best quality. Although i've never used their horse hair. Only horse i have was givin' to me by friends/other tyers.
Urine stained Fox (predominately underfur), is the best stuff there is for certain Catskill style dry flies (patterns).....dubbs wonderfully.
Although i hate to think in terms of "patterns." Why fish with something someone else invented when you can invent your own? HELLO! Don't get me wrong.....we've all done it and will continue to do so.....to one degree or the other.....but jesus h., you can only take that so far before it becomes boring.....(when the time comes), challange yourself to come up with originals, wether for fishing or for the wall. Now that's FUN!
Here's how it happened to me...."IT" being the sickness..... Having been introduced to, and grown up in, (as a fly fisher), the Catskills.....naturally you get to a point where you want to become "Good" at matching the hatch.....specially as the Catskill (in very large part because of the [PH] buffering qualities of the water itself or some combination of whatever else is in the water), rivers have such prolific hatches. But what i found out was.....during a large portion of the "season" the hatches WERE so prolific, that you may have 20 or more possibilities happening all at the same time. Three or four different Mayflies hatching, some number of Caddis, same for Stoneflies, and Midges, all during the same time frame on any givin' day.....therefore if the fish are being selective, it can sometimes take quite a while to figure out the game. And by the time you do, they're off the emegent stage of the this or that and "On" to something else, so you have to start all over again. You can very easily end up spending most of your day, "Matching" instead of, (at least trying to) "CATCHING." Of course all of this is part of getting from one stage of your life as an angler, to the next stage......but at the time, it can be very frustrating.
But i got pretty good at it. Although once i did.....i found myself wanting more and more to simply get a fish to do what i wanted it to do, as opposed to me figuring out what it wanted to do. So i became an attractor fisherman.....and from that day forward, i have much more enjoyed fishing attractors, than ever trying to match a hatch. Yet there are times when you must fish the hatch, for the piscatorial pissers won't take anything else.
Fortunately, i couldn't care less about numbers.....i just want a fish to take THE FLY i say it will take. i'll tell you one thing.....it works wonders on your peresentation.

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Ray, they look just as good wet as they do dry, better to me. The fish will love them.

REE

[hankaye]

Ray, Howdy;

Purdy, purdy, purdy...the wet look suits them. Kinds like havin' a wet 'T' shirt contest with'em.
The shirt dissapears when it's wet exposin' the goodies beneath.....
hank

[William Anderson]

Ray, I mentioned horsehair a couple weeks ago in trying to help define (poorly) what a quill bodied fly might be made of....and I swear I haven't seen an actual horsehair fly in years. It's so nice to see these. These really are special and maybe you've started a renewed interest in such a fantastic material. The guy at Feather Craft is going to wonder where the hell all these orders for horse hair came from.

Great post.

w

[tie2fish]

Interesting concept, using horsehair as an overlay. Is this horsehair from the mane and/or tail, or some other part of the animal? (Winter coats would certainly provide hair long enough for smaller flies.) Would using hair from different spots on the horse produce different effects? So many questions -- anybody know? Mike?

[CreationBear]

Thanks, gents: the FC catalog is usually by my living room chair. (BTW, I've been having fun lately with their "Canadian mohair"--neat stuff.)

[Ron Eagle Elk]

tie2fish,

The hair is from the tails of Siberian Stallions. It's used as bow material for violin and cello players. It also makes wonderful horsehair fly lines for fishing a loop rod.

If you have a music shop in your area that carries violins and cellos, chances are, they have the same material available.

REE