Itch Scratcher Soft Hackles

[letumgo]

All of these flies are tyed with the same basic recipe:

Hook - TUE or TDE hooks (Size 12)
Tread - Gossamer Silk (Various Colors)
Hackle - Bleached Hungarian Partridge (or Olive JimCo Hen Hackle)
Body - Natural Wool Dubbing (Different Blends)
Rib - Tying Silk

Turned Down Eye Hooks


Turned Up Eye Hooks


The bottom fly is my favorite of the lot. The body dubbing is a 50/50 blend of red and dark brown dubbing, tyed with dark claret Pearsall's Gossamer silk. The body color looks like a rich burgundy wine in natural sunlight.

[letumgo]

I went a little crazy this afternoon and created a range of all natural wool dubbing blends. I chopped up different color wool yarn into a coffee grinder and blended the bits together. Then I had to try out the different mixes with different color tying silks. I'm really digging the course, yet very controllable, texture of the wool dubbing.

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Ray,

Very nice. Your using the tag end of the thread as tghe rib, correct? How short are you cutting up the wool?

REE

[letumgo]

Ron - No. I am not using the tag end to form the rib. I dub the silk at the front of the pattern, then wind it back to the bend of the hook. The trick is to only use enough dubbing to get to the bend of the hook. This is around 1.5 inches of dubbing for a size 12 hook. At this point, the silk should have no dubbing left on it. Now wind it forward in open wraps, to form the segmentation.

The wool yarn is cut into pieces roughly a half inch long, and then blended in a coffee grinder (aka - electric spice mill).

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Ray,

Interesting way to do it. Probably improves your estimate of the correct amount of dubbing.

You sure have some nice dubbing colors started there. Hmmmm, Wonder if I can sneak Vickie's coffee grinder?

REE

[daringduffer]

Ray,

The hook point and barb on the red-and-brown really looks aggressive. Stylish!
Harlee?

dd

[Soft-hackle]

Ray,
Now, the important question--Where did you purchase the wool? Give us the details. Real natural wool yarn is not as easy to come by as much as we think. Was it Ram's wool or was it knitting wool in skeins? Most places carry synthetics.

Mark

[letumgo]

Mark - I bought skeins of wool from the local JoAnn Fabrics. Your absolutely right. Most of the yarns that are availible are blends of different fibers (natural and man-made). I had to be very careful to read the label, to make sure that the skeins were 100% wool. The packaging on the Fisherman's yarn reads "100% Pure virgin wool containing natural oils." I also purchased a couple skeins of Patons Classic Wool. The packaging on the Patons yarn reads "100% Pure New Wool." Unfortunately the range of colors is fairly limited with the 100% wool yarns. I am thinking of dying some of the yarn ...

dd - The hook point on the bottom fly (march brown) is the same. It is less evident, due to the angle of the fly and the lighting. These flies are tyed on Mustad Model 94842 TUE hooks. When I look at the hook in my hand, the barb does not look quite as aggressive. The red fly may be tyed on an older Mustad hook. I noticed that the barbs have gotten much smaller on their new Signature Series hooks.

Ron - I have been thinking about your question, regarding the size the wool pieces are cut. I used pieces roughly 1/2" long, but now I am wondering if a shorter fiber would be more appropriate for smaller flies. I may try a batch with shorter fibers (3/8" or 1/4") to see if it makes a noticeable difference in the dubbing. Using shorter fibers may change the texture, appearance and behavior of the dubbing.

[Soft-hackle]

Thanks, Ray. I bet you have enough wool yarn to last the rest of your life. I'm going shopping, today. May look around a bit to see what is available.

I was wondering if anyone used this as a dubbing?
http://www.jsflyfishing.com/cgi-bin/ite ... -Wool.html

They also have Angora Goat as a seal substitute. I'm wondering how that stuff is?

Mark

[letumgo]

The rams wool crossed my mind, but I didn't end up trying it. I've used it for making minnow patterns, and it works great. You just have to comb out the fibers before tying them in.

Angora Goat makes beautiful dubbing. Similar to seal dubbing, but not quite as translucent or with as much sparkle.