gunpowderleader

The big issue with hares feet right now is that the areas they are harvested from have not had the normal amounts of snowfall this year, the rabbits are running on more rock and mud than is normal so the hair on the feet is not growing as nicely as usual. The few feet that are coming in are not of usable quality to flies at all. Most of the supply houses are dropping them from inventory for now, ships will not be able to order them and I am sure what few are still available will get bought up fast.

Sure thing vicrider, I would love to play. Thanks for the heads up. This sounds like it could be alot of fun.

Matukas, those big feathers at top will make some lovely matukas

The standard rule (if following traditional spider tying)is to tie poultry and starling in by the base and game birds by the tip. One way to keep heads ultra small is to start the thread with just a few wraps of thread, tie in you feather concave side up,with the waste portion laying on top of the hook shank, the portion of the feather you want for hackle will be sticking out over the eye, use just enough thread wrap to securely hold the feather and trim the waste. Wrap thead to your planned body point, usually somewhere between the hook point and barb. Build you body coming forward, when you get to the head your hackle is already tied in with just plain hook behind the eye. 1-2 turns of hackle, If you planned and measured the feather properly you should only have bare stem to tie in. Secure stem with a few wraps of thread and trim waste. Form the head as you whip finish This style of tying will take a little getting used to, but will form the tiniest and neatest of heads, and really helps when working to achieve the sparseness typical of traditional spider tying

I received the flies today. What a great selection to add to my boxes. Thank you vicrider for hosting, I look forward to participating in future swaps of yours.

If you are not already doing so, you can use hackle pliers to grasp the ends of your fibers. That way you can wrap to almost the end of the fibers with ease. Just be mindful that all fibers are wrapping properly and adjust the pliers accordingly. I find that I really like using the rotary style hackle pliers for this task.

In order to prevent the color from water leaching you will need to use a color fixative such as vinegar. A common fixative bath is 4 parts cool water to 1 part white vinegar.

Tidewater, I tried to send you a pm but got a error message saying that you can't receive new messages. Pm me here or email me at [email protected] and we can get into fly patterns I dont want to hijack this thread from its original subject

I am currently in Maryland. Planning to move before april To colorado

Never tried the old folks home. But I did steal some fur from my mother's cat when I was first learning to tie 20 years ago. She still brings that up on occasion And as far as obsessed, that is quite probably true. Borderline on the need for medical intervention. Obsene was agreeing with my local fly shop owner to make him a set in natural, fun, and olive. As they pretty much specialize in materials for spiders he wants to see if they would sell

I labeled it nose for my Id purpose. Its a mix of the hair on the nose and the lower jaw. I use it as a touch dub on the thorax of tiny nymphs. Its super short and very spiky when dubbed

Very good notes Gene. I should have mentioned those. While there may be less color change, sometimes no color variation to speak of such as a pure white. What you will get though is texture variation everything from super short spikey to soft as silk. I guess it depends on how obsessed you are with this tying addiction and what you are wanting from your dubbing.

This is a natural hare mask that I processed, the containers are labeled as to the part of the mask. Some paterns were originated using particular sections of mask. Such as the hares ear or the woodcock and hare's lug spider. (The lug of a haresmask is simply the dark fur on the front of the ear.)

I keep the fur on the hide until I want some special mixed dubbings. If you look at the entire hide you will notice different textures of fur and different colors. A little of this part mixed with that can mean a completely different dub. Mixing the dub in a coffee blender will work but for better results water mixing will give a better blend without damaging any of the fur. Water mixing is simple. Just put small amounts of the fur into a jar, add some water and a small drop of hair conditioner. Put on the lid and shake. I use a coffee filter to separate the now mixed fur and water. The neat part of this method is that you will know what the dubbing looks like when wet. If you want to change the color some simply put it back in the jar and add fur to change to the color you want then mix and drain. Once you are satisfied with the color set the fur out to dry. If you need it immediately the put the fur into a small cloth or paper bag and dry it with a hair dryer. Only takes a minute or two. The masks can be separated the same way, talk about tying a true hairs ear. I separate my masks into 12 differet color/textures. If you want to process the entire hide into dub then do it. I reccomend keeping a small patch of your hide,preferably a square from the back, for tails on flies. I like to store my dubbing in screw capped plastic container. I get bead organizer from a local craft store. I find the boxed sets withe seperate jars very nice to store similar colors together

I appreciate the compliment on the ties. And I can't wait to see the great flies that will be returned. I will post the recipe here when they are all sent out

I appreciate the vouch and will be getting the flies out to you in the very near future.

I'd like to join this swap as well