Seal Fur

[stony 0]

I was listening to a podcast with Denny Rickards talking about a fly he uses called the seal bugger.

 

It's basically a variation of the wooly bugger but instead of using chenille for the body, he uses seal fur. Also, instead of wrapping about 7-8 wraps of hackle around the body, he only wraps it 4 times.

 

What the minimal hackle wrap and the use of seal fur is for is to maximize the amount of pulsating that is viewed by the fish.

 

Here is a picture of one.

 

So my question is, where can I find Seal Fur. Everywhere I have looked so far seems to give me the impression that it is illegal here in the states.

 

Any ideas where I can get it or what a good substitute is.

 

thanks,

[flytyingscotsman 0]

 

You can still get seal's fur from Europe, but I gave up on it a while

back and just substituted Davy Wotton SLF (Synthetic Living Fibre)

dubbing, which is supposed to be the 'ultimate seal substitute'.

 

Unfortunately, J. Stockard just got done closing out this material,

so the hunt will be on for another source ...

 

 

 

[longears 0]

You can also substitute it with African Goat although the real thing is always the best...

[Iowaflyguy 0]

Stony

Here is all I found with a quick check. Both Jstockard and Feather-craft recommend angora

goat dubbing as a seal substitute. Feather-craft calls it a good substitute and Jstockard calls it the

best substitute. I have no personal experience with it. :dunno:

 

Tom

[ol_grayfeather 0]

In one of Denny Rickards video's on tying the seal bugger, something about 'Stillwater patterns', he says African Goat - not Angora goat- is what he uses as a substitute..... as longears has previously said.

 

Dan

[Iowaflyguy 0]

I just found a product called pseudo seal at Mad River Outfitters.

[longears 0]

Angora goat is too wispy and soft. real seal fur is a bit "stiff" and not as long as angora. African goat is a much better chioice.Got both and don't like it. The next thing that I would go to is the SLF simply because they have some really nice colors that can be easily blended to get you sealbeugger colors. One of my favorites is Claret, Black, a small touch of red and blend.

[Isonychia 0]

Contact John McLain at http://www.feathersmc.com. John carries seal fur in a whole bunch of colors, and at a reasonable price.

 

John

[ostfyn 0]

I think that SLF is the best alternative to seals fur - I use both, but these adys I save the genuine fur for salmonflies.

 

Ostfyn

[flytyingscotsman 0]

Angora goat is too wispy and soft. real seal fur is a bit "stiff" and not as long as angora. African goat is a much better chioice.Got both and don't like it. The next thing that I would go to is the SLF simply because they have some really nice colors that can be easily blended to get you sealbeugger colors. One of my favorites is Claret, Black, a small touch of red and blend.

 

Color palette is a good point - there are something like 30-odd colors in the SLF range and as pointed out

by longears you can get great results by blending.

 

What the minimal hackle wrap and the use of seal fur is for is to maximize the amount of pulsating that is viewed by the fish.

 

If what you want is fly 'pulsation', then I would consider using the Marc Petitjean "Magic Head".

 

 

[stony 0]

 

What the minimal hackle wrap and the use of seal fur is for is to maximize the amount of pulsating that is viewed by the fish.

 

If what you want is fly 'pulsation', then I would consider using the Marc Petitjean "Magic Head".

 

I would imagine that the Magic Head would be better for feeding fish but if you are looking for fish that are off, the minute breathing type pulsating I believe would trigger strikes better.

 

[stony 0]

Wow, thanks for all the ideas. I checked out that McCain site and he has quite a few different colors.

 

 

[J. R. Caddick 0]

The best sub for seals fur that i know of would be the SLF Dubbing especially the Poul Jorgensen series which has some real nice colours. It is the best selling sub in my shop.

 

Seals fur is rather hard to find in the USA but here in Canada is very common and quite affordable.

[maddog48 0]

Jamie .. I just went on the Bearlodge Angler site looking at some hooks and found Poul Jorgensen's Seal-Ex dubbing. Is that similar to what you are talking about? There is also a John Rohmer's Arizona Simi-Seal dubbing. Both are advertised "as good as it gets" but anyone can say that about anything. Or is this product even being made anymore?

 

 

http://www.bearlodgeangler.com/synthetic_dub.htm

[Guest]

There was a guy in the UK who sold it. I know I bought a bunch from him. Asked him if it was legal to ship to the US. He said yes, and I bought a bunch. Was sent through customs as "seal fur dubbing". Went right through customs and to my front door. Only problem??? I had all his info saved on my old computer. It crashed, and I lost it all. Tried a few internet searches, but couldn't find his website (found him originally on ebay).

 

I'm trying to remember who I spoke to (Think it was the owner of the speyshop here in Washington State). Think he said something about if it's already processed (as in shredded and dyed) it's legal to bring. You just can't bring in untreated fur. And also limited on quantities. I'm not 100% on this, going off what I can recollect at the time.

 

I've used the subs, but can say I still like using real seal fur.