Ok... deer hair is killing me

[Hellgrammite 0]

Ok... so I bit the bullet and attempted to use deer hair. Ah, important information. I have terrible allergies to animal hair; cats, rabbits (hares fur is right out; thank heavens for synthetics) are the worst, but even after a couple hours working with deer hair, I had congestion, and horrible red, itchy eyes. I don't know if its the dander in the hair or what it is, but animal hair kills me. The only ones that seem ok are certain water critters, like muskrats, and I wonder if this is just because their underfur is so thick, dander doesn't have much of a chance to go airborne.

 

Anyway.

 

Are there any caddis patterns I can tie without deer hair? I can just run a fan, or tie with a window open i guess (inconvenient in winter) but snipping and stacking hair just throws the dust everywhere. Any caddis patterns that only use feathers? Could I just use like wood duck or turkey quill slips for the wings on a caddis instead of deer hair, or is the hair a requirement for flotation?

 

Deer hair caddis are nice and simple to tie too. Sigh.

[rockworm 0]

Leiser's Chuck Caddis has a wing of woodchuck (groundhog) and fishes well in all but the roughest water. And the Fratnick's F-Fly has a wing of CdC and floats anywhere.

 

 

[imx 0]

i feel your pain...not gonna give advice on your tyin adventures for the simple fact that are some dudes om here that will answer with way more knowledge than i can..

 

i will say that i also do not do well with some animals....cats are my killers and as a trapper in the winter who targets bobcats..well them cats always get the final punch in when i'm hived out, scratchin my eyes, throat itchin, eyes waterin, sneezin etc.

[SBPatt 0]

Iris Caddis

 

 

 

and hackled variation Clacka Caddis

 

 

 

 

can both be tied with synthetic dubbing. I've had real good luck with both.

 

Regards,

Scott

[netabrookie 0]

Hellgrammite, I feel for you and the allergy stuff. You might try a Henryville Special or maybe a Hemingway Caddis and steer clear of the deer and elk hair. Take care, Tony

[joops 0]

Try a cdc wonder wing sedge.

I usually put a cdc wing under the wonder wing to make it float better.

[Crackaig 0]

There are lots and lots. One that I have found good is to use a dubbing for the body, whatever you use to replace hare's ear, ribbed with gold oval tinsel and then a grouse covert feather tied in flat over the body and a red game hackle. Strip off the base fibers from the grouse feather place it on top of the hook shank and tie the stem down with two loose turns and draw the feather back to the length you want. Lock it down with a couple more tight turns and continue with the hackle.

 

There is a whole series of flies tied using game bird feathers stuck to ladies stocking material (sorry the name of these flies escapes me, someone may enlighten us). Obtain the stockings, (there is a special technique to this, but this isn't the place for that kind of advice, nor am I the person to give it). Put a piece into an embroidery ring and apply waterproof adhesive to one side. Turn the ring over and slide the feather into the adhesive stem first. Fill the material with feathers in this way and leave to dry. Once dry cut them out, fold along the stems and tie in by the bare end of the stem. The wing sits down over the body like the natural. Smooth jawed pliers help make the fold along the stem. More recently some people have speeded up this process by using waterproof packaging tape to back the feather. I may not have found the right tape, but I have not had much success with the tape method when fishing.

 

An old traditional way to tie a "tent wing" is to use two matched duck feather strips like you would in wet fly wings. Rather than placing them together place one atop the other with the longer ends to the outsides. Place the slips flat on top of the hook shank and and wrap your thread over the wings in a very loose wrap so it pulls the wings around the hook shank. You can coat the slips with a flexible cement before tying them in. It helps keep the fibers together.

 

In Micropatterns there is a simple tiny caddis pattern using a dubbed body and pheasant tail fiber tips for the wings. In larger sizes you could put CdC under the PT fibers for extra buoyancy.

 

The CdC bubble back caddis is very buoyant. Tie 3 or four CdC feathers in by their tips at the tail end of the fly, form the body, then bring the feathers over and tie down at the eye making an open loop.

 

The Delta Wing Caddis uses two hackle points tied in as a v to either side to represent a spent caddis.

 

The buoyancy doesn't have to come from the wing. You could form the body from foam and use virtually any material for the wing if buoyancy is what you want.

 

Hope there is some help in all that. If not antihistamine tablets may be the answer, but consult a doctor first! They help me with my allergy to cat saliva. The filthy beasts are forever licking their hair. its not the hair that people have allergies to but an enzyme in the saliva.

 

Cheers,

C.

[flytire 0]

henryville special

 

 

Hook: TMC 100 #14-18

Thread: Black or brown 6/0

Body: Olive floss or dubbing

Palmered Hackle: Grizzly

Hackle: Ginger or dark ginger

Wings: Two natural duck quill segments, tent style

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Some of your allergic reactions may not be as great as you think.... The chemicals that some tails are treated with can also cause a problem. I came up with several solutions when my materials (both fur and feather...) begin to be a nuisance. The first and obvious item - take care to wash your hands frequently and keep them away from your face. The second and uncomfortable route is a simple dust mask (the cheapies you buy at Home Depot or any hardware store). I also take one further precaution when I'm having trouble at the bench... I use a simple water sprayer to dampen the contents of the waste bag that all my trimmings go into so that they don't add to the problem ). I suspect my occasional problems stem from constant exposure when I'm at the bench hours at a time day after day filling orders. I do notice that they seem to disappear when I'm on the water working and my fly tying activities are greatly reduced. Hope this helps.

 

Tight lines

Bob LeMay

(954) 435-5666

[Piker20 0]

In a book I have skip Morris ties a Skaddis. Not sure if its his pattern or not. He says to fish deaf drift in quieter water.

Dry hook

Tan poly dubbing

Tan poly yarn wing. Cut so it gives that tent edge.

Hackle trimmed at bottom.

Dubbing at thorax.

 

Very easy to tie and aside from the hackle no natural products to irritate. Can tie in any colour you can buy polyyarn

[Hellgrammite 0]

Thanks for the replies. I will try the henryville special and the clacka caddis, and see which I like tying more. Just using duck feather slips appeals, as I do like the look of feather slip wings.

 

Also, I had never considered that it could be something the hair was treated with during the tanning or other processes. That dubbing dispenser in my avatar was my brother's cat, and he never made me have as bad a reaction as I had yesterday. A dust mask could work, ill try that when I go by a hardware next and pick up a few.

 

Also, happy turkey day!

 

Amanda

[SilverCreek 0]

A Gary Borger poly caddis in several versions

 

http://www.garyborger.com/2011/06/08/poly-caddis/

 

http://www.garyborger.com/2012/01/03/the-poly-caddis-redo/

 

http://fishfliesandwater.com/flies-tying/poly-caddis/

[SBPatt 0]

Thanks for the replies. I will try the henryville special and the clacka caddis, and see which I like tying more. Just using duck feather slips appeals, as I do like the look of feather slip wings.

 

Also, I had never considered that it could be something the hair was treated with during the tanning or other processes. That dubbing dispenser in my avatar was my brother's cat, and he never made me have as bad a reaction as I had yesterday. A dust mask could work, ill try that when I go by a hardware next and pick up a few.

 

Also, happy turkey day!

 

Amanda

 

 

Here's Wally's vid for the Clacka, if you didn't have it:

 

 

 

Regards,

Scott

[H Dot Verseman 0]

Also- many recipes incorporate caribou- I'm not sure if the allergy would cary over, but it is worth a shot.

 

Have you tried washing the deer hair before handling it to remove some of the oils?

[Hellgrammite 0]

Also- many recipes incorporate caribou- I'm not sure if the allergy would cary over, but it is worth a shot.

 

Have you tried washing the deer hair before handling it to remove some of the oils?

 

 

Nope... doh.

 

Yeah, I should probably try that... i am so dense at times