looking for synthetic with stiffness.

[Piker20 0]

Hi folks,

I'm looking for a synthetic material that has a stiffness like bucktail. I want to try synthetic as you often get more for your money but need the stiffness for holding up more mobile materials.

[whatfly 0]

Piker:

 

Try Superhair/Ultrahair. Traditionally the best substitute for bucktail on saltwater patterns such as the Clouser. Not exactly like bucktail, but the closest you are going to find, to the best of my knowledge. That's one of the reasons I think that the saltwater tiers go the other way and use long thin light fibers to create a profile (eg. EP fibers, Farrar Blend, Baitfish Emulator, etc.), because an actual replacement does not exist. YMMV.

[fish shaman 0]

Paint brush or broom bristles?

[Piker20 0]

I'll look at ultra hair.

I've used boar bristles which work fine as a stiff bristle but don't add much to the action like bucktail still does. Might just be I stick to buck but I'll check out the ultrahair first.

[heavynets 0]

Here is one source.

 

http://www.chifly.com/Product/Details/757/Super-Hair-Unique-Hair

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Frizzy Fiber, Fuzzy Fiber are two others like Ultra Hair. They have a crinkle, so a little goes a long way. Closest to bucktail but translucent. I'd say the Ultra, Frizzy, Fuzzy, etc. dry is like bucktail when wet as far as stiffness.

 

Kirk

[agn54 0]

For stiffness when wet, SF Flash Blend is really good. It's also very durable and is not prone to tangling like EP fibers. For jigs, I use Super Hair or something similar when I want to substitute for buck tail.

[shoebop 0]

Try a household duster. I have one with pink/red - blue - yellow - green fibers. The fibers seem to be about 3" long.

 

Dryfly Pureist and others use them alot for parachute posts.but I bet they would work well on streamer patterns.

[Philly 0]

I use three different types, Mirror Image, Ultra Hair or Fuzzy Fiber depending on the type and size of the fly I'm tying. I like the Mirror Image for most of my bait fish patterns up to about 6 inches. The Fuzzy Fiber for larger flies 7 to 12 inches and the Ultra Hair for flies like Surf Candies. After seeing a Steve Farrar tutorial on how to blend flash into synthetic materials, I do my own flash blending. I use Angel Hair with the Mirror Image and Polar Flash or similar material with the Ultra Hair or Fuzzy Fiber. Since I use these patterns in fresh and salt water I use a ratio of one pack of flash to one pack of synthetic. I just started playing with the UV resins, I've been using CCG, and when I'm using Mirror Image or Fuzzy Fiber I've found a light coat of the Flex or Hydro formula on the body, the length of the hook shank, holds the shape of the body, but leaves the "tail" section free to move.

[Piker20 0]

Thanks all. I've thought about uv resin on the wing root but it kinda feels a step too modern on a salmon fly.

The duster fibres DryFlyPurist uses would be a great idea.