Natural or Synthetic Dubbing

[josephcsylvia 0]

I like the natural dubbing for most nymphs and such. Seems to look "buggier" and have more movement. I use synthetics more and more for dry flies though, simply because most don't soak up water like natural dubbings do.

This is exactly right I use synthetic but am not happy with the look. I just ordered several different natural dub to get that buggy look.

[FlySlinger 0]

I have Been tyng for years now and I keep swinging back & forth About this I guess I like natural the best at least for right now....lol

[rstaight 0]

I use both natural and synthetic. The natural as stated earlier looks buggier but soaks up more water. I probably have more synthetic, that may be that's what was on the shelf at the time. Don't really know.

 

But it really doesn't matter to me as long as it catches fish and I am happy with the results at the end of it all.

[Dave G. 0]

Overall I use natural most. In places I like synthetic for or even a mix but like Mike I'm not much on mixing ( sometimes you have to for effect or for color though, well if you "really" want that). If I want strands sticking out or a halo effect I think synth works better for that. I'm tying a series of flies lately with either holographic materials over an under wrap of dubbing or goose biot over an under wrap of dubbing and I like the strands of dubbing to show or even trail off the back a bit. For that I'm using synthetic. But my main tying box is loaded with naturals and only a few synthetics, I avoided synthetic for years and have had that synthetic in my case for years. Now I want more.

 

Most of my favorite dry flies don't use much dubbing in them actually. I've gone to wraps of thread or floss, biots, stems etc. Nymphs yes and some dries yes, dubbed.

[Piker20 0]

For me seals fur beats the synthetics for the halo and odd strand sticking out look.

Then for 95% of my other dubbing its wool, squirrel, hare, rabbit, mole or a variety of other mammals.

 

All I use synthetic for now is ice dub or laser dub in salmon lures, pike flies or saltwater

[Losthwy 0]

Both. Depends on what I'm tying.

[cphubert 0]

Both, I like the synthetic for easy color consistency, not absorbing water, and workability. Naturals, traditional materials hard to substitute at times, a presentation salmon fly without seal? My favorite Hendrickson is with beaver dyed by a friend long departed, or a hares ear without the mask? and so on. I like both and I've seen blends that are very nice. With all the new stuff on the market and I still have furs and drawers full of fly-rite, ligas, wool, a blender my wife wants out of the house and who knows what lurks in boxes in the closet.

 

I know, I've got to start looking at the posting dates before I reply to these, :-))

[Moshup 0]

I use both with each having a purpose.

[flyty1 0]

As many have already stated, each has it's own purpose. However, the synthetics have it all over natural for the ability to reproduce colors and the wide variety of colors to choose from.

[tjm 0]

I don't recall packaged synthetic being available in the time and place I started filling up my tying chest, so I have lots of fur. I did buy some synthetics and they are all solid colored with none of the variations found in fur and bugs. I use both but will reach for natural more often than not.

As I got older and developed fondness for certain wet varieties of flies, I tied a lot with just plain yarn instead of cutting, mixing and twisting to make yarn from either natural or synthetic. A bit of picking out and yarn is buggy enough for me and some fish.

[Mike West 0]

All the best whishes headed your way