Deer Hair Frog "Masterpiece"

[Nomad77 0]

I don't know if y'all had seen this, but I'm going to post this picture on Pat Cohen's behalf. Just incredible deer hair spinning and shaping:

 

 

 

 

Check out http://rusuperfly.com/ to check out Pat's website and his innovative techniques and fly-tying supplies. I only know Pat through Facebook, but he is very well known in the tying community and an excellent source of information for big flies and warm water fly fishing.

 

 

[mikechell 0]

Pat Cohen is the deer hair master. His flies are amazing.

[Nomad77 0]

No doubt! I about fell over when I saw that froggie..

[Big Fly Bob 0]

What did he use for legs?

[Fisherboy0301 0]

It's called ultra suede. He cuts it into legs, curly tails, crawfish and hellgramite bodies, etc. he sells it in sheets, as pre cut legs, tails etc on his website. Rusuperfly.com

[add147 0]

Pat Cohen is a master at deer hair. I purchased his Fugly hair packer as well as his video which was very detailed on how he does it. I'll tell you another deer hair tier that I had an opportunity to meet and watch last month in Houston,Texas at the Annual Dr. Ed Rizzolo Fly Tying Festival was Mike George. He gave a lecture on what to look for in selecting deer hair which was very informative. I snapped some pictures of his work while I was at the expo. Check out the coral snake he tied in one of the pictures. Mike was a very nice gentleman indeed and I even purchased his video. Mike's tying takes some what of a different approach than Pat's way of tying. I find it interesting that these two fellows have a totally different method but their flies are amazing. I watched Mike for about 2 hours while I was there. He makes it look easy as pie!!!

 

[johnnyquahog 0]

Thanks for sharing these pictures. It is sort of strange that Pat uses his industrial strength hair packer and that Mike doesn't use any hair packer - just his fingers. The other person that shared his deer hair skills (and brassie packer) in a similar fashion is the late Chris Helm. I knew Chris had sold his business but only just learned that he passed away in late November. I just read his obit and while he departed this life way too early he made the best of it being involved in a vast array of stuff.

[mikechell 0]

It is sort of strange that Pat uses his industrial strength hair packer and that Mike doesn't use any hair packer - just his fingers.

No offense to Mike George ... but Pat's flies are so much more densely packed. I look at Mike's flies, and I think they look like any other "good" deer hair work. Cohen's work is exceptional. I credit most of that to the use of a great tool for packing the hair super tight.

[ditz2 0]

Pat and George both tie great hair bugs. There are a few contributors on this forum that also tie some great hair bugs. I am not so sure that a hair bug must be that tight to be effective. They actually give off a different sound when they sit a little lower in the water and can be more attractive to a bass at least part of the time. ....Maybe I 'm just jealous because mine are not packed as tight as some of these great tiers.

[flysmallie 0]

I agree with you. The tightly packed ones are beautiful to look at but the less dense, ugly flies fish better. My thoughts always been that it you have it so tightly packed that it's really no different than foam, then why did you just use foam. Deer hair to me is used for flies you want to ride lower in the surface film. Like a frog.

[Nomad77 0]

I suppose the trade off for tighter packed deer hair is the durability? I'm not a spinner of deerhair, so I can't comment.

[add147 0]

Bruce Derington on this forum ties a mean deer hair fly as well. He has some great videos on You Tube. I could watch folks tie deer hair for hours and hours. It amazes he how they are able to make such beautiful flies.

[mikechell 0]

Stmflies does some pretty work.

TheCream's size 10 deer hair poppers are impressive, too. TheCream is getting close to Pat's status, as far as packing goes.

 

There have been a few others, too. But many are very good, a few are excellent ... and a select group are outstanding.

[TheCream 0]

Mike, I am flattered, but don't get carried away.

 

Here's my honest take on bug density. Did I catch fish on my early bugs that were much less dense and had no fancy adhesive on the popper face to make them look pretty? Absolutely. They fished well, the bass approved enthusiastically. However, I had problems with them. Even without strikes, just from fishing, they became waterlogged and their performance/floatation suffered at an alarmingly quick pace. My other problem was durability, primarily at the face of the popper. Hair was getting damaged, bent, torn up, etc... That is why I wanted to go the Cohen route and go for a super dense bug. I have found that bugs tied more densely fish longer, last longer, float better, and fish just as well. And really, what are the drawbacks? Time? That's a wash because I am using the same steps and basically the same methods, just using larger volumes of hair and more force at certain stages. It would save me a marginal amount of time to use less hair on a bug. The durability on a dense bug is also great. I was just in one of my boxes last week and saw a slider I tied over two years ago that I have fished several times and I'm pretty sure has landed a half dozen or so bass. It hardly looks worn at all. If I am going to spend an hour tying a bug, I absolutely want it to last.

 

I hear the "why don't you just use foam" argument/comment a lot, also. I say use whatever makes you happy. I have seen the airbrush and stippling work of some very, very skilled people on this site. It's beautiful work. I used to do basic stippling jobs on foam poppers a lot, too, but decided I liked deer hair better. It's personal preference. And honestly, I can tie a deer hair bug start to finish quicker than I could ever go start to finish on a foam popper. I had to mount the body, sand it, base coat it (usually more than once), paint it, stipple the pattern, clear coat...then tie the rear portion. That took me a lot of time. I can be done with virtually an entire deer hair bug, a large one, in an hour, roughly. Smaller ones I can do a lot faster. Foam catches fish, and I still use some topwaters with foam components. I have no anti-foam bias, merely a personal preference to deer hair.

[mikechell 0]

Cream ... that picture of your size 10 sitting on top of your 0/2 (I think) ... that's a great picture of two great bugs.

 

It's called false modest when you can do things like that.

 

But okay ... stepping down off the town cryer podium now.