Thread Used for Tying Hair Flies

[elusive.fishing 0]

The GSP is awesome stuff. By no means am I an expert with deer hair, but its what i use. Still gotta get a fugly packer.

[agn54 0]

I often use Danville Flatwaxed nylon with no problems, but I'm certainly the artist TC and DH Dan are. I've never had it break though

[Kudu 0]

Yep, that one! Thanks'

[BBBruce77 0]

Using Gel Spun takes some getting used too, if you have never used it before, as most other threads have some stretch to them as you apply tension where as gel spun does not. I'm so used to the feel of the stretch as a part of calculating for proper tension that I have stayed with the heavier Danville threads, throughout the years, for spinning hair.

[bellevue.chartreuse.trout 0]

Thanks for all the responses to what thread all you use. I've been trying what I have on hand which is 3/0 Uni - is it Monocord? - I think that's what it's called.

 

I will get some gel spun thread - will try to locate the 200 denier Veevus GSP and give it a try.

 

I'd like to further ask (but if this question should go on another thread - just let me know) ...

 

... to achieve the dense packed appearance of your hair flies, are you spinning, or stacking and packing or a combination of both ... or just what? I am not satisfied with my results to date. I have spun some and then tied to stack some also - on the same fly. There seems to be dense areas but not like the results like you really good guys seem to achieve with your poppers and sliders, etc...

 

So, is it a combination of the spinning and stacking that gets the dense-ness effect or quality of hair or, just what else should I be considering while I try to get a more densely packed/spun/stacked bug?

 

Thanks again for all the feedback on thread usage!

 

BCT

 

(p.s. using a fugly packer much of the time already - really helps push all of it together - but this doesn't seem to necessarily produce a really dense appearing bug

I have not tried steaming the bug ... hmmm.. is THIS a possible contributor to the appearance?)

[elusive.fishing 0]

Great question BCT. Stacking hair and spinning it can be complicated, and to get the best outcome, most people use deer belly hair specifically.

 

The SUPER TIGHT packed hair is pretty much impossible to use without using a packing tool. Deerhairdan, Pat Cohen, and pretty much most people with that kind of "ubertight" hair bugs use something made by Pat Cohen called a Fugly Packer http://store.flyfishfood.com/SF-Fugly-Packer-p/cfp1.htm. Which you already seem to have.

 

Deerhairdan has a video of him doing a demo with Dahlberg Diver style fly on Youtube, which I do not have a link for.

 

Pat Cohen also sells his Fugly Packer at his online store, and also has the DVD's for instruction for sale there as well.

http://rusuperfly.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=14&zenid=b61733c172c02c38d68e3165374ca167

 

I haven't heard much on Steaming them. Then again, I am no pro at stacking.

[johnnyquahog 0]

I think the thread does matter and GSP will help just a bit. More importantly the thread wraps need to be directly over each other. Mike George does a great job in his video explaining that you want the deer hair to be tied in as a V and not as a W. The proper hair makes a big difference. All belly hair is not alike and coarse is the best. All the dense flies are stacked only. Spinning is for muddler minnows. I'm not sure if steaming does much for density. Oh, the closer you get to the hook shank the denser the hair since it is like spokes on a bicycle wheel. Hmmmm..what else?

[JSzymczyk 0]

And make no mistake about it, you can cut hair with 200den GSP, too. I've never used Kevlar, and maybe it's worse, but the hair will slice under tension with 200den GSP before the thread will break, in my experience. I have broken the heavy GSP exactly one time when tying a bug, and that was when I had the thread under a lot of tension and the thread hit the hook point.

the abrasive nature of Kevlar causes it to cut BEFORE a lot of tension is applied. That's my experience anyhow.

 

The quality of hair makes a huge difference too. Deer hair is infinitely variable... I've had pieces of hair with which I've tied densely packed bugs using 3/0 monocord thread... and I've had pieces of hair which looked as if they were taken from roadkilled deer in south Texas in August. The best hair I've ever used has come from deer I've killed myself in northern Pennsylvania in rifle season. I have reached the point where I'm about quality over quantity, so I don't buy deer hair - or deer tails - without examining them in the shop myself. I've been burned too many times by ordering it. It sucks for people who don't have a shop to go to, but as has been mentioned, there are places online and on the phone to get good deer hair.

[deerhairdan 0]

Great question BCT. Stacking hair and spinning it can be complicated, and to get the best outcome, most people use deer belly hair specifically.

 

The SUPER TIGHT packed hair is pretty much impossible to use without using a packing tool. Deerhairdan, Pat Cohen, and pretty much most people with that kind of "ubertight" hair bugs use something made by Pat Cohen called a Fugly Packer http://store.flyfishfood.com/SF-Fugly-Packer-p/cfp1.htm. Which you already seem to have.

 

Deerhairdan has a video of him doing a demo with Dahlberg Diver style fly on Youtube, which I do not have a link for.

 

Pat Cohen also sells his Fugly Packer at his online store, and also has the DVD's for instruction for sale there as well.

http://rusuperfly.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=14&zenid=b61733c172c02c38d68e3165374ca167

 

I haven't heard much on Steaming them. Then again, I am no pro at stacking.

 

 

[elusive.fishing 0]

Yeah, that's the one. Thanks Dan.

 

 

[bellevue.chartreuse.trout 0]

Video successfully 'snagged' and will digest it and make further attempts. Need to locate some 200 Veevus GSP and maybe some 280 waxed UTC for comparison. Think the GSP is available locally so I'll get it and try it first no doubt.

 

Thanks for the input guys!

 

BCT