Deer Hair Popper help

[Rommel 0]

Guys,

 

I am having a hard time keeping the deer hair together and on the top of the fly when tying the bottom. Not the base color but the color variants. I am stacking and packing not spinning.

 

This is an example...sorry I don't have the best top profile shot.

 

Thoughts?

[TheCream 0]

From what I can see, I honestly don't think the color separation looks that bad. My personal opinion, they need a lot more hair. When I'm doing a hair bug, I don't want to see any space between the hair fibers. I don't want gaps or "space" in the body. The more densely you can get the hair on the hook, the more durable the bug will be and the better it will float. That's my $.02.

[Rommel 0]

Thanks for the input....I will add more hair and see how that turns out.

[Bimini15 0]

Since you are new, know that Cream's 2 cents on deer hair are worth at least five bucks.

[Noahguide 0]

I too struggled with getting the head packed tight enough. This video, while a bit long, shows how much you can pack in at the eye. I use wire strippers to help with packing the hair back when I can't seem to move it with just my fingers.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AHAGrBGo1Ys

Jump ahead to about the 15 min Mark which is where the head packing begins.

[mikechell 0]

Two items I've always noticed (had problems with)...

1. Having the base wraps of thread spin on the hook. If everything is moving, then that's the issue.

 

2. Gauging the tightness of the thread wraps. If they're even a little too loose, it can cause the hair to rotate as you tighten down on the next batch of hair. If only a small portion of the hair is moving ... I'd suspect this.

 

Both of these problems can exist if you're using gel spun super line, which is very "slippery."

 

And welcome to the site.

[Bryon Anderson 0]

I would second what Cream said--1) your color separation and positioning of accent colors looks pretty good to me, and 2) more hair (this is often the answer to hair stacking/packing problems). The more densely your base color hair is packed, the less room your accent color hair has to "travel" when you tighten down your thread.

 

Think of it this way: imagine that you have a small container made of chicken wire and you have a large ball of soft cheese that you want to stuff into the container so that the cheese fills the container entirely. If the ball of cheese is too big, when you go to squish it into the container, the cheese will press against the chicken wire walls, stretching them out of shape, and it might even ooze out through the spaces in the wire mesh.

 

You could use a smaller ball of cheese, but then there would be a gap between the cheese and the container walls--not the look you want. Now imagine that you replace the chicken wire container with one that has solid metal walls. Now you can stuff in a lot more cheese and it will simply conform to the shape of the container.

 

In this fairly labored metaphor, the base color hair is the "container", and the accent color hair is the "cheese". The more dense the "walls" of the "container" are, the less the possibility that the "cheese" can move around. You also want to use the maximum amount of "cheese" that you can, to avoid unsightly gaps and spaces between the "cheese" and the "container".

 

BTW, I would also heartily second what Bimini said about Cream's advice on anything having to do with deer hair work. My own advice is worth its face value of $0.02.

[Rommel 0]

Many thanks fellas.

 

I have added more "cheese" as Byron suggested. It also takes practice and a little creativity. I have found that a popper should never be tied without silly legs for several reasons.....

 

1. just makes it look better.

 

2. creates balance and stability on the water

 

3. pisses the fish off a little more.

 

Thanks for the help!

[Noahguide 0]

Beautiful. I'll have to reread the missive on cheese and chicken wire if it will help me tie heads that tight!

[Bryon Anderson 0]

Nice! Beautiful work.

[Rommel 0]

The key is 2 wraps with the thread over the hair the work the thread to the shank. Wrap on the shank once and pull tight then use a nail not tool (I made one out of a piece of hickory that kinda looks like a pencil and drilled a hole in the middle) to push the not as close as possible to the hair. Add a drop of zap-a-gap and pack as tight as possible with the fugly packer. What I have found is that the colors need to be realigned before you start trimming which can be done by hand. Also, get a thick piece of plastic material - (I used one of the plastic boxes you get from Lowes or HD that wood screws come in) and cut a circle that is about the size of a spool of thread. Get your bodkin hot and burn a hole that is about the size of the eye of the hook. You can place this plastic on the hook before the last clump of hair as well as at the end to aid with packing and finishing. This allows you to work without having to worry about the other hair getting in the way. Just my 2 cents.

 

Has anyone ever tried to dye buck tail or hair?