Faux Bucktail?

[islander727 0]

Anybody get their hands on that new faux bucktail yet? Opinions?

[Bimini15 0]

I guess the answer is no.

[vicente 0]

Who's selling it?

[Saltybum 0]

Why, when the real stuff is easy get and works.

[Bimini15 0]

I have only seen it in videos like this one:

https://youtu.be/pUS-9WNXXFc

 

I am with Saltybum until I figure out what I think about it.

[JSzymczyk 0]

faux bucktail.....

 

scratching my head....

 

that would be right up there with, say, faux rum or fake t****** on my list of things I don't care to mess with.

[islander727 0]

Who's selling it?

https://flymenfishingcompany.com/products/fish-skull-faux-bucktail

[vicente 0]

Looks like cool stuff.

[Bimini15 0]

But, does it solve a problem?

[mikechell 0]

Just some observations, three problems it (might) solve.

1) Bucktail is "breakable". I've noticed that it can be bitten off. Goes through a wet/dry cycle a couple of times and gets weaker. This stuff might be much more durable.

2) Bucktail length is limited. From the pictures, this stuff looks longer than any bucktail I've ever seen.

3) Any color bucktail other than natural, is dyed. It fades in the sun and with use. This stuff should hold it's color much longer.

 

I won't be buying it any time soon but, as with most synthetics, I can see some benefits to it.

[Fisherboy0301 0]

Well for just a little more money than a buck tail, with pretty vibrant colors, tougher synthetic material, consistent long length, and no underfur to pick through; if it has the same action as buck tail, or at least very close, I think it's worth it.

[JSzymczyk 0]

I am generally a big fan of synthetic materials. That said, a man must have at least some boundaries. GOOD QUALITY bucktail is a material which will take a whole lot of work to equal with a synthetic, and from what I can see this stuff starts to get close, but still falls short.

 

Mike's 3 points are well taken and mostly accurate. All of those points taken together IN MY OPINION do not outweigh the positives of -again- good quality bucktail.

 

The natural taper of the hair is the the most obvious quality which until now is nearly impossible to duplicate with a synthetic, nearly impossible at least in the sense of production being affordable enough to use for fly tying.

 

Progressive action is another- bucktail, when saturated, due to the natural taper of the hairs, has an action almost like a fishing rod, and exceedingly close to an average baitfish. More flex toward the "tail" than the "head"... when that action is aggregated in a clump of maybe a hundred or more fibers (of AGAIN, GOOD QUALITY bucktail) in a correctly constructed bucktail baitfish fly, the action is remarkable.

 

I realize most folks don't care, and perhaps even most fish don't care. I'm not a specialist in any one type of fly tying, but I admit bucktails have been what I have paid the most attention to for probably the last 20+ years of my tying. There are subtle nuances of material and construction which I have yet to see duplicated with any synthetic- and granted I have not tied with this material in question but from what I've seen it is not a replacement.

 

It may be a fine quality material in it's own right. It says it has a taper. I'm going to have to get at least one pack of this to try. They also say it doesn't "flare" when tied in- neither does good quality bucktail when prepped and tied in correctly. They say it isn't "hollow" so flies sink faster... good quality bucktail is not hollow. Occasionally you do not want a faster-than-natural sink rate. Et cetera.

[Fisherboy0301 0]

Just some observations, three problems it (might) solve.

1) Bucktail is "breakable". I've noticed that it can be bitten off. Goes through a wet/dry cycle a couple of times and gets weaker. This stuff might be much more durable.

2) Bucktail length is limited. From the pictures, this stuff looks longer than any bucktail I've ever seen.

3) Any color bucktail other than natural, is dyed. It fades in the sun and with use. This stuff should hold it's color much longer.

 

I won't be buying it any time soon but, as with most synthetics, I can see some benefits to it.

 

You posted while I was typing haha we had very similar thoughts!

[cheech 0]

I got some and I'm trying to like it. The fibers are 6" long (which is damn near impossible to find on a regular basis anymore). The taper is spot on. They are fibers that really do look exactly like bucktail with a taper and slight crinkle. The killer for me was that it doesn't compress at all when you tie it in, and to me, That's kind of a deal breaker. Like I said... I'm trying to like it, but it might be a rocky road.

[Saltybum 0]

As JSz said I like the way I can make bucktail flair or lay flatter. And while I do tie a lot of baitfish with synthetics it's still hard to beat the action of real animal fur. And if I need a more durable material I go for the P Bear.