Substitute for sili-skin?

[SpokaneDude 0]

I want to tie the Burk's Hare's Ear Bottom Roller... the wing case uses "sili-skin", which, for the amount I will need" is expensive... are there any cheaper alternatives?

[Bugsy 0]

Is chewee skin an acceptable sub? It's less costly but by no means cheap.

[flytire 0]

its basically a czech nymph

 

 

scud back

 

clear zip lock baggie strip

 

nymph skin

 

flexi body

 

magic foil

[SpokaneDude 0]

Thanks everybody... got it figured out now... :-}

[whatfly 0]

Ultimately you can use anything flexible and transparent for a Czech nymph shell back, and Flytire has outlined the usual suspects, except perhaps for magic foil which would be way too fragile alone for this application in my opinion (useful for under-shell back however). Sili-skin has a pearlescent nature that is not copied by any of Flytire's examples (except Magic Foil) and Bugsy's recommendation of Chewee Skin is the closest material of those discussed. How important this feature of Sili-skin is, I cannot say. Andy Burk once mentioned he was actually originally just looking for another use of material left over from the Gummy Minnow craze. Of course, there are lots of ways you could get around this shortcoming of likely substitutes, but you would be even better off broadening your searches to Czech nymph caddis patterns in general. There are endless permutations out there and Burk's is just one popularized by Umpqua.

 

Personally I think how these types are patterns are tied (e.g. heavily weighted) and how they are used (as anchor flies) is far more important than their recipe -- of course that is true for most if not all fly patterns. Check youtube.com and google for further examples.

[flytire 0]

i just checked my magic shrimp foil and it just may be stronger than you think

 

if you want it to be flashy, tie the shiny side of the magic shrimp foil outward and the dull dide to the body

[SpokaneDude 0]

Ultimately you can use anything flexible and transparent for a Czech nymph shell back, and Flytire has outlined the usual suspects, except perhaps for magic foil which would be way too fragile alone for this application in my opinion (useful for under-shell back however). Sili-skin has a pearlescent nature that is not copied by any of Flytire's examples (except Magic Foil) and Bugsy's recommendation of Chewee Skin is the closest material of those discussed. How important this feature of Sili-skin is, I cannot say. Andy Burk once mentioned he was actually originally just looking for another use of material left over from the Gummy Minnow craze. Of course, there are lots of ways you could get around this shortcoming of likely substitutes, but you would be even better off broadening your searches to Czech nymph caddis patterns in general. There are endless permutations out there and Burk's is just one popularized by Umpqua.

 

Personally I think how these types are patterns are tied (e.g. heavily weighted) and how they are used (as anchor flies) is far more important than their recipe -- of course that is true for most if not all fly patterns. Check youtube.com and google for further examples.

 

I agree with you about how to patterns are tied and used is what matters... thank you all for the responses... gave me what I was looking for... :-}