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dawgvet

Dubbing application direction?

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So it never crossed my mind until the other day about what direction I spin my dubbing on the thread until I read a post about winding it a certain direction made it 'get tighter' as you wind the dubbing onto the hook. I checked as I was tying and realized I spin my dubbing on counterclockwise if looking down the thread from above. To do this I pull my thumb across the pad of my index finger from the tip of my finger towards the palm of my hand thus the dubbing goes on counterclockwise. Is this the best direction to apply dubbing? Does it really make the dubbing tighten up as I wrap it? Have I been doing it wrong for 25 years?!?

Any input appreciated

Thanks,
Jed

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I wondered about that a while back, when I started doing dubbing loops. Paid close attention to what was happening. I wind my dubbing loops tight enough that the few wraps I make putting in on the fly, don't really make any difference to the look of it.

But I also do not tie tiny stuff below a size 10 hook. It might make a difference on those small bodies.

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So it never crossed my mind until the other day about what direction I spin my dubbing on the thread until I read a post about winding it a certain direction made it 'get tighter' as you wind the dubbing onto the hook. I checked as I was tying and realized I spin my dubbing on counterclockwise if looking down the thread from above. To do this I pull my thumb across the pad of my index finger from the tip of my finger towards the palm of my hand thus the dubbing goes on counterclockwise. Is this the best direction to apply dubbing? Does it really make the dubbing tighten up as I wrap it? Have I been doing it wrong for 25 years?!?

Any input appreciated

Thanks,

Jed

 

 

If you are are a right hander, it is the opposite of what I do. I think it is the wrong way to dub for a right hander.

 

I wrote an tying "tip" that describes the dubbing technique I use. It was published in Fly Tyer Magazine in 2002. I suggest you try this technique.

Here is the article:

Noted Wisconsin fly tyer Royce Dam - FFF's 1994 Buz Buszek Award Winner) taught me the single most helpful dubbing technique I have ever learned. It’s a technique for dubbing tight dry fly bodies without using dubbing wax. I’d like to pass it on. The directions are for a right-handed tyer. Lefties will need to make the reversal.

I am assuming that you wrap thread around the hook in the normal fashion by wrapping away from yourself over the top of the hook and then back underneath, and so on. Wrap the hook with thread, tie in a tail and take the tread back to the back of the hook so that you are ready to dub the body. Do not wax the thread.

For a right-hander, dub the fur clockwise on the thread as seen from the top of the hook.The clockwise direction is critical, as you will see later. Taper the dubbing so that you have a fine dubbing tip at the top of the thread. Unwrap one or two wraps of thread from the tie in point and push the dubbing up the thread so that the fine point of dubbing is at the tie in point. If you wax the thread, the dubbing will stick to the thread, and it will be difficult to advance it up the thread to the tie in point.

Take one or two wraps of thread to fix the tip of dubbing at the tie in point. This wrap traps the end of the dubbing so that is cannot spin free. Grasp the bottom end of the dubbing, and dub/twist it clockwise on the thread. It should spin around the thread getting tighter and tighter since the tip is fixed under the first wrap. Hold on to the bottom of the dubbing so that it cannot untwist and wrap your dubbing forward on the hook. With each wrap of the thread, the dubbing and thread will twist tighter and tighter so that you end up with a very tight, compact and tapered body.

The wax-less technique takes advantages of the fact that as you wind the dubbing around the hook shank, you introduce an additional twist into the dubbing. The dubbing twists one revolution for each wrap. The secret to forming a tightly dubbed body is to use this additional twisting to your advantage.

For nymphs allow the dubbing to untwist as you wrap to get just the amount of bugginess rather than a tight compact body.

You can precisely control the diameter of the dubbing as you wind. Without wax you can push the dubbing up the thread to widen the dubbing noodle or pull down to narrow the dubbing. Or you can twist tighter if you used too much dubbing to narrow the body or allowing it to untwist to widen it. By using these two additional techniques you get exactly the tapered body you want.

 

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Yep, you've been doing it wrong all your life. It's a wonder any of your flies catch any fish....tongue.png

 

If it works for you, stick with it. If you want to try twisting the other way, that's fine too. There's no "right" or "wrong", it just works a bit differently. If you twist your dubbing the same way the thread is twisted, that will tend to tighten up as you wind, but, honestly, few of us make enough winds, with dubbing, to make it loosen significantly. Then too, it's easy enough to twist the dubbing tighter, as you wind, so that it isn't really an issue.

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I've starting twisting my dubbing the opposite way I had been after reading likely the same thing as the op. But I usually keep it tight by applying the dubbing by spinning the vise and using the tip of my index finger to roll the noodle a bit tighter as it goes.

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