Danica Dry Fly tied with Kapok

[Lucian.Vasies 0]

Because Kapok seems so popular these days I tied a few Danica flies to test them. What I noticed at kapok dubbing is the finesse of the fibers. Indeed very fine and for this reason kapok suits perfectly for very small flies. It is a good substitute for synthetic fine dubb

 

[mikechell 0]

Looks like cotton fibers would substitute if you can't get Kapok. Never heard of it until this thread.

[fshng2 0]

Nice one Lucian.

Fun fact: Milkweed Floss is an acceptable substitute.

Both materials make for good floating flies.

The USA armed forces used milkweed floss in the manufacture of life preservers needed for its airmen and sailors during the WWII effort.

Mike cotton will not work as it will not float, whereas kapok & Milkweed floss do.

[whatfly 0]

Kapok is back again? There really isn't anything new under the sun, is there.

[flytire 0]

probably works just as well as kapok

 

[feathers5 0]

probably works just as well as kapok

 

Hi, I didn't know they still made dubbing. Thanks

[xvigauge 0]

Kapok has been used in life preserver vests for years. However, I don't know if they are currently using it for that purpose.

Joe

[Lucian.Vasies 0]

Looks like cotton fibers would substitute if you can't get Kapok. Never heard of it until this thread.

 

Looks like cotton but is 8 time lighter and fine. It seems that has a natural wax that make fibers difficult to sink. It was used (in past ) for making life saving vest.

What I like at this material : super fine, natural, easy to dye in different colors. Super nice for small flies and very small flies, emergers and other similar flies.

Here is a sedge tied by Thomas Roos, it is very nice in my opinion

[Bluetailfly 0]

On 5/10/2019 at 3:37 PM, mikechell said:

Looks like cotton fibers would substitute if you can't get Kapok. Never heard of it until this thread.

Kapok is a natural fiber from a SEED.  These fibers are hydrophobic.  It is still used in some places to stuff Person Flotation devices for people to wear while in a boat.

1 Orange Life preserver would have enough Kapok to tie thousands of flies. 

On 2/17/2017 at 9:50 AM, Flat Rock native said:

One correct answer is zero, a good whip finish is all that is necessary. Will leave the GLUE REVIEW to the experts.

 

ps. Welcome to the forum, keep posting

 

pss- If I had to pick just one Sally Hansen Hard as Nails, applied with bodkin on small heads would be it. Describing the style of fly you wish to tie will help the experts...

 

[Sandan 0]

@Lucian.Vasies. Nice to see you here again. Cool tie and use of materials. With the kapok and CDC, that Danica would be pretty much unsinkable I'd think

[WWKimba 0]

I guess a company (or two) have found a way to constantly dye kapok (a very big challenge in the past) so tyers don't have to tie using only the natural color.  Every pound of kapok will support 30 pounds in the water.  One reason kapok went "out-of-fashion" was that it went the same way as jungle cock - it went from a common material to a rare material from over harvesting.

J. Stockard is carrying this in their "new materials" section and have quite a few colors listed - I just got a dozen colors so I could participate in a hopper-dropper swap.  Tying my Kim's Kapok SH (spent hopper)

Hook - 3 XL dry fly

Thread - Hopper Yellow and Brown Olive (or olive or brown) - you can change to match the hoppers in your area

Tail - red yarn, showing length = barb to bend of hook, tie-in length = barb point to ~ 4 eye lengths behind eye

Underbody/Hopper legs - bucktail - brown dyed olive, taken from the bottom third of tail, tips stacked and ~ 2 shank lengths long (or color to match hoppers in your area), the butt ends tied in as the under abdomen and the tips as the "legs".

Body - kapok, color for the hoppers in your area (I used a mixture of 16 parts sulphurea (yellow), 2 parts light olive, and 1 part olive dun), dubbed as a noodle on the Hopper Yellow thread

Underwing - Golden Pheasant crest feather, tied in facing down (like Jack Gartside's hopper pattern)

Top Wing - speckled brown Hen saddle feather, tip clipped straight across

Head - brown dry fly hackle, 6-8 tight winds

Sorry, flytire, I couldn't get my camera to focus so no pictures. One special tying note though - tie in the bucktail underbody with tight winds on both ends and open spirals in the middle - first back to front (the 4 eye lengths point)  and return to back to tie in the kapok dubbing.  After the dubbing is tied in whip finish the hopper yellow and open spiral the darker thread (for the abdomen segmentation) and use as the tying thread for the rest of the fly.  Split the bucktail and tie in at the midpoint of each side of the the thorax area.

Kim