Bucktails

[MuskyFlyGuy 0]

When and how do you decide if a buck tail is used up? I save them and use the color/brown hair for transitional colors, but I don't get to the point where I throw them away.

Tom

[flytire 0]

i guess i do it the same way

 

if i were to use up every hair on a (add color here) bucktail i would save the other side for patterns that call for brown bucktail hairs from a dyed (add color here) bucktail

[Philly 0]

I've got bits and pieces of buck tails where I've used the best parts. They sit in a plastic container with some cedar balls. Not sure what I'll use them for.

[Poopdeck 0]

I throw them out when all the color is gone. I have no need to save them because the other side of every bucktail is brown and I simply don't use enough brown to warrant hoarding them.

[mikechell 0]

At the price for bucktails ... toss it when you think it's used up.

Trying to decide if a piece of junk is worth keeping is a straight path to insanity. Pretty soon you're thinking everything has some value and you're keeping piles of newspapers stacked everywhere in your house !!! Then they put you on TV in "Hoarders: Buried Alive!"

[JSzymczyk 0]

this is funny because I was just dressing some treble hooks with the brown hair from some natural bucktails I have. I am extremely picky about bucktails because they are about my favorite material to tie with, and I like to fish bucktails more than just about any other type of fly. Anyway, even on really good quality bucktails, the texture, feel, structure, and behavior of the brown top-side hair is different than the longer white (or dyed) side and bottom hair. It's got much more underfur and short hairs, is comparably more hollow and has a steeper taper. On a really good tail with straight hair and smooth hair surface so it stacks nicely, the brown section still is a little bit of a pain to work with. So I don't worry too much when it's time to toss a bucktail. Bucktails have a gigantic variation in quality, and it takes experience and / or training to know what is good and what isn't. Most isn't.

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

I go through a bunch of bucktail year in and year out - and try to use every list bit of every tail... That said, like most I have a limited use for the natural brown center portion... I do find that type of bucktail useful for tying jigs for bonefish, and for tying up a cold water specialty -the LBJ (little brown jig). I do them in 1/8, 1/4, and 3/8oz sizes - here's a pic from a recent order....

[agn54 0]

Capt Bob, where do buy your jigheads? Or do you mold them yourself?

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

I do them commercially and have local anglers buying them 100 at a time... They're $1 each - any color, 1/8, 1/4, 3/8oz -both for tying up bucktails or for use with plastic or Gulp tails (the barbed version...). Anyone wanting an info sheet on the details... simply send an email request to [email protected] and you'll get one by return mail.... Each head is powder coated and then baked to harden them up a bit, with an extra sharp, strong black nickel hook.

 

Some years ago I decided that I was better off making what I needed than trying to find them in local shops. The outfit I use to mold the heads in bulk does them with the hook size and style that I need (that's something important if the lure is actually going to work in places where your first fish might be one pound - but the very next one (on that same little jig...) might be well over 100lbs - and bright silver...