Talk to me about EP Fibers

[dafack01 0]

I'm curious about EP Fibers. I used Steeldrifter's EP Fiber Rainbow from the Streamer swap a bit at Cumberland until a nice trout hit and knocked one of the eyes off, causing it to ride wierd. The idea of tying a streamer and it not taking 20 minutes or more to tie up like Dave Whitlock's Sheep Shad is really appealing to me. A couple things I noticed about it though.

 

The fibers didn't move much when stripped. One of the things about the Sheep Shad is that it has action like marabou. Just incredible. SD's EP Rainbow didn't have much action at all. It stayed pretty stiff, but I'm wondering if that's because it was tied pretty full. If it's tied more sparse would it move better? Has anyone mixed it with Angel Hair? That seems like it would be a cool tweak.

[Redwings1 0]

I have found with the EP fibers that less is more...

You really have to sparsely dress flies with EP for it to have movement, but when done right it is very fluid. That is my experience with EP 3D Fibers, I know the other varieties of EP might act differently.

[dafack01 0]

That's what I'm assuming. SD tied this one pretty full, and it didn't have much action at all. The fibers seem to move a lot when you stroke a few out though, so I was kinda guessing what you confirmed.

 

I'm going to have to order some.

 

 

[steelie 0]

Good Day,

 

I am with Red Wings on this one. Less is certainly more with EP, not to mention just about any other material for streamer patterns, or even the patterns themselves. Personally I think it is a safer bet to underdress a streamer than to overdress one. Also, alot of bait fish tend to have an almost translucent quality to their bodies, which also bolsters the theory of light or sparse streamer dressings imho.

 

Steelie

[Sean Juan 0]

I was in the same swap got the same fly.

 

SD's minnow has plenty of action in the right environment - with a heavy current the stiff fly actually has more action than a marabou fly where all the material is compressed. That trout seemed to think it had enough action.

 

Different flies for different situations.

 

Personally I almost never use synthetics by themselves I'd much perfer to mix them with other synths or with natural materials - very stiff synths make an excellent support for more flimsy (but more active) materials.

[dafack01 0]

I was in the same swap got the same fly.

 

SD's minnow has plenty of action in the right environment - with a heavy current the stiff fly actually has more action than a marabou fly where all the material is compressed. That trout seemed to think it had enough action.

 

 

 

True. It might just be mental. I saw those EP Silky Fibers on J. Stockard's website, which are advertised as having more of a marabou-like action. I might try those out.

 

When I fish Cumberland, it's out of a boat, so I prefer something with a marabou-like action, or close to. I have noticed behind the Falls of the Ohio, bucktail suddenly comes to life and has KILLER action. The current is RAGING there, which helps the bucktail out. At Cumberland, though, I never wade (well I might have waded a total of 45 minutes in the 8 years I've been fishing there).

[fly time 0]

I too slammed a bunch of fish on Steves EP baby bow, and the eyes came off on mine as well, I like to use polar aire, its great, and swims like marabou, it makes some great sculpins!!

[JJD 0]

There are a few tricks that help with the EP fibers. Tie as full as you want, but use a pair of thinning scissors to aggressively reduce the interior bulk of the fly. I'm really surprised that more guys don't use thinning scissors. I spend as much time trimming and thinning synthetic hair patterns as I do tying them.

 

For eyes that don't come off, I'll tie patterns in two stages. I tie up to the eye location, then epoxy the eyes in place and put aside to dry. After drying I'll continue the pattern forward. It's not exactly according to the recipe, but since I tie for bass & saltwater primarily, durability is a big issue for me - and this method works well. I'll try to get a few example pictures posted by tomorrow so you can see what I'm talking about.

 

On an other topic, the Steve Farrar's Flash blend is an awesome alternative to the EP fibers. It is a little less kinky and it has built-in flash similar to angel hair throughout.

 

John

[Linesides 0]

Less is really better for EP, I use the standard and 3D for saltwater. I have replaced "this is probably blasphemous" the bucktail on decievers and half and halfs with EP and I like the way it strips in.

 

[Steeldrifter 0]

Yupp usually less is better for EP (just like with marabou) I tie mine with a bit more though because of where I use them. I fish mine mostly in a couple runs on the Au Sable that are pretty swift moving water, as well as I use a "jerk strip" retrieve which automatically adds some good movement to the fly so I can get away with a bit more material than normal. If your fishing water that is a bit slower then I would say to reduce the amount of EP from what the swap flies I tied had on them by about a good 30%

 

I think the ones that I did for the swap had Doll Eyes on them if I remember. Mine had problems with the doll eyes coming off as well (even when using zap a gap or epoxy) so I switched over to the 3D prizim eyes that stick on and have yet to have a eye come off with those. Great eyes

 

EP fiber is some great stuff, I've had some really good success on both trout and bass with them this year :headbang:

[dafack01 0]

Cumberland gets really fast too. Since it's such a big river, it doesn't take much to get the current going at a pretty good clip for the wading angler. I just fish out of a boat about 99% of the time, so my speed in the boat, relative to the current speed is still normal, unless I hit an eddy or some other current oddity.