How I spin congo hair

[Steve P 0]

Ok after some discussion on another topic I said I would post some pics on how I spin congo hair in a dubbing loop, well here it is.

 

first I'll grab a good sized piece from the hank and cut it off (about the size of a fat crayon). I'll cut that down into shorter sections and lay them out on my desk until I get the length I am looking for. As you can see they are shorter the closer to the end of the fly they are this isn't nescessary just the way I do it to try and conserve a little material, I'm still going to trim a bunch of it off.

 

I'm going to add a bit of red to this for a little mixed color look so I grabbed a much smaller piece (about the size of the tube on my bobbin) from a hank of red and cut it off, then I cut it to length right onto the first color.

 

After that I make my dubbing loop and put it all in there, I spend a little time moving things around to make them look more even then push it all up into the loop to make it nice and full and a little tight. I do this just by picking it up with the side of my index finger and opening the loop with my other hand, i have had guys tell me i look like some kind of contortionist when I do it because this one is pretty short it's rather easy but when they get longer it can be a bit pf as trick.

 

Now we spin...... do not break the thread or you will feel an uncontrollable urge to cuss but make sure it get good and tight.

 

Now take a bodkin or in this case I just used the hook on my whip finisher to pick it all out and make it nice and fluffy and so there are no fibers stuck into the loop.

 

Wind the loop onto the hook keeping the wraps as close as possible, you may need to pack it as you go, I had to pack this one about three times just to get it on the shank.

 

Now we pick it out again and make it all nice and fluffy to trim it, I actually packed it again a little and whipped it off before I did this but on longer flies with more material it may be necessary to put on one loop then another so that may not be possible.

 

Now all we have left is to trim it........ so here is the finished fly all trimmed up.

 

Hope you all like this I use it for all kinds of stuff from this little muddle style fly to spun head sculpins and baitfish patterns, pretty easy once you get it all down you can do it really quick, including the pictures I tied the entire fly in about 3-4 minutes.

 

Steve

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Steve, great SBS! I started doing this with wool years ago after becoming frustrated with tying clump by clump on a shank to make a wool headed fly. When I found the EP fibers, I started using that the same way; I usually cut up some ultra fine flash material and lay on top the bunches to go in the loop.

I've got to try some of that Congo Hair, it is to cheap not to. I think I've paid my last dollar to the Enrico Dynasty.

Again, great SBS to share with the tiers out there!

 

Kirk

 

 

[Mr. Vegas 0]

AMAZING!

[Steve P 0]

Wow, thanks guys, Kirk the congo hair is exactly like the EP stuff, I have compared the side by side and can find no difference at all. Glad you like it thus far. I still spin and stack deer hair and wool and really I only stack wool to create a top and bottom look, other than that I use deer hair or this method. I've done it like this for 5 or 6 years now and I also like to use flash in there sometimes as well I actually started using the stiff plastic wavy like stuff (I can't remember the name of it now) slinky fiber or maybe it was something else but I used to spin it this way with heavier threads. here I only used 140 UTC if I were to do a bigger fly with a bunch more material I would go to a 210 or even 280.

 

Steve

[bigfoot 0]

Great work thanks for sharing. When I spin loose material in a dubbing loop I guess I cheat a little and use a magic tool it's less frustaring for me to do that way. :yahoo:

[Steve P 0]

I always wanted a magic tool and about a year ago my wife got me one and I tried to use it for a few months and never could get used to it so I just have it sitting on my desk.... to many years without it I guess.

 

Steve

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Steve with your experience in spinning unconventional materials in dubbing loops. Have you ever tried and had luck with rubber or silicone leg material?

 

Kirk

[Steve P 0]

Steve with your experience in spinning unconventional materials in dubbing loops. Have you ever tried and had luck with rubber or silicone leg material?

 

Kirk

 

As a matter of fact yes.... not so much with bigger stuff but with stuff like spanflex yeah I have tied some interesting flies, occasionally I can add a couple rubber legs of the smaller sizes to some flies in a dubbing loop but most of the time they get to tied up....

 

Steve

 

[Jackpott 0]

Steve

 

Awesome post! Thanks for the right up and edification!

 

*runs to his vice drooling*

 

[Steve P 0]

Steve

 

Awesome post! Thanks for the right up and edification!

 

*runs to his vice drooling*

 

 

 

LOL

[wetflyguy 0]

Great post Steve ,

and great streamer

 

wet

[jbenwa 0]

you are my hero Steve!

[tidewaterfly 0]

you are my hero Steve!

 

Yep, I'm starting to feel the same way! :hyst:

 

I've been vary reluctant to go to synthetics. I use some, and have used them a long time, but primarily just straight tying, like tying in bucktail. I've tied Bluefish flies with ultra hair & kinky nylon, and a few other flies with finer stuff, but just haven't found the urge to tie those EP style flies! :wallbash:

 

Call me stubborn, or old fashion!

 

That's very interesting that Congo Hair matches up with EP fibers. I have a bunch of Congo hair I got in one of the Christmas boxes a few years ago, and never really played with it much. I certainly concur with Kirk, I wasn't going to pay the price for EP stuff either! I was just looking at some of those dubbing brushes, can't see paying 5 or 6 dollars for them! :cursing:

 

Steve, inspirational SBS! The more I read your posts, the more I'm liking what I see! Superb! Thank you! :cheers:

[Steve P 0]

you are my hero Steve!

 

Yep, I'm starting to feel the same way! :hyst:

 

I've been vary reluctant to go to synthetics. I use some, and have used them a long time, but primarily just straight tying, like tying in bucktail. I've tied Bluefish flies with ultra hair & kinky nylon, and a few other flies with finer stuff, but just haven't found the urge to tie those EP style flies! :wallbash:

 

Call me stubborn, or old fashion!

 

That's very interesting that Congo Hair matches up with EP fibers. I have a bunch of Congo hair I got in one of the Christmas boxes a few years ago, and never really played with it much. I certainly concur with Kirk, I wasn't going to pay the price for EP stuff either! I was just looking at some of those dubbing brushes, can't see paying 5 or 6 dollars for them! :cursing:

 

Steve, inspirational SBS! The more I read your posts, the more I'm liking what I see! Superb! Thank you! :cheers:

 

Well thank you, if you notice..... this is a spudler, but it's my deep running version. Tied with a bit of extra lead and then the congo hair head it's freaking awesome. I have been slowly switching to synthetics and playing with them as I find time. It's great fun and can be an absolute blast to tie with something different yet still try to create the same effect as natural materials.

 

Steve

 

[NJ All Day 0]

Steve after looking back this fly after you posted the Spudler, I thought it looked awfully similar, this fly looks great also.