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docjohn

Superfine Dubbing

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I've read in Charlie Craven's book that Superfine dubbing is great for dry flies. However when I look it up I find a Superfine by Wapsi and one by Hareline. Are these 2 companies the same or are these 2 different products?

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The companies are different but the dubbing should be very close to each and can substituted for each for each other

 

My personal preference is fly rite dry fly dubbing

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The Hareline and Wapsi Superfine dubbings are very similar:

 

Hareline:

 

http://hareline.com/sfdf.html

 

Wapsi:

 

http://www.jsflyfishing.com/wapsi-super-fine-dry-fly-dubbing

 

Like flytire, I also use FLY-RITE:

 

http://flyrite.co/finepoly.htm

 

...and Micro Fine from Hareline, particularly for very small patterns:

 

http://hareline.com/smf.html

 

At some point in your tying experience, all will probably find their way into your stash....

 

...and if yer' real old...some of this from time to time:

 

http://www.ligasflies.com/mofcart/LigasDubbing.html

 

 

PT/TB

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Ligas and Fly-Rite, though more course than the Superfine dubbings of today, retain their colors better when wet. With all dubbings, and more so with Superfine dubbings, it's important to do wet-tests before tying up flies. I find Superfine dubbings darken out more when wet than Ligas and Fly-Rite.

 

...and if yer' real old: You'll remember when gold tinsel was made of metal....... Ha!

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I have Superfine but I also have Fly Rite and like it better also. I have Spectrablend and like that a lot as well. However, I am more and more reaching for natural materials for most of my flies now....the way I used to tie before technology came into the picture.

 

PENZZZ,

I remember metal tinsel and I'm also old enough to remember when Chase bobbins were the only game in town. That's back when we used silk thread for our every-day flies! LOL

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I like superfine for smoother bodies on dries and others with smooth dubbing. It's not for picking out. I also agree with the concept of take half of what you need, then half of that and you still probably end up with too much.

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I like superfine for smoother bodies on dries and others with smooth dubbing. It's not for picking out. I also agree with the concept of take half of what you need, then half of that and you still probably end up with too much.

That's it. The goal being to get a dubbing noodle twice the thickness of the thread.

 

Kimo

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I have used superfine also, but prefer a good quality beaver dubbing. It's easy enough to pull out the occasional guard hair....

 

I'm another old goat that remembers Gudebrod 6/0 silk and metal tinsel. It wasn't all bad. You could get goose primaries that would tie wonderful wings....

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I love listening to you guys talk about "back in the day" I'm a beginner but wish I got into fly fishing early on. Now that I'm retired I'll have to be happy doing as much tying and fishing as I can fit in and learning as much as I can from guys like you!

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docjohn,

Don't feel bad! I have fished all my life but fly tying is something I have taken up these past few years. I wish I would have found this hobby years ago but it wasn't meant to be. Of course it is good for all the new folks getting into this as the internet and YouTube is a new fly tier's friend. I cannot imagine trying to learn tying flies by reading a book or magazine. The technical age is defintely a plus!!!

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The "back in the day" days weren't so good.

Some of the guys on this site can remember Mammoth hair and tying streamers on size 0/9 bone hooks.

Dodo feathers for 12 inch long dragon fly wings.

Sabertooth Tiger dubbing ... curly fur that was very expensive due to the high mortality rate among gatherers.

 

Not that I remember any of that ...

 

As for dubbing ... I've never read Craven's book, but perhaps he was talking about super fine dubbing ... not "Superfine" brand dubbing.

There are dubbing materials that would create massive bulk on tiny flies ... and there are very small fiber dubbing materials that would disappear on size 8 hooks.

Just my own questioning thought to your question.

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I have the waspi stuff, not a big fan. I brought it early in my tying evolution when I mistook waterproof for unsinkable. I prefer real fur from mole or beaver or quill bodies or even just plain thread now on my dries.

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