Need help identifying material in foam beetle.

[harryhh]

Hi All,

I had purchased a box of assorted flies. A couple of nights ago I tied on and later lost a foam beetle. The back of the beetle was the regular black foam. It's the underneath that I'm wondering about.

When I tied the half inch beetle on, I saw that the underneath was kind of fuzzy and dark. Maybe with a green tint. 10 minutes later, after sundown, I noticed that the fuzz seemed to be gone. The underneath was now an almost smooth, iridescent purple-red running from the back of the beetle to just before the head. I didn't notice any sign of a wrapped-on material. (maybe I missed it) Just a single purple-red underbelly. ( some little bumps of what might have been what was left of the fuzz)

I thought the iridescent purple-red was great for beetles and maybe other flies. But, I don't know what it was.

Like the black foam of the back is a smooth, single piece from back to front, the purple-red seemed to be a single piece tucked under the foam back and under the hook. ( I could be wrong)

I've looked at videos of fly tying beetles and didn't see anything that it might be. Any ideas of what that underbelly may have been?

Harry

 

[silver creek]

You could use regular or micro Cactus Chennille in peacock or black.

 

[harryhh]

Thanks Silver,

Peacock Hurl is the only thing I saw in the videos that it might be.

I did not see any wraps in the iridescent underbelly of the beetle, but I could be wrong. And, looking at the peacock hurl I have, I don't see an iridescent red under the green fuzz. But, that might be because each individual piece of hurl is so small.

I do have the materials to tie a foam beetle with peacock hurl, and see what happens when the green fuzz wears off. Last week I practiced making Chernobyl ants. They didn't turn out anywhere near as good as the pictures on the net, but who knows, maybe fish would like going after a crippled ant.

Maybe someone has another guess of what this material might be?

Harry

 

[bigjim5589]

Dyed red peacock herl would have the appearance of what you describe.

Peacock is an under body that many beetle patterns use. I like the micro cactus chenille that Silver posted. :thumbsup:

Have used various colors, but mostly go with the black/pearl or the peacock.

IMO, too many beetle patterns are the result of overthinking it.

 

[silver creek]

Dyed peacock herl is a good thought. I didn't consider it because herl usually shreds if it is not twisted and reinforced. Usually there are it can be identified as herl, but the same can be said about micro chenille as well.

Did the abdomen look like the red herl below?

 

[harryhh]

Thanks BigJim and Silver,

After the fuzzy stuff was gone, it looked very much like that color. It was getting a bit dark outside so it had a deeper darker look to it, but I think this must be it.

I can remember perhaps 50 years ago I saw some beetle with that iridescent deep purple-red color. The underneath of this foam beetle looked so real.

I'll put that color peacock hurl on my list.

Thanks folks. Great job in solving the mystery.

Harry

---------- Post added at 07:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:49 PM ----------

By-the way Silver, you must have a warehouse full of stuff and a camera hanging around your neck. You have a picture of everything.

 

[silver creek]

By-the way Silver, you must have a warehouse full of stuff and a camera hanging around your neck. You have a picture of everything.

The internet has images of just about everything so I just grab them off of Google Images. Now you know how to search for stuff also.

Click below and see the first image:

red peacock herl - Google Search

 

[kayo]

Charlie's FlyBox - Colorado's Best FlyShop and online Fly Tying Tutorials

 

[harryhh]

Kayo, that looks like just the beetle I want to tie. Thanks.

Silver, I figured you were getting most of the stuff off the net, but you're pretty quick at finding, copying, and transferring to this site for reference.

I use google quite a bit but, I'm just today switching to DuckDuckGo. It's a good search engine, less intrusive, more private, and displays less garbage than google does.

Harry