Mystery material

[MCHammer]

A guy gave me this fly last year, and it caught fish at Pyramid Lake.
I've been trying to duplicate it but I can't figure out what the palmered claret body material is, or the palmered black which looks like the same stuff. They look kind of like craft fur, or calftail, or bucktail, but I haven't found any of those available in the claret color. Maybe Arctic fox?





Anybody have any ideas? I had somebody tell me it's schlappen, but it doesn't look like any kind of feather to me. I think it's some kind of fur, maybe in a dubbing brush.

Thanks!

 

[Lewis Chessman]

Try burning a wee bit and get a whiff of the fumes. Is it synthetic perhaps, or definitely fur?
Doesn't look like schlappen to me, either, btw.
Not sure I'd say claret from the pic, not enough red. Maybe magenta/purple?

 

[MCHammer]

Try burning a wee bit and get a whiff of the fumes. Is it synthetic perhaps, or definitely fur?

Heck of a good idea. Going to try it now.

 

[MCHammer]

Try burning a wee bit and get a whiff of the fumes. Is it synthetic perhaps, or definitely fur?

Smells natural, not synthetic.

 

[trev]

Looks synthetic to me, much like Bonnie braid , and they have a "wine" that might be close, combed out and applied with a dubbing loop? Or a fright wig, dog toy etc. It has too much shine to be natural material after dying.

>> well your burn test proved me wrong

 

[sparsegraystubble]

My first thought would have been a blend of Simi-Seal colors tyed with a dubbing loop, but this doesn’t appear to have the sparkle fibers of that material. I think Angora would come close, especially since the burn test seems to indicate hair of some sort.

If I was tying that fly, I would be tempted to use Simi-Seal, but I have never fished Pyramid Lake so maybe the flash fibers would be counterproductive.

Don

 

[dillon]

The wound black body material looks like it could be polar chenille. I don’t know about the purple stuff, but it does look like some kind of dubbing brush. I’d just, make a seal fur dubbing loop and wind it for the body and then wind the chenille over it.

 

[strmanglr scott]

I was just gonna say it looks synthetic the way it's tied in.

 

[flytie09]

I would have sworn it was claret craft fur thrown in a dubbing loop mixed with similar black and palmered up the shank due to the looks of it.

To mimic the look....you could dub body with black angora / simi seal or black Senyo ice dub in a dubbing loop and palmer a claret schlappen to achieve a similar look countered with silver wire. There are dubbings out there now with rubber leg bits and sparkly stuff that will blow your mind.

Check out this guy...if he doesn't offer it...he will custom blend it for you.

Fly Tying Materials | Fly Tying Recipes | Fly Tying Supplies | Fly Tyers Dungeon | Fly Tying Supplies

 

[MCHammer]

Seems like most opinions are that it's synthetic. Maybe I better do the burn & sniff test again.

Flytie09, the Fly Tyers Dungeon has some stuff that would probably work.

My only problem with the craft fur diagnosis is that none of the colors I've seen online come close to that claret or reddish purple. Otherwise I would agree that it must be craft fur.

 

[karstopo]

Waspi has a Claret angora goat dubbing. I have some Arizona Simi Seal that color, but Simi seal has some fine flash mixed in with the angora goat. I use the Arizona Simi Seal for those balanced leeches.

 

[moucheur2003]

The combination of fibers and legs looks like an EP Crustaceous Brush. Maybe this one, or a discontinued color? Just guessing.

EP™ CRUSTACEOUS BRUSH w/MICRO LEGS 1.5" - TOAD BLACK/PURPLE - Enrico Puglisi Flies

 

[clsmith131]

I would have guessed EP fibers.

 

[flytire]

some kind of synthetic body chenille

 

[flytie09]

The balanced leech... this is a new one to me......Jerry McBride is the inventor with Phil Rowley popularizing the pattern.

Fly Tying: April, 2018 - Clackamas FlyFishers


Phil calls out AZ Simi Seal dubbing. A secretive blend of natural and synthetic fibers made in the AZ desert somewhere.

Description
Arizona Simi Seal was developed by acclaimed fly tyer and material inventor, John Rohmer. The dubbing is a course blend of medium-length mohair and synthetic fibers created using a custom-built blending machine, and is the exclusive material used to tie the world-famous simi seal leech. The coarse fibers produce a bushy dubbing that can be used to build large bodies, or it can be vigorously brushed out and trimmed or left long. Arizona simi seal can also be used in a variety of dubbing applications, such as nymph patterns and medium-sized streamers, but it also works great for salmon and steelhead patterns too.

YouTube

I'd venture a guess that the folks at the Reno Fly shop know exactly what super secret handshake dubbing blends this is. I'd guess black and purple.



AZ Simi-Seal Colors:

1 - Black
2 - Black/Purple
3 - Black/Red
4 - Brown
5 - Burgundy
6 - Chartreuse
7 - Crystal
8 - Dark Brown
9 - Dark Olive
10 - Golden Olive
11 - Gray Olive
12 - Olive
13 - Pink
14 - Purple
15 - Red
16 - Peacock
17 - Bronze Peacock
18 - Golden Peacock
19 - Canadian Brown
20 - Canadian Black
21 - Black/Blue
22 - Black/Gold
23 - Crawdad
24 - Amber/Olive
25 - Canadian Olive
26 - Reddish Brown
27 - Blood Leech
28 - Deep Leech
29 - Steelhead Orange
30 - Fuchsia
31 - Silver Minnow
32 - Golden Shiner
33 - Bronzeback
34 - Canadian Orange
35 - Violet
36 - Starlight
37 - Silver Halo
38 - Gold Halo
39 - Black Peacock
40 - Crowley Perch
41 - Cranefly Tan
42 - Halloween
43 - Yellow
44 - Golden Yellow
45 - Brown/Brick
46 - DW Brown
47 - Lt. Crowley Perch
48 - Fathead
49 - Black Magic
50 - Thalken Caddis

 

[sparsegraystubble]

Back in the 90s a guy named Mel Moore marketed a similar dubbing from his home in Idaho Falls. I think he used the name Tubin’ Times for his products. I saw him tie his leech patterns at fly shops and a show or two.

His leeches were very effective in Idaho still waters. I had a stock of it, but started running out and tried all sorts of substitutes before I found Simi Seal. That stuff is great to tie with and is my material of choice for leeches as well as a fur bugger with weighted head that I fish on the swing in rivers. Some of my biggest cutts have come on those flies in everything from big rivers to smaller spring creeks.

Don

 

[MCHammer]

The balanced leech... this is a new one to me......Jerry McBride is the inventor with Phil Rowley popularizing the pattern.

Fly Tying: April, 2018 - Clackamas FlyFishers


Phil calls out AZ Simi Seal dubbing. A secretive blend of natural and synthetic fibers made in the AZ desert somewhere.

I went to the big fly shop in my area, Jimmy's All Season Angler in Idaho Falls this week, and the helpful younger guy working in there knew right away what my mystery material is. He couldn't remember the exact name, but said it was Jay Fair's, and something like "Kick n Cast." He also said they couldn't get it because the distribution is limited. There is no Jay Fair "Kick n' Cast" material but there is a leech pattern called "JFG Kick Boat n' Cast", that's for sale at The Fly Shop. That fly is basically my balanced leech on a conventional hook. The recipe says the body is Jay Fair's Translucent Swimming Hackle. I ordered some from The Fly Shop in Redding, CA and I'm hoping it will arrive soon. The photos of the material on The Fly Shop's website don't exactly look like the same material because the photos show it in a bag and only a few colors, but the Kick Boat n' Cast fly leaves no doubt for me.

Apparently Jay Fair has passed away but his brother continues to market the materials. They were developed for flies to fish Eagle Lake in NE California.

If I wasn't so obsessive, I probably would have tied some balanced leech patterns with Simi Seal, Angora Goat or some other material, but I got stuck on having the exact stuff my fly was tied with.

Thanks for posting the tying video. I will use it for the fine points of tying these balanced leeches after my mystery material arrives.

 

[sparsegraystubble]

I went to the big fly shop in my area, Jimmy's All Season Angler in Idaho Falls this week, and the helpful younger guy working in there knew right away what my mystery material is. He couldn't remember the exact name, but said it was Jay Fair's, and something like "Kick n Cast." He also said they couldn't get it because the distribution is limited. There is no Jay Fair "Kick n' Cast" material but there is a leech pattern called "JFG Kick Boat n' Cast", that's for sale at The Fly Shop. That fly is basically my balanced leech on a conventional hook. The recipe says the body is Jay Fair's Translucent Swimming Hackle. I ordered some from The Fly Shop in Redding, CA and I'm hoping it will arrive soon. The photos of the material on The Fly Shop's website don't exactly look like the same material because the photos show it in a bag and only a few colors, but the Kick Boat n' Cast fly leaves no doubt for me.

Apparently Jay Fair has passed away but his brother continues to market the materials. They were developed for flies to fish Eagle Lake in NE California.

If I wasn't so obsessive, I probably would have tied some balanced leech patterns with Simi Seal, Angora Goat or some other material, but I got stuck on having the exact stuff my fly was tied with.

Thanks for posting the tying video. I will use it for the fine points of tying these balanced leeches after my mystery material arrives.

Another good dubbing material for those leeches used to be made by a teacher in Rexburg. I think his name was Schlies or something like that. He had various colors specifically made for Henry’s Lake including a brown amber with some flash to make what the Henry’s Lake regulars used to call the California Leech. The fly was usually tied on #8 hooks and included a tail of orangish brown Maribou with copper Krystal Flash topping, shaggy dubbed body and a clump of pearl Krystal Flash at the head for a short wing.

Those were particularly good in the fall on Idaho lakes.

Don

 

[bumble54]

May be off the mark but it looks very much like those fluffy ball key ring holders that all the school kids around here seem to have attached to everything they own, a multitude of colours to choose from an they make excellent dubbing material, they lose plenty and I find them all the time when walking the dog and recycle them. The material they are made from shows as different colour's in different lights. one which appears red in sunlight can appear as magenta or slightly orange/red when viewed in subdued light.