Dyed deer hair

[Traditionalist]

The links you gave above Mike - on last year's forum pike outing Paulr tied and brought some of those "Gurglers". They work well.

Yep, good for seatrout and other stuff as well.

TL
MC

[Wildfisher]

giving a light grey-almost white- colour which I dont much like.

I know what you mean. You could  use a permanent marker pen to darken it though. I have a  set of them in various colours, although I must admit they don't see much use.

[Traditionalist]

Just by the way, I use that balloon caddis on an ST mostly but it will doubtless work just as well on a WF or a DT. 

TL
MC

[Wildfisher]

Just by the way, I use that balloon caddis on an ST mostly but it will doubtless work just as well on a WF or a DT. 

:lol:

[Robbie]

I like Wapsi dyed brown body hair for muddler heads.

After going through Mike's links it was the Wapsi body hair I was thinking of trying,  Their Premo strips also looked like a good option but probably more hair than I need and more difficult to source.

[Traditionalist]

After going through Mike's links it was the Wapsi body hair I was thinking of trying,  Their Premo strips also looked like a good option but probably more hair than I need and more difficult to source.

That is your best choice for smaller spun deer hair flies and heads. For larger flies the belly hair is better.

I have never tried their Premo strips but I have quite a large selection of stuff from Wapsi and it is all good and suitable for the purposes they recommend.

As deergravy pointed out, selecting deer hair for various purposes is an art in itself.

TL
MC

[Robbie]

I have a couple of patches of deer belly hair, I feel it is quite coarse and as you say suited to larger flies.  Unfortunately I will probably have to rely on mail order when I buy some.

[Traditionalist]

I have a couple of patches of deer belly hair, I feel it is quite coarse and as you say suited to larger flies.  Unfortunately I will probably have to rely on mail order when I buy some.

The "quality" of various deer hair ( as relevant to flydressing) varies a very great deal.  I still have a few whole skins which I selected myself. I would send you some, but it is likely to cost more than it is worth to guarantee receipt. The only sensible option from here to the UK is to use a carrier, and that costs 20 Euros even for small stuff.

I know one or two people here had some stuff they were occasionally giving away to forum members, ( I believe the Fachan had a few skins?), maybe they can get you a good piece?

It is easy enough to dye, but of course you can only dye dark hair a darker colour. For bright colours you need white hair. It can be bleached and then dyed but in my experience bleached hair is inferior, it goes brittle and falls to bits much faster than unbleached hair.

Of course you need to factor the cost of dyeing in as well. It is rarely worth it for small amounts of stuff. Cheaper and easier to buy it.

If you are happy with natural hair, ( you can colour it up using a generous application of marker) then this is usually pretty good and Steve will sort out exactly what you want if you tell him what you want it for;

http://www.cookshill-flytying.co.uk/hair.htm

Steve Cooper 
t:    01782 388382
m:    07932 653492
e:    cookshillft@aol.com

If you should decide to dye any, ( as opposed to using marker, which is cheaper and quicker and works on finished flies), then cut it into strips before you put it in the dye pot. This makes it a lot easier to work with.  Hot dyeing makes the skin go very brittle and the larger pieces are then much harder to use.

TL
MC

[Darwin]

I found this one while looking for a new caddis pattern.  I would guess some of you know it and maybe the creator, Chris Sanford http://www.fishingclass.co.uk/siteimages/bullet.jpg  I like this one a great deal and will also try in on Kamasan B100 & 170.   

[Traditionalist]

I found this one while looking for a new caddis pattern.  I would guess some of you know it and maybe the creator, Chris Sanford http://www.fishingclass.co.uk/siteimages/bullet.jpg  I like this one a great deal and will also try in on Kamasan B100 & 170.   

Works well but it is a bit of a bugger sizing the deer hair to begin with. This works better and is a bit easier than just using deer hair;

http://northcountryangler.blogspot.de/2009/12/roman-mosers-balloon-caddis.html

The Balloon Caddis

You can get the polycelon foam here;

http://www.celticflycraft.co.uk/acatalog/Hends_Polycelon.html

http://www.irishflytying.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=604&category_id=6&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=68&vmcchk=1&Itemid=68

but I have used various types successfully.