Tying in Bulky materials.

[Malcolm]

We have some superb fly tiers on the forum and I have a question to ask. In my usual salmon and seatrout flies I like a very heavy "wing" of marabou. The problem is cutting off such an immense amount of material is really difficult. What I do is after tying it down I cut of as much as I can - and it still looks messy and intrudes on the eye - then I burn off, with a lighter, the extruding material before finishing off the head. Any better solutions?

[Traditionalist]

I find that a very sharp scalpel used in a sawing motion at an angle works fairly well although this is a problem with a lot of materials, especially incompressible materials like squirrel tail. Indeed, I had such problems with this on large flies using marabou ( turkey "marabou" to be precise, genuine marabou stork plumes are extremely rare),  that I went over to using arctic fox tail hair instead. I have not noticed any difference in the effectiveness of the flies and a beneficial side-effect is that they are also more durable.

One may also "stack" the marabou ( or hair) to avoid the bulking up. This basically means tying in smaller bunches in front of each other to build up the wing while avoiding the bulk at the tying-in point.

TL
MC

[Malcolm]

Thanks Mike,

Marabou has faults in that it is fragile and wraps around the hook but I like it because it is cheap and I can get it it any of the colours I want very easily. Other materials are expensive or don't really have the extreme mobility that I like for the way I fish.

[scotfly]

See if this helps.

http://www.wildfisher.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=16834.0

[garryh]

i must confess that i used marabou a lot when i used to fish loch leven all the time.
fachan,its deadly on trout flies tied in as tails or used as wings.loads of movement even on slow retrieves.the jungle cock viva should be banned :lol:
Malcolm the only advice i have about tying it in is to twist it into a shuttlecock and wet area you are going to tie in.marabou expands when wet, cut it as close as you can when wet and it will contract a little when it dries and be slightly neater at the cut.

cheers Garry

[bibio1]

Like deer hair I cut it before I tie it in much easier and less messy. You then trim the stub. As Garry says it is deadly. The humungus has done well for me as has the jcviva.

Cheers

Paul

[garryh]

Andy try a pinch of sunburst marabou as a tail on a kate mclaren,its been a reliable taker of fish on leven for years now.if you keep it as short as you would your normal floss tail it pulses when pulled .
Garry

[Wildfisher]

I went over to using arctic fox tail hair instead. I have not noticed any difference in the effectiveness of the flies and a beneficial side-effect is that they are also more durable.

Our guide mate John in New Zealand did the same and reckons it is vastly superior.

[Traditionalist]

Thanks Mike,

Marabou has faults in that it is fragile and wraps around the hook but I like it because it is cheap and I can get it it any of the colours I want very easily. Other materials are expensive or don't really have the extreme mobility that I like for the way I fish.

That happens with fox tail as well ( Wrapping around the hook).  But it is very durable, and not really expensive. I dye my own but you can get very reasonably priced packs;

http://www.foxy-tails.co.uk/category-14.html

I would certainly recommend you try it as a substitute and see how it works, you might be pleasantly surprised. I am satisfied that it actually works better than marabou on the  majority of such flies that I dress.  But that of course is subjective.  Make sure you get Arctic fox, other hair just does not have the same mobility ( or other properties). Icelandic sheep for instance, although it looks great on the bench, is absolutely terrible in water, it knots up, tangles up on itself. Quite a long time ago now I made the mistake of dyeing a whole skin in various colours without having tried the stuff out very extensively. After giving it a few tests,  I gave the whole lot away to a lady who was making dolls.

TL
MC

[Traditionalist]

Our guide mate John in New Zealand did the same and reckons it is vastly superior.

Actually I think so too. I have had some amazing days fishing in various Scandinavian lakes with  an Arctic fox wing "Sweeney Todd" streamer.  The brownies love it.  I just use Dick Walker's original pattern, but use the Arctic fox for the wing.

LS 8...4  hook
Black thread, silver or copper rib, magenta wool "thorax". Black Arctic fox wing. Crimson throat hackle.  I don't care whether the magenta wool is fluorescent or not ( original pattern called for fluorescent magenta floss), I have noticed no difference at all when the stuff is fluorescent. MOST IMPORTANT!!!   NO WEIGHT!!!! Fish on a floating or intermediate line,  slow pulls of a foot or so with a good pause in between.

This is more or less the original pattern;

http://www.fish4flies.com/Lures/Streamers_and_Bucktails/Sweeney_Todd

I assume it is taken as a leech.

TL
MC