"The Dope on Dubbing" by Allan Fife

At one of the Club's winter fly tying sessions, some time was spent discussing the collection, preparation, and purchase of dubbing materials. Murray Lane asked me if I would be willing to provide a written summary of how I go about acquiring dubbing materials and what qualities I look for in the same; the following is an attempted response to Murray's request.

As a general rule dubbing material used for tying nymphs should be relatively coarse, short-fibred, and produce a "spiky" fly, while that used for dubbing the bodies of dry flies should be finer and produce a smooth fly body. The rationale is that in nymphs we are often trying to give an impression of the legs and gills of mayfly nymphs, while the stages of mayflies which we often attempt to imitate with our dry flies lack gills. Another general rule is that "the proof is in the dubbing." I hope the meaning of this phrase will become more apparent in the following paragraphs.

I have a strong bias towards dubbing mixtures dominated by fur, rather than synthetics fibres. I find natural fibres both easier to work with and more aesthetically pleasing. Part of the reason for this is that most synthetics are very long and smooth fibres which are difficult to dub. And, of course, many natural fibres can be gathered at no cost, while synthetics rarely come without a price tag attached. There is a satisfaction to be gained from converting roadkill or the results of a successful shooting trip into high-quality fly-tying materials.

I have been collecting fly tying materials on-and-off since I was a teenager. The number of mammal species represented in my stash of dubbing materials would populate a respectable zoo and include hare, rabbit, opossum, wallaby, seal, beaver, and squirrel. The last is a special favourite of mine, but it generally hard to acquire in NZ. Fox, ferret, stoat, bobcat, calf, mink, and a few furs I cannot identify are also represented.

All natural furs have two distinct kinds of hair: the softer "underfur" and the generally longer and coarse "guard hairs". Fur anatomy is discussed in many books on fly tying, and is of more that academic interest when one starts converting a patch of hide into useful dubbing.

We often refer to a "Hare's Ear Dubbing Mix". In general this is a dubbing mix with a large fraction of guard hairs and with a texture similar to the hair on a hare's mask. Surprisingly, hare's masks actually yield a only moderate amount of good quality material and it can be tricky clipping the appropriate fur from the mask. The commercially prepared mask I am looking at while I write has the most suitable fur in the lore and forehead areas. The hair on the ears of this specimen is actually too short to be easily removed and that on the cheek area looks too soft and long to be of much use. I guess hares vary a lot. Better to obtain a complete hare cape from a hunter friend or from the roadside and give it a "hare cut." Usually the fur on the shoulders is a good texture and much more abundant than that on the mask. By shearing off the fur about a centimetre above the skin, you can produce a pile of fur which is predominantly guard hair. If you get greedy and cut too close to the skin you get too much underfur, and this results in an end product which is too soft to tie convincingly "buggy" nymphs. Settle for a smaller volume of the higher quality material.

You can often do a similar clip of a rabbit skin (being even more careful to avoid the abundant underfur) and get a similar end product. Rabbits, however, have generally softer fur, so this a bit harder. I suspect some commercially prepared "HE Mixtures" are actually prepared from rabbits.

If you get your hands on a tanned grey squirrel skin (the ones I have had were Eastern American Grey Squirrel), you have a supply of the best "HE dubbing" imaginable. You can shear virtually the entire skin without any concern for how much underfur you are removing. In my opinion squirrel fur makes the best dubbing for "Hare Ears." I also like wallaby fur, but find it needs to be chopped up manually before blending. I am less keen on opossum because of its long fibres and coarse texture. However, having said this, I have recently discovered that some of the longer-fibred furs that I had stored on "the back shelf" for several years give better results in producing "dubbing ropes" using Alan Davies' little machine than the shorter-haired mixes I use routinely. The moral here is don't throw away second grade material--you'll probably find it useful some day!

Whatever fur I am using, unless it is commercially prepared, I put it into a ziplock bag and leave it in the freezer for two weeks to kill any parasites. I have known some wives who object to this but honestly don't understand why, provided the bag is tightly sealed. I also wash my hands thoroughly after handling any roadkill and I wouldn't touch one if I had any cuts on my hands.

Nearly all the commercial "HE mixtures" available locally contain too much underfur for my liking. The one exception is the Squirrel Dubbing Mix marketed by Tight Lines. Although I think different packages/batches of this product vary slightly in texture, they are generally very good and come in a useful range of colours. I never purchase ANY dubbing mixture without opening the packet--usually with permission of the store owner--and rubbing a portion between my fingers. I have never been refused when I have asked if I could do this. If you are refused permission you're in the wrong store.

But I'll assume you're preparing your own.... Having removed the fur from your Hare/Rabbit/squirrel/whatever hide, the resultant pile of fur will be quite uneven in texture, and hence difficult to work with. It is best to homogenize the fur, and maybe blend it with other fibres (perhaps including a fraction of synthetic ones) before attaching it to a hook. For this purpose, invest in a small electric coffee grinder. These can sometimes be found in garage sales for a few dollars. At whatever cost, get one. A few seconds in a coffee grinder will increase the volume and thoroughly homogenize the fur. I have known some fly tiers to grind fur in the family's "kitchen whiz", but some of them are no longer married.

Some tiers suggest you wet the fur before grinding it. I have tried this and recommend strongly against it. There is no real advantage and you are unable to determine the colour or texture of the resultant mixture until it has dried. When I am blending fur I am usually doing so with a specific fly in mind, and I want to use it immediately!

Furs of various textures, lengths, and colours can be combined in endless varieties using your coffee grinder. And here I will return to the subject of synthetic fibres. With rare exceptions, I don't use synthetics in unmixed form for the reasons given above. But they are usually more lustrous than natural hair and it is this quality that makes them particularly useful to the tier. The most commonly available are (1) fine fibres marketed under names such as "Fine & Dry" (Orvis), "Superfine," and "Ultimate Dub," (2) a medium textured & lustrous fibre called Antron, and (3) very glittery mylar fibres marketed as "Brite-Lite" or "Glister". There is also a product called "Paxton's Buggy Nymph" marketed by Umpqua which I think is a just coarser form of Antron. There are heaps of others, but most approximate one of the above categories. Generally synthetics are harder to dub than fur. Because most are long fibres, it often helps to manually chop them into shorter segments before blending. I grind all of the above into mixtures of natural furs, mostly to give the mixture more lustre or glitter, but also to modify texture.

So far I have focussed on producing "buggy" dubbing mixtures, mostly for use on nymphs. There remains the question of dubbing material for dry fly bodies, like that of an Adams. Here the tier's objective is to produce a smooth, finely textured body. In the northern hemisphere, furs such as beaver, muskrat, otter, and mole are used for such purposes. John Gierach presents an amusing discussion of whether the fur from aquatic mammals produce fur better suited to dry flies, due to natural water-repelling qualities, than do dry land mammals like rabbits. He concludes, and I agree with him, that such assumptions are akin to witchcraft. On the practical side, there are lots of rabbits in NZ, but muskrat and beaver are rather hard to acquire. So, this is where the underfur of that rabbit (not hare) skin comes into play. After you have already clipped away all of the guard hairs (which you use for nymphs), there will about a centimetre of fine, dark grey, soft underfur remaining. Give the rabbit skin a second clip, cutting as close to the skin as you can. Run this through your grinder and you will have an excellent material for making Adams bodies. You will find this material dubs far more easily than your "HE mixture." You can easily add some synthetic fibre to suit your needs.

All fur can be dyed, and I am surprised that more fly tiers do not dye their own. "Dylon" from the chemist shop works well for me. Generally, fur is best dyed when still attached to the skin. White fur, such as that from domesticated rabbits, is fun to work with as you can easily obtain brightly coloured material which can be used as is, or blended. (Any offers of geriatric pet rabbits would be gratefully received!) Mixtures of many coloured fibres produce a more pleasing and effective flyBthink of the multi-hued hackle of a well-tied Adams!

One fur that I have not mentioned is wool. Raw wool is no fun to work with. In yarn form it is easier to use and you can get some pretty nice colours and textures by hanging around the knitting shops. However, in my experience, wool really does soak up water, and it is therefore a poor material to use in dry flies. And it cannot easily give the same "buggy" appearance of a dubbed fur body on a nymph. To my mind wool yarns are mostly of use when tying lures or traditional wet flies...and I personally don't tie many of these. Leave wool to the knitters.

One fur that has a very distinctive character is seal fur. In general, seal fur is a lustrous, long-fibred, and wiry fur that is fairly difficult to dub. It is often called for in some attractor-style dry flies, such as Stimulators. I admit I have several colours, and I always buy more if I find it on the "Bargain Table" in tackle shops. Although it is not difficult to find locally, it is often expensive. And there is nothing magical about it. Many modern synthetic fibres such as Antron or the forementioned "Buggy Nymph" have a similar lustre and are, if anything, slightly easier to dub. I believe that some kinds of goat fur are similar in character to seal, but have never tried them. The message here is don't be afraid to substitute materials in fly "recipes". It is a very selective trout that will refuse a fly because it is tied with a common and inexpensive material of similar character to a rare and expensive one!

Still, collecting the rarer materials can be part of the fun of fly tying. Gierach's speculations on the merits of the foot hair of hares living on Colorado rock outcrops vrs those living in pine forest (in Sex, Death and Fly-fishing) are enjoyable to read and hint at some of the pleasure I derive from seeking out unusual fly tying materials. Personally I'd rather use a blended mixture of natural roadkill than Bloggs' Dry Fly Dubbing number 12 in my flies. Fortunately there is still a bit of witchcraft remaining in the craft of fly tying!