Fishing The Fly Scotland Forum

Sandy Nelson

Saltwater hair
« on: 22/03/2009 at 07:39 »
HI guys

Looking to tie some tropical saltwater flies in the not to distant future, clousers, decievers, shrimps, polar style minnows etc

What type of hair is the best to get? I've been looking and there is quite a lot of types and styles about.

Polar fiber?,slinky fiber?, puglisi 3d fiber?, puglisi EP fibers?, Orvis super hair?, DNA frosty fish fiber?

They seem to be very similar, is it personal preference or just cost, or are there any real benefits to certain ones?

Cheers

Sandy

Ben Dixon

Re: Saltwater hair
« Reply #1 on: 22/03/2009 at 08:53 »
Hi Sandy,

I like the Super hair it holds its shape and does not mat & tangle like EP does, it is a crimped material.  Good in its own right and useful for supporting other materials such as EP.  I use EP quite a bit too and loads of krystal flash, have started to use Veniard UV straggle fritz in clear / pearl & silver for bodies, quite long so can be trimmed to provide a tapered support for wings and it much more resiliant than tinsel or mylar bodies.  Still using bucktail on decievers and clousers.

Cheers

Ben


Rob Brownfield

Re: Saltwater hair
« Reply #2 on: 22/03/2009 at 23:12 »
I guess it depends on what you want to tie with what...if that makes sense..

For example, i would not try and make a clouser using EP for example.

For me, I would make minnows/baitfish patterns from EP Fibres,  or DNA (Holofusion and frosty fibres). With EP its worth taking a toothbrush with you to give the fly a brush after a fish. Works wonders :)

Clousers I would stick with bucktail as they need a stiffer material to get the shape/taper. Anything soft tends to wrap around the hhok.

Deceivers can be tied with DNA Holofusion, but only in the smaller sizes, coz again, decievers need a material with a bit of stiffness to hold the shape.

Shrimps and crabs can be tied with EP's Shrimp Dub Brush or Streamer brush for bigger patterns. (EPs crabs and shrimps are amazing!!)

Also look at H2o's Slinky Fibres...a good bucktail sub.

Ep's Brush in the big sizes can be substituded for Bens idea for Stragle fritz in bigger sizes upto 4/0 maybe bigger.

As for super hair and the likes, I use it very very sparingly. It was a favourite material of mine for a while but I fished a water where I was getting knocks but no fish. Several times BIG perch followed the fly to the boat and it looked like the fish was hitting the fly from behind, but because the fibres are stiff, the fly was being pushed away from the Perchs mouth..if that makes sense. I much prefer a soft material for a baitfish pattern and there is a softer material available, very much like Superhair..and its called Unique hair. Finer and softer and great for Surf Candies etc. You can use it for Clousers as it can be tapered and does not stand so proud as superhair does.

PS..I am doing the same..accepted a new job so off to work in Brazil/Florida for a bit...oh..and Rosyth!!..;)

Sandy Nelson

Re: Saltwater hair
« Reply #3 on: 23/03/2009 at 06:51 »
..accepted a new job so off to work in Brazil/Florida for a bit...oh..and Rosyth!!..;)

nice one rob  :z16 will you get a chance to fish in Brazil? What will you be aiming for? What type of flies are you tying?

Thanks for the heads up with the fibers, worth getting a couple of bucktails then as well :z18

Cheers

Sandy

Rob Brownfield

Re: Saltwater hair
« Reply #4 on: 23/03/2009 at 13:00 »
Sandy, all the research on Rio seems to point to big game fishing. Marlin (Blue and white) seem to be the fish most mentioned..so no fly fishing chances there. However, there seems to be a lot of Tuna/Tunny available, plus many inshore fish that dont seem to have British names. Some right weird looking torpedos of fish :)

What interests me is the Peacock Bass inland though :)

As for Florida, seems Redfish are the big sporting fish round Fort Lauderdale, and baby Tarpon.

The flies I am tying will be mainly baitfish imitations with EP purely because they are quick and I can tie them up in all the colours under the rainbow :) Needless to say, some shrimpy/crabby flies will be included and I need to do some more research on what the Redfish like :)

Sandy Nelson

Re: Saltwater hair
« Reply #5 on: 03/04/2009 at 21:37 »
Got some polar fiber in various colours and some slinky too.

Been playing, heres my first attempt at a polar minnow style fry pattern, i think it looks not bad.
Great fun to tie these things too :z16



Must try some different colour combo's now :z7

Sandy

Iain Goolager

Re: Saltwater hair
« Reply #6 on: 04/04/2009 at 17:53 »
cracker!
Where did you buy your polar fibre?
Have Lakeland got more stock in ?

Iain

Barry Robertson

Re: Saltwater hair
« Reply #7 on: 04/04/2009 at 18:16 »
Very nice opening effort Sandy, what was that tied to fish for :?

sightbob

Re: Saltwater hair
« Reply #8 on: 04/04/2009 at 21:13 »
sandy
thought you might be interested in this sbs site, scroll down for saltwater flies.
 :z18
brian
http://www.flyforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=14091

Paul Rankine

Re: Saltwater hair
« Reply #9 on: 04/04/2009 at 22:42 »
Hi Sandy,
               Nice Striper fly there. I always add a touch of red around the gill area. Red pen stripe is ok or a bit of red flash helps a lot.

Paul.

Rob Brownfield

Re: Saltwater hair
« Reply #10 on: 06/04/2009 at 08:48 »
cracker!
Where did you buy your polar fibre?
Have Lakeland got more stock in ?

Iain

I am sure the Orvis shop has at the moment...

Rob Brownfield

Re: Saltwater hair
« Reply #11 on: 06/04/2009 at 08:55 »
Sandy,
What hook is that on? I am using the Varivas 2600's at the moment..love them! (In stainless steel with the V point!)

What is the head? Looks like Loon soft Head???

Some update on the fishing in Brazil :) A collegue of Cassie's is over from Rio just now and she has told me her father has a boat and likes to fish "sweetwater" (fresh water) and has promised me a trip out with him :) Not sure I will get the chance with the fly though as he tends to take catfish (Red Tailed) and Pacus..which are basically a vegitarian member of the Pirahna family!..Grow to about 15kg :)

Looks like my first trip is a little closer to home..Rosyth!  :shock Bass flies me thinks and a trip to the powerstation!!

Oh..nice fly by the way, agree with Paul...gills are a key strike point on predator flies, either pen, tufts or fluro red marabou, EP slinky fibre or for a bit of flash, red holo lurex, about 5 strands each side.

Sandy Nelson

Re: Saltwater hair
« Reply #12 on: 06/04/2009 at 09:33 »
Thanks for the comments

The hook is a Varivas 2600V, size 1, the head is straight epoxy.
I did think about gills after i had finished :z6, Next time :z16

I hope it will be good for Snapper and small barramundi. But at the moment i am just experimenting with styles. I'm sure i will learn more about the colours i'm gonna need later on :wink

I got the Polar fiber from Sportfish, a more limited selection of colours, but in stock and delivered next day. All i need is some Red, Fl.pink and Purple and i think i'm covered for quite a while :z18

Sandy

Rob Brownfield

Re: Saltwater hair
« Reply #13 on: 06/04/2009 at 13:17 »
Ahhh..good choice of hook :)..I presume its the standard hook then? The stainless one has an almost matt silver finish.

The head looked "cloudy" thats why I thought you may have gone for the "soft" head option. I tried a few soft heads for Pike..but rapidly worked out that "soft" and "teeth" dont go to well!!! The epoxy heads are heavier so I wanted something that stayed up in the water a bit better...

As for colours...been doing lots of research on that too...anything silver/white with either a chatreause, green or pale blue seems to be the opinion. Once you start trying to imitate specific types of fish a bit of biege and spots also come into the equation.

I have a jolly good patterns book you can borrow if you wish..around 1000 saltwater patterns :)

You MUST get some clousers in there too :)

Other hooks worth a look at are the Gamakatsu SC15, Mustard C70 SD and the Owner 5170 AKI (wickedly sharp..be warned..lol) I think Somers has the Partridge Sea Prince hooks in. These are ok for smaller patterns/clousers.

Have you any Holofusion/DNA material? You can tie stunning baitfish imitations from this stuff!

Sandy Nelson

Re: Saltwater hair
« Reply #14 on: 07/04/2009 at 08:50 »
Ahhh..good choice of hook :)..I presume its the standard hook then? The stainless one has an almost matt silver finish.

The head looked "cloudy" thats why I thought you may have gone for the "soft" head option. I tried a few soft heads for Pike..but rapidly worked out that "soft" and "teeth" dont go to well!!! The epoxy heads are heavier so I wanted something that stayed up in the water a bit better...

As for colours...been doing lots of research on that too...anything silver/white with either a chatreause, green or pale blue seems to be the opinion. Once you start trying to imitate specific types of fish a bit of biege and spots also come into the equation.

I have a jolly good patterns book you can borrow if you wish..around 1000 saltwater patterns :)

You MUST get some clousers in there too :)

Other hooks worth a look at are the Gamakatsu SC15, Mustard C70 SD and the Owner 5170 AKI (wickedly sharp..be warned..lol) I think Somers has the Partridge Sea Prince hooks in. These are ok for smaller patterns/clousers.

Have you any Holofusion/DNA material? You can tie stunning baitfish imitations from this stuff!

Rob

I got a copy of Bob Veverkas book, its a great source of ideas :z16.
The hook is the high power SS one in metallic black, very nice. I saw some of the Owner tri point hooks at Banff the other week, they were cool, but hard to source i the UK and NOT cheap
still well worth it though, i would imagine.
I have not got any holofusion or DNA, any suggestions for colours?
I'm going to make a few larger ones too for these  :wink

Cheers

Sandy

Noel Kelly

Re: Saltwater hair
« Reply #15 on: 07/04/2009 at 21:12 »
Hi Sandy
Planning a holiday somewhere exotic are we?

Rob Brownfield

Re: Saltwater hair
« Reply #16 on: 08/04/2009 at 08:53 »
Sandy,
Do you get those off of Peterhead Breakwater? ;)

Not seen the metalic black version..must do some investigation as I do like a black hook for more "natural" patterns and clear water.

As for the DNA stuff, I went for a white/pearl for the belly/sides of the fly and then beige or chateurse or blue for the back. The pearl and beige makes a stunning sandeel!!!

Its easy stuff to work with and then you just trim to shape with scissors. Tie it in the same you would EP fibre. I was adding a touch of super glue to each bunch as its slippy stuff.

It takes marker pen well so I did a few with "bunker" spots on them. Looks good..well to me anyway :)..and you can also add gills with a pen.

The DNA is also good for adding a bit of subtle flash to traditionals such as Deceivers.

Sandy Nelson

Re: Saltwater hair
« Reply #17 on: 08/04/2009 at 09:30 »
Hi Sandy
Planning a holiday somewhere exotic are we?


Something like that :wink

Sandy

 




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