[Colin Davidson]

Hello again,

First up - many thanks for all the replies to my last post regarding the suspender buzzers, trying them all!

Here's another one thats bugging me... I have tried tying a few CDC buzzers and F-Flys, some float beautifully some sink no matter what, and some from each category actually catch fish but i have a couple of questions.

Does it matter about matching the colour of the CDC to the body of the fly? i.e does an olive cdc buzzer actually have to have olive coloured cdc

when tying with CDC do i take the strands of feather from the spine like i would with a marabou tail for instance or can i use four feathers together and just use the tops? < thats what i've been doing. And if i can use the tops is 4 feathers enough? If i shouldnt do it this way how big a pinch should i use? some flies seem to float for ages with quite a small amount of feather where-as some of the bought ones i see around the lochs are like shaving brushes but again they dont always float as i feel they should.

thanks again for the previous replies, looking forward to getting some tips on this issue as well.

Cheers

Colin.

[Sandy Nelson]

Interesting questions Colin

as a rule for f-fly type flies and buzzers I use the tips as you do, vary the quantity to suit the hook
16=3, 14= 4, 12= 5 and the like. I only ever use natural CDC it floats way better than dyed stuff
and I have never found a need for colour matching. Only time I use dyed CDC is for the CDC spiders when I spin the fibres in a dubbing loop but I use these because they stick in the surface or sink slowly.
Hook weight has a bearing on this too. With CDC I use light hooks like TMC 103 or partridge sld's
if I need heavier hooks then I tend to use snowshoe hare instead of cdc

twisting a CDC feather into a rope makes a good body too and can help to keep a dry
on the surface but I like my flies in the surface so mix it with very fine wire, makes it tough too.

It's good stuff, but I'd stick to natural colours if you want it to float,
it's worth paying for good stuff too, bennechi or petitjean

hope that helps

sandy

[Peter McCallum]

Try using snowshoe rabbit feet hair as a replacement for cdc, the stuff from the bottom of the foot. it's much harder wearing, you can give it a coating of floatant and it's naturally water repellant. rarely use cdc these days.

[Mike Barrio]

Where should we try to buy Snow Shoe Peter? Stuart gave me a fly made with this ages ago, or was it Kevin? anyway, I thought it was good stuff

Cheers
Mike

[Barry Robertson]

If i remember correctly Iain bought a couple of bits of snow shoe from the fly tek store at the game fare!
Try googling fly tek! 

[Barry Robertson]

http://flytek.co.uk/acatalog/Hair_and_Fur.html

scroll to the bottom of the page and it there 

[Mike Barrio]

Cheers Baz ..... and if not, I can always nick some from Iain

Mike

[Matt Henderson]

Baz,

Were there any stands that Iain didn't spend money at?

[Barry Robertson]

At the start of the day iain turned up with a ruck sack!
Turns out the rucksack was empty and his mission was to fill it 
He managed that and even had a polly bag to carry the stuff that wouldnt fit in the rucksack 

[Iain Goolager]

   whazup?
your carrier bags were filled at the food hall porky!
Mike,
I've natural, Olive & Brown snowshoe, I'll swing in by at the weekend and you can perform your topiary on them.

Iain

[Colin Davidson]

thanks again for the help guys,

got some natural CDC and snowshoe (creamy coloured) at glasgow angling centre, now all my flies are floating a little better using the feather to hooks ratio and some tips i got from Davie Mcpaill who was demonstrating i feel more confident when casting a dry wtih only one or two fish showing, didnt catch any tho, but still feel happier about it! 

cheers again

Colin

[Barry Robertson]

Iam going through bags of cdc like water just now, where is the best place for bulk bags, any ideas???

[Sandy Nelson]

Baz

I always got big bulk bags of very good CDC from Cookshill

I think it's www.cookshill-flytying.co.uk
 


sandy

[Robert MacDonald-Lewis]

Baz,

You could try Swiss CDC (http://www.swisscdc.com/home.html), look like they are more expensive that Cookshill but they are top notch.

Robbie