Making dubbing 101 a step-by-step by Doug Korn.

Making dubbing from yarn is easy using a coffee grinder.  Buy one just for making dubbing, they are cheap, about $15.  Experiment with different yarns yourself to find the right color, texture and float-ability desired for your fly tying needs.

Today's goal is to make an orange sulphur dubbing for dry flies.

Materials needed.  All you really need is a coffee grinder and some yarn...

I use a 12 inch board to measure my "parts".  

I cut one part of orange yarn and ten parts yellow. 

Then, cut the 11 pieces of yarn in 3/4 inch lengths or "bundles".

Keep the 3/4 inch bundles nicely lined up so that they can be added to the coffee grinder in the proper 1 to 10 ratio.  You will end up with about 15-16 bundles.

Add 3-4 bundles at one time to the grinder.  Turn it on and run it for about 20 seconds.  Grinding times will vary depending on your wool and the volume of yarn in the grinder. 

You should end up with dubbing that looks something like this, with color blending and texture consistent throughout the batch.  Safety Note: always unplug your grinder before putting your hands in it. Repeat the steps above with the remainder of your bundles.

You should end up with some nice orange sulphur dubbing.  Here is the orange sulphur compared to my standard sulphur dubbing.

If you get this - you haven't blended enough.  There is too much material in the grinder.  Remove some and grind some more.  Trial and error is necessary until you get a feel for how much material is too much.  Take notes on your dubbing blends so that you can repeat your recipes when needed.

As you can see here this batch needs a little more blending to be consistent throughout the blend.

Be careful though, too much grinding creates heat and the heat will melt and clump the yarn/dubbing.

I ended up making two batches of orange sulphur dubbing.  Above is the darker of the two.  This was 2 parts orange to 10 parts yellow.

The finished dubbing...  On the left 1 part orange to 10 parts yellow and on the right 2 parts orange to 10 parts yellow.

A Hunter's Breakfast...

My favorite.  Pan fried venison tenderloins, whole grain wheat toast and two eggs over easy, PRICELESS!

Opening Day Luck

I am happy to have taken this nice little buck on "Opening Day" here in NY.  This year I only had a buck tag and I will not be able to hunt the rest of the deer season due to knee surgery.

Some fine eating!

Bubble Back Nymph

step-by-step- Bubble Back Nymph - BWO

Here’s a great nymph to use in the film or slightly sub-surface.  I say that because the fly starts out as a trailer nymph up in the film, but after the first few fish beat it up it rides a bit lower in the water column.  It behaves very much like a Pogo Nymph, another favorite of mine in that when it swims in the water column it bounces and bobs-n-weaves all over the place and drives the trout "to the take"... 
Tie some up in the Mayfly colors you need to match the hatch.

This is my version of this nymph.  I've seen many nymphs featuring some kind of foam used as a shellback. But mine differs slightly, because it also uses the foam to form the head and the eyes of the nymph providing a little bit more floatation especially in the bigger fly sizes.

Materials list:

Bubble wrap for electronics:  This is the thin, tightly packed, small bubble wrap in Tan/Gray/Dun really nice stuff... cut a piece a little wider than the hook gap. 

Hook: Nymph 1xl size #12-20,

this is a #16.

Thread: Tan Serafil or Uni 6-8/0

Tail: Pheasant Tail

Body: Olive yellow dubbing

Legs/Thorax: Fox Squirrel dubbing

Shellback, head and eyes: Tan/Gray/Dun bubble wrap.

Step 1.) Start the thread on the hook behind the hook eye. Wrap back to the barb.

Step 2.) Tie in PT as the tail. Wrap thread back to the 60% spot on the shank. Trim waste PT.

Step 3.) Dub the thread.

Step 4.) Dub the body back to the 60% point on the shank.

Step 5.) Tie in the bubble wrap.

Step 6.) Dub the fox squirrel on the thread and wrap it forward to one hook eye behind the eye.

Step 7.) Pull the bubble wrap over the dubbing and tie down one hook eye behind the eye and then wind thread forward over the bubble wrap to the hook eye.

Step 8.) Pull and fold the bubble wrap back over thread wraps and tie down at the one hook eye behind the eye point.  This forms the head and eyes... nice hah!  Trim waste bubble wrap and whip finish behind the head.

Step 9.) Brush out the legs and trim them to length. Finished view - bottom.

 

Finished view - top.

Finished view - side.

Seek and Ye shall find...

About four years ago my fellow guide and fly tier Walter Wiese came across some "wood grain" 2mm tan and brown foam.  Wally tied some killer hopper patterns with this stuff and he gave me a sheet or two of it.  I have tied a bunch of my Wrapped Foam Hoppers with it but saved and guarded them for my own fishing.  That stuff is long gone!

Since then both Wally and I have kept our eyes open for "unique" fly tying foam.  Well the other day my wife had to stop in AC Moore and buy a few things so I went in with her just to check on the craft foam - Yeah baby, jack pot; Leopard Yellow, Tiger Orange and Zebra Pink....  I see Golden Stones, Salmon Flies and Pink Hoppers jumping out of these sheets of foam already.

Don't worry Wally, I got a couple of sheets of each for you.  I cleaned them out, buying all they had... I'll stop by today to see if they have any more...... as you might have guessed Wally and I tie a ton of flies!

Leopards and Tigers and Zebras, Oh my!

Just playing...

I just recently bought a new set of Jvice Pro-jaws with the Salmon Head and Goose Neck the other day. The new head design and tension adjustment is machined from white Ertalyte.  It's more stream line than the original head and it looks good too... But the proofs in the pudding, right? 

So the last few days I've been just playing around tying some flies and enjoying this new vise and the pro-jaws.  

these Pro-jaws will be great for tying smaller fly sizes...

Here's a close up of the Pro-jaws and the Salmon Head.

If your looking to upgrade your current fly tying vise and want the very best available today. IMHO you can't go wrong with a Jvice, they are top quality and precision made.  I've tied well over 20,000 flies on my Original Goose Neck Jvice with the standard jaws without a single failure or problem of any kind.  Jay also stands behind everything they make and you won't find better customer service if you ever do have a problem.  See it here: http://www.jvice.com/pages/ordering.html

Here's a few of the flies I tied today, just for fun!

Korn's WH (Wire Head) Turkey Tail Nymph

WH Pheasant Tail Emerger

BH Pheasant Tail - scud hook version

I intend to do a full review of this new Jvice Salmon Head and the ProJaws in the near future once I've really put it through it's paces doing some production tying.  But so far, I really like the new set-up... Stay tuned!

Fishing is about to change forever in Yellowstone National Park

If you care about the future of fishing in Yellowstone National Park you don't want to miss this fine article by Neil M. Travis on the Fly Anglers On Line website and forum.

see it here: http://www.flyanglersonline.com/articles/journal/2013/journal20130826.php

I believe the NPS efforts to "remove" all non-native fish in the park is just the first step. Once well underway they will move to eventually "eliminate" the "harassing" of fish (wildlife) in the park by anglers.

The top of the arch is inscribed with a quote from the Organic Act of 1872, the legislation which created Yellowstone, which reads "For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People." 

The management of the park by the NPS will continue to be an ongoing struggle for anglers for the foreseeable future, IMHO.... Doug Korn