Favorite Dubbing for Nymph Collars

[alanb_ct]

I have been tying a lot of flies with dubbing collars that I make via touch dubbing. I have been using fox squirrel dubbing, but am wondering what other favorites are out there. I am looking for good spiky blends in a variety of drab, spectrumized, natural colors (tan, black, brown, dark brown, amber and so on).

What do you like for a nymph collar?

[TexasChris]

For the spectrumized stuff I LOVE the kaufman slf. Every color they have is amazing.

[alanb_ct]

RL: thanks. Maybe this is what you meant, but I am looking specifically for dubbing to use in the collar application.

[TexasChris]

Yeah, I use it for all kinds of stuff, including collars. Have you played with any yet?

[alanb_ct]

RL: yes I use the Kauffman SLF extensively, but I am not sure it is the best stuff for this application. General Hare is pretty good, and of course you can shear and blend your own. On what flies do you tie nymph collars? I didn't know it was that common. Can you photograph some of your flies? Thanks.

[TexasChris]

Sure, I'll take some pics for you tonight. I've been putting dubbing collars on my woven nymphs and that's about it really. You're just talking about a touch dubbed ring of dubbing near the head of the fly right?

[alanb_ct]

RL: yes, where the fibers are swept back as you palmer the dubbing wraps near the head. Thanks.

[TexasChris]

I'll post some pics of what I've been doing tonight. Be warned though, my weaving doesn't look as good as yours! :-*

[kyle]

alain,

I blend almost all of my dubbing, it's really cool to be able to customize a batch of dubbing to your exact needs. I have been using (I'm still really experimenting with my nymphs right now) a blend of spikey hares dubbing, just mixed with a bit of ice dub (in a matching color) for a sparkle and using different colors of superfine to darken/lighten the tone of the dubbing. I've mostly used this sort of blend a lot for my nymph bodies but I'm sure something similar would work for collars too.

[alanb_ct]

kyle: I usually don't blend fine denier synthetics (superfine) with natural Hare. Blending the ice dub is terrific and I think is sort of becoming the standard way of doing things. I go through phases in my tying, but I always seem to come back to the purely natural dubbing fibers. I really like the line of Wapsi natural fibers.