Off season tying ... snow bunny foot properties

On Jan 28, 11:36*am, "Tom Littleton" wrote:

texture that can be pulled off and used in small flies. Try tying a small
clump 'x' style like a spinner wing, and then clumping upright. This works
well on sizes 16 and down.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Tom


Except for a few early season insects, a 16 is about as big as I
normally fish. I think this may be why I bought the feet but
never did much with them. One was missing a small area or hair but I
don't have a memory of tying flies with it. The hair seems too
long for most wings I tie ( or way too difficult to work with at the
very tips )

I tried ( I think I read it right ) the blend and clump method on an
18 last night and ending up trimming back the fibers to a small enough
length. It seems this trimming works better than with many
materials and doesn't yield a product that looks un-natural. If
the fibers owe their float to hollowness, does cutting them reduce it?

As ( on the foot I've started on ) you work out from the skin under
the foot you have a dark gray area, then a lighter nearly white,
nicely transparent in places zone, and finally a crinkley section I'll
call stained looking in color. Does this entire fiber, three
distinct colors, have the same floating qualities?

That dark gray area nearest the skin brings some uses to mind, but it
also brings 'underfur' to mind and thus, sink like a rock.

I'm going to try tying a cripple ala Quigley with the stuff later.
Positioned so the dark section ends up representing the wing case and
the lighter the unfolding wing, it should look great ( at least in my
mind's eye ) and the stuff is lighter than deerhair and just might
produce better physical traits in the fly, too !! ( not that I
honestly believe M-any fish will notice the difference ... but
chucking out something I like does increase confidence and any angler
with much experience knows confidence is essential )


Oh, Tom, do YOU find the various colors useful?