In this article we try to explain the usage of the basic dubbing materials.
The term "DUBBING" is used for fly tying materials used to make of artificial flies, which means thoroughly mixed blends of natural fur and synthetic hairs and materials of all kinds of colors and structures! Natural dubbings are most often used for naturally occurring bodies of artificial flies, from synthetic or brightly colored dubbings we can tie the highlighting elements of the flies that act as a trigger point for fish! Of course dubbings can be combined and blended together to achieve original blends and, thanks to these dubbings, we can tie very effective artificial fly patterns for all possible fly fishing disciplines!
NATURAL DUBBINGS
Hare Dubbing: The fur from the Hare is characterized by medium coarse, which makes this tying material great dubbing for bodies of river and still water nymphs, wet flies and also dry flies! The color of this natural and also well-available material is not clear and specific as other dubbing mixtures, but it is precisely why this tying material is interesting for the fly tiers! The rough and dark fibers very reliably imitate the legs and other parts of imitated insects. Dubbing from the Hare is obtained mainly from his body fur, which is not as harsh as we are used in a mixture of the "Hare Mask" type or the very well known "Hare Ears". Therefore, it is very well applied on the tying thread and is a universal dubbing for all kinds of flies.
Rabbit Fur Dubbing: Rabbit Fur Dubbing is one of the finest materials that makes it work very well, which is its undisputed advantage! Another plus is its good availability, so its very cheap. dubbing mixture Thanks to its easy dyeability it comes in a wide variety of color shades. To increase the efficiency of flies from this material, it is advisable to add a small amount of coarse or synthetic glossy materials, such as Spectra Dubbing, Microflash Dubbing, Metallic Dubbing or Gleamy Dubbing. The fine structure and good water absorption makes it an excellent dubbing especially for nymphs, wet flies and small and medium sized trout streamers!
Muskrat Dubbing: Muskrat Dubbing is a unique, superfine dubbing material that makes it possible to build heavy leaded nymphs extremely thin, which is great because the fish worse accept chuby flies! Fish prefer much more subtle and thin types of flies. This dubbing material is therefore highly suited for nymphs designed to shy and spooky grayling or careful trout. Thin types of flies are great to low and extremely clear water, where each fly must act as naturally as possible! Another indisputable advantage is the origin of this material - Muskrat is an animal living in the water. It is generally known that the fly tying material and fur from aquatic animals are more natural in water - the refraction of light, the binding of air bubbles, etc., against to terrestrial animals. This dubbing is available in a very short stack of individual fibers.
Opossum Dubbing: A mixture of American Opossum is a medium-coarse type of natural dubbing that is particularly suited for tying bodies of river and lake nymphs and wet flies. Thanks to the medium coarse hair of fur, it can also be used as an alternative to seal fur for finer chironomids and buzzer flies, which are then very useful when fishing still water trout. This material is fly tier-friendly on the thread, because it is not so tough and unattractive as the already mentioned seal fur dubbing. The American Opposum mixture consists from fine undercoat fur fibers and coarser fibers. Flies with bodies from this type of material will have the correct and naturaly shape. It is an indispensable dubbing material that is very natural and attractive for fish in water.
Seals Fur Dubbing: The gloss and translucence of the coarse seals fur, resulting in literally the brightness of the flies, make this fly tying material absolutely exceptional and hard to overcome and replaceable. Without seal dubbing, we can hardly imagine important patterns of still water flies, such as Chironomids, Buzzers, various types of natural nymphs, wet flies as Bibio, Zulu, or dry flies like Hoppers and Emergers. Seals fur can be mixed with other natural or synthetic materials, making it a very attractive effect for fish. Adding a small amount of seal dubbing to conventional dubbing materials gives us very effective and original mictures. With the coarse and hardly adaptable seals fur, it is more difficult to work because it does not hold tightly on the tying thread, but it defeats this handicap by features on our flies. Because it is a material especially suitable for still water flies, the main colors are black, olive, claret, orange, chartreuse or sunburst!
American Squirrel Dubbing: Excellent mixture of medium coarse natural dubbing from American Squirrels fur. Squirrel fur contains a coarser undercoat and tougher fur fibers, which creates a unique structure that is great for river nymphs, wet flies, but also still water chironomids, emergers, and sub-surface fly patterns with which are superb for residential rainbow and brown trout from reservoirs.
Deer Hair Dubbing: This dubbing is very special, and because of its high coarseness and poor adaptability of the individual fibers of the winter hollow deer fur is used exclusively for dubbing into the loop! This mixture, available exclusively in natural colors, is best suited for making credible body of Peeping Caddis patterns, bodies of larger dry flies and Goddard Sedge style caddis, or for heads of Muddler Minnow trout streamer! The dry flies tied with the body of this dubbing are unsinkable and excellent for the purpose of dry fly fishing for big trout or chub!
Czech Nymph Dubbing: Czech Nymph Dubbing is a great and very versatile natural dubbing material usable for all types of nymphs and wet flies, although its main use is to tying the original Czech Nymph patterns! This dubbing is unique in its extensive color range and its structure, which is achieved by using several natural fur mixture that have been mixed in a blend of very fine undercoat and coarser fibers of individual furs. This makes it very easy to process this material when you tying artificial flies. This dubbing is very well applied on the tying thread, which it holds on thread without any problems and the resulting impression on our fly is perfectly airy and natural, which is a basic factor for fish!
Blend Dubbing: Blend Dubbing is a combination of several natural furs that carry the main color shade and dense structure. Add-on that enriches this micture uses synthetic dubbing with high iridescent shine. These glossy fibers have a decisive influence on the effectiveness of flies tied with this material. This is a fine type of dubbing, therefore it is more suitable for river flies such as Czech Nymphs, modern wet flies, pupas or dry fly caddis patterns. This material is also suitable for tying trout streamers!
SYNTHETIC DUBBINGS
Antron Dubbing: Antron is a versatile synthetic dubbing material that is suited for body of mayflies, pupae, nymphs, but is also a favorite material for tying fine and small trout or perch streamers. Antron can be used alone or even in dubbing mixtures with other synthetic or natural materials, which will provide interesting effects. In the water it works naturally due to its transparency and another advantage is that it does not change the color.
Gleamy Dubbing: Gleamy Dubbing is an interesting synthetic material with its characteristics very close to the natural seals fur, which is quite exceptional among the natural dubbing materials and it is absolutely irreplaceable for many flies - especially still water patterns. Gleamy Dubbing has been developed to replace seals fur, which is often poorly available and also, thanks to its origin, much more expensive than its synthetic alternative. The advantage of Gleamy Dubbing is its high gloss, a wide range of colors, and more importantly - working with it is much easier than tying with a true natural seals fur that is less customizable on the tying thread! Thanks to all these features, Gleamy Dubbing is great for still water nymphs, wet flies, chironomids, buzzers, lures and streamers, as well as sea shrimps for sea trout fishing!
Spectra Dubbing: Spectra Dubbing is a great and irreplaceable synthetic dubbing material with high iridescent shine. Even a very small amount of this material significantly influences the effectiveness of our flies. Spectra Dubbing is good to add to common, especially natural dubbings, or we can use it separately as distinctive starters in the form of "hearts" and the thorax of all kinds of nymphs and still water lures, or the colorful buts of caddis dry flies. In short, it is an ideal fly tying and very distinctive material for making all kinds of trigger points. We can also replace some natural materials, such as peacock herls!
Microflash Dubbing: This is the finest of dubbing of a similar type, ie dubbings with a high iridescent shine. Microflash Dubbing is therefore very suitable for the smallest and the finest species of flies, which are currently very popular both in fishing of careful and shy fish, but also in trout fishing on still waters. Microflash Dubbing is good to add to common, especially natural dubbings, or we can use it separately as distinctive trigger points in the form of "hearts" and the thorax of all kinds of nymphs and lake lures, or the colorful buts of caddis dry flies.
UV-ICE Dubbing: UV ICE Dubbing is another very fine dubbing material with high ultraviolet iridescent shine. Glossy fibers in this blend significantly influence the efficiency of flies, and even a small amount of this material that we add to common - especially natural - dubbings has a decisive impact on the attractiveness of our flies! Thanks to these features, UV ICE Dubbing is therefore an ideal material for tying all kinds of trigger points, such as the distinctive "hearts" of Czech Nymphs, thoraxes of tungsten and traditionally tied nymphs or bodies of wet flies or still water lures. We can use this dubbing either individually or mixed with other types of natural or synthetic mixtures to achieve a very interesting effect. The "airy" structure of this dubbing expands the use of this mixture to the fly tying of river and lake patterns of artificial flies!
Superfine Dubbing: Very fine synthetic dubbing suitable for making bodies of all types of flies. Interesting effects will be achieved by mixing this synthetic material with natural dubbings. We also increase the effectiveness of flies tied from this material by adding a small amount of such as Spectra, Holographic or Metalic Dubbing. Excellent superfine and very airy mixture designed especially for tying Czech Nymphs!
Metalic Dubbing: Metalic Dubbing is made of fine metallic filaments. It is particularly suited for blending into common natural and less pronounced furs, thus providing materials that increase the effectiveness of our flies, for example, in mudy water or freshly stocked fish that want more distinctive fly patterns. We can also use it as a separate fly tying material, such as dubbing, for the production of heads of wet flies, bodies of nymphs and trout or smaller predatory streamers.
Holographic Dubbing: Unique synthetic material made from the finest holographic foil. They are basically very thin tinsels. Holographic Dubbing is ideal for mixture with some natural or less distinctive materials to increase their efficiency. We can also use it as a separate fly tying material great for making bodies of streamers, glossy and shiny nymphs, heads of wet flies or many other parts of all types of artificial flies!
