Dubbing Question

[thebassman]

I was going to post this in the "what are you tying" thread, but had a question that I did not want to get the thread bogged down on.

Last night I sit down to tie a few flies before bed and tied a black and brown Gonga streamer on a sz2 hook. Felt good about myself then went to tie some nymphs. Then it got a little frustrating. lol

Two of the nymphs I used black thread along the shank of the hook with scud back material in caddis green to wrap up over it. Then I topped it off with some ice dub in black near the tungsten bead. These I feel okay about.

The next was supposed to be a tan ice dub body up to the bead with copper wire to segment it. I cannot seem to get body proportions right when it comes to dubbing. What is the rule of thumb you guys use when dubbing a body? I may be using to much dubbing which is why it seems to get thick fast. I have a few nymphs from lv2nymph (jack) and can see how his bodies taper up to the bead, but I just cant seem to get that nailed down. You you guys use dubbing loops or just twist the dubbing on the thread? Once you have it dubbed do you go back over the body with the thread to work the taper?? Basically what i am asking is to just teach me how to properly dub a body lol.

The other pic is of the very first nymphs I tied on size 10 jig hooks. I feel they are sloppy looking. It is different going from a box full of great looking flies because people who could really tie would tie them to a box with sloppy flies because I tie them....it is a work in progress.

 

[jeremymcon]

I know when I dub I often have to work back over a section I already went over with the dubbing to build it up a bit. I usually just twist the dubbing onto the thread. Sometimes it helps to give the dubbing "noodle" a few extra twists as you're wrapping it around the hook to keep everything neat. This can also help you to thin out the noodle a bit if you find its gotten too thick. It's a simple technique, but somehow when I was learning to tie I never thought much of it until I saw Davie McPhail doing it in one of his tying videos on YouTube.

 

[David]

Those will work just fine!

 

[dryflyguy]

Apply the dubbing to the thread very sparingly. By keeping it thin, you can wrap the body with a nice taper by - as mentioned above - working back over the section that you want to be thicker.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Hi Steven - This should keep you busy for a while. ;-)

http://ukflydressing.proboards.com/thread/4046#page=1

 

[gfen]

thebassman wrote:
What is the rule of thumb you guys use when dubbing a body? I may be using to much dubbing which is why it seems to get thick fast.

You can easily add more, but you can't easily take off what you already put on.

First, stop using black thread. The thread is supposed to be the colour of the fly, the dubbing just adds shading.

Next, take the amount that you think you should use. Look at it. Look really closely at it. Then, take half of it and throw it away. Now that you've done that, look closely at what's left in your fingers and think, "aha, this is absolutely enough, there's barely any here." Feel smug about how you know have the right amount of dubbing in your fingers and prepare to apply it to your thread.

Then throw 2/3rds of it away and apply what's left because you still had too much.

 

[dc410]

gfen absolutely nailed that one. Apply your dubbing very sparingly to the thread. It is very easy to go back over and apply more to achieve your desired taper, and the end result will look much better - at least to you. Sometimes I really feel the fish just really don't care. Good luck.

 

[lv2nymph]

Steve, ice dubbing tends to be on the "spongy" side and can be a little challenging to dub with. A little spit on the fingers or just a touch of wax ( a tiny little bit now) on the thread while twisting it on helps but in the end you've really got to put the squeeze on it to get it to behave like you want it too. If it want's to "spring" off the thread while wrapping back off a turn or two and twist her back on. Like above less is more, your ties are coming along nicely play with it I know you'll get it.