Joe Ackourey's Fur Blend Dubbings

S

Skook

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Apr 24, 2014
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Other than speaking with him a few times at fly fishing/tying shows, I have no affiliation with Joe Ackourey. If anyone is in need of dubbing, please do yourself a favor and consider checking out his fur blends, which are available on his website.

I use the hare's ear fur blends most often, and Joe's dubbing is the best I have used.

Joe is a great guy to talk to, and he is located in PA, so it is a nice bonus to be able to support a local fly tyer AND receive a fantastic product at the same time.
 
He now has a YouTube channel where he puts up instructional fly tying videos on a weekly basis. Lots of meat & potatoes style patterns tied using tried and true traditional methods and materials.
 
link?
 
I’m a fan of Joe Ackourey’s dubbing fur blends as well as his Comparadun deer hair too. IMO his material selection is pretty good quality stuff. The only time I’ve ever bought anything from him was when I watched him tie and chatted with him at his booth at the Lancaster Fly Fishing Show several years ago.
 
I have a dozen or so kinds and colors of his dubbing, and a couple patches of his comparadun deer hair. I’m not as enthusiast as you. They are certainly nice products, but not that much nicer than some other sources of dubbing, they cost more and at least for his comparadun deer hair I got a pretty small piece for the price.

Here’s some of Ackourey’s dubbing that I have. The top 4 rows are his dubbing, and the bottom 2 rows are Hare-Tron dubbing. Ackourney’s cost $6.00 each. The Hare-Tron costs anywhere from $2.50 to $4.00 each depending on where you buy it.

IMG_4781.jpeg
 
mt_flyfisher said:
I’m not as enthusiast as you. They are certainly nice products, but not that much nicer than some other sources of dubbing, they cost more and at least for his comparadun deer hair I got a pretty small piece for the price.
Click to expand...

I respect your opinion. I would be curious to see what the cress bug in George Daniel's video above would look like tied with Hare-Tron versus Joe's dubbing. All other things being equal, my guess is Joe's dubbing would make for a nicer fly. And, if it did make for a nicer looking fly, I would rather spend $6.00 on dubbing to tie perhaps a few dozen flies that I was pleased with instead of $3.00 for a few dozen flies that were just okay.

Would fish be able to tell the difference? Probably not, but I can. I don't mind spending a few extra dollars for a quality product crafted by a local fly fisherman right here in PA. If I were tying flies by the dozens for profit, I would probably feel differently.
 
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@Skook

thanks for the link
 
Neither of the two pictures on the video title frame is what he ties. The one on the left looks more like a scud and the one on the right looks like Humphries version. Sorry my bad. I watched the video and it was the next video title frame that popped up!
 
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Skook said:
I respect your opinion. I would be curious to see what the cress bug in George Daniel's video above would look like tied with Hare-Tron versus Joe's dubbing. All other things being equal, my guess is Joe's dubbing would make for a nicer fly. And, if it did make for a nicer looking fly, I would rather spend $6.00 on dubbing to tie perhaps a few dozen flies that I was pleased with instead of $3.00 for a few dozen flies that were just okay.

Would fish be able to tell the difference? Probably not, but I can. I don't mind spending a few extra dollars for a quality product crafted by a local fly fisherman right here in PA. If I were tying flies by the dozens for profit, I would probably feel differently.
Click to expand...

Ackourey’s Hare’s Ear dubbing is spikey with lots of guard hairs in it, which is the type of dubbing you’d want to tie the cress bug shown in Daniel’s video. Hare-Tron dubbing does not have lots of guard hairs in it.

The other dubbing of Ackourey’s that I have is labeled as “natural fur”, which appears to be rabbit fur, but without all of the guard hairs. Hare-Tron is also rabbit fur dubbing but with a bit of Antron mixed in which adds some sparkle. Other than the Antron, there are some differences in the dubbing color choices offered but there does not appear to be much difference between the 2 in the quality of the dubbing itself.

I’m not intending to knock Ackourey's dubbing, because it is nice. However, in my opinion, it’s also more expensive than some other brands of dubbing of equal quality that are available. I believe the same is true for his deer hair - nice quality, but a very small sized piece for the price (4 sq inches for $5).
 
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The deer hair patch is on the small side. But finding good deer is hit and miss. Mostly miss especially for fine hair for smaller dry flies. At the Fly Tying Symposium I bought a patch of Dik Dik that works well. Nice fine hair
 
It's all a matter of prospective. Kinda you do you sort of thing. I have been blending my own dubbing lately and do not consider myself enough of an expert to say which brand is better or worse. When I fly fish in enjoy catching trout. Better yet if I catch them on a fly that I tied; up a notch if I customized it to my style and home run if I blended the dubbing, created the tails, posts and wings from non-conventional sources and started with white thread that I custom colored with alcohol markers. I won't criticize the beer, wine or beer that you drink as long as you offer me a pull!
 
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