Tailing

[jayL]

What do you all like to use for tailing your dry flies? Why?

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Depends - no, not the adult diapers. :lol:

Depends on the pattern, and the size of the fly. Micro-fibbetts for the smaller stuff, hackle fibers for the medium size stuff, and moose body hair for drakes. Sometimes I use a clump of material I normally use for the small stuff on a bigger fly, and split it evenly to help float the fly. Sometimes the pattern calls for a shuck immitating type of material, like Z-lon.

I like the looks of the fibbetts on smaller flies, but individual fibers don't look proportional on bigger flies. I used to obsess over 2 or three fibbetts split perfectly, depending on the real bug, but I don't think the fish can count. I'm more concerned with how the fly rides on the surface with the tail of choice.

One thing I was taught though, is to keep the tailing material fairly sparse. Too thick of a tail, and it just makes the body look too long to match the size of the bug.

 

[MKern]

I like micro fibets, but will use hackle fibers.

Micro Fibets (2-3) split on my parachutes just looks good.

 

[jayL]

Microfibbetts-

Have you found that their stiffness causes missed fish?

I admittedly have no reason or rhyme to my dry fly tying. I despise it, but want to get better. Tailing's always been a question mark.

 

[littlelehigh]

MikeyB had a post on here a few months ago with pictures of his dries with moose body hair as the tails. Don't they break after a fish or 2 changing the way the fly floats?


After reading Mike Heck's book I started using antron for most of my low riding flies (comparadun, etc) and done ok when I used them.

 

[MKern]

Jay: "Microfibbetts-

Have you found that their stiffness causes missed fish?"

NOpe, just and increase in hook-ups. Probably from presentation improvement, as well has realism on the water.

 

[sandfly]

hackle, deer, microfibbets, ultra hair, moose, any thing that will keep the butt afloat works.

 

[troutslammer]

deer hair is cheap and floats well , works good on parachute posts too

 

[blueheron]

I use microfibbets on almost all sizes except for bushy types, wulffs and such, on those I use moose mane. The microfibbets seem to present better in the film and there's nothing stiffer in such a small diameter.

 

[RLeep2]

I only tie about 6 different dries that require a tail. For sulfurs and olives regardless of fly style (comparadun, thorax, parachute, whatever, I use hackle fibers. For all Adams, darker Wulff style flies, hare's ear parachutes and virtually everything else in the darker half of the spectrum, I use moose body.

Moose makes a quick, durable tail that lays flat and floats well. And you only need 4-5 hairs.

 

[Fredrick]

I use antron

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Fredrick wrote:
I use antron dipped in Yum.

Afish was right. :-D

 

[dryflyguy]

I tied all mine with divided microfibbetts

Can't ever recall missing fish - at least that I could blame on the tail materiel

 

[sandfly]

camel hair works great to, ah I know where do ya get camel hair, paint brushes, or keep a camel spider around and shave it once a month. just don't own a small dog....but keep a lot of hamsters for it...

 

[afishinado]

The upper hackles on a quality dry fly neck usually have some decent hackles, also you'll find some on a good quality saddle too. Micro-fibbets or paint brush bristles for smaller flies or flies with split tails, deer or moose hair for larger flies.

 

[Fredrick]

Heritage-Angler wrote:

Fredrick wrote:
I use antron dipped in Yum.

Afish was right. :-D

Ed don't give them all my secretes . I tried yum on bass flies once when I first made the jump over to fly fishing and IMHO it didn't make any difference .

 

[DGC]

If a mayfly pattern, I like Mongoose guard hair. Limited color but very nice. Not sure if this is still available as I stocked up years ago via Hook and Hackle Co. Curiously, I have not tried woodchuck guard hair which I would think is similar.

Otherwise have also used all the standards--rooster hackle, deer or elk hair, mink tail guard hair, moose mane and fibbetts depending on the pattern.

 

[wetfly1]

jayL wrote:
What do you all like to use for tailing your dry flies? Why?

I use moose body alot... not as brittle as moose mane can be. Micro-fibbets as well; Great Feathers flyshop has some great spade-hackle packs that are awesome for tailing fibers too, but my favorite has to be the moose. I don't know, but my thought is that a darker tail provides an easier to see profile when viewed from below.

 

[tomgamber]

I use micro fibbets but the paintbrush idea sound good if they taper properly...

 

[afishinado]

tomgamber wrote:
I use micro fibbets but the paintbrush idea sound good if they taper properly...

Tom is right, not all paint brushes are created equal. Some are camel hair (like artist type brushes) some are synthetic (usually the cheaper ones). To make good tails they should have a fine taper to them. Unfortunately it seems the most expensive brushes are usually the best. One brush would be a lifetime supply of tails. What I usually do is "harvest" some bristles from my paint brushes, but still use them for painting. I tie some tying thread around the butts to keep them in bunches.