What is your least favourite material to work with?

[Loopy]

Mine is cdc - it gets everywhere!

:)

[cutthroatking]

Goose biot tails and wings!!!Can't keep the damn thing straight.
john

[Dustin Bise]

thread

[Steven Green]

I hate tying with mono. It slides all around the hook. Not worth it most of the time.

[david.schepers]

I hate tieing parachuttes with hi vize, or any parachutte for that matter.

[Allison]

Flexi Floss.:beathead:

[Capt. Awesome]

Certain types of dubbing that resist binding together.

"Fine and dry"-style of dubbing is just fine (e.g. the kind that is wispy but still relatively dense), but other types-- like with certain types of hare's ear, for example, I feel I waste more dubbing with it because equal parts of it end of floating away or speading out across my desk then are actually caught in the dubbing loop, or adhere to the wax. Like I said before, some blends of rabbit fur are okay, but most aren't. Angora is another one that tends to float away on me.

CDC is an interesting one. I think that CDC is pretty easy to work with, but then again it just might be my luck. I feel that when you're tying with CDC- when making wings, for example- it is harder to screw up with CDC then when using something like elk hair, where you have to use a stacker and then bind it just right. On the flip, side I completely understand why some don't like working with it due to the fragility, etc.

Come to think of, I despise working with epoxy. DESPISE it. I'll use it when I have to, but I have to be in the right frame of mind to do it. It just never seems to set up the way I want it to. Consequently, most of the time I use UV Knot Sense with a thin topping layer of clear nail polish for copper johns and other similar patterns.

[fly punk]

I'd like to second the Biots.

[flytire]

maribou!

it flies all over the place and the dye gets all over your hands.

[1morecast]

Deer hair!! Shaping bombers, I end up with deer hair every where!

[twinlakesleach]

Biots. Can't ever seem to keep the damn things straight!

[Eric Tarcha]

picric acid :)

[tkww]

Deer (and elk), followed by biots. Nothing else comes close for me.

With deer and elk, it's always a struggle between securing it enough, managing flare, and managing bulk. For biots, it's always flexibility vs rib/no-rib, or in the case of tails, getting them to split nicely. I still can't tie two of them in at once, which makes it pretty time consuming.

[luv2fly2]

i have a hard time dubbing except the noodle. so dubbing with seal or camel is tough. mike w

[Matt Burke]

Nylon Stockings. Damn women keep slipping out of it.

[Ethan G.]

Deer hair!! Shaping bombers, I end up with deer hair every where!

iagree Same.

[gigharborflyfisher]

Deer hair especially when spinning it... It just always seems like a pain in the butt...

[koja48]

Being as my old eyes are 60+, hooks smaller than size 18 . . .

[Jerry Daschofsky]

Deer Hair and marabou. Not the actual tying with it, the frigging mess it makes. Tying in the bou' is a piece of cake for me. It's the extra pieces floating all over that drives me nuts. Spinning and stacking deer hair is a breeze too. It's the trimming that sucks, again small pieces all over the place.

[kosel80]

I hate tieing parachuttes with hi vize, or any parachutte for that matter.

iagree

[koja48]

It's the trimming that sucks,

So, tie a batch of flies, then go out to the shop/garage/elsewhere, fire-up the shop vac, disconnect the hose, and trim away. I availed myself of a vac at the car wash 2 years ago when I ran low on Goddard Caddis patterns back home . . . saved messing up my niece's retirement home, I didn't have to vacuum, gave me an excuse to hose-down the Jeep, and cooled me off in the process. Remember, where there's a will, there's relatives, I mean, there's a way . . . :D

jim

[Mumbles]

My fingers are my least favorite material to tie with, but I'm stuck with them I guess.

[Cameron Derbyshire]

Marrying single goose and turkey fibers in married wings!!

[Richard]

Nylon Stockings. Damn women keep slipping out of it.

iagree

Winner! LOL!!

[James Daly]

GP Tail.

[David Dalan]

GP tippet for tails and any married wing material other than Goose to Goose.

[Jake Bannon]

Man I cant believe all the haters of marabough and deer hair.....those two are my favorite to work with. However my least would probley be dubbing......cant properly twist it onto my thread.

[Flyborg]

I can never get rubber legs to go the direction I want them.

[reamse]

Krystal Flash...

When you try and spin it then palmer it on. Also, I swear each strand is a different length straight out of the bag.

Also Filaplume breaks every two seconds.

[reamse]

Being as my old eyes are 60+, hooks smaller than size 18 . . .

Oh yeah, I second that.

I'm only 23 and can't see them...Not to mention my gorilla hands.

[koja48]

Tied some 24s years ago for a guy from New York. Kept a few for myself & fished the Upper Big Hole River with them one evening. Grayling would come up every time. Finally hooked one & when my buddy asked "How did you figure that out? I replied, "Waited until he passed it & hooked him in the butt . . . "

[Dr Bob]

Least favorite materials are:

Like others have mentioned, deer hair on spun deer hair flies. I like the spinning and trimming but not the mess.

Any body material that is slippery and does not adhere to the hook or itself like stands of krystal flash or floss. The body of these flies are lumpy and uneven.

Peacock herl that breaks easy.

Bad beer.

Dr Bob :beer2:

[David Dalan]

I can never get rubber legs to go the direction I want them.

I know you didn't ask...but try this...

Wrap some thread down the shank of the hook (get it anchored). Get a long, single piece of rubber. Use the longest length you can.

Fold the rubber over the hook and pull down (so half is on one side and half is on the other and you have the ends pinched between your thumb and finger of one hand. The rubber should make a 90 degree angle with the hook.


Pull down so the rubber is good and tight. Now with the free hand wrap thread over the rubber. More wraps will give a rearward angle, less more lateral. Either way, when it is sitting the way you like, simply cut the rubber to length (pinching with thumb and fingers the whole time). You get well attached, very springy and symmetrical (mostly) legs.

[luv2fly2]

dubbing with camel hair. for me seal is no fun either. mike w

[Flyborg]

I know you didn't ask...but try this...

Wrap some thread down the shank of the hook (get it anchored). Get a long, single piece of rubber. Use the longest length you can.

Fold the rubber over the hook and pull down (so half is on one side and half is on the other and you have the ends pinched between your thumb and finger of one hand. The rubber should make a 90 degree angle with the hook.


Pull down so the rubber is good and tight. Now with the free hand wrap thread over the rubber. More wraps will give a rearward angle, less more lateral. Either way, when it is sitting the way you like, simply cut the rubber to length (pinching with thumb and fingers the whole time). You get well attached, very springy and symmetrical (mostly) legs.

Thanks, I'll give it a shot! Need to tie some steelie nymphs soon :)

[Jeremy Floyd]

For those of you with dubbing problems, you may want to try using a dubbing loop. Dubbing any material went from being a huge pain, to super easy after about 5 minutes of reading.

I dont even use a dubbing loop tool. Instead I have a 9/0 hook (from halibut season) that I use to spin it up and hold tension.

[Jim Wallace]

Anything in the key of F flat. i just cant seem to hit it.:hmmm: