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My first attempt with deer hair

3K views 49 replies 17 participants last post by  Shawn West 
#1 ·
Ive been tying for a long time but have always avoided any fly that required spun deer hair.

Recently Ive had the urge to play with it for some ling cod flies. I like the big profile head, and the thought of fishing a fly that wont sink like a rock down some ledges and things.

So here is my first attempt. Not the prettiest thing in the world but I dont think a ling will care.

Hair Wood Sports equipment Bicycle handlebar Tool
 
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#2 ·
Looks great! I only have one suggestion. Try to tie back the stacked tips with a small piece of wire after you tie them in. Then you can cut all the butts that are left without worry about hitting the tips. Then when you release the tips it will form a very nice collar. I don't usually bother, but give it a try and see if it is worth the effort in your opinion.
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the tip, Ill definitely give it a try! It didnt take me long into this one to start thinking of some way to do almost exactly what you're describing.
Ill definitely never be a deer hair spinning whiz, but the nice thing about ling cod is they are quite forgiving on those little details.
 
#5 ·
Yep, UV white and bleeding red SF blend, along with hot orange deadly dazzle.

Ive never used deer hair on sub surface flies, but reading some of Smalma's posts lately where he talks about fishing similar flies where he can more slowly fish them down rock walls and ledges has had me thinking of a few particular spots.

30' of T17 should have little trouble getting this thing down, and I can picture being able to flutter it down some rock faces where it could be effective. We'll see.

I actually just picked up a selection of colors to tie some versions leaning towards greenling and black rockfish colors so playing with that will be next.

Nice, I see that Farrar blend in there.

Tie up a black rock fish fly, big lings love them.

Also deer hair is hollow and floats so remember that when tying sub-surface flies.
 
#9 ·
Nick that fly is going to slay them. Tip with stacking is get a pin and take out the bottom and you got a nice pusher to push back the hair
 
#13 ·
You put the fly inside of the pen or small tube and it pushes the hair back. Resulting in a tighter denser clump of hair.
 
#16 ·
Nick that fly is going to slay them. Tip with stacking is get a pin and take out the bottom and you got a nice pusher to push back the hair
Pen..
I do that same thing. In fact that's what I suggested McNasty do when we were camping and he was complaining of loose stacking.
 
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#18 ·
Nice!! Now let's see the balanced version . . .and your 12wt indicator setup:cool:
Nope, balance patterns will need weight at the front, deer hair would mess it all up. Now the other patterns he tied up last year, those would work. Oh man I would love to set up on that take down.

Nick, you could use your water bottle trick as an indicator, that little one you used last year.
 
#22 ·
#29 ·
Nick, your first deer hair flies are miles ahead of my first attempts with it. I think they will all catch fish. I have caught lings and pike on flies that were absolutely torn to shreds. It seemed that the more battered the fly got, the better they liked it.

I agree with everyone tips, especially the double sided razor blade. Packing the spun hair is crucial for a well tied, good looking fly. Despite all of the new synthetics out today, I just haven't found anything that can set a good streamer off like a well tied spun deer hair head. One thing I didn't see mentioned was a catch basin or garbage can under the vise. Second thing, is to brush off after trimming before traipsing through the house. My wife is really cool about most things, but a trail of deer hair through the living room kind of sets her off.

I tied this guy up for a pike fishing trip to Canada. It worked amazing.
 

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#30 ·
What an awesome mouse pattern! That kind of skill with deer hair truly amazes me. I have a hard enough time trying to stack three or four good clumps for a head.

I definitely plan to try using a blade one of these days. The nice thing about ling flies is that pretty doesn't matter much, but for my own sake I still want em to look half way decent.

Im excited to get these out on the water and see how they perform
 
#33 ·
What an awesome mouse pattern! That kind of skill with deer hair truly amazes me. I have a hard enough time trying to stack three or four good clumps for a head.

I definitely plan to try using a blade one of these days. The nice thing about ling flies is that pretty doesn't matter much, but for my own sake I still want em to look half way decent.

Im excited to get these out on the water and see how they perform
I've been breaking the blades in half, so it only has one sharp edge. Once you have one in hand, all you have to do is fold it over and it snaps. This also makes the blade easier to flex in a curve to trim. There are some great videos on the net.

Much faster and easier than scissors - bumped the quality of my deer hair flies considerably.
 
#34 ·
Nick...if you will be attending the Albany show in March, stop by my table(49) and say hello. I will gladly show you what I can to assist with tying hair bugs. I plan on having an extra vise handy for folks wanting to give it a try. By the way, your flies look great.

Reagards

Shawn
 
#35 ·
I learned to hate spinning deer hair when I was into tying Muddler Minnows. While I managed to tie acceptable flies, it is not not a technique I prefer. I didn't have the patience to tightly pack the deer hair before I trimmed it. My deer hair poppers sucked so much that I switched to preformed hard bodies.

So my hat is certainly off to you guys who are good at trimming deer hair. I never really got the hang of it and hated all the hair clippings that ended up everywhere.

May the mess be with you :)
 
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