Thread: To hackle or not to hackle

I'm not certain if you meant head dressing or for tails.

For tails, I use either saltwater neck hackle (SWNH), marabou or buck tail. I've never used dubbing. If you don't mind sharing, please post a few pics of your jigs.

All of these have been working great.

If it's working don't mess with it. I'm not a big hackle fan. That is some long bushy dubbing. I like it.

Most of the dubbing at Fly Tyers Dungeon is less than $1 a bag. A lot of them are UV treated as well. They really glow in the water and under lights at night. If it has Hot in the name it’s UV treated.

Man those really look buggy!! I like them a lot.
I use chenille, haven’t tried the dubbing.


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The best way to tie like this is my friends way called Rope Dubbing. I have lots of dubbing, but I still like the chenille and feathers best for what I do. I do want to do a lot more of the dunning ties as I have a lot of dubbing. Actually If I ever got away from chenille and feathers, it probably would be using Rabbit. It's more durable than either your way or the Chenille and Hackle way and has a lot of super action.

So using dubbing on jigs is something I started doing about 8 years ago, but I don't like the flash type as a tail! Even a marabou jig will out last a dubbing jig by a good bit I think! With dubbing there are a ton of options of materials and colors for sure because any kind of hair or fur is dubbing as so many things can be considered dubbing, even feather fluff will work as dubbing! Actually this kind of tying is something I have wanted to get more into for years now and the last year I have positioned myself to be able to duo a lot more of the Rope Dub tying which is a lot better than using a dubbing loop or any of the older ways.

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So far I have not used fur dubbing, all I have used is synthetic materials in varied lengths for the look I wanted. I also use some synthetic hair at times for tails. I looked up the rope dubbing technique. That is not an option for most of my work, most of the dubbing I am using is very short. I have tied some using feathers for the tail, the longer dubbing and flash combo's seem to be working better for me at the lake. (limited experience I admit) So far I have not had a fly come apart, I loose them in the brush before it can happen. When I tie a jig this is my order of operation:
1. Cover hook with thread front to back
2. Tie in tail material\
3. Make dubbing loop at the back and move tread to front
4. Apply super glue to thread front to back making sure tail is really covered
5. Spin dubbing material and rotate jig, palmering the dubbing back to front
6. Capture dubbing loop with thread and whip finish
7. Super glue thread

Saturday I decided to take some of my first ties apart, they did not look as good since I was still learning each jig. I had to use a sheetrock knife to remove the dubbing on most of them. The super glue makes a big difference.

Thanks for your input. I will make some more with feather tails to try out.

I have absolutely no experience with dubbing but I have a guy wanting me to make him a couple of dozen bluegill jigs so thinking this might be a better style. He wants floating or slow drop flys for them. Not sure what the rope dub is but I'll be checking out youtube.

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