Deer Hair!

[900fusion]

so ive stayed away from deer hair just because it just frustrates me. for some reason i have a hard time spinning it on the hook. but i think i found a solution. i went and picked me up a dubbing tool and gave it a try. well i can say im pretty stoked on the way it worked. Now i know its not a prize winning mouse but for the first time in my life of tying i was able to spin deer hair and have it actually resemble what i wanted it to be. still room for improvement. any tips any of you can throw my way will be greatly apreciated.
hell i just might leave it like it is simple and easy.

[Larry007]

The most important thing for me when I spin deer hair is packing it on the hook. The end product, after trimming will look a lot better and float nicely. I use a gutted out BIC pen to pack deer hair. Hope this helps.

-Larry

[bowdy15]

Throw a brown or white rabbit strip in for the tail maybe, other than that, deer hair sucks!!!:mad:

[George Riddle]

900,

When I started I too had issues with dear hair and the books trying to explain. Maybe because I am a visual learner or slow but after I had someone show me it was off to the races. I find that dear hair is easy and when I taught basic fly tying I would teach my students, mostly that have never tied before to spin dear hair. Your fly looks great and will fish well. The only issue is like Larry shared is packing or pushing the dear hair together on the shank of the hook to get it tightly packed together. Stop by any fly shop and they should be able to give you a quick tutorial (sp).

George

[cube01]

900, What are you using the dubbing tool for?

My main issue was not putting enough hair on the hook before spinning it - I was only using one clump on top of the hook, where I should have been tying in a clump on top of the shank and also on the bottom, THEN spinning it.
It was actually George who noticed and set me straight.

[bowdy15]

Agreed

What also helped me was putting the hair all around the shank rather than just on top, sort of slip to stack over the eye and into position on the shank where you want it.

900, What are you using the dubbing tool for?

My main issue was not putting enough hair on the hook before spinning it - I was only using one clump on top of the hook, where I should have been tying in a clump on top of the shank and also on the bottom, THEN spinning it.
It was actually George who noticed and set me straight.

[scott_rn]

I can spin it, but how I can't figure out how guys get clean, distinct lines between colors. Mine come out lookin' a little tye-dye.

I actually like foam and muskrat mice better, but I still spin deer hair for muddlers, wogs and the occasional bass popper.

[bowdy15]

I saw a youtube video once where a guy used a bic pen (mentioned before) and slid it over then end of the hook and covered the first set of spun hair then laid the next one in.

I can spin it, but how I can't figure out how guys get clean, distinct lines between colors. Mine come out lookin' a little tye-dye.

I actually like foam and muskrat mice better, but I still spin deer hair for muddlers, wogs and the occasional bass popper.

[900fusion]

900, What are you using the dubbing tool for?

My main issue was not putting enough hair on the hook before spinning it - I was only using one clump on top of the hook, where I should have been tying in a clump on top of the shank and also on the bottom, THEN spinning it.
It was actually George who noticed and set me straight.

I use it to spin the deer hair. I still have some practicing to do but from what I see it works pretty good, when wrapping the deer hair pull the hair to the back and continue trend until you get to the eye of the hook. basically your palmering it forward in tight wraps. here are a couple pics.

[900fusion]

Finished fly after trimming, i didnt spin enough so half way down i had to add more deer hair.

[Matt24]

I hated spinning and stacking hair when i first started trying it. Now its almost easy but still a messy process. One thing that helped me was just videos on the internet. Always make sure the hair is clean with no fuzzy stuff in there that will help you spin it. Your first wrap should be loose second should be just synching it down enough so it doesn't fall apart and third wrap pull it down tight if you do this right the hair should spin all the way around the hook and come back to where you first had it tied down. I use Gsp 100 for thread. Kelly galoups video of him tying the zoo cougar its long but is really useful video. Keep practicing too "practice makes perfect". Mouse looks great though!! i would fish it.
http://www.theweeklyfly.com/2009/08/...o-cougar-37-59

[scott_rn]

I saw a youtube video once where a guy used a bic pen (mentioned before) and slid it over then end of the hook and covered the first set of spun hair then laid the next one in.

Good to know, thanks bowdy. I guess it doesn't really apply to mice, but I always wanted to get better at spinning poppers. Instead I just made a bunch of heads out of wood or foam.

[cube01]

I use Gsp 100 for thread.

That's what I use as well... I'm not a huge fan of GSP, but I use it when I'm spinning deer hair - you can't beat it for that. It's strong and slick, just what you need.

[Matt24]

Yea you have to be careful what you use it for it will cut right through materials...