Advice on Dubbing

fly fly
The bodies of many fly patterns are formed with a dubbing noodle twisted onto the fly-tying thread.

When I started to learn how to tie flies, I just used different chenilles and yarns for body material on all kinds of patterns, from dries to Woolly Buggers. I had no idea how to use dubbing or even what I would use it for. Then I met a local guide named Tom Peppas. He turned me on to the wonders and endless possibilities of using dubbing materials and the techniques needed to make a fly’s construction strong. Today, I use chenille and yarn on maybe only three or four of the patterns I tie.

The dictionary defines dubbing as a noun — a material used for the bodies of artificial fishing flies, especially fur or wool on waxed thread. I define dubbing as a verb — a way to open a world of creative possibilities.

Mix to Match

There are a lot of different kinds of dubbing materials available today, natural (fur and hair), synthetic, and blended, which is a combination of natural and synthetic materials. I did a quick internet search and found over 27 pages of different makers of dubbing in all types of materials and combinations of materials. You certainly could buy pretty much anything you might need to tie a particular pattern, but there’s really no need to make a trip to the fly shop or search the web for something that meets your needs. If you have a basic stock of the three kinds of dubbing materials in commonly used colors, you can mix up a dubbing that matches the pattern you’re tying or the bug you’re trying to imitate as well as or better than anything you can buy. When I make my own dubbing blends, I usually have a specific goal in mind. For example, the dubbing for a standard Hare’s Ear Nymph is fur cut from the mask of a natural brown rabbit and is blended with the guard hairs and body fur of the same rabbit. The result is a multihued material that mimics the multicolored appearance of a real nymph and that traps oxygen bubbles, giving the imitation the appearance of a nymph beginning the process of emergence. But a blended dubbing can enhance these characteristics, and that’s what I try to achieve. To the natural ingredients, I add other colors of rabbit fur or add muskrat fur and then sprinkle in some synthetics such as brown Antron fibers. The different colorations mimic the naturals better, and the muskrat fur gives the fly a different dynamic texture. This makes the fly look even more natural. Plus, when you blend your own dubbing mixes, you make a dubbing that only you have. When you hit the jackpot and land more fish than the next guy, you have an edge.

Blending dubbing materials is fun. When I blend different materials, I do it with a regular household blender. I prefer a large blender to the small coffee grinders that many tyers use to blend dubbing mixes, because I usually make large quantities of dubbing, and I do not want to overload the blender. Even with the big blender, I make smaller batches of the same dubbing and then mix all the batches together until I get the blended material I want. When I am done with the blend, I number it (I am currently on blend number 1,351) and record the recipe in a book of dubbing recipes that I keep. In the dubbing book I also record which fly or flies I am tying with the dubbing. I also keep a recipe book for all my flies. I started that book when I was 17.

The Basic Technique

Applying dubbing to tying thread is one of the basic fly-tying skills, something that fly tyers have been doing for centuries, but it’s surprising how often people are uncertain about how best to do it. The answer, as it so often is in fly tying, is that it depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.

The basic technique involves twisting the dubbing around the thread, then wrapping it on the hook shank. But in which direction should you twist it —clockwise or counterclockwise? And do you need to wax the thread to get the dubbing to stick?

The conventional wisdom, which reflects the basic dynamics of how a fly is tied, is that if you’re right-handed, you should twist the dubbing clockwise between your thumb and forefinger, because this puts the twist in the dubbing in the same direction as the twist being added to the thread as you wrap from the tail of the fly toward the head, resulting in a more tightly dubbed fly. Of course, lots of folks find it easier to dub in a counterclockwise direction, and their flies still catch fish. Also, a more loosely dubbed fly can have a buggier appearance, so it could be a technique you choose to use, even if you dub clockwise. One of the nice things about fly tying is that there are no hard-and-fast rules. That’s true for the use of dubbing wax, too. You can use it or not, depending on the materials involved (some dub easily, some don’t) and the effects you want to create. I usually don’t use dubbing wax on any of my dry-fly patterns, because it adds weight to the fly. I sometimes use it on nymphs, because it helps secure loosely dubbed and spiky materials. However, on smaller nymphs with very thin, tapered bodies, such as the Peaches and Cream Nymph, the bodies are so thin that dubbing wax can bulk up the body, throwing off the fly’s proportions. In any case, use as little as possible. It does bind the dubbing to the thread, but, if you use too much and leave your fly box in the truck in the heat, you may notice a film on your nymphs. That is the dubbing wax melting out of your flies.

You can use different dubbings to produce different effects. Poly dub makes thin bodies on dry flies, while hare’s ear dubbing makes a bulky body on nymph patterns. You can even use the basic dubbing technique to add “bling” behind the hackle on a soft-hackle fly without bulking up the body. You simply add dubbing wax to the thread (as little as possible) and then dab on some sparkly dubbing to make the thread fuzzy. Then simply turn the dubbing onto the hook shank while pulling the dubbing back to make a hackle halo. You don’t want to use a large amount of dubbing — just enough to give the fly a little accent. I usually use an all-synthetic dubbing such as Sparkle Dub, or I mix a custom Antron dubbing. I then tie on the traditional soft-hackle feather in front of the dubbing and make one turn, completing the fly.

Dubbing Loops

Using dubbing loops expands the things you can do and the effects you can create with dubbing. Dubbing loops add durability to a fly and allow other materials to be incorporated into the fly design and different effects to be produced. I usually use this technique while constructing furry bodies. You can also use it to make sparse bodies constructed of long fibers.

When you get to the point where you are ready to add your dubbing body material to the fly, simply pull a length of thread off the bobbin and grab it with your other hand, then wrap the thread back over the hook shank, around itself, and over the shank again, closing the loop, which is essential to securing materials inside it.

loop
A dubbing loop provides versatility in creating the character of a fly’s body.

Now, holding the dubbing loop open, you can place dubbing, heavy or sparse, between the two pieces of thread, stacking the dubbing from top to bottom until you have enough dubbing to construct a body. Replace your finger that’s holding the loop open with a dubbing twister tool, spin it clockwise until the loop is tight, then wrap the dubbing onto the hook shank. Usually, I pull the dubbing back toward the hook bend with each wrap. I wrap the dubbing loop tightly up the shank until I reach the tie-off point, tie it off, and trim off the remaining loop. For sparser flies such as Balanced Leeches, I use the same technique, but with only a small amount of dubbing inside the loop.

Once the body is secured and tied off, I pull the dubbing away from the hook using my index finger and my thumb, which removes any dubbing that is not fully secured. It also makes the fly sparser, allowing the material to better pulsate in the water. This is especially important in tying Balanced Leeches. Everything needs to breathe and pulsate to allow for movement while fishing the fly underneath an indicator.

I like to use dubbing loops when constructing Woolly Buggers, leech patterns, and many of the saltwater flies that I tie, such as the Casa Blanca Shrimp. I use a synthetic or a blended mix. There are lots of materials, such as Arizona Diamond Dubbing, Hareline’s Trilobal Dubbing, and J. Fair’s Seal Dubbing that I like to use on these types of flies.

Using the dubbing loop with wire or flash material to construct the core of a body adds even more detail and texture to your flies. This technique works only on flies with sparse bodies. On other flies, the core will be covered up. Before you make a dubbing loop, tie in the wire or flash material. The wire needs to be small-diameter or extra-small-diameter wire, because larger wire diameters will not twist nicely. You can use any color you like — I like using wire as an accent, so I usually use the color that would rib the fly in a normal situation. If you are using flash material for the core, my experience is that Krystal Flash works best. Once the core material is tied in, form a dubbing loop, following the same steps as above. Place some dubbing material between the two pieces of thread — sparse is best. Replace your index finger with your dubbing-loop tool and pull down the wire or flash material, pinning it with your thumb against the thread, then twist the tool as usual. The wire or the flash will twist into the dubbing loop. Wrap the dubbing loop onto the shank of the hook in tightly spaced turns, pulling back on the dubbing material toward the hook bend on each turn. Tie off and trim away any unused loop. Again, using your thumb and index finger, pull dubbing out to achieve the desired body characteristics.

Out of the Loop

Dubbing can be used anywhere on the construction of the fly. It’s just not a body material. I have used it as tails, wings, for simulating an egg sack on my Skwala stonefly pattern, and to make a yolk sack on alevin and shrimp patterns. I especially like using dubbing material as wings. On my favorite bass fly, Thurman’s Float-n-Fly (see the January/February 2021 issue of California Fly Fisher), Zack Thurman uses Hareline’s Trilobal Dubbing as the underwing to form the coloration of the shad imitation underneath a translucent natural mallard flank feather. To create an egg ball on a Skwala, I just add a sparse amount of peacock-colored Hareline Ice Dub — the Skwala egg sack is greenish black. I work the material into a small ball by wrapping it onto itself. To create the yolk sack on the alevin patterns, I tie on a chunk of Hareline’s Trilobal Dubbing in orange as a lower wing, then simply fold the dubbing material forward, capturing it with the thread to form a bubble of dubbing. It results in a yolk sack that is translucent, like the alevin’s natural yolk sack.

Dubbing may be a basic tying tech- nique, but the possibilities it opens up are limited only by your imagination. How you do it and what you do it with can bring to life a wide variety of creations for all kinds of fly-fishing situations. 

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