Wool

[Otter]

I see various people using carded wool stock on some flies. Obviously from a tiers viewpoint, its simple to use, wrap and go. From a human perspective, it produces very pleasing flies to our eyes. It however perplexes me a little. Wool is a material that has been readily available for a very long time yet has largely been ignored in fly tying as a dubbing material. Okay you got some dubbing blends that call for sheep tups wool, angora mohair is mentioned occasionally.

For something that is cheap and readily available in every colour known to man it is not very popular as a dubbing which would suggest that it does not have the properties that make it very useful in tying.

Any thoughts or opinions on this ?

[Mataura mayfly]

I would disagree, at least with a lot of traditional NZ patterns. A lot of our historic patterns, especially larger wet flies and lures (streamers to most here) call for bodies of wool- usually wool yarn wrapped as a strand of yarn around the hook shank rather than dubbed.
Most of the Matuku, Pukeko and Killer style lures are specifically this type of body style and they are very well proven fish takers with both Rainbow and Brown trout. Parsons Glory is perhaps the most well known of such ties internationally.
Why? Because NZ pattern developers turned to what was available in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Shipping of fly orders from the "old country" of England were both costly and lengthy in time as everything came to the new colony via steamship and took months to arrive versus the hours of modern international air travel. Wool was readily available, locally grown (we used to be famous as only having a population of 2-3 million people and over 60 million sheep!). Silk was not only expensive in comparison, but extremely hard to find- still is, fly fishing here is/was very much a blue collar sport, one which put a meal on the table rather than just for pure enjoyment and those that partook in the sport were middle of the road of incomes, not landed gentry entitled or invited to fish stretches of old well known trout filled chalkstreams dressed in finest tweed with ghillies at foot. So the flies they developed and used often copied the old ties of "home" in colours, but were made of materials close to hand and easy on the wallet.

[DOUGSDEN]

Otter,
Yes, I agree with you on many of your points about wool. I recently tied some flies using some fine wool blends from both Ruard and Bill Shuck. This stuff was amazing! Up to this point, I had not used wool much as a dubbing but I am now considering using it more often because of it's wonderful versatility! Oh no! More materials in an already overstuffed closet of tying materials in the den. Avalanche!!!
I also have some different wools given to me by Ray "letumgo" Tucker and William Anderson that orig. came from Jeff "Mataura Mayfly" last year at Roscoe. They are amazing as well! I think it's time to get them out and get to spinning! I am blessed indeed!
Good thread Otter!
Dougsden

[CM_Stewart]

From my perspective, it very definitely has properties that make it extremely useful as a dubbing material.
1). It is cheap
2). It is readily accessable in every color known to man
3). It is very easy to use
4). It is very durable
5). Flies tied with it are extremely effective

I truly suspect that at least three out of those five reasons contribute to it not being more popular. It is seen as too easy, too utilitarian, completely lacking in the "eye of newt" mystique that has kept the Tups Indispensible closer to being the Tups Unobtainable, and thus the Tups Desirable. Truly, if the Tups had called for white yarn, with just a bit of yellow and red added to the mix, it would be 95% as effective and 5% as popular.

My best suggestion is to try it for yourself. You may try it and then stop using it, but if so it will be because you miss getting the perfect dubbing blend of exotic materials, not because you're not catching fish.

[Otter]

I would disagree, at least with a lot of traditional NZ patterns. A lot of our historic patterns, especially larger wet flies and lures (streamers to most here) call for bodies of wool- usually wool yarn wrapped as a strand of yarn around the hook shank rather than dubbed.
Most of the Matuku, Pukeko and Killer style lures are specifically this type of body style and they are very well proven fish takers with both Rainbow and Brown trout. Parsons Glory is perhaps the most well known of such ties internationally.
Why? Because NZ pattern developers turned to what was available in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Shipping of fly orders from the "old country" of England were both costly and lengthy in time as everything came to the new colony via steamship and took months to arrive versus the hours of modern international air travel. Wool was readily available, locally grown (we used to be famous as only having a population of 2-3 million people and over 60 million sheep!). Silk was not only expensive in comparison, but extremely hard to find- still is, fly fishing here is/was very much a blue collar sport, one which put a meal on the table rather than just for pure enjoyment and those that partook in the sport were middle of the road of incomes, not landed gentry entitled or invited to fish stretches of old well known trout filled chalkstreams dressed in finest tweed with ghillies at foot. So the flies they developed and used often copied the old ties of "home" in colours, but were made of materials close to hand and easy on the wallet.

I take your point re Lures and the influence of the tweeds - but there are a lot of sheep grazing on the bogs around the irish lakes , yet seals fur is the defacto dubbing of choice for irish wet flies.

Do many NZ nymphs etc.. utilise wool much.

But the question still remains, why is it not used more as a dubbing material - surely theres more to it than , What HO, cast a sheep onto the chalkstream , my God what next, democracy by God.

Crap, posted this before CM's reply, so currently two responses blame the fashion industry and that wool aint posh enough.

The reason I made this post is that I have on the floor of my tying room a selection of 100% pure wool carpet samples, in various shades of tan/fawn and even one black - I pinched some of the black sample and was pleasantly surprised to find that it had a nice orangeish hue as against the greyish blue hue that I do not like in black dubbing.

In order to save face from being called a snob, to-night I am going to do a bit of carpet theft and blending and tie up a few early season nypmhs that match the hares ear ones that I normally use. This will tell if the tiers are being snobbish or the trout are being snobbish.

[wayneb]

I think the reason you don't see wool as a commercial dubbing blend is two fold. One, it has too much of a blue collar image and two, anyone can easily make their own.

That said, I really like using wool as a body material. My tie in the Tips swap used a wool yarn blend that Letumgo first posted here. I also purchased a lot of the wool yarns Chris Stewart sells and really enjoy tying wool yarn bodied flies with it and similar products such as the material William Anderson shared. The wool yarns that are blends make very realistic bodies with their multiple color compositions.

I consider wool to be a really underutilized material in fly tying.

Wayneb

[Old Hat]

I use wool in a few forms and have within the last couple years begun to use it more and more with honestly no less or more noticeable catch from patterns with it. Although it is easier on the pocket book. Wool comes in different textures based on type, area where taken and species of origin. It can also be prepared to give different textures. I have used pure mohair for years and love it. It is extremely strong, fine, and has a great natural sheen to it. I also use a locally dyed wool that has been prepared for felting purposes. It has the texture and strength of seal, however it does lack the sheen. It is 1/20 the cost and dubs beautifully.

I do have to comment that there are those materials in fly fishing that just have certain properties that just stand out by themselves. Seal is one of them. I think if you tried to compare every dubbing to seal your inventory of dubbing materials would dwindle, the fly shops would be in harms way, and all seals would be endangered throughout the world. I will also say that, I have seal, I have used seal for years, seal has certain tested properties that make it a standout material for fly fishing, seal doesn't catch any more fish for me than the fly tied with a hares mask.

In a world where things are readily quite easily obtained, we can play with the exotic and the new. The wool in your backyard is often overlooked.

[Mike Connor]

Some wool is absolutely first class, some is not so good and some is terrible. There are a lot of various wools. Blends of wool and fur can be very good indeed. As with many things you need to do the research to find what you need or what will work. Wool is only really another distinct type of fur with some special properties. Mohair is very good indeed for a number of things as are some other wools. You have to try them out to find out what works.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wool

[letumgo]

In my personnal opinion, wool has simply fallen out of fashion, in other words it has become the "sideburns and bell bottoms" of the fly tying materials. As and engineer, I have never been one to worry about fashion (ask my wife and friends ), so when I started playing around with wool yarn, I found it to be an extreemely useful and effective material. I've used it as tags, body material for streamers, steelhead patterns, and most recently as a source of cheap dubbing (slash entertainment). Having fished with wool bodied flies, I can tell you that they are both effective, and very durable (hopefully I can give more examples, this supporting photos, this evening).

If you ask me, wool yarn is a highly undervalued material. I am sold on it's benefits, whether it is fashionable or not.

Norman - Great post! Interesting question, which will surely stimulate discussion. This is the kind of post that makes me feel like we are gathered together at a local pub, enjoying a good debate, while sharing a few pints. As Hans often says, Cheers!

[hankaye]

Otter, Howdy;

Good to see you posting again ...

Looks as if you have dipped your paddle into the waters and are busy
stirring up the pot once again... by asking a wonderful question to
be tossed back and forth.
Mike C. is on to something, IMO, in that wool is only the called wool from
fur of a select few animals with a longer staple length then others. Why not
just call it Sheep fur???

hank