Preferred Silk

[ronl1]

Hi all,

I've been tying traditional spiders with Emhemera pure silk. Although it is a nice silk, it to me is like using 270 denier thread, which is not ideal on small hook sizes.

What silks do tyers out there like to use?

Cheers,
Ron

[FlyFisherMann1955]

Pearsall's is the long-time, traditional choice, but you have to have a stash since it's no longer produced. Kimono is very popular too and has many of the most used Pearsall's colors.

You can use the "search function" to read numerous posts comparing silk thread.

For example, look here:

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=8845

Ken

[sierraflyer]

I prefer Kimono, in fact, over Pearsall's. It's smooth, has a nice shine, and is reasonably priced given the state of prices everywhere.

It comes on large spools, which requires either respooling or a judicious bending of bobbins. BUT, and this is a very great thing, Magpie Materials has already respooled onto standard bobbins. Both Magpie and Tactical Fly Fisher carry the respools.

During your search of this site, you will find a very helpful conversion chart from Pearsall's to Kimono. Very good color matches.

I have and use YLI also. YLI also come on large spools and as yet no vendor is respooling them. There is a conversion chart in this forum by none other than Robert Smith that helps with matching. YLI is not quite up to Kimono, IMO, but it isn't as bad as...well, the others.

[FlyFisherMann1955]

Pearsall's Gossamer is getting harder and harder to find. Asking prices on the secondary market (often $25.00 per spool) are out of sight. Once in a while, you can find reasonable prices when someone is selling off their dead friend's 50-spool stash of Pearsall's!

Yes, Stephen Hankins (from Magpie) has re-spooled Kimono that will fit a standard fly tying bobbin and is available in the most popular soft hackle colors. In side-to-side comparisons with Pearsall's, it's hard to tell them apart. Stephen is super busy right now, as he and his wife welcomed their 1st child a few days ago! Visit his web site:

https://magpiematerials.com/shop/ols/pr ... ilk-thread

It would be great to see some soft hackles tied with the different brands of thread.

Ken

[jcwillow777]

Not necessarily my preferred silk, but I have been using Ephemera silk for serveral years. When I started tying and fishing soft hackles about 10 years ago, Pearsall's was very hard for me to find and expensive. So when I came across Ephemera, I bought quite a bit. That being said I will, I will use up what I have and then will probably start Kimono. But, I'll probably be dead by then!

[joaniebo]

I used Pearsall Gossamer or YLI 100 silks…. Have been for many years.

Bob

[Mike62]

I still have a pile of Pearsall's, but I don't use it much these days. I gave all my purple Pearsall's to Dana; good riddance. Purple is the color of ee'vil.

Alan (BrkTrt) sent a few spools of Kimono to me when he first started using it. The availability is excellent and the colors, to my eye, are a good match for the Pearsall's.