Deer hair VS rabbit hair ?

[misfish]

I seen another fly, the same as the one I tied with rabbit hair  but with deer hair. Will the deer hair fly ,throw better and easier ? I know I could make and find out ( which I am going to do ) but just want to know , so I am ahead of the game a bit. Bass season is almost here.

 

Thanks

[craigdritchie]

Deer hair floats like a cork, so deer hair flies are generally surface bugs.

Hair bugs for bass are super easy to tie. Use a lightweight, long-shanked hook and tie on some sort of tail (a couple of hackle feathers works great). then you form a body along the length of the hook shank by spinning deer hair.  This video ( https://youtu.be/I9UxjnRFfiE ) is pretty crappy quality but it shows you the basic process. As you spin the hair, you get this round ball of deer hair sticking out all over. Obviously you need to use sturdy thread for this, to avoid breakage problems.

Here's the critical part --> Use a small tube (drinking straw works well, or the plastic shell from a ball point pen) and shove it over the hook shank to push the hair so the front end stand of your clump stands more or less vertical, and wrap one or two winds of thread over it to hold it like that. From there, just keep repeating the process of spinning and compacting till you reach the hook eye. Finish up with a few wraps of thread, then tie the whole thing off and seal it with head cement.

What you have should look like the shrunken head of a burned out hippie. You can shape it to look like a bug, a mouse, a frog, or whatever makes you happy with small, sharp scissors ... I use an electric razor, which works much faster and seems to do a better job. Just go easy on the barbering, you don't want to take off too much hair or your bug won't float very well.

You can get all fancy and glue on little eyeballs and legs and stuff, but what matters is that you pack the spun deer hair compactly so you get a dense body that will float well and have a bulky profile in the water.

Give it a try, these things are stupidly easy to tie and they're a lot of fun to use.

Edited June 12, 2018 by craigdritchie

[dave524]

Ditto what Craig said and use only body hair, save your bucktails for jigs as it is not hollow and won't float as well as the hollow body hair. Scrounge all the white belly hair you can get during hunting season as it is the best for dyeing.

[ketchenany]

B, it depends on which tastes better ? I’ve had both but lately it’s been rabbit!

 

 

[singingdog]

It really depends on the pattern you are tying, and the action you want. You are never going to tie a long streamer pattern - a Clouser for example - with rabbit fur. On the other hand, rabbit moves in the water much easier than even the finest deer hair. I don't see how either could effect the castability significantly.

[cuzza]

Only difference in castability is that rabbit holds water much more than deer hair so the flies get heavier but it looks great in the water, deer hair builds a profile well so flies aren't very aerodynamic. As others have said, different material for a different purpose really - my favourite streamer pattern, the zuddler uses both....