The Straight Scoop on Fly Tying Dubbing with Kelly Galloup

With literally hundreds of different dubbing materials available to the contemporary fly tyer, trying to decide which one to use on your flies can be extremely complicated for beginner and intermediate tyers. In this video, Kelly helps break down the differences between natural, synthetic, and hybrid dubbings in a comprehensive manner in order to help you choose the right one for your patterns.

[@emhankinson]

Another excellent video explaining the materials of our craft. Thanks!

[@outcastpiper714]

Great info, i never knew this stuff, you're never to old to learn lol Thanks kelly. Have a great weekend.

[@flyfishny1035]

You the Man, have been waiting for this type of video for a long time! Keep them coming.

[@tomfisher3117]

Thanks for another excellent video. Wow! You have the gift of teaching.

[@ChrisWalklet]

Very practicle and well said videos. Always a pleasure man.

[@robwilliams287]

Love the videos of how to tie this particular fly, but I've definitely learned more from these videos than the others. thanks for the info and pass along a thanks to the guys in the fly shop who process your online orders.

[@vastsin6395]

awesome. i just started doing my own 6 blends of dubbing and this was exactly what i needed... so perfect!!! thnx a million!!!

[@richarddavis8272]

Nice video and explanation Kelly. Thanks for making this, very inciteful. Dubbing has always been confusing to me. This video made the muddy water clearer

[@sgrif392]

Nice Video. I personally find it amazing that a fish is a fish and in a million years will still be a fish. That said, I know what worked when my Grand Dad taught me to tie and I know what works for me now so I do not get caught up in the "Huppla" of the marketing world today that you hear everyday.............NEW AND IMPROVED!!!

[@jeffreysartain7097]

Learning so much thank you new outlook on fly fishing can't wait to get back out there

[@chucksmith5002]

I am new to fly tying . I am 62 and disabled so i went to my first fly tying class and i was hooked . This place is an outfitters and they sell fly material alone with classes 2 times a month . I bought a Renzetti love this vice . I have watched a lot of your videos like how you lay it out Thanks Kelly .

[@joeg5414]

I'm just curious if you kept up with it? I learned when I was a teenager like 25 years ago but quit when I joined the military. Just started getting back into it again recently. Like I never quit though! I was surprised how much I actuality remembered and was still good at it!

[@conductor4Christ]

I'm new to tying flies and you are a great teacher. Thank you for all your videos. 😉

[@TheSlideinn]

thanks UP, KG

[@dominiqueleblanc2193]

Best dubbing video ever!

[@charlieboutin3341]

You have videos covering all my questions I just need to find them before asking you a bunch of questions..Now I know why my Ant Acid was really fuzzy..wrong type and I was using too much as you suggested. Thanks! My dubbing is improving now with every fly 🎣

[@Rihards1992]

Really helpful video. I was actually struggling in the order menu for dubbing because the sortiment is so huge. Could you make a video about hooks? Just overall information like what kind of form, size to choose for what applications (nymphs, dries, wets and so on) because for me ordering hooks was worse than dubbing.

[@fillmorecorpus9102]

As I watch this video again, I think maybe my best and "worst" fly tying tools I have bought were a coffee blender and a barber hair trimmer. I now have a multitude of dubbing, of all colors and flavors. This all gets blended with all sorts of everything.

[@metamurph]

the bit on loop vs. twist on -- thanks much

[@1chefbr]

Very informative thx!

[@Txgomeric]

Kelly, I dont know what it is about your videos but somthing about yours are better than other how too ones on the internet. Somthing about your style or somthing, but I can just understand you and your content. The only problem I think is that I have watched everyone you have done. Lol..Keep them coming.

[@TheSlideinn]

Thanks Tx, glad you like them. Kelly

[@garyanddianeslaughter895]

Kelly, I'm brand new to the fly fishing world and don't know enough to even ask a good question at this point. I've been watching your you-tube posts and really appreciate your direct,no nonsense approach. Tying flies for me will be down the road a bit but I would like to know some places to buy good , hopefully American made, flies and what to look for when actually buying. In any case, hopefully I will run into you somewhere that you might be giving a talk or demo.

[@TheSlideinn]

Gary- Glad you are getting into the sport and have been enjoying the videos. Honestly, recognizing quality ties only comes with time and seeing how they fish compared to more poorly tied patterns. However, it is difficult to find a lot of patterns that are tied in the U.S. unless you visit your local fly shop. Most of the flies in the bins are tied overseas, but you can still find good quality patterns from a handful of these distributors. The discount fly companies that are selling flies for 85 cents are usually the ones you want to stay away from.

[@woodbox50]

Boom!!! thank you!

[@marklarsen4424]

It's all just fun, I have some Bison dubbing. It works great!

[@michaelchastain4957]

I love the videos both on tying and fishing. I was wondering if you ever pretreat your dry flies and if so what do you use. Could you explain the different treatments, pros and cons of some of them. Also what do you prefer on the water.

[@TheSlideinn]

Michael- We usually don't pre-treat our flies, but if we do we pretty much use Fly-Agra exclusively. Unfortunately we are unable to ship it because it is extremely flammable, but there is nothing else that comes close. WaterShed is another option, but it still doesn't come close to the effectiveness of Fly-Agra. The only downside to that product is that is tends to darken up the body color, so if you want to keep it the exact shade as the dubbing that you see when the fly is completely dry we generally recommend a dry shake like Shimazaki or Frogs Fanny.

[@rayditzenberger9517]

I tie a crude shrimp or craw immitation. I use cheap craft fur from craft stores. It is just a tail anb a dubbing loop of the fur real spikey. Bead chain or lead eyes and sometimes a wing. Sometimes mono color and sometimes various colors for the tails, dubbing, and wings i always pull out yhe under fur and i save it for other dubbing. I have had a lot of success with tans and browns especially on saltwater speckled trout and creek smb.. very simple tie. Btw thanks for the dubbing info.

[@coreyjohnson2418]

YOU ARE SO INformative

[@onemorething100]

I only use wool blankets in my house. It sheds and leaves small dust bunnies on the hardwood floor. I guess I found a use for it!

[@alc609]

Love the dubbing video. Great explanation. Here in the Smokies, muskrat was everything. Do you mix your snowshoe with anything?

[@coreyjohnson2418]

I gotta go your first videos

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

on a single day on the provo river I had 2 different "old timers" tell me 2 very different ideas. Old timer 1) "You should avoid using natural materials especially wool and cotton in your flies, they break down much faster, so you'll have to tie more and more critters will have to die so you can catch fish" and Old timer 2) "you should avoiding using synthetic materials as they are all just plastics and when you lose a fly you're just littering more plastic into the water and more critters will have to die so you can catch fish. The lesson I learned is that everyone has opinions and to just mind your own business haha .

[@BrianOHanlon]

We started to get the 'super fine' over here, in packets supplied through Orvis around ten years ago. It was marketed I think as a dry fly dubbing. Works great with small infusion of SLF dubbing through it, as opposed to using the 'super fine' on it's own. What the 'super fine' did, I discovered was to negate any requirement to mess around with dubbing wax, and that's where I found it's true value to be. To create floating small dries, using 'shorter cut' SLF (seal's fur substitute effectively, for a wet-dry pattern), without ending up with most of your short-cut SFL falling off of the thread, before it wrapped on a small hook. I.e. Using 'static' electrical properties of the super-fine (like in 'VELCRO' idea). The super-fine, increases total surface area, so that static electricity, held the SLF on the thread long enough, to finish making the dry fly bodies.

[@BrianOHanlon]

Next stage after that, was to bring in Cul De Canard fibers, on larger dry fly patterns, with the super-fine and SLF. That really, really makes a large dry pattern float longer.

[@BrianOHanlon]

Advantage of the blender then, or hand mixing using some Rabbit face material, was that it took some of the same dry fly patterns, and it made them operate a couple or few inches underneath surface film. I.e. One could have the exact same pattern of dry fly, a row of ten of them in a fly box, with variations on the dubbing material, and you could 'dial in' better into how the fish were behaving, and what kind of 'water' that one might be on. A faster water, where fly is seen for less time, a little more CDC in the dubbing mix can be a lot of fun. On the calmer water, moving to a little more 'Rabbit' in the same dubbing on same fly, and it digs into the surface film, or punches through it. But exactly same pattern of fly, just doing a fine tune as necessary.

[@BrianOHanlon]

Light conditions being the other factor - evening times, move to the same fly, with a little more colored CDC running through it, and it acts like a beacon, drawing more attention to the pattern. One can remain using the same pattern of fly, but alter things slightly as the lighting conditions adjust (or whatever color, if fishing wet same - more colored CDC running through the mix, same pattern).

[@BrianOHanlon]

If you go down below a foot in the water column, the things like Ice dubbing, things like glister synthetic through the dubbing mix, are good, because they pick up more light on the dubbing, as one travels down the water column into darker regions. That's where the salmon tiers for example, add in the Peacock herls, fragile strands, just to catch a little more of that light. Sunray shadow for example, can fish close to bottom, and catches a glint of light, because of that few fibers of Peacock used as topping on the Sunray Shadow wings. Over and out.

[@BrianOHanlon]

One other material, that can be put through a dubbing mix. Short cut deer hair. One learns all about using Deer Hair as a dubbing material, from the Czech nymph tiers. However, after making a couple of dozen Czech nymph patterns using the Deer hair dubbing ropes that they sell in packets pre-made - it doesn't take one very long to understand - how applicable that could be, when mixed in with the Cul-De-Canard dubbing and some SLF, to making a dubbing loop to dress a 'large' Mayfly pattern with. All best.

[@the_anglers_path]

We do shave a lot of Sheep!!! LOL.

[@unionse7en]

whitefish unlimited ;-)

[@lukefuller3612]

hey I love your videos and I really want to get into fly fishing can anyone point me to a good combo under 100

[@TheSlideinn]

Luke- What kind of combo are you looking for? Do you mean a rod/reel combo?

[@lukefuller3612]

TheSlideinn yeah a reel/rod combo for fly fishing

[@TheSlideinn]

About the only Rod/Reel/Line Combo for $100.00 or less is made by Cortland. If you are mostly fishing trout and panfish you can get the Fairplay Pro Outfit in the 4/5 weight for $100.00. If you fish for trout, bass, and other fish in the 1-8 lb. class you would want the Cortland Fairplay in the 5/6 weight. For larger species like largemouth, pike, steelhead, and some saltwater fish you would want the 8/9 weight.

[@lukefuller3612]

TheSlideinn thank you so much it's on its way😊

[@ThatSB]

"Im not trying to do a discertation on dubbing", he says, 8 minutes into a 15 minute video while explaining mammal hair and how spikey hairs blending with synthetic dubbing makes a different affect

[@markw1354]

10/29/2018 - just tried to view this video and got a black screen with " This video requires payment to watch ". Have I been hacked, or has KZbin gone stupid ???

[@TheSlideinn]

Nothing wrong that I know of , all free all the time? Sorry for the problem?? KG

[@markw1354]

@@TheSlideinn No worries. KZbin has been going stupid lately. In fact, this video right now has a message on it stating " We are experiencing problems with our servers. Please try again later. I'm on AT&T, so censoring may be going on if AT&T isn't under digital attack. By the way, fly tier and fisherman here for nearly 27 years here, and I very much appreciate the wisdom and experience you bring to the art. Thank YOU !!!

[@flymasterA]

Hi Kelly, check out my DVD and flies for my rope-dubbing method. An expert like you should love it. Search Fantasy Fly Co.

[@SirPraiseSun]

ice dubbing is so stupid it flies and gets in ur lungs and eye ill take natural dubbing over them anyday if i want flash i just use thicker tinsel or flat flashabou

[@the_anglers_path]

We do shave a lot of Sheep!!! LOL.