Dubbing a fly can be an art form in itself and like any art form requires practice. Most of the beginners reading this will notice that their nymph bodies are either patchy or far too bulky. If you are beginning and want that professional look go for dubbing brushes or EZ dubbing. EZ dubbing is available on the CudaFly web site with brushes coming soon. These will give you a reasonable ‘buggy’ look whilst keeping the body thin. To use simply pinch the end of the dubbing to reveal the core. Tie the core material in and wrap the body of the fly in touching turns and tie off and trim as usual. Using a dubbing needle carefully pick out fibre to get the desired look.

The best method and easiest once you have got the hang of it is to loosely dub hares ear / fur on a waxed thread. This is where practice comes to the fore. You need to dub sparingly so as not to cause bulk yet at the same time too little will both show the thread and give a patchy result. Using plenty of wax on the thread spin using finger and thumb the dubbing loosely. Use fur with a lot of guard hairs in the dubbing mix. These are the stiffer hairs on the rabbit. Cudafly do spike guard hair although until you get used to the above method you will find this material difficult to use, however once mastered can give some great results. To finish use a dubbing needle to pick out fibres where required.

For my flies I personally always use a hare’s mask. This gives me all the densities of fibre that I require and I personally like the differing shades in a nymph you can obtain by using a mask. You will however require a hair rake for the ear sections and understanding wife / children as for some it can seem a bit macabre. The cheek fibres on a hairs mask also make excellent tails for gold head hairs ears. The touch of white / sandy tips really gives your flies a bit of character and I find the trout love them too!