Natural dubbing
The natural hairs of different animals show their strengths here
The SWAX HIGH TACK dubbing wax from the loon outdoors serves to attach the dubbing to the tying threads. It must be applied very sparingly, the tying threads must be sticky but there must be no excess product visible to the naked eye (see video in the description at the bottom of the page). It takes so little wax to tie an artificial fly that the life of the product is almost infinite. SWAX HIGH TACK contains a higher percentage of tack than low tack and is therefore recommended for making large flies where a lot of dubbing has to be applied, even though it can be used on smaller flies.
The SWAX LOW TACK dubbing wax from the loon outdoors serves to attach the dubbing to the tying threads. It must be applied very sparingly, the tying threads must be sticky but there must be no excess product visible to the naked eye (see video in the description at the bottom of the page). It takes so little wax to tie an artificial fly that the life of the product is almost infinite. SWAX LOW TACK contains a lower percentage of tack than high tack and is therefore particularly suitable to tying small flies or in all those situations where little dubbing has to be applied.
NATURAL DUBBING
Natural dubbing is made exclusively from animal hair. As you know, every animal develops unique physical characteristics, to adapt to survive in the best possible way in the place where it lives. This is obviously reflected in its hair, which will become suitable for tying certain types of artificial flies rather than another.
For example, if you want to make a dry fly, it will be very advantageous to use beaver or muskrat hair, because these are animals that by their nature develop a waterproof hair that will consequently offer excellent buoyancy to your dry flies. Having said that, it is also possible to make dry flies with other types of dubbing with excellent results, but certainly when it comes to buoyancy, some dubbings have outstanding properties.
One of the most widely used natural dubbings is certainly hare or rabbit dubbing. Its fibres are short and very soft, and as well as being one of the very first hairs to enter the world of artificial fly tying, it is also one of the easiest to work with and therefore particularly suitable if you are a novice fly tier.
Except for deer dubbing, all natural dubbings in our online fly-fishing shop can be attached to the tying thread with the help of wax, or by manually wrapping the dubbing around the thread with your index finger and thumb. The latter solution makes the dubbing strand very compact. Once tied to the hook you can comb them with Velcro to make them fluffier.
As for the deer dubbing, the best solution for tying it to the hook is to use a loop assembly.
Thanks to the various dyes that are applied to the natural hair, there are many different colours of dubbing to suit the construction needs of fly fishermen. Although there are some very bright colours, natural dubbing always retains a very discreet appearance. This is essential when the fish is very suspicious and a very bright dubbing such as synthetic dubbing might scare them away.
