Looking for interesting fly-tying ideas? These new materials open up many cool possibilities

CRAFT FUR

Craft fur is a staple of saltwater crustacean flies, with enormous unrealized potential for freshwater patterns. Mimicking real fur in form, craft fur comes in patches with long synthetic fibres over fuzzy underfur. The longer fibres are roughly the length of bucktail, but much thinner and extremely supple, making them easy to tie with.

Craft fur really floofs out in the water without adding a lot of bulk or getting waterlogged, so flies remain light and easy to cast. For example, it makes a seductive, more mobile variation of the Clouser Deep Minnow that’s great for fishing slow in lakes and ponds.

In general, craft fur builds terrific baitfish flies, either tied in like a classic bucktail wing, or reverse-tied and pulled back over the shank to make a bigger profile. Roughly dubbed, it also makes flowy, translucent bodies and collars on wet flies. Given that the stuff also comes in approximately 30 colours, including mottled ones, there’s loads of room to experiment. Please let me know if you come up with something cool, and I’ll do the same.