FLYMPH FORUM

These photos are just fine, W. Thank you for passing on the informative comparison shot, as well as the water vole image.

William - Thank you for the reference photos. I've downloaded them to my iPad, since this is the best comparison shots I have seen. (hope you don't mind). I am surprised at the shade of dark dun of the under fur of the water vole. Interesting. Have you tried tying with the vole yet? When you do, could you the wet the fly, to see how much it darkens.

I'm thinking a blend of muskrat under fur, and black mole fur would be a fairly close match for the vole.

Now that is quite helpful. Looks like I need to go sifting through the dubbing bags again.

I haven't fooled around with the vole at the bench yet. I did get a good look at a nice piece of water rat when visiting with John Shaner at the show this weekend. To my eye, the coloration and texture were very similar to the vole, but less than half the staple length. That's my impression.

The only thing I really wanted at the show was a number of fur patches, mostly variations of red fox, beaver and anything else that looked interesting. I no doubt walked out of that building having spent the least of anyone else I saw. In my search, I did find a beaver patch that was very dark in the underfur, more like a dark muskrat than any beaver patch I've seen before. It's a much easier game to play match the hatch with insects and blend materials to achieve a certain effect, than it is to try to understand historic references to patterns and guess as to the age of the species, the area the patch should come from and the season the species was harvested. There are so many variables, it seems the more you know, the more you don't.

It's fun though.

w

William Anderson wrote:There are so many variables, it seems the more you know, the more you don't.

It's fun though.

w

I could not agree more.

dd

Moving this old post to the new "Soft Hackle Materials" subforum. Old example of interactive discussion of rare materials, and suitable substitutes.

Also cross referencing a tutorial about Water Vole substitute:

LINK TO TUTORIAL ---> viewtopic.php?f=22&t=7022