FLYMPH FORUM

Hi William,
Give me a short list of your favorite materials and I will see how much I can help.
Jim

Jim,

It would be useful as well to assign approximate percentages of UV reflectivity. Sometimes you want a material that has very low UV reflection, such as peacock herl, to simulate the body of a cricket, beetle, or a particular nymph species.

Regards,
Reed

Hi Reed,
That does seem to be the problem, as each material has different reflective values and each insect has different relective values as well. Certainly not a cut and dry proposition, kind of like describe the color orange, what shade do you mean? This certainly brings up a problem when asked what materials do you need for a certain bug, fortunately there are already proven patterns out there and they will get you close to what you need. Material selections would seem to make a big difference in uv reflection. A more thorough uv chart of materials and bugs would be helpful, but it is a huge project.
Jim

Jim,

A huge project indeed. Apparently, no-one had taken UV photos of mayflies and caddis before the folks at UNH kindly let me into their collection of ents.

Birds have received lots of UV attention because of the UV honesty markings. Butterflies and moths are UV poster children. Even Tenerif lizards... but not aquatic insects.

Hareline Dubbin will have true UV reflectance ratings of some materials, not all, in their October catalogue. That may save you some work. Hey, why don't you make a list of desired materials and ask Marcos at Hareline if he will be providing the UVR for them? They sell all the appropriate threads, flosses, feathers, etc. for soft hackles.

Here is a layout I found handy:


Best regards,
Reed

Reed,
That is a great idea. I'll start a new post.
Jim