Dubbing with CDC ?

[Scythe]

Howdy,

I have come on one or two brief articles that mention dubbing a fly body from CDC.

Now with my limited Dry Fly Tying experience and seeing as I only got my first batch of CDC a week or so ago I was thinking that if the primary trigger that including CDC in your fly brings about is the movement and extreme bubble catching action of the hooked CDC fibres, it could be a nice variant to plain old HE when tying emerger patterns like the CaseMaker or even just a bushy GRHE (which now would be a GRCDC&HE) ?

Strictly speaking one should then be able to include CDC in most wet emerger patterns even though you would need to dry the CDC every so often to restore the bubble capturing nature of the material ?

Actually this posting now gives lead to two seperate questions or thoughts.

1) It would more likely than not be better to strip the CDC fibres from the shaft and dub that as opposed to the CDC & E approach (aka Klippies & Gans ala YellowFever) as you can better control the length of the fibres and hence the buggyness of your fly?

2) If you wanted to go really bos-be-kof and you had the appropriate colours of CDC could one not venture to tie both thorax and abdomen in the all too effective two tone colour scheme ?

I'm going to tie up a batch of 5 casemakers using the CDC as replacement dubbing for the usual HE on the body and then this coming weekend fish both equally to see what the results are, providing there is a pronounced MF hatch coming off which there should be, weather and all other factors playing along. Not exactly scientific I know, but hey, what IS scientific about this passtime of ours ?

I'd love to hear what the rest of you think.

Cheers,

-§

[chris williams]

I just tied up a bunch of black buzzers on light hooks using CDC white dubbing on Sunday (I think Benecchi or whatever they're called sell it in packets) to represent breathing filaments. I've tied it wrapped round like a head above one twist of peacock herl, unlike the usual CDC shuttlecock style. I havn't had a chance to fish these yet to test floatability, will give the swimming pool a trial run later, and hope a dozen buzzers don't clog up the Kreepy Krawly...cheers

[dlampert]

1) It would more likely than not be better to strip the CDC fibres from the shaft and dub that as opposed to the CDC & E approach (aka Klippies & Gans ala YellowFever) as you can better control the length of the fibres and hence the buggyness of your fly?

I will have to speak to Yellowfever about copyright on Klippies & Gans A very effective method with CDC is to create a dubbing loop (either splitting the thread which works well for smaller sizes or a standard dubbing loop) and insert the fibres using a bulldog clamp ala Petitjean. This method would work well for the thorax section of the fly as you get instant legs. You can also chop the cdc up using scissors, and then dub with that. Depending on what type of CDC feather you have, the CDC & Elk method of palmering the feather probably leads to a stronger fly. My feeling with cdc is you don't want dubbing wax to clog the fibres and you want to handle the fly as little as possible.

Regards,
Darryl

[chris williams]

Yup agreed, I used unwaxed thread and dubbed very loosely, will see if it works as I tied them cheers!

[Yellowfever]

Heck I'm of the site for a few days and my name gets dragged through the plagiarism mud! Ignore that one Scythe falsely attributed the K&G to me. Ignorance or youthful enthusiasm or stupidity? We may be fishing together this weekend???

On the subject : I just tie in the tip of the CDC feather and wrap around the thread. Makes for a stronger body. But you can strip the fluff and dub that on.

[chris williams]

Can do or simply buy the CDC dubbing relatively cheaply - I'm experimenting with same so can't give definitive comments till I attack my swimming pool with prototypes later! I'm also experimenting with using crappy CDC I've picked up from ducks, geese and others round various local dams and rivers that aren't really upto 'Grade A' shuttlecock-type standard. As I mentioned they'll all probably miserably sink into the deepend of my pool for my Kreepy Krawly to bottom-feed on

[Yellowfever]

Chris what tackle do you use on a KK? Do you release?

[Scythe]

... for my Kreepy Krawly to bottom-feed on ...

Nice, what are the takes like ? Do you use an indicator ?

Ignorance or youthful enthusiasm

See now a nice "This isn't my original train of thought but ..." pre empting the statements you make would be a good indication when to attribute a statement to you and when not to

or stupidity? We may be fishing together this weekend???

I'm so happy I've invested in that hook sharpener, my oh my I pity the LargeMouth or Rustenburger that ends up with one of my wooly buggers lodged in his mouth or back of the head or temple or between the shoulderblades ...

[chris williams]

Dunno, I only ever use it for gratifying my appendage

[Scythe]

I will have to speak to Yellowfever about copyright on Klippies & Gans

These plagiarists I tell you

... (either splitting the thread which works well for smaller sizes or a standard dubbing loop) ...

Thanks Darryl, I'm assuming you would counterwind the thread so it goes flat and then seperate the strands with a needle or a pokey thingy of sorts ? Do you then rewind the thread before dubbing or keep it flat ?

Nice suggestion that one.