Coq de leon alternatives

[saflyfish]

Hey guys

Looking to tie some frenchie's and most patterns that ive seen employ coq de leon fibres for tails.
What is a good alternative as this stuff is expensive

[Korrie]

good quality and good taste don't come cheap.

[Andre]

Nothing really to substitute for good CDL. Buy yourself a pack of good stuff, it will last a long time, or go in with someone else and share a pack.
CDL also is very good for RAB legs.

[JadeDsantos]

Nothing can beat it and it is expensive but:

Hair or paint brush bristles work well - I have destroyed more than one of the fiances makeup brushes this way.

I find for RAB legs some squirrel tale works best, and can also by used as the tail on a nymph but it is not as good on dries - you need good hard fibres for the tail to keep the surface tension.

But for frenchies I just use some black hackle or maybe grizzly hackle

and if you are tying them with peasant tail, you could just use some of the peasants tails itself.

Hope this helps!

[FSCHAMP]

CDL is good stuff but it is not cheap. For French flies it would just use hackle fibers of a brown, grizzly, cream or black hackle of a neck or saddle. You can even mix them if necessary. An other alternative is microfibets (synthetic material which is used for tails).

[GGY]

Organza tails work well on nymphs.

[Andre]

For nymph tails, a good alternative, although not very cheap either, are artist paint brushes. The sable ones are the best. Sable hair has a nice taper, much like CDL

Organza tails work well on nymphs.

[GGY]

For nymph tails, a good alternative, although not very cheap either, are artist paint brushes. The sable ones are the best. Sable hair has a nice taper, much like CDL

While they work well on dry flies, which require support in the meniscus, I personally find CDL/paint brush tails too stiff for nymphs, and prefer the softer organza.

[saflyfish]

who stocks organza?

[Korrie]

While they work well on dry flies, which require support in the meniscus, I personally find CDL/paint brush tails too stiff for nymphs, and prefer the softer organza.

On most of my nymphs, I prefer a stiffer hackled tail, but it depends on the day you fish the nymph, then the stiffer hackles can assist with the "movement" of the nymph in the water column. compare it to a dolphin with or without a tail or a paralyzed tail