I mentioned in an earlier post of finding a new material with great promise for fly tying, while fish and local water clarity are uncooperative, I’m restocking my fly box and absorbing some NFL action.

The two materials I am testing are Angelina and Crystalina fibers, both available from the garment industry as fiber, film, and cloth. Crystalina appears to be called “Ice Dubbing” – a refractive coarse material suitable for larger flies. It’s the Angelina fibers that have really caught my interest however.

Finer than Crystalina and suitable for all ranges of hook size, I am blending it with natural furs using a coffee grinder, then retying many of the patterns I use substituting the Angelina blend instead of the normal mixture.

The results are stunning as even traditional patterns get a dramatic face lift. More importantly, it adds a full range of color spectrum due to the opalescent sheen.

Coffee grinder blending requires that all fur added be no more than an inch in length, any longer and the fibers will wrap around the center spindle and bind the motor, quickly burning it out.

I needed to replenish some Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear’s and mixed a blend of Red Fox squirrel guard hairs, muskrat fur (because I had a ton of it on the skin) and 20% Angelina.

The raw Angelina is about 4-6 inches in length, so I trimmed it into the grinder along with muskrat shaven off the hide with scissors. You have to wad the material down into the blades to get it to mix well, but it only takes seconds to make a batch.

It’s personal preference, I would rather use blends of fur rather than a uniform dyed color. Bugs are an uneven coloration especially when tumbling in the water column, so I prefer having multiple colors and textures in fur for nymphs. Dry flies are not so much an issue as the fish can’t inspect much more than the portion visible to them.

The opalescence of the Angelina fiber really adds quite a few colors without dominating the result. Mixing much more than 20% of the fibers will have start to overwhelm the original dressing, I was just looking to give a little sparkle and solidify my proof of concept.

I like to use a base complement of nymph colors and sizes when fishing. Black, Olive, Gray, Pheasant Brown, and something mostly peacock. Those 5 colors should seduce something in any stream, and should cover most species of freshwater fish.

I have to order additional colors to make all those blends, in the meantime I am focusing on the natural mother of pearl fiber to see how it looks when added to traditional flies.                                                      

The photo is inadequate to capture the colors, but it hints at the effect. A stellar replacement for seal fur as the sparkle of “Angie” makes seal look dull in comparison.

Us bachelors lack ironing skills, fusing the fibers with an iron is next, if soft enough it should make dramatic spinner wings. I’ll be abusing the flies to see how the material stands up to use and whether the refraction qualities grow dull with sunlight. Hungry small fish won’t be much of a test, but it’s close by.

LiveJournal Tags: Angelina fibers, blended fur dubbing, Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear