Remember that especially gentle and reassuring voice I used when I mentioned, “don’t fear dyeing your precious fur and fibers, as everything is useful for something …”
Boy was that a windy.
I’m pawing through a drawer full of goodies and see that dusty plastic bag scrunched under all that marabou, and naturally figured it had to be those long lost bucktails I simply knew I had …
Rather than the burst of bright colors I was expecting, I get the Color that Cannot be Used, a reminder of my greatest fur mistake …
I’d spent the better part of six months higrading all the shops in San Francisco for their best bucktails – each with hair damn near six inches long, as I was prepared to tie a big fistful of striper flies.
I needed a dark olive layer for the Anchovy imitation I had in mind and tossed three-quarters of those tails into the pot with a brand new dye and too much heat …
… which yielded shrunken pumpkin orange bucktail with olive tips. Twenty years later I’ve not found a use for a single hair – despite fishing fresh, salt, and everything in between.
I know. You’re sitting there saying, “CRAYfish …uhm, STONEfly dry …uhm, no …uhm, WAIT …”
Just like I did.
Mutant October Caddis?
Perhaps a high-vis parachute post?
C’mon man — Halloween costumes!
Bodies for October Caddis dries?
It’s the perfect color for a perch killin Marin county: Surf Invasive! Just add a lil Bright orange ol son.
Those are friggin awesome! I’d buy those!
Fear no color, bluegill will eat it!
Well I could quite easily see that colour blending wonderfully with Olive and yellow for some of my pike imitations KB. Care to offload a tail???.Ehh!…Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned Pike!
As will pike. Trust me, a cream/yellowish underlayer, this on top and a tiny bit of structured golden flash. Tench imitation done. Pike will eat.
Damn, that was close, Simon….
Great minds,think a like Peter.
You could always try peddling them to your local hair salon. Maybe trade them for some hackle.
Spin it, clip it, and it’s a perfect “pellet fly.”
hmmm! still got my address from my dubbing order?? 🙂
Yeah, I’d go with pellet fly. Can you spin bucktail?
size 2 stinger hook, a leather tail, a bit of flash, tie that gorgeous hair on like a thunder creek streamer…ah perfection.
bass will shimmer the pond with their paroxysms of delight.
honest!