Tying with Squimpish hair


I'm sure most of you guys that follow me on social media know that I'm a big fly tying geek. Tying flies is a big big part of this whole fly fishing "lifestyle" I try to live. That big passion for tying flies has one drawback, you end up buying and trying a lot of materials you don't actually use all that much. Rooster feathers, basic flash materials, bucktail, ostrich and a few selected synthetics cover most of my fishing and tying needs year after year. However, at times you stumble on something that you actually end up using a lot and fish a lot. One new material like that is Squimpish hair.

A decent pike caught with a Squimpish hair bug.
Squimpish hair has been found and distributed by master tier David Nelson aka Mr.Squimpish. David has a very unique and absolutely beautiful tying style both in freshwater and saltwater streamers. David is a "naturals first" kinda guy similar to myself, but when he found the Squimpish hair he was instantly sold. He was very drawn to similar attributes found on natural materials like bucktail and how easy it was to use like bucktail . He thought that even though nothing can and really shouldn't ever replace bucktail, this material acts as a very good add on or substitute to it. I can personally relate to this statement very much. 


Here it is. Some of the colors have really long fibers with the longest ones reaching 32 cm or 13".

It's a carpet like product.
Squimpish hair is a tapered synthetic hair that's attached to a carpet like platform a bit like craft fur. It has a feel very similar to big fly fiber with the exception that it is tapered. To be more exact I would put the feel somewhere between big fly fiber and long fibered craft fur. The length seems to vary from color to color and piece to piece a bit with some colors having a whopping 13-14" of hair on them while others have 7-10" of hair on them. 

10-112 Marlin tube tied out of Squimp and bucktail.

Squimpish hair has a growing range of colors available and David is bringing on more all the time to really make it a complete selection. The material retains water and is very lively in the water. It is also very durable which makes it a good choice when you are up against teeth. Take a look at Davids Etsy shop to find out the latest colors available: shop

A really fat pike caught with a Squimpish hair Hollow fly



The material is also easily adaptable to several different patterns. Flex flies, Surf candies, Clousers, Hollow flies and Deceivers to name a few.





Here's list of Pro's and Con's that I've noticed so far followed by a SBS of a Hollow fly that uses Squimpish hair as one of it's components.

+ Very easy to Hollow tie.
+ Blends perfectly with natural materials like bucktail, feathers and ostrich
+ Durable, but not as quick to tangle like other synthetics.
+ Movement
+ Length
+ Feel and texture
+ Sinks very fast and does not hold up air so the fly will sink right after it hits the water
+ Can be easily cut to shape

+- Retains water. This means that it will hold a small profile in the air, will sink fast and move like nothing else. It also means that if you tie them too full or big they will end up heavy. Keep it sparse and if doing very large flies fill in the gaps with bucktail or something similar that's light.

- A bit slippery to tie. I recommend using super glue to secure all the tie ins when using this material.
- The carpet like thing that the material is attached to is not perfect and can be a bit tricky to use.
- There are some variables between colors when it comes to the amount of "under fur" and taper they have
- As said before, can end up being a bit heavy if you use too much of it.

Here's the SBS as promised:

Finished fly

Start off by tying some bt 360degrees around the hook

Add some holo silver SW angel hair

Tie in some Squimp hair. Hollow style

Secure the tie in with super glue

Fold

Brush

Tie in a few wraps of thread in front and secure with super glue. With Squimp hair you don't need a big thread cone in front of the material as it's softer then bucktail.

BT hollow style

Fold and tie + add flash

Hollow tie some more Squimp hair

Add blueish green flash on top

Lateral scales on the sides

Hollow tie some Squimp. White on the bottom and blue gray on top.

fold and secure

Brush out the fly, add eyes, go fishing!


Comments

  1. JackDennyOctober 13, 2018 at 10:02 PM

    Great SBS on a killer fly. Gotta get some Squimpish for the bass flys.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jari KoskiOctober 15, 2018 at 7:12 AM

      Thanks Jack!

      Delete
    2. JackDennyOctober 27, 2018 at 5:29 AM

      Got a few colors plus white...can't wait to tye something up. Been on a Bob Pop Jiggy tangent as of late...big sandeels and such. Albies eat Jiggies....mmmm yum

      Delete

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