In a recent posting on this website (http://www.tomsutcliffe.co.za/fly-fishing/fly-tying/item/1101-para-rab-with-spun-squirrel-hair.html ) I included a Para-RAB, Philip Meyer's celebrated pattern, tied with spun squirrel tail fibres set in a dubbing loop and tied in parachute style around a Poly Yarn post. (Any suitable wing post of your choice would do.)

The method is not without its frustrations, not least because the fine squirrel fibres fall out of the loop. I did try Sally Hansen's varnish to secure them, but it takes far to long to dry and requires that you use un-waxed fly tying thread. Superglue helps, but is messy and also requires some time to set properly. In the end I got a few flies right without any additives to the thread simply by holding the loop extremely tight before spinning the hair. Using Marc Petijean's magic tool rather than a metal paper clip is far better.

Click in images to enlarge

More recently I have experimented with spun klipspringer hair tied in sparsely and wound parachute style around the Poly Yarn post. This is easier done if you wax the tying thread well before adding the klipspringer hair to the loop. The results look really promising, but need to be tested.

I am trying the same thing with the DDD - klipspringer hair tied in sparsely and wound parachute style around a post of Poly Yarn just back of the head of the fly. There is still plenty of R&D needed, but preliminary results are, at least, most interesting.

Tom Sutcliffe