How synthetic are your fishing flies?

A growing array of synthetic flydressing materials – and their continual development – mean that an almost limitless range of colours, textures and visual effects may be added to a contemporary artificial fly.

Synthetic threads are commonplace

My view is that when used appropriately, synthetics can enhance the overall aesthetic – and resultantly the efficacy – of a fishing fly. For instance, the ‘radiant’ colour of an ultraviolet thread tag or flash of a pearlescent thorax can produce a perfect ‘hot spot’; a feature many anglers consider essential for some patterns.

The ‘appropriate’ inclusion of synthetics is difficult to define because (unless rigidly following a traditional or widely recognised dressing recipe), their use is ultimately to personal taste. Nonetheless, ‘appropriate’ use should take account of for instance:

• colour (enhancement, contrast or clashes with other ingredients, etc.);

• form and movement (such as rigid or flexible alternatives); and

• amount (usually, less is more).

Pearl mylar is another flydressers' favourite

Many fly fishers and dressers readily embrace synthetics. Others (to varying extents) are much less enthusiastic, or only accept them grudgingly. Multi-strand thread, rayon floss, and mylar rib for example, can often be found among ‘traditional’ flies dressed ‘traditionally’ with fur and feather. But although the raw materials for these three examples come from natural sources (e.g. plant cellulose, petroleum, coal), they still have to be ‘synthesised’ during manufacture to become of use to the flydresser.

So where do we draw the distinction between traditional and synthetic? I guess that in the end it's like most things fly fishing: a matter of what you are confident with using.

To summarise, some benefits of synthetics are:

• quality – manufacturing controls can achieve uniform quality, unlike natural products which are affected by their growth environment;

• availability – both longevity of supply and scope;

• resilience – to corrosion, other forms of degradation, insects, etc.;

• product variation – colours, textures, reflectance, fluorescence, elasticity, strength, physical form, floatability; and

• low cost – due mainly to mass production techniques.

Arguments against synthetics include:

• traditionalism – some prefer tying exclusively with traditional materials/ are resistant to change/ like to adhere to purism;

• perceived usefulness – for instance, regarding micro-texture, variegation, softness, or movement in water; and

• environmental issues – manufacturing often uses toxic or dangerous chemicals and the finished products are typically non-degradable once discarded.
  

My next blog will offer step-by-step dressings for two of my favourite patterns that rely on synthetic materials.

Tight lines and threads,

Gary

MyFliesWetsAndDries.co.uk

This blog is abstracted from an article first published in Flydresser, the journal of the Flydressers' Guild, Summer 2001, by Gary Holt.