Vicuna Dubbing - Brent's Blends

 As I've been tying since the early 1970's, I've used a lot of dubbing. When I first started tying, I would harvest my own dubbing fur at the end of a shotgun, or harvest it from some unfortunate animal who lost a duel with a passing motorist. Ah, those were the days! Fortunately, I don't have to do that anymore. 

In the 1980's, along came hare's ear dubbing. It was nice to buy it in pre-processed packets, but I never really liked dubbing with hare's ear. It's a pain to work with. So, when synthetics and artisanal dubbings came along in the 1990's, I was completely onboard. Needless to say, I've gathered a lot of dubbing over the years. I've organized many of them into a dubbing book, using an old photo album. Hey, it works for me!

But I recently went to see Brent at DRAGONtail Tenkara. He asked if I'd like to try some of this new fangled dubbing that's causing quite a stir. It's called Vicuna Dubbing. Jason Klass has used it, and seemed to like it, so I thought I'd give it a try. If Jason likes it, it can't be all that bad, right?

The Vicuna Dubbing that I obtained is a group of blends that Brent has personally put together. There are two separate blend packages, labeled Brent's Soft Hackle Selection #1 and #2. The selected colors are vibrant and uniform. The hair is soft and moderately long. It adheres well without dubbing wax and is easy to spin onto the thread. It also responds well to a dubbing loop, making an excellent dubbing noodle. 

I tied a number of flies using the color selections, both thorax and whole abdomens. This is excellent dubbing! I particularly like the UV variations that sparkle. I like that the dubbing is not course or rough, making it difficult to spin. I also like the length of the hair fibers. 

I hate the term "buggy" when describing dubbing on a fly, but Vicuna Dubbing fits that description really well. It really does looks "buggy". In short, this is great stuff!

So, my conclusion is that I like this dubbing! It has a lot of positive characteristics and not any negatives. If you tie your own flies, get some of this dubbing! I know you'll be impressed!