Winging Materials for Tube Flies
Finn Raccoon and Arctic Fox Tail
How can you describe the feeling of excitement when landing a fish on that tube fly you tied last night? It's not easy to depict that experience, but there are many factors that contribute to the success, from casting techniques down to that little tube fly on the end of your line. Knowing how to tie an effective tube fly boils down to understanding the materials and how they are used. There are several suitable winging materials used for tube flies that include: Polar Pony, Goat, Temple Dog, Arctic Fox, Silver Fox, Finn Raccoon, Opossum, and Rabbit. In this essay, we will focus on two of the most popular: Finn raccoon and Arctic Fox tail. It often depends on how you plan to tie that will dictate which of these two materials to use.
The natural properties of Finn Raccoon make it an excellent choice for tube fly enthusiasts. The hair is incredibly soft and lively in addition to it's great lengths. The guard hairs are perfectly straight and have a lot of body. The under hair makes great dubbing. Finn raccoon comes in body fur and zonker strips.
In many cases, Finn Raccoon Zonker is ideal for the simplest of flies. When you plan on using only one color in your tube fly, then a finn raccoon zonker strip works extremely well and is very easy to attach. Done in this manner, it can be the simplest and fastest tube fly to tie, without compromising effectiveness. A good example of the easy and versatile use of Finn Raccoon in a tube fly is the Guide Fly on a Cone Tube. Finn Raccoon Zonker strips also come in crosscut varieties, which are excellent for wrapping around a tube fly body to create a large profile. Eumer Tube Flies both offers traditional and the crosscut varieties.
Finn Raccoon has another advantage as a tying material in the great variety of hair in the zonker strips. The underfur ranges in length from 1-3 inches and is exceptionally soft and fluffy. In some circumstances, such as the traditional style salmon pattern and a handful of Scandinavian style tube flies, many tiers prefer to remove all of the guard hairs from the underfur. This allows it to compress very tightly to keep the head size to a minimum when whip finishing a tube fly.
The guard hairs of Finn Raccoon range in length from 2-4 inches. They are much straighter and less flexible than the underfur and stand up very nicely. Combining a few guard hairs along with the underfur will give you a great base for a flawless wing profile. Similar to Polar Bear, guard hair also has a semi-transparent look to them.
Overall, the fur is very easy to use and has a versatile appeal to tube fly tiers. It completely comes alive when wet and absorbs water well and sinks quickly. Greg Senyo, professional tube fly tier and operator of the JAG Fly Company, has dubbed it the “New Marabou”. He also has a simple, effective tube fly tutorial on his website for the Simple Finn Raccoon Emerald Shiner Tube Fly.
Arctic Fox is another great tube fly winging material. It is the equivalent of Temple Dog but at a much more affordable price. The texture is very soft and lively and it is perfect for streamer style patterns. It is available in a variety of individual style pieces: body patches, zonker strips and different size tail pieces.
If your goal is a more detailed and multi-colored tube fly, then Arctic Fox Tail is the way to go. It's movement in the water is phenomenal. When this winging material is tied in stages it can produce a large silhouette with sparse dressing, which helps keep the wet weight to a minimum.
Another situation where Arctic Fox Tail would be your best choice, is if you intend to “tie in the round”. In North America, it is still common to tie this way. However, in Europe, where colored tubes such as Eumer’s brass and plastic tubes have been available for longer, it is much more common to just attach a wing to the top of the tube. Jerry Darkes, renown Great Lakes angler, author, and guide, illustrates aneasy bait fish tube fly pattern that can be used for bass, steelhead, and salmon. It is known as the Arctic Wiggler.
The body hair of the Arctic Fox Tail is the softest and liveliest hair, but the length is found in the tail. The tail pieces can have fur up to 5 inches! One trick to increase the suppleness of the fur is to condition it with hair conditioner. Another benefit to consider is that compared to Marabou and other winging material Arctic Fox Tail is very durable and quite inexpensive. It can help you create a deadly effective tube fly that is both animated and flowing in the water.
