I bought a bunch of EP fiber stuff � didn�t like to shape with scissors so gave them away.
Tried natural Yak hair - OK but like Wig hair better � aka as Syn Yak � Kinky Fiber � Slinky Fiber � etc �.
Can �tease� out fibers for tapered look w/o scissors.

My Jig Hook Minnow:

George, I think it looks wonderful. I have never used wig hair. I have used costume wig hair on flies before. I have a ton of that stuff. I got them for a buck or two apiece. They come in all colors. I think you did a tremendous job on that fly. Good to see you are still on that vise. I love to see your work.

my only concern with wig hair involves red-heads which may or may not put more fish in the boat

I'm tellin Dusty's wife on you!!!

Great. Now I'll be in trouble for a thread I where wasn't even posting. Like I need help from you people to be in trouble.

I have tyed several flies using wig hair. They have great action in the water. They are must cheaper than Yak hair ($6.95 per hank). I have been using Yak hair until I received 6 hanks of wig hair for a friend. I tyed some Tarpon flies yesterday using wig hair 6-7 " long.

OK, here�s some more of this stuff if anyone is interested.
Definiton:
�Yaki hair is used in hair weaves, extensions, wigs and hairpieces.
Yaki hair refers to the texture resembling relaxed Afro-Caribbean hair.�

Emerging from my other life as a science-based professional, I often have an urge for research. I found that fly shop Syn Yak, Kinky, Slinky were all wig hair.
Thus the Yaki Minnow � the Jig Hook Minnow using synthetic wig hair:


Yaki Minnow:

you mean it's actually called a hank?

very brave unit description...

I like it.

I like it very much, thanks for the step by step too...George!

ONline resource?

Local beauty supply store or google on-line.

When you are browsing the aisles at Sally's for wig hair act like you do when you go to buy "Hard as Nails" for tyin' cement!!
Make sure you look for the synthetic wig stuff!

A reverse countertrend? Can I get an Amen.

In the mean time let be sure to let everyone one of them know that the roosters were killed for those. Its our best chance to stop the trend. Hopefully they'll just cry foul when they discover they're wearing dead animal on their head and hopefully they'll quit wearing it like they quit wearing fur in the 90s.

Went to Sally's today and maybe they didn't have what you all are talking about or they are onto us, because everything I saw was $7-$150.

Little help

Try this:
http://www.royalimex.com
Search �Products� synthetics Hollywood and Zuri braid material.
Check color chart �..
http://www.royalimex.com/REGULAR_COLORS.php
http://www.royalimex.com/FANCY_COLORS.php

When you find the material and color you want go to :
http://texasbeautysupplies.com/synbraidhair.html
Color chart:
http://www.texasbeautysupplystore.com/colorchart.jpg
Purchase online or give them a call?

I found all I needed in my local beauty supply store that my wife knew about.
Good luck!

damn no chartruse

then again...

http://www.royalimex.com/FANCY_COLORS.php

I have received a lot of help researching wig hair from my forum friends.
Pro fly tyer Jay M. sent me the first wig hair to get me started.
Photo below are his basic colors � label on package calls chartreuse �Green�.

I have given most of the hair to friends because the �hanks� shown are 24 inches long. I have some to share if you will settle on smaller samples so I won�t run out.

If you are interested in this stuff and can find others who will share and pay shipping costs, PM and I will check further with Jay and Nick for availability.

Jay�s basic colors below:


Nick Curcione and Brandon Powers tore up Dorado and small Roosters on Nick�s wig hair fly in Loreto Mexico a couple of weeks ago.

�Hi George,I've been using wig hair for about the last 15 yrs or so.
I tie the fly according to Popovics Hollow style. He uses bucktail, I substitute the wig hair-less expensive and it holds up better.

I hope we can wet a line together sometime.
Tight loops,
Nick�
http://www.aswf.info/images/HOLLOW_FLEYE_SBS.pdf

Nick�s Wig Hair Minnow

That Nick's Wig Hair Minnow is outstanding. Just beautiful!!!

Thanks for the offer. I don't want to cut down on your supply. I found some on the site you provided that I like and will order soon.

Thanks George

My friends have been very helpful in my "wig hair fly" education.
Jay Murakoshi, custom fly tyer and Baja outfitter sent me these "baitfish" flies that he uses for California Delta striper and Baja roosters and dorado.
Think I'm close to close to switching to wig hair fly patterns ....

Those are some sweet flies George. :-)

i am out of Sally hard as nails, but I don't like going to the nail section and scouring the shelves for it (I never find it & have to ask someone usually) I dont care much for going into Hobby LObby for foam & beads, and I ain't going into the beauty supply shop to buy no damn hair I dont care how good the flies look. (they really do look good & I might have to order some of that wiggy stuff)

nice flies George-p-

Thanks for all the responses - I am a researcher and experimenter and have been interested in what you guys think of this stuff. At 99 cents to a couple of bucks for 24 inch double hanks it's cheap enough to toss the ones I don't like.
Some is silky, some slinky and some kinky with more colors than expected;
I only found limited colors in local shop so i am going to order more to check.
Jay sent me samples of the wig hair used on his flies and I like the results. He apologized for not spending more time on shaping his flies but wanted me to see his "standard" baitfish flies.
They are obviously blue water flies being tied sparsely.
Mine will have more bulk dependent on water color.

Interesting that Nick teases the hair more for shape while Jay both teases and normally shapes with scissors as well.

Hope I'm not boring our expert TFF tyers but I enjoy learning how other folks do stuff.

Hey Mike, I have lost your mail address - Pm and I'll send you some of ths stuff - don't want you to be humiliated goin'
to girly beauty supply shops ...

Probably gave bad advise about Sally's anyway - just assumed they would have it. My wife found a local shop that catered to Afro-Carribean braided hair styles.

Order it if you ever get the bug ....
http://texasbeautysupplies.com/synbraidhair.html

Come on Mike...live a little and have some fun with this stuff. I like to go to Walmart in Mountain Home to look for black nail polish and found that it was a lot of fun to find their local "Goth Girl" that was working there to get her to help me find the black fingernail polish. The girls around Plano at our local
Walmarts don't seem to have as much fun helping another old grey-beard like me as the girls in some of the smaller towns do.

Most of the members of The Roadkill Roundtable have carried Sally's discount cards at one time or another.

Have fun with this stuff.

Big Dale

Sorry about that Mike. I guess all the heat is getting to me and I must have got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. That is not like me most of the time.

Big Dale

Hey I liked it, not sure if they have any Goth girls over here in hillbilly land, plenty of cowgirls around I even had one offer me some hair from her horses mane & tail, I figured she was joking at the time & declined, but if she asks again I may take her up on that

Mike: Someone gave some horse mane for fly tying uses and I used it, but I can't remember for what...must have been a streamer of some kind.

George: Thanks for starting another very interesting thread. I just know that I have been putting off getting started with using the wig hair more cause when I buy some I will blow at least a hundred bucks before I leave the store. I have tried some of the cheap stuff that I found at Dollar General in purple and gold for some streameers for a guy that went to LSU. I just used it for some sinple clousers and it worked great. I don't remember any kind of problems tying with it, but it was several years ago and I could have forgotten...George, does this memory going thing ever get any better as I get older?

Have fun with this stuff.

Big Dale

Dale, the only thing this memory thing going is when I forget to use it...

Check out the link to Texas Beauty Supply above and buy this stuff cheap.
When Nick Cursione emailed me and told me he had tied his flies on wig hair for the past 12 years and ordered it from TBS in Dallas, I knew I had a winner!!!
Jay M. is the one that really got me started on the quest.

OK �I�m nuts but I like to do this kinda stuff � it drives me crazy to sit around tyin� the same old fly over and over again�..
Had a lot of fun with this project � experimented with some 10 bulk hanks with different colors at a price of no more than a half dozen fly shop wig hair packs.

This stuff is sold in fly shops as Syn Yak, Silky, Slinky, Curly, etc and its all the same stuff, just different textures. It can be tied EP style, Bob Pop�s Hollow Fleye or traditional. Hard to break old habit long time bucktail user but I like this stuff � bucktail will still have its place as well as other natural fibers.

Had to learn new method of weighting jig hook flies � bucktail floats and wig hair sinks so had to do a lot of pool testing to determine amount of weigh to use on various flies to insure hook point rides up.

Source of synthetic wig hair was Texas Beauty Supply, local beauty supply store and very helpful colors and textures from friend in California whose source is a beauty supply house in Sacramento.

Fly pictures below have all been pool tested and ready to use � wig hair has great action in the water. First flies ever tied that look better in the water than on the bench.

Like Big Dale says:
Have fun with this stuff�

George, those flies are truly spectacular. You are gonna make me want to try some of that soon. They look so good, I bet they do have great action in the water.
Kelly

Beautiful flies as usual. Could I ask what size hooks these are tied on? I suspect that I am not the only one who will stop by Barlows and pick up another bag of 100 to use on these flies.

Have fun with this stuff.

Big Dale

George,
I am off surf fishing with my wig hair flies Sat. I'll let you know how they do.
Gary

I really like this stuff - photos below are my go to picks out of all the prototypes that I tied. Simple to tie and pool tested - next step on fish.

Dale, the Spinster and Clouser are 4-5 inch flies tied on a EC413 1/0 and the JH Bendback pattern is ~3 inches tied on a EC413 #1�s.

George,

Two quick questions:

1. What are the sizes of those barrel swivels, rings and blades?

2. Are ya' gunna' tie at SOC Conclave (Oct7/8) or to North Toledo Bend Rendezvous (Nov.4/5/6)?

Bowfin47

Hey Bow, IIRC the Spinster was tied on a EC413 1/0 jig hook with a #10 swivel, a #0 split ring and an a #0 Colorado spinner blade. Also 1/0 jig hook for the Clouser but for shad patterns for striped bass I ALWAYS use EC413 #2/0, split ring #0 and swivel #7 and for larger hooks # 10 works.
The JH bendback pattern was tied on a EC413 #1 with a #00 split ring, a # 12 swivel and a #00 blade. Sometimes takes a little �persuasion� to get swivel over barb but I go barbless most 0f the time.

Won�t be able to make the Conclaves but I betcha Big Dale will be there and he will tie one for 'ya - ties much better than I �.

George: Thanks for the compliment, but I don't think my flies or skills are that great, but I do enjoy fooling sround with this stuff.

Kyle, I doubt that I will be able to attend either the Conclave or Rendezvous at Toledo Bend and the main thing that I will miss is sharing a tying table with you and whichever of your kids join you...it has been too long since we have done that.

Have fun with this stuff.

Big Dale

Damn Dale,

I miss tying with ya' so much, that if it wasn't so damn far to Plano, I'd swing by and pick you up and drag your fanny up to SOC Conclave... Notice that I didn't say "little fanny". HA!

Kyle

PS

Liam turned 12 yesterday, and he caught a little two-foot long shark at Grand Isle... He was happy kid! But no not on a fly as he was fishing on a Boy Scout trip and using bait... UGH! I know... I know I'm trying to raise him better than that!

However, I did catch a keeper-sized pompano on a #8 Original Pink Chrystal Charlie!

That is a good idea for sure!!

I do wish someone in the Dallas area could drag the big man to Mt. Home!