Dubbing Brushes
Dubbing Brushes – By Elliot Brass.
Dubbing brushes are a great way to tie up strong durable flies. There are several commercial versions available but I find them a bit pricey and wanted to make mine more sparse then what I had found in the fly shop. In this blog, I will make a purple brush and use it to tie up a few egg sucking leeches. With the Coho season just around the corner, this is a great way to refill your fly box and get some nice fish!
2) This year my buddy @flyhersley gave me a dubbing spinner he had made me for my birthday. For the past few years, we have been pushing each other to come up with more productive flies for salmon and steelhead. No material was too weird, no concept went untried. We have had great success with intruder type flies tied with dubbing loops. While these flies are great they can be very time-consuming. The dubbing brush allows you to tie around 6 flies in the time it takes you to make one budding loop.
3) Start by wrapping you dibbing wore around the hook. UTC makes a special thread for dubbing brushes and it’s by far the only way to go.
4) Double the thread back over its self and wax it.
5) Cut off a generous amount of craft fur and place it on the wire
6) next add some predator wrap. For this fly I am using purple
7) Lay in some flash
8) Add some barred ostrich
9) You can add more flash now if you like!
10) Thread the wire back over all the material and secure it on the far side.
11) Start to spin up your brush
12) Once you have tension on your wire drop the work station away. Mine has a very simple leg that falls away and lets the work station fall.
13) Spin, spin, spin
14) Try and pull and trapped fibers out as you go
15) When things are getting nice and tight – take a minute to pick out any trapped fibers
16) You should have a nice full brush by the time you are done
17) You can use this to tie a great variety of flies or several flies that are exactly the same
18) A simple rabbit tail and a dubbing brush is all you need!
19) You can mix it up cones or dumbbell eyes. The sky is the limit!
20) Be creative and have fun! Hopefully, I’ll have a pic of one these flies hanging out of a chrome Coho!! Stay Tuned!!
Elliot Brass
When Elliot is not fly fishing, he is most likely on the bench tying flies. After all, tying flies to him is as rewarding as it is hooking into a chrome fish. Always full of stoke and good times, Elliot loves swinging flies and talking about fly fishing. His favorite lucky cap is the Steelhead Curved Brim – Grey.
Follow Elliot Brass on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/elliot76/