The One Fly

I was asked by the Bavarian fly shop Rudi Heger, if I’m interested in testing the new FLY FUR by Fair Flies. Well, I’m always interested in testing new materials, but I was sceptical, because it looked like normal Craft Fur. Nothing really new.

I did a little research on the homepage of the manufacturer. They wrote about Fly Fur:

Half the underfur and twice the overfur of other select craft furs
Longest, most supple fibers will not leave you wanting for your pike and streamer patterns
Super fine fibers are coated so that they do not clump, but flow freely when wet
Uniquely designed colors for fish – not left over colors from other industries
Great marabou replacement
Perfect for tying your flies and jigs
Outlasts the natural fibers it replaces
Fibers made from 45% post-consumer products
25 square inches

Just marketing was my first thought. But I tried to be open minded and did my own tests.

First, I checked the maximal length of the fibres. That’s an important point. Some brands just offer quite short fur. The benchmark is imho the Craft Fur by Hareline.

On the package is written „over 4 inch length fibres“. That was true with one exception: the fibres of the black barred fur are a little bit shorter. All other colors I’ve tested got the correct length.

On the left side Craft Fur, on the right side Fly Fur.

Testing the main point: Fly Fur should have half the underfur and twice the overfur of Craft Fur. Normally we all need the longest fibres of Craft Fur for our streamers. The underfur is crumpled and it doesn’t play so well in the water.

I cut two bunches of fur close to the fabric. The Fly Fur bunch is a little bit smaller.

I took a comb to seperate the longest fibres from the underfur. The result was very clear. Even if the Fly Fur bunch was a little smaller it got about twice the amount of long fibres.

It’s true, Fly Fur got much more longer fibres than Craft Fur.

Final Result:

Fly Fur got a nice length, it got more long fibres than Craft Fur and way less underfur. I tied some flies with it in the last two weeks and I used way less material than normally with Craft Fur. Especially when I’m tying sandeels for example, because I really just need the longest fibres. For me, it’s a really great addition to the existing fur on the fly tying market. Fly Fur will definitely get a constant place in my fly tying drawers.