We have many very good options for adding flash in the wings of our steelhead and salmon flies these days – here are six of these options.
This post will just feature a half dozen of the various options we have at hand on the bench to add flash to wings of steelhead and salmon flies. There are well over a hundred options if you consider colors, thickness, and base properties of the flash material. The six products shown here are among my favorites but are by no means the only products you should consider.
Color consistency: tends to be very good between individual packets of flash and over time. These are synthetic materials and dying tends to be very consistent at least within a batch of flash material. I have seen some variation in (for example) pink Krystal Flash over time because one batch of material came out of the dye vat a little more or less pink than a different batch dyed a year or more later. Overall, though, you can count on purple being purple in packet after packet.
Limpness: varies between products but will be consistent within a produce across colors and time. Lateral Scale, Flashabou, Ice Wing, and Larva Lace tend to be relatively limp. Krystal Flash is not as limp as the previously noted products. Purple Haze holographic flash fibers tend to be a little less limp than traditional Flashabou but gosh the holo effect on the brilliant purple looks nice.
Lateral Scale is a stippled material that exhibits exceptional sparkle and flash. I like this material and use it often. Many of my steelhead flies incorporate two strands of Lateral Scale on each side of the wing.
Traditional Flashabou is offered in close to 30 colors and still represents a great option for adding flash to our flies.
Krystal Flash also offers great options in over 40 colors to add flash to our fly wings.
Purple Haze Holographic Flash Fibers are yet another innovative example of a flashabou-like material we have at hand on our fly bench.
Ice Wing is relatively fine and very different than traditional materials like flashabou and lateral scale. It is a little more difficult to tie in but makes for most excellent flash in wings.
Larva Lace is very similar to Ice Wing and also offers an excellent option for adding sparkle to our steelhead and salmon wings.
I just took a look in the Hareline Catalog and found something like forty different options for various flash products that are currently available. Some of these are holographic, magnum, micro, flourescent, UV, traditional and innovative products that allow each tyer of steelhead and salmon flies to choose the means of adding flash that most suits our intentions.
Jay Nicholas, winter 2016/17 season
