Tonight I experimented with making my own dubbing blends from squirrel, coyote, and raccoon fur.

What’s dubbing, you ask? It is the stuff you twist around thread to make the body of a fly. Usually made from animal hair/fur, plant fibers, or synthetic fibers.

I hunted the squirrel back when I was a teenager and my Dad and I tanned it together. The coyote and raccoon tails my Dad harvested and froze, then we skinned them out after Christmas.

The process was basically taking an old beard trimmer, cutting some fur, then blending it in a coffee grinder with some add-ins to get the color and consistency I wanted. For flash I added a bit of Ice Dub, for color I added wool yarn.

Here is squirrel belly + tan ice dub:

Squirrel belly + rusty brown ice dub + red wool yarn:

The squirrel back fur has longer, lighter colored outer guard hairs + a fine layer of gray underfur that blends up brilliantly. I must have shot the squirrel in the winter, since it has thick underfur. The coyote tail has a nice layer of underfur, too.

I learned that the coffee grinder blends really well, and it cuts the Ice Dub or flashing material, but it won’t really cut the hair/fur. So I needed to cut the fur to length with scissors before blending. Here is coyote:

Here is what I ended up with. Top row has synthetic flash blended in (hard to tell without moving to see the light catch it), bottom row is all natural.

With the exception of the red, these colors are just from squirrel, coyote, and raccoon. Lots of natural color variation! By being selective I got a wide range.

Across the top:

• Squirrel belly + tan ice dub
• Squirrel belly + red yarn + rusty brown ice dub
• Coyote tail + yellow ice dub
• Squirrel belly + squirrel back + pink ice dub
• Squirrel back + purple ice dub

Bottom row:

• Squirrel belly + squirrel mask
• Squirrel belly + squirrel back
• Squirrel back
• Coyote tail
• Hair from the dark rings of a raccoon’s tail

Here is my set compared to Hareline’s “most popular” set. I didn’t have a natural box to compare with, which is why I wanted to make my own in the first place.

I couldn’t resist tying a few nymphs with it. Nice and buggy!

This whole set of dubbing barely made a dent in the squirrel pelt, raccoon tail, and coyote tail. I doubt I’ll have to buy any dubbing for the next ten years.

In the Spring I think I’ll do another batch focused on colors, probably using some dye. I think the coyote and the lighter rings on the raccoon tail will take color nicely.

I enjoyed making my own fly tying wax and now my own dubbing. I’ve also been tying with deer hair and squirrel hair from animals I’ve harvested myself. So what’s next? Perhaps harvesting my own feathers or dying my own bucktails.