Looking For Tips on Tying Dries With Snowshoe Hare

[billems]

I've tied 'em and fished 'em. But the floatability has been sometimes lacking. I'm thinking I didn't use the right source, or that dyed snowshoe absorbs water. CDC is better than anything, at first. But the cleaning, brushing and drying following its contact with fish slime is tedious. I caught a lot of fish on the showshoe flies. But I would welcome some tips on having them float better. Anyone?

[twistedtippet]

Good natural snowshoe rabbit from the rear foot pads floats like a cork. Some times jack rabbit feet are sold as snowshoe and they are worthless for fly tieing. Also when natural fur is dyed it washes out the natural oils and is detrimental to floatability.
tt

[Brier549]

I have always used the hair from between the toes, I was taught that way many years ago and it seems to work better. It has to do with the different texture.

[narcodog]

What he said.

[Silver Doctor]

I find It's important that you harvest them in winter. They float like a cork.

[Hellmtflies]

As above. I find that the rear feet of the rabbit, Snowshoe Hare, I harvest in fall while grouse hunting serves much better than from other times of the year. Just use the fur from the very bottom of the foot. And, as an aside, those rabbit taste great too.

[Sandan]

I have always used the hair from between the toes, I was taught that way many years ago and it seems to work better. It has to do with the different texture.

Yep

[tworod]

An easy and natural alternative to snowshoe hare that I now use is raw wool. It is naturally saturated with lanolin and this is what helps sheep to shed water in rain. Much easier to work with, costs very little if you can't find any, comes in a variety of colors and floats dry flies and emergers as well if not better than snowshore hare. Easy to tie with and makes a great indicator too. The only issue you will run into is that the lanolin can get sticky on your fingers when you work with it. Though that is a good indication of how long it maintains its water replellency.

[Flykuni3]

Interesting, where does one find raw wool...on a sheep, I know.

[GerardH]

I used to raise beagles and hunt snowshoe hares as a youth -- I think about the countless feet thrown away (along with woodcock & grouse wings, etc). Anyway, you can find raw wool online at various craft stores.

[WiFlyFisher]

I used to raise beagles and hunt snowshoe hares as a youth -- I think about the countless feet thrown away (along with woodcock & grouse wings, etc). Anyway, you can find raw wool online at various craft stores.

Gerard, I am sure you are aware of this too. I have only seen two snowshoe hares while grouse hunting in the Northwoods in many years. No way I would shoot them, even if the owls, fox, or hawks may devour them.

I rarely tie with snowshoe. I do have a couple of Usuals tied exceptionally well by Upstate while we were sharing a beverage of West.

John

[GerardH]

I used to raise beagles and hunt snowshoe hares as a youth -- I think about the countless feet thrown away (along with woodcock & grouse wings, etc). Anyway, you can find raw wool online at various craft stores.

Gerard, I am sure you are aware of this too. I have only seen two snowshoe hares while grouse hunting in the Northwoods in many years. No way I would shoot them, even if the owls, fox, or hawks may devour them.

I rarely tie with snowshoe. I do have a couple of Usuals tied exceptionally well by Upstate while we were sharing a beverage of West.

John

Agreed, and I haven't shot one since 1990 as I recall...I've only photographed them since my last beagle died in the mid-80s. However, I wouldn't hesitate to snip off the feet of a roadkill -- hare numbers still seem pretty good up along the North Shore. Here was one of two hares that was hanging around our rental cabin up there a month ago -- pardon the quality of the image, it was getting late in the day.

[GerardH]

An easy and natural alternative to snowshoe hare that I now use is raw wool. It is naturally saturated with lanolin and this is what helps sheep to shed water in rain. Much easier to work with, costs very little if you can't find any, comes in a variety of colors and floats dry flies and emergers as well if not better than snowshore hare. Easy to tie with and makes a great indicator too. The only issue you will run into is that the lanolin can get sticky on your fingers when you work with it. Though that is a good indication of how long it maintains its water repellency.

I read this with great interest and I purchased a bag of raw wool to give it a try. I tied a couple emergers with both snowshoe hare and raw wool and I have to report that the flies using wool wings sunk like a rock and the snowshoe hare ties behaved as expected. Even treated with Gink the wool wing flies didn't maintain their buoyancy for long. What I noticed is the wool literally wicks the water whereas the snowshoe hare didn't. That unwashed wool dulls scissors pretty noticeably too.

I've done some exhaustive searches online about the use of wool for dry flies and got almost zero hits. The best use I could find was New Zealand strike indicators. Perhaps wool from various breeds of sheep behave differently.

Maybe others have different observations.

[Flykuni3]

Best about the hare is that it’s easy to bind
and tie down that hair, two, it’s really durable stuff. But not as floaty as legend.

[Caneghost]

CDC rules. Stop whining about cleaning your flies.

[upstate]

Overlooked and totally just as useful are the front paws especially for smaller flies size 18 and down. If you want to catch fish use Quality CDC and or snow shoe. I have just about given up snow shoe though . Just want to see what else works.

Tom.

[GerardH]

Overlooked and totally just as useful are the front paws especially for smaller flies size 18 and down.

I have always wondered if the front feet provide useful tying material -- a lot of posts online would suggest only the hind feet are usable.

[driftless angler]

I find CDC floats so much better and easier to use, that I have not used snowshoe hare in a long time.

[Silver Doctor]

Front feet work also but I generally don't bother as there is so much usable in the hind legs. Although I do fish with CDC most of my small dries are tied with Snowshoe. Great in broken water, I have often had them washed under only to have them pop up again. This is a great time to harvest bunnies, just loaded up with a half dozen pairs.

[billems]

I gave up on snowshoe years ago because they didn't float well. They were dyed feet, which might've been the problem. I tied a bunch of sulfurs with them, and they were deadly. I intend to try again.