Mikael Frödin sent me this exciting new material at the start of the week, here what he has to say about it!
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| Mikael at Work |
In the last 20 years synthetic materials have taken over a big part of the choice of materials in fly tying. I am myself part of the hair-fly-generation but when I started there was no flash or Angel Hair nor any exciting synthetic dubbing combinations. At that time we were dubbing natural materials and the favourite was
seal’s fur that gave a somewhat translucent appearance. When you look at what today’s dubbing's can do you realize that the progress is pretty amazing. The synthetic materials are in many ways superior the qualities of the natural materials.When flash materials entered the market it revolutionized all fly boxes! The flash flies created effects that were very favourable and above all changed the cold water fishing completely. That was the beginning of a frenetic chase of new exciting materials. Most of the new materials originated from The USA and were intended to be used in other fashions than what we really wanted to use them for. Ever since I have tested hundreds of different dubbing combinations, flash in all imaginable qualities and colours, some good, some very bad and some became favourites. The supply of different synthetic material more or less exploded during the 80’s as well as the 90’s and has yet not decreased. Today there are synthetic materials that can replace natural material in almost every aspect – with emphasis on “almost” – thank heavens! The connection to natural materials in fly tying is classical and should remain a part of the art of fly tying in my opinion!
Gradually the question arouse – why should we look for material that might suit our way of tying? Why look for colour combinations that almost live up to our expectations and might be mixable or adjusted to my/our patterns. Why?! Why not contact the manufacturers and tell them exactly what we want? Precise and exactly with the qualities and colour combinations we always have been striving for. Since we’ve reached so far when it comes to progress and functionality, tying technique, pattern and thoughts on how material ought to be used and how flies should swim – why not manufacture material that completely live up to our expectations?!
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| SSS - Guidelines New Material |
Said and done! Shim Hogan became the natural choice – the man behind
Angel Hair and many other fabulously exciting and good products – the man for whom nothing is impossible - a true visionary, a passionate fly tier as well as fisherman. One of the true trend setters in the world of synthetic fly tying. His answer to the question whether he could help me was: “You tell me what you want and I’ll do it for you!” Fabulous! As the samples started to present themselves I felt like a kid in a candy store. I let Håkan Norling in on the project and soon we had created a series of 15 different colour combinations. These became the base of what is today called the SSS – “Salar Synthetic Series” which consist of six different materials. The idea is to let the series grow with an addition of one or two products per year. The list of wishes was long but in my opinion one should hurry slowly. A good result is of more importance to me!
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| SSS Angel Hair |
I use
SSS Angel Hair in almost all my fly creations today. In the smallest flies I use merely one or two strands of Angel Hair as the only flash element. In the bigger flies I mix Angel Hair and natural hair to create an optimal and appetizing mix. Angel Hair was a god sent for my fly designs. I have often made my own mixtures, colour combinations to harmonize well with my patterns. It was rather natural for me to start creating my own Angel Hair blends. I have put together 15 different blends where three of them have strongly fluorescent streaks. With these blends I manage all of my creations - from the smallest fly for sunny days to the meanest, biggest fly for the murkiest water.
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| SSS Angel Hair HD |
HD stands for heavy duty. This is a heavier type of Angel Hair. The material is somewhere between common flash and the original Angel Hair quality. Many times you experience the common flash to be too heavy and the Angel Hair too thin. Voilà! The solution was
Angel Hair HD. I have longed for this material for a very long time. This material replaces the flash in small flies and the Angel Hair in the bigger ones. This kind also comes in 15 different colour blends. You get the whole colour chart with the three hot, fluorescent colours as an extra spicy alternative.
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| SSS Dubbing |
I have never understood why you should dub without brushing. The ultimate qualities of dubbing are to create a body that reflects and lets through as much light as possible. Most dubbing's have too short strands to fit big flies. If you brush it half of the material will fall off which makes it impossible to get the right lustre. The structure of the
SSS Dubbing consists of transparent synthetic fibres, dyed and mixed with the
SSS Angel Hair blends. The strands of the Angel Hair are cut long enough to enable the brushing without them falling off the body. The 15 colour combinations give you many imaginable variations for everything you tie!
Read more about our fly tying products here.
Mikael Frödin
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