Arctic fox fur and doubles / trebles

[fenton]

I am a self taught novice at fly tying (as many of you will know from other posts!)

So far I have stuck with bucktail for cascades and silver stoats tied on doubles and trebbles, and arctic fox fur for my bottle tubes and some (rough-looking!) coneheads.

Would it be wrong to use the arctic fox on doubles and trebles?

If not, could anyone suggest some good general patterns using red, black yellow or blue?

Thanks again in advance,

cheers
F

[charlieh]

It certainly can be used on doubles & trebles.

To give just one example, one of my favourite flies is a slight variant of a Moy Thunderflash, tied with arctic fox wing. The original dressing is as follows (per a piece in FF&FT a couple of years ago).

Tag: none
Tail: Yellow crest feather
Body: Flat old gold Mylar (dark gold).
Rib: Fine oval gold tinsel, one or two turns as a tag then wind as normal.
Throat: Yellow bucktail beard hackle, or a yellow hackle fibre beard hackle, or a wound yellow hackle.
Underwing: Length to end of the tail only, orange bucktail or bleached and plain dyed orange squirrel.
Synthetics: Length to end of tail only, six strands of orange or pearl Krystal Flash (usually orange), two strands of red Flashabou, two strands of Pearl Flashabou (optional).
Over-wing: Longer than the under-wing and kept sparse, long black squirrel, king squirrel or silver fox body hair dyed black. Two long strands of pearl or orange Krystal Flash over the black wing and approximately the same length as the over-wing.
Head: Red

I like the orange version, which reverses the colours of hackle and underwing. I also tend to simplify the flash slightly from the original recipe, usually using gold over the underwing and pearl over the top wing, but am not too fussy about this.



Frankly, I would use it in the wing of just about any hairwing pattern you like in sizes 6 and under, either tied conventionally as in the above examples or set more vertically (post wing style) if you prefer. I also use fox for tails of cascades, allys etc in very small sizes (maybe 10s, certainly 12-16s) where bucktail might be a bit coarse.

[tynetraveller]

As charlie says, it is perfect for use on doubles and trebles. My own fishing experiences are that it is better used on the main wing as shrimp tails tied with it can be a nightmare for wrapping around the hooks. Try a silver body with a green fox hair wing, then a few strands of flash, then a black cock hackle , then a slightly longer and thinner black fox overwing. It is a cheater's templedog if you like and has taken a dozen or more fish for me in the last two years.

[speycaster]

i allways put a bit of squirrel or bucktail underneath the fox to keep it clear of the hook ;D

[jjtt61]

i even use just squirrel itself if i want an alternative wing with a barring effect i will use plain dyed orange say as variant wing for allys shrimp barring still shows after bleaching,if i want plain strong colour i use bleach/ dyed squirrel
the barring is bleached before dying even use it in tails or as previous post under fox to support