At a Glance: Dubbing, Furs, & Zonker Strips
Dubbing, Furs, and Zonker Strips come in a wide variety of types and both natural and synthetic materials. Our selections cover most of the bases when looking for quality fly tying dubbings in dozens of colors. Most are single-color bags or pieces of fur on the skin. Natural dubbings and furs of dyed rabbit and beaver, along with opossum, nutria, badger, and woodchuck, cover many tying needs. Fur has many fly fishing applications for dry flies, wet flies, and nymph bodies and is generally “dubbed” onto the thread, then wrapped onto the shank body. If a sampling of natural dubbing is more to your liking, FishUSA offers a compartmentalized dubbing dispenser box containing a variety of furs.
Dyed synthetic dubbings are also popular for all flies, from dubbed bodies to tags and the “hot spot” on the back and front of various flies. Again, these are usually applied by spinning the dubbing onto the thread, then wrapping it around the hook shank. Some dubbings are a mix of natural and manufactured materials, and others are two differing synthetics blended for a variegated effect. Zonker strips are usually rabbit, Arctic fox, or Finn Racoon, a long-lasting natural hair that moves like marabou for a great collar or tail material. Zonker strips are fur on the hide, cut with the grain and straight or cross-cut, allowing for a better wrap on the hook shank palmer-style like a feather hackle. Tyers find a use for zonkers traditionally for tails, bodies, and sometimes collars on larger streamer flies – we off zonker strips in many colors.