Chenille is a fly tying material that should be in every fly tier's stash, especially the warm water tier. Chenille is commonly used to create bodies on many different types of flies, from dries to streamers. I use a lot of chenille in my warm water fly tying. Something about this simple, easy to use material is irresistible to warm water fish, particularly panfish and bass. As a result, several different types of chenille products find their way into my fly patterns. I use all the standard chenilles in various sizes and colors and the flashy chenille products like Estaz and other tri-lobal yarns.
An exciting product popped up on my radar a while back that I wanted to share with the readers of this blog. Earlier in the year, I became part of the Semperfl Team of Fly Tiers, which gave me access to a broader range of their products. One of the first of their products to catch my eye was their Guard Hair Chenille. There are a few things that set this product apart from other chenilles. First is the actual yarn that is used to create the chenille. It consists of very soft fibers that are bound to the thread core. This material gives it a very buggy appearance when wound on a hook. In addition to this unique yarn, there are flashy "guard hairs" twice as long as the yarn fibers woven into the chenille strand.
Close up of the ‘guard hairs” protruding from the chenille core.
My description of this product is probably confusing the hell out of you, so I will let the folks from Semperfli describe it for you.
"When you look at animal fur, guard hairs protrude, which we love in fly tying. Semperfli Guard Hair Chenille was designed to imitate these guard hairs with stunning gold guard hairs protruding from the main fibres. Ideal for streamers, saltwater, and predator patterns, these guard hairs provide amazing movement and create stunning fly patterns."
A wooly bugger tied with a Guard Hair Chenille Body. The photo did a poor job capturing the strands of flash, but they are there! They really show up well in the water.
What all this means is you get incredible buggy looking bodies with a ton of movement when you add this material to your flies. A standard wooly bugger becomes something special when you use Semperfli Guard Hair Chenille for the body. The result has fibers that come to life in the water. The material has just the right amount of flashy fibers dancing in and out of the hackle on the fly. I have used it on hackle-less bugger style flies like the Golden Retriever that typically has an Estaz body with no hackle. A Golden Retriever tied with Peacock Green Gaurd Hair Chenille instead of the traditional Estaz was deadly on smallmouth bass this summer in Maine. You really have to see this material in action to appreciate it!
A Mop Dragon with a Guard Hair Chenille thorax.
I am finding a lot of other ways to incorporate this material into some of my existing patterns. An old standby warm water nymph pattern for me is my Mop Dragon. The Mop Dragon is my go-to nymph whenever dragonfly nymphs are on the menu. The mop material in the body of the fly works like magic for any species of fish. Over the years, I have experimented with many different materials, including emu feathers, different chenilles and dubbing to create the fly's abdomen. Guard Hair Chenille produces a fantastic-looking midsection on the fly. It easily creates the bulk needed for these chunky nymphs and adds a little flash where there was none before. I can see myself using the material in this fashion for many of my panfish, small mouth bass and carp nymph patterns.
Another fly where I have adopted this material is a larger version of the Panfish Chicken Little (top image) that I tie for larger fish like pickerel and bass. The original Panfish Chicken Little used stacked wool tied on at the head and trimmed to shape. The same technique can be used for the larger version of the pattern, but it requires more wool and trimming. In place of the wool, I used the Semperfli Guard Hair Chenille. I wrap the chenille in two layers and brush it out with a dubbing brush. Using Guard Hair Chenille on the predator version (bottom photo) gives me the same effect with less effort. It creates a similar effect of a large head that pushes water and creates the sound profile that makes this fly so effective, and it also adds a little of that flash I keep mentioning.
Guard Hair Chenille comes in a wide range of colors!
I'm sure you can think of other ways to use this unique material. To start, replace your standard chenille with it and see where it leads. It is a larger diameter chenille (10mm), and the 'guard hairs' stick out even farther(20mm), so it is best suited for larger flies. I have had great success tying with it on size eight and larger flies. Semperfli Guard Hair Chenille comes in a wide range of colors, from bright fluorescents to natural earth tones. Stop in your local fly shop that carries Semperfli products, or head over to our website and grab some for yourself and give it a try.
Do you want to try Semperfli Guard Hair Chenille? You can find it by clicking the button below.
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