Blending bucktail and fly tying materials of various colours, or even different materials themselves is nothing new in fly tying. So, to be clear, this post is not in any way claiming to be something new, but more of a personal development thing on my side. Blending materials (before tying them in) was something I never really gave much time to prior to a few weeks ago. Now that I’ve started, it has become something of an addiction.

It’s added something to not only the end product of the fly itself, but has given me something new to experiment with, adding even more enjoyment to my time at the vice.

Perhaps you, like me, are a little wary on where to start, and how to go about it. So I figured perhaps the following might be of some help, or interest, and encourage you to give it a spin next time you’re at the vice.

“Fly tying is all imitation at the end of the day”

Blending fly tying materials has a couple functions – I’ll stick with the blending of a single material in this post, cause that’s what I’ve been doing. And surprise fucking surprise (ed. Dre is known for his deep love of the stuff), I’ve been blending bucktail. My interest in blending got tweaked by seeing the incredibly gifted tyer Andrew Warshawer back tying again and posting on Instagram (@andrewscustomflies). Andrew’s flies were always incredibly inspiring and doing my best to emulate his incredible work was a big part of what got me so hooked on bucktail and tying big flies like BEASTS and large Hollowfleyes.

Andrew is a master of not only proportion and bucktail manipulation, but has an amazing ability to utilise different colours within his ties to imitate the forage he’s tying to represent. What stood out to me was his use of often “off” colours in very small amounts, which when mixed in with the more “regular” colours of bucktail, added an incredible depth and dimension to the finished flies.

Fly tying is all imitation at the end of the day, figuring out a way to create something a fish wants to eat, and in many cases doing our best to imitate as many elements of the prey species we are tying. So size, shape, movement and colour are all factors here.

“Whether it makes a difference at the end of the day to the fish is a question I can’t answer.”

I’d started doing a lot of tying with what I refer to as “fades” – using bucktail in various shades at each tie-in point, moving forward to create a nice faded look to the finished pattern. For example going from yellow to pale orange to a slightly brighter orange, into a dark orange into a red and finally into a dark oxblood red to create a sunset fade, or going from a pale yellow to pale lime to light chartreuse to bright chartreuse to olive to dark olive on the dorsal of big flies to give a great fade through the pattern. I was really enjoying the process, and the results.

Seeing one of Andrew’s recent posts I noticed him using a huge variety of colours within his patterns, but often in very small amounts, and mixed in with his other colours before tying in. This got me looking at the baitfish he was tying to represent, and then further onto a wide range of baitfish all over the world. While a lot of them lean in general one, two or three main colours, when looked at closely there are a huge myriad of colours often in small amounts and areas throughout their bodies which are not “typical” of the rest of their bodies. This is often in the cheek/gill plate area, or on the shoulders, or even in the belly areas.

“Think way back to your first years of school and art class and learning about primary colours and how mixing certain colours will give you other colours.”

Pinks, purples, blues, yellows, oranges and all manner of colours often show up on these baitfish we are trying to imitate. Blending your bucktail can often do a lot to add some of these colours into your flies. Whether it makes a difference at the end of the day to the fish is a question I can’t answer, but given the choice of throwing a single colour pattern at finicky fish, or something that has subtle blends and the correct highlights and tones of the prey species, I’m going to pick the latter every time.

Another function of blending is creating colours that you may not have on hand. Think way back to your first years of school and art class and learning about primary colours and how mixing certain colours will give you other colours. So, for example, if you don’t have a certain green you are wanting, mixing blues with yellows can bring you to something pretty close depending on how you blend them. It opens up a whole new world of fucking about at the vice at the end of the day, and the main thing is it’s just plain fun.

Overall – blending adds depth to the overall look and colour of the fly.

I’m sure there are various ways to blend bucktail, but below I’ve outlined the way I’ve been doing it which has been working for me, which I’ve tried to highlight in images.

A few additional points/notes which aren’t shown in the pics:

• Use different length hair in your blends – while this isn’t always possible, I’ve found that I quite like the effect it gives having your “off/highlight” colours being different lengths to your “main” colours
• Don’t be scared of using 3 or 4 or even 5 or 6 different colours in your blends – its amazing the effect you can get with multiple colours
• I try to combine the “fade” technique of using a different shade/tone at each tie point with the blending for a “best of both worlds” effect. Additionally I will try carry one colour at least between two tie points, sometimes across 3 or 4 or more.
• Don’t be afraid of “weird” highlight colours. Its amazing how a tiny amount of a hot pink or dark purple or bright yellow or orange can really transform the overall look. But use it sparingly… like really fucking sparingly. A little goes a long way.
• Have some fun with it. It’s not reinventing the wheel, or saving lives, it’s just fly tying, but it certainly has added even more enjoyment to my tying, hope it does yours too.

Blending bucktail

So I figured – seeing as I was gonna write about this – that I would try blend up as many colours as possible to try give a better example. So we’re gonna use all these colours through the fly, but used over only 4 tie points. The end pattern being mainly olive focused.

First 4 colours of bucktail cut off the skin and laid down onto a clean surface. We’re starting off with pale lavender, pale yellow, seafoam and light olive.

You can start mixing these on the table surface by laying them on top of each other and then pulling them apart and stacking them on top of each other. Alternatively in hand but grabbing the butts with your left hand, and then pulling the tips with your right hand and laying them on top of the stack again.

The next thing I do is a little tricky to show in pics. Taking a fine tooth comb I hold all the butts together between thumb and forefinger of my left hand. And then “roll” the bunch of fibres between my fingers while brushing out the tips with the comb. I then reverse the bunch and do the same the other way, combing out the butts. I repeat this until the fibres are blended evenly.

Final mixed batch gets chucked into a hair stacker, bang that sucker on the table till you annoy someone, then remove the batch and lay on a table.

Next batch

Next batch of colours ready to blended. I’ve kept the lavender and the seafoam from the first blend. And added two more darker olives and a light purple “highlight” colour. You can of course vary the amounts depending on what you’re after for the final result.
*Note. From this point on I started blending larger bunches of bucktail. I realised I am needing to tie a couple of matching flies with these colours. So I’ve blended enough for 3 flies here.

Sometimes with the bigger bunches its easier to do a bit of mixing and brushing. Then split the stack in two and blend/brush the smaller batches. And then blend all together at the end again.

First batch and second batch laid together on the tying table.

The next batch ready to be belnded. Two olives, a little light blue, purple again, some oxblood and brought back a bit of the pale yellow.

And the final grouping of blending bucktail – 3 olives, 2 blues, oxblood, a brighter purple and black.

All the batches of bucktail blended together and placed on the table ready for use. You can clearly see from this picture that batches 2, 3 and 4 are vastly thicker. I only remembered I needed enough for 3 flies after the first batch!

Blending bucktail for BEASTFLEYE

Below is a series of images of the various blends being tied in to finish a BEASTFLEYE on an Ahrex SA 270 Bluewater hook in 6/0.

The Batch 1 tied in reverse and hollow tied on top using the Bullet tie method with white on the belly

I separated a small section off of Batch 2 and tied on on top – reverse/hollow tied with a bullet tie.

I blended some lavender and a bit of pink into the white for the belly

Repeat with a section of Batch 3 on the dorsal. And white with a touch of lavender and pink on the bottom

Reverse/hollow tied with a bullet tie and with some Wisteria SybaiSaltwater Angel Hair flash added to the dorsal.

4th and final batch tied in reverse/hollow and tied in bullet style. Note at this stage I don’t tie in anything on the belly. Instead I add about 10/12 extra length peacock hearl just ahead of the bullet tie on the dorsal.

I then finish off the belly with a blend of white, lavender and pink, and add a set of Rupert Harvey’s eye tabs with Fishient H20 Off Set pupil Flat eyes in 8mm which I have coloured yellow with a Copic marker, and finish with some UV flex resin.

The finished pattern with the batches of blended bucktail above it.