By the J. Stockard Team
Ask any fly tyer why they reach for craft fur over EP Fibers on a given baitfish pattern, and the answer usually comes back as a material preference: one looks more natural, one is more durable, one is easier to work with. That’s not wrong, but it bypasses the variables that determine what a streamer actually looks like (in hand and in the water).
Fly silhouette isn’t simply determined by the synthetics in the package–two of the variables that matter most are fiber diameter and packing density, and how these characteristics interact with the stiffness, length and amount of the tying material (when it’s captured at the thread tying point) have important consequences on the appearance and performance of the finished fly.