We’ve been spinning up a lot of king salmon flies lately in anticipation of our upcoming season, and that means big flies for big fish.. Heck we’re getting excited just thinking about it.
When swinging flies for kings, we’ve long been fans of intruder style patterns due to their large profile appearance in the water with minimal materials (allowing them to still be cast comfortably). However, one down side to intruder style patterns that most tyers can relate to is they can take a long time to tie!
So, today we thought we’d share with you a material that has helped us make quick work (or at least ‘quicker’ work) of tying intruder style flies for salmon and steelhead, first introduced to us by our buddy Stuart Foxall. It’s called ‘Funky Blob Fritz,’ and not only does it make for a quicker tied intruder, but we think they look better too! Here’s Stuart himself on the benefits of the Fritz.
Tying Intruders – Funky Blob Fritz
Do you fancy tying some king intruders like this a little quicker than normal? Well there’s a material that you can buy that will help you lots, and in my opinion also attracts a few fish that you may not otherwise hook.
It’s called “Blob Fritz” and was actually designed for competition “blob” flies in the UK. The Fritz is a tightly spun synthetic material that ‘Fizzes” when pulled in water. I started tying my intruders using this material eight years ago or so as I could see a number of benefits over dubbing balls.
I really like the Funky Flytying brand of ‘fritz’ for my flies for a few reasons. Unlike other similar materials which has material dispersed all around the core, Funky Fritz is actually manufactured flat. This helps you tie a very tight ball of fritz (in place of a dubbing ball) which is what you need to tie a nice compact intruder. The core is also slightly stretchy which also helps to tie a really nice tight fritz ball.
Tying With Funky Blob Fritz
Tying with Blob Fritz is very simple. Below are a few simple steps on how to use incorporate it in your intruders in place of traditional dubbing balls.
Anybody have an American source for Blob Fritz?
Hi Eric, great to hear from you! I’m not aware of any American source for Blob Fritz at this time, however to my understanding, Funky Fly Tying (click on the link in the post) will indeed ship to the US. It’s pretty cool stuff, and in my opinion, well worth the wait to be sent from across the pond! Hope all is well!
Here’s a North American source for another fritz
http://www.canadianllama.com/fritz/fritz-15mm.
I usually just pick a chenille and wrap but I can see flat fritz would build a better shoulder
I have been reading about this stuff for awhile, but have not found a source here in the US…
Any help out there???
I have this frizzle chenille from Angler’s Workshop that is a flat sparkle chenille. Core is slightly stretchy.
http://www.anglersworkshop.com/Chenille/Frizzle-Chenille-Wide