I’ve been in love with CDC since the first times I got my hands on the “magic feathers” over the 30 years ago. The feathers versatility and great features, especially in dry flies is in my opinion unmatched in the actual ocean of materials accessible nowadays.
But through the years I’ve held many fly-tying classes and tied at many different events, and I’ve noticed that many fly tiers are almost a bit intimidated by CDC and miss a lot of its potential which I think is a big shame!
So therefore, I decided to make this hefty film where I go through some of the techniques in my quiver, I use the most in my day-to-day tying. The purpose of the film is not to cover specific patterns but rather show you some of the ways I use CDC that I’ve picked up through the years from excellent fly tyers from around the globe for you to adapt to your specific needs. But I’ve tried to cover the most common flies that should be relevant to most fly fishermen/women.
I hope this somehow sparks your interest in this fantastic material and its potential. If you wish to dig deeper in the subject, I recommend you check out the great work of Marc Petitjean or Leon Links. That will keep you busy for a while.
Rough list of materials and tools used in the film:
Hooks: Hanak 130BL Dry Fly, Hanak 230 Stillwater & Wet and Hanak 390BL Klinkhammer.
CDC: Fly-Dressing Premium CDC & Hand Selected Premium CDC.
Dubbing: Nature’s Spirit Beaver dubbing. Snowshoe Rabbit Foot dubbing, Hare’s Mask Dubbing and Ice Dub.
Threads: Textreme Standard 6/0 & 8/0 thread.
Indicator: Tiemco HiWiz yarn
Tails: Petitjean Pardo Coq De Lyon feathers
Tools: Petitjean Magic Tool Standard, Petitjean Thread Splitter & MP Twister.