By Joe Dellaria (with input from Joel Dellaria)
It all started with a simple question.
A friend of mine had given me three bucktails at various stages of processing. One was fresh off the deer, the second was dried and deboned, while the third was a rock-hard bone-in bucktail that was two or three years old.
The last one was the biggest and bushiest of them all. I soaked the bone-in tail for three weeks hoping to soften it enough to get the bone out. It sort of worked; I got one fairly large piece and four or five smaller pieces. I processed all three tails together and ended up with some nicely tanned bucktails and a bunch of smaller pieces. I nearly threw out the smaller pieces until it hit me, I could use them to test dyeing them with mustard.
Sounds weird, but I have ruined too many dress shirts and pants by getting mustard on them. Even if you immediately wipe off the mustard and soak the item, the mustard stain will never come out completely. So, why not use mustard to dye these bucktail pieces? It was all downhill from there.
I did a little research on dyeing bucktails and fly-tying feathers and garnered some common features the various processes shared.
This included:
- Thoroughly cleaning the material to be dyed
- Pre-wetting the fur or feathers immediately prior to dyeing.
- Heating in the dye solution for some time (usually for an hour or so).
- Adding a weak acid to set the dye (vinegar works and is easy to get and handle).
- Stirring to ensure good and even exposure.
We had the dregs left in a mustard bottle so I added hot water and shook until all of the dregs came off and poured the suspension into an 8-cup Pyrex measuring bowl. I should point out one precautionary note: it is best to do this when your wife is not home. My wife nearly hit the ceiling when she found out I was heating a bucktail in the microwave in her formerly favorite bowl. (She refuses to use the bowl anymore. That’s o.k., I have plenty of other things to dye.) I added 2 cups of white vinegar and my pre-wetted bucktail piece. For the next hour I heated the mixture to 140 °F and reheated it when the solution dropped below 135 °F. Then I let the whole thing sit overnight.
The next morning, I drained off the solution and rinsed the tail. To my great satisfaction, the bucktail was discernibly yellow. My mustard theory was confirmed! It was not as vibrant as I had hoped for, but good enough to tie a streamer. After drying the piece thoroughly, it was off to the vice. As soon as I snipped off the first clump of hair there was a perceptible odor of mustard. I figured I like mustard on hot dogs and brats, maybe trout would like it on a streamer so I continued tying the streamer. I deliberately tied a very simple one as there was no sense in investing a lot of time if the streamer didn’t work. Being a scientist, I realized I had to make a “control” streamer as well where I used store-bought yellow bucktail to tie an identical streamer to get a valid result.
Did it Work?
Now it was time for the best part – to see whether it would catch fish. I rigged up two rods so I could fish alternately with each fly. At every new spot I rotated which fly I used first and then fished with the other. That allowed me to get a fair comparison between the effectiveness of both streamers. I had no idea what to expect and was amazed when the mustard streamer out-fished the regular bucktail four to one! I thought to myself, 'this has to be a fluke!' Then it occurred to me, 'Was the difference from the color or the mustard odor?'
In the name of good science, I had to do more “studies.” Now I could tell my wife I wasn’t trout fishing but doing “research!” I promptly added eight 6-hour blocks called “research” to the family calendar. My wife bought me a brand-new camouflage lab coat to make it official.
For each “research” outing I always tied a fresh mustard streamer and a fresh store-bought yellow bucktail streamer. After four more outings there was no doubt the mustard streamer out-fished the regular streamer. The average came out to 2.9:1 fish in favor of the mustard streamer. Clearly an unexpected outcome! Then my mind started grinding. (Grinding is the correct term; there’s a lot of friction between my ears just ask my wife!)
How many other condiment odors might work?
The short version of the next few months of “research” showed that ketchup, horseradish, and relish all showed an increased catch rate when compared to the control fly of the same size using store-bought bucktail materials. The ratios weren’t quite as high but they were significant and ran between 1.5-2.1:1 after 5 outings. At this point, it seemed pretty reasonable to say that it was the odor rather than the color. To test this, I simply soaked the streamers in a condiment for 12 hours, gently rinsed off the excess condiment, and dried the fly before fishing it against the “control streamer.” Again, the condiment streamers caught more fish!
The next step was obvious. If one condiment was good, two could be better, and “The Works” streamer might be lights out. You know what I mean if you have ever had a Chicago-style hot dog at Portillo’s in the Chicago area. It has so many condiments on it that you can barely get your mouth around it to take a bite! So, on with the “research.” (My wife started to wonder if my “research” would ever finish at this point.) Eventually, I found that simply dabbing on a condiment every so often while fishing was sufficient. That was great, it’s time-consuming to do all the soaking, rinsing, drying, etc. I started carrying those disposable rip open condiment packets in my fly vest. (You definitely want to use a heavy-duty freezer Ziplock bag to store any open packages.) For onions and sauerkraut, I made my own bags by re-purposing those small zip lock bags we often receive many of our fly-tying material in.
“The works” streamer was a disappointment. It did not significantly improve my catch rate but it sure made my sandwich at lunch a lot more enjoyable.
Now I have a special side-pouch to carry all of my condiments outside of my waders and hanging below my vest. (When those pouches leak, it can get pretty messy.) Fortunately, we have 16 grandkids and they all like going out for hot dogs or burgers. They saw the twinkle in my eye for my “research” project and wanted to get in on the fun. Every time we stopped to grab a burger or hot dog, they saved me their leftover condiments so we could try out new flavors and color combinations.
If my “research” is any indication, I think using condiments can help anyone catch more trout. I am still searching for the optimum combination and don’t see my “research” slowing anytime soon. I relish the thought of finding the perfect mix of condiments causing trout to ketchup to my streamers and other flies! (Preliminary results indicate condiments also improve catch rates with nymphs!)
I hope this helps you get started in this unexpectedly effective way to fish streamers. By the way, Happy April Fool’s Day!
P.S. Mustard really did work for dyeing the bucktail piece!