Aha, it's been a while since I've had an opportunity to cross swords with my transatlantic friend. He is wrong on both counts. Not only is the "easier to spin on a bare hook" not an urban legend, but his analogy is fatally flawed. There are actually two steps in spinning deerhair. The first is the flaring of the hair caused by putting pressure on a hair with a pithy centre; not at all like a clump of matchsticks. The second is the rotation of this flared bundle. Try flaring squirrel tail sometime, that's like matchsticks. As the hair is crushed in step one, many more hairs come into contact with the hook and this contact area will rotate much more easily on a bare hook. In fact if one wants to flare hair without rotation it's much easier to work with a thread base to prevent spinning. Obviously the type of thread used can affect spinning operations. If one uses a very slippery thread there is far less difference between bare and covered then if one uses a more "grippy" thread. I use waxed polyester thread and if I have to spin on a thread base for other reasons it's often necessary to physically rotate and distribute the hair bunch.
Cheers, Paul -- Paul Marriner Outdoor Writing & Photography. Member OWAA & OWC. Author of Stillwater Fly Fishing - Tools & Tactics (CD), Modern Atlantic Salmon Flies, Miramichi River Journal, Ausable River Journal, and Atlantic Salmon.
