Wapsi Fly Tying Materials Quick Picks
- Best Seller: Wapsi Mink Zonker Strips - The pick for leeches, small streamers and nymph collars where you want dense underfur and a strip that breathes in the water. Pre-cut in Micro and Regular widths to match the hook size.
- Best All-Around: Wapsi Elk Body Hair - The patch you reach for on Elk Hair Caddis, Stimulators and Humpys. The hollow fibers float well and flare predictably, and twelve colors run from natural to Olive and Orange.
- Best for Streamers: Wapsi Pine Squirrel Zonker Strips - Built for smaller streamers, matukas and strip flies where a full rabbit strip is too much. The 1/8-inch cut in Micro and Standard keeps the profile slim and the fibers mottled and buggy.
- Best for Classic Dries: Wapsi Wood Duck Feathers - The lemon barred flank you need for Catskill-style wings and tails, plus wet fly and nymph legs. Offered in Lemon Barred and Black/White.
- Best Starter Kit: Wapsi Wooly Bugger Fly Tying Kit - Ideal for a new tyer who wants to tie one pattern well before buying a whole bench of materials. It includes what you need for up to 15 Wooly Buggers.
How to Choose Wapsi Fly Tying Materials
Hair: hollow for floating, solid for tails and wings
Action: Decide whether the hair needs to float or simply hold a shape. Hollow hair flares under thread pressure and traps air, which is what you want on a caddis wing or a stacked head; stiff, solid hair holds a straight line for tails.
Best for: Elk Body Hair and Wapsi Premo Elk Body Hair for caddis, Stimulators and Humpys, where the Premo grade gives you a cleaner, more uniform patch for production tying. Wapsi Elk Rump Hair has longer fibers for big downwing dries and extended bodies.
Fur patches: dubbing underfur plus guard hairs for wings
Best for: Tyers who want one patch to do two jobs. Beaver, Muskrat and Red Fox give fine, water-resistant underfur for dry fly and nymph dubbing, while Badger, Coyote, Gray Fox, Silver Fox and Black Bear supply long guard hairs for streamer and salmon fly wings and collars.
Action: Start with Wapsi Beaver Fur if you mostly tie trout flies, since its fine, buoyant underfur dubs easily on small hooks. Add Wapsi Badger Fur when you start tying wings and collars on streamers, steelhead flies or bonefish patterns.
Skins versus pre-cut strips, and the small essentials
Best for: A full Wapsi Pine Squirrel Skins hide when you tie a lot of one pattern and want to cut your own zonker and crosscut strips, harvest dubbing and use the whole skin. Pre-cut Mink and Pine Squirrel zonker strips are the better buy when you tie a few flies at a time and want to skip the razor work.
Tip: Wapsi makes two dubbing waxes. Premium Dubbing Wax is a standard tack for everyday dubbing; Wapsi Super Sticky Deluxe Dubbing Wax is the stickier formula for coarse fur and dubbing loops. Both are odorless and will not add color to your thread.
Why Trident Carries Wapsi
Wapsi has made fly tying materials in Mountain Home, Arkansas since the 1970s and is the largest manufacturer and distributor of tying materials in the world. For us that means consistent patches: the Elk Body Hair you buy this season ties like last season's, and the grades are sorted by people who process thousands of skins a year. It is the core natural-material line on our wall.
Materials & Durability
- Keep natural materials sealed: Store fur, hair and feathers in zip bags or a lidded box. Moths and beetles will ruin an open patch, so inspect anything that has sat for a season before you tie with it.
- Clean hair before you stack: Comb the underfur and short fibers out of elk and moose first. Clean tips stack evenly and flare predictably under thread.
- Protect tanned hides from moisture: Pine Squirrel Skins and zonker strips are soft tanned; keep them dry and away from heat so the hide stays supple and does not crack when you cut strips.
- Wax lightly: A thin film of dubbing wax on the thread is enough. Too much traps loose fibers on the bobbin tube and makes a mess of small flies.
Complete Your Setup
Related Gear
- Fly Tying Hair & Fur - Compare elk, deer, squirrel and rabbit across brands when you need a specific color or grade.
- Fly Tying Feathers & Hackle - Dry fly capes and saddles to pair with Wapsi flank and body feathers.
- Fly Tying Hooks - Match hook wire and shank length to the hair and strip width you are tying with.
- Fly Tying Thread, Tinsel & Wire - Strong thread for flaring hair plus wire and tinsel for ribs.
Related Guides
- How to Tie an Elk Hair Caddis Dry Fly
- How to Tie a Zonker Streamer Fly
- How to Tie the Stimulator Fly
- How to Tie The Bead Head Wooly Bugger Fly
- How to Tie the Zebra Midge Fly
Wapsi Fly Tying Materials FAQs
Q: What does Wapsi make?
A: Wapsi is a manufacturer and wholesale distributor of fly tying materials, best known for natural hair, fur, hides and feathers along with dubbing waxes and kits. This collection covers hair and fur patches, zonker strips, flank and saddle feathers, ostrich and marabou, plus two pattern kits.
Q: Which Wapsi elk hair should I use for an Elk Hair Caddis?
A: Elk Body Hair in Natural, Light (Bull) or Bleached is the standard choice; Premo Elk Body Hair is the same hair in a hand-selected grade. Save Elk Rump Hair for larger downwing flies and extended bodies where you need extra length.
Q: What is the difference between Wapsi Pine Squirrel Skins and Pine Squirrel Zonker Strips?
A: The skin is the whole tanned hide, which you cut into strips yourself and can also use for dubbing and collars. The zonker strips are pre-cut to 1/8 inch in Micro and Standard widths, ready to tie.
Q: Which Wapsi dubbing wax is better?
A: Premium Dubbing Wax is a medium tack that suits most fine dubbing and beginners. Super Sticky Deluxe Dubbing Wax grips coarse fur and guard hairs for dubbing loops and larger flies. Both are odorless and colorless.
Q: Are the Wapsi kits good for a beginner?
A: Yes. The Wooly Bugger kit has materials for up to 15 flies of one proven pattern, and the Zebra Midge kit includes 48 hooks, glass beads and six colors of wire with instructions. Both let you practice thread control on a pattern that catches fish.
Q: How should I store Wapsi fur and feathers?
A: Sealed in bags or a closed box, out of sunlight and away from humidity. Natural materials attract insects, so check older patches before tying.
Wapsi Warranty & Resources
Wapsi is a manufacturer and wholesale distributor and does not sell to the public or publish a consumer warranty for tying materials. If a patch, strip or kit arrives damaged or short, contact Trident and we will sort out a replacement or return.
Learn More from Wapsi
- Wapsi Fly - Manufacturer home page with catalog downloads.
- Wapsi Our Story - Company history from Iowa in 1945 to Mountain Home, Arkansas.
- Wapsi Product Catalog - Browse hair, feathers, dubbing, kits and spooled materials by category.
- Wapsi Contact - Reach the manufacturer directly.