Spirit River UV2 Premium Selected Marabou Feathers

Marabou is one of the most universal materials and a staple on just about any fly tying desk, but it can sometimes be a pain to have to sift through the whole bag just to find a few feathers long enough. Spirit River removes that dilemma with their UV2 Premium Selected Marabou Feathers that average between 5”-7” long. These marabou feathers are “premium,” which means that they are selected to be the best quality possible and they have supple tips to make for easy winding. These feathers also feature Spirit River’s UV2 selection of colors (a unique mix of color choices that emit their own wave length with UVF and UVR and have nice, bold colors) to ensure that you’re grabbing the attention of anything around you. Whether you’re looking to step up your Wooly Bugger presentations or spin up a collar on a steelhead fly, Spirit River UV2 Premium Selected Marabou Feathers are a great choice. 

Uses

Marabou is one of those materials that has an endless amount of applications for both salt and freshwater fly tying. From creating swimmy tails on large nymphs to tying traditional streamers, there’s always a use for Spirit River’s UV2 Premium Selected Marabou Feathers. And some of the most common applications are tails on Wooly Buggers, wound bodies on nymphs, wings and collars on streamers and steelhead flies, antennae on shrimp and crabs, and it’s often turned to when looking to match the movement of terrestrial and aquatic worms like cinders and palolos. Marabou really is one of those materials that you can never quite have enough of.

Comparisons

Marabou is a natural material and one that’s tough to find a substitute for. While you can cut the fur from a rabbit hide or Zonker strip for similar movement, you’re limited by the material’s short length. Another somewhat comparable material is arctic fox fur, but it’s a little less supple and has less breathability than marabou quills. While these are two natural options, a comparable synthetic would be EP Fibers, but it does tend to go limp when tied in the 5”-7” range and doesn’t quite have the natural movement of marabou. All three of these materials also lack an ability to easily and quickly palmer-wrap to form collars on streamers and large wet flies. 

Example Flies

Spirit River UV2 Premium Selected Marabou Feathers is a material that you can turn to for a ton of uses, but a couple of the more notable patterns that utilize marabou for a tail is the famous Wooly Bugger and the saltwater Schminnow Fly. And for those of us looking to fish stillwater, Barr’s Damsel Nymph sports a tail of marabou and is an excellent choice for matching these nymphs.