Craft Fur Fly Tying: The Prep Work Most Tyers Skip

Craft fur shows up in more fly boxes than almost any other synthetic on the bench, and for good reason: it's inexpensive, it's durable, and it moves in the water in a way that convinces fish it belongs there. What doesn't show up nearly as often is a clear explanation of why two tyers can use the same bag of craft fur and end up with two very different flies. The difference isn't the material. It's the prep.

That's the gap McFly Angler's Shawn McQuade set out to close in a recent video breakdown, walking through how he selects, cleans, and manages craft fur before it ever gets tied to a hook — including how removing underfur, adjusting taper, and choosing the right variation of craft fur changes what the finished fly looks and swims like.

Shawn McQuade is the tier and teacher behind McFly Angler, an educational fly-tying channel that has grown to nearly 70,000 subscribers across YouTube and other platforms, with hundreds of tutorials spanning beginner technique through advanced pattern work. McQuade's path to the vise ran through fishing boats and fly shop counters before it ever ran through a camera — a background that shows up in how practically he talks about materials.

Beyond the channel, McQuade teaches fly tying and fly fishing classes for disabled veterans through the Enduring Freedom Organization, and works each summer with kids through Reaching Outdoors camps, introducing a new generation to the vise and the water.

The first thing McQuade's video makes clear is that "craft fur" isn't a single, interchangeable product. Standard craft fur, Extra Select Craft Fur, and Salty Craft Fur each behave differently off the hide, and matching the right one to the fly in front of you saves a lot of frustration at the vise.

Extra Select Craft Fur is the step up in fiber length and density, built for larger streamer and baitfish patterns that need real bulk and movement. Salty Craft Fur is built with saltwater durability in mind, standing up to repeated casting and toothy fish without breaking down at the tie-in point. Standard craft fur remains the workhorse option for general streamer, shrimp, and crab pattern work.

Every hide of craft fur carries a layer of soft underfur beneath the longer guard hairs, and what a tier does with that underfur has a direct effect on the finished fly. Left in, it adds fullness and a denser silhouette — useful on the belly of a baitfish pattern where a little extra bulk reads well in the water. Combed or picked out, it leaves only the longer fibers, which produce a sparser, more mobile profile suited to sleeker streamer and shrimp patterns.

McQuade's approach is to make that choice deliberately rather than by default: decide what profile the fly needs first, then manage the underfur accordingly, rather than tying every pattern with fur straight off the hide.

Craft fur fibers taper naturally from base to tip, and trimming that taper changes how the material behaves once it's wet. A bundle left at full length swims with a long, trailing action well suited to larger streamers and articulated baitfish patterns. Trimming the tips shortens the taper and tightens up the profile, which works better on smaller, more compact patterns where a fly-length tail would overwhelm the proportions.

The same logic applies to how the fur is tied in — tips forward and folded back "hollow fly" style for a fuller, rounded profile, or tips back for a straighter, more streamlined silhouette. Neither approach is universally correct; the fly being tied should dictate the choice.

The versatility that makes craft fur a bench staple comes through across pattern types. On streamers and baitfish imitations, it delivers the long, undulating movement that makes a fly look alive on the pause. On shrimp and crab patterns, trimmed sections mimic legs and antennae with a level of realism that's hard to match with natural materials at the same price point. And for tiers building large synthetic brushes, craft fur — spun into a dubbing loop — produces a full, mobile brush body that holds up through repeated casting.

Understanding how each variation and each prep choice changes that movement is what separates a fly that looks right on the bench from one that fishes right in the water.

Craft fur has been a fly-tying staple for long enough that it's easy to reach for a hide and tie it the same way every time. Shawn McQuade's breakdown is a reminder that the material rewards a little more attention than that — a few extra minutes deciding what to keep, what to trim, and which variation belongs on which fly pays off in flies that swim the way they're supposed to.

Shop the full range of craft fur and synthetic tying materials below: 

• "Craft fur" covers three distinct materials — standard, Extra Select, and Salty Craft Fur — each suited to different patterns and conditions
• Underfur is a choice, not a default: leaving it in adds bulk and fullness, combing it out produces a sparser, more mobile profile
• Trimming the taper shortens and tightens the fiber profile for smaller, more compact patterns; full-length fibers suit larger streamers and articulated baitfish
• Tips-forward "hollow fly" style versus tips-back changes the fly's silhouette and should match the pattern being tied
• Craft fur works across streamers, baitfish imitations, shrimp and crab patterns, and dubbing-loop brushes — the prep is what makes it fit each application