AMADOU

Most fly fishermen have heard of amadou, the fungus traditionally used to expel moisture from dry flies.  Fewer have used it, and fewer still know where and how to go about getting hold of it in the wild.  I could find very little of use on the Net, so I thought I'd put something together, having done a bit of leg work (along with my mates) on the subject matter.

The fungus from which amadou is extracted is Fomes fomentarius.  It is a bracket type fungus and is found in birch woods across the highlands of Scotland.  I've also found it occasionally on fallen beech trees.  About the furthest south we've seen it is at the Lake of Menteith.  It kills the trees it infects, and so when looking for it, you should home in on any trees you spot through the woods that have lost their crown, and are but standing, rotting trunks.  Fallen trees are also worth investigating.  The fungus’s other names include tinder fungus, for which it used to be used, and horse’s hoof fungus.  The latter is a perfect description.  When hunting it, simply look for birch trees that have what looks exactly like a horse’s foot sticking out the side of the trunk.

I found out about amadou from watching Ray Mears, the guy on BBC2 that does the "How to survive in the jungle" type programmes.  He was using it for tinder.  The next time I was fishing near a birch wood, I had occasion to "make use of the facilities" (as bears do), and while in there, I thought I'd have a look for this here horse's hoof fungus.  The very first birch tree I came to had a big lump of it sticking out the trunk.

A triple-decker lump of the source of amadou, the horse's hoof fungus, Fomes fomentarius

The size of the specimens varies from a few cm across (at which they are not suitable for consideration), up to rare giants of 30 cm or more (at which they most certainly are).  A good size to look for as a source of amadou is 15-20 cm across.

Finding where the amadou lay inside it was trial and error the first time.  The amadou forms a layer that is sandwiched between the very hard outer skin and the spore tube mass (see diagram).  The spore tubes makes up 90% of the bulk of the fruiting body and, along with the skin, need to be removed from the amadou layer and discarded .  You’ll need to set about it with assorted coping saws, Stanley knives, chisels and power tools to separate the layers.  The fungus does not yield-up its bounty without a fight and a few skinned knuckles on your part!

Warning: If you are cutting away and getting nothing but pale, soft to corky tissue, you have accidentally collected birch bracket, aka razor-strop fungus.  And... watch out for tackle shops selling birch bracket labelled as amadou.  It might be good for sharpening cut-throat razors, but it's not in the same league as amadou for drying flies.  We've also come across some stuff being sold as amadou that is just plain too uniform in structure to be real amadou -- good copy though!

The thickness and suppleness of the amadou layer is very variable.  In the very best specimens, all one need do is get the amadou layer out and it's good to go.  However, about one specimen in 50 is that easy.  In the majority of specimens we’ve collected, the amadou layer is variously very hard, very thin, very brittle, or all 3.  We’ve yet to work out the way to spot a good’un from the outside. 

Various books have advised on all manner of ways to try to make the hard specimens pliable, including boiling it in urine (not recommended).  Our own trials have resulted in the following method being recommended for producing working quality amadou:

Steep a piece in water for several days.  Really hard pieces can be left for a month.  Rinse off all the water, which will have stained dark brown by now.  Then, while the amadou is still soaking wet, beat it out with a hammer.  This splays it out to more than twice its original area (and of course half its thickness).  It makes it more spongy by breaking up the fibres, but at the risk of damaging the structure of the piece.  The softer the parent material, the less soaking and hammering is required, and the less likely the damage.  If, however, the original material was like a piece of wood (as many are), you may as well take the risk and go for it!  Allow the piece to dry out slowly, giving it a bend back and forth every so often to maintain its suppleness.

A processed piece of amadou, ready for action

Having found a good bit of amadou, it should last you years, and it is worth the effort.  The fact that you did it yourself will be appreciated every time you dry your fly with it.  We reckon there's nothing to beat amadou for getting a CDC that's just caught a fish and is slimy and water-logged, back into action.  Squeeze the fly between a folded piece of amadou to draw the water out, then back comb the fibres with the rougher side of the amadou.  Dry as a bone!

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