Left to right: Flashabou, Holographic Flashabou, Rainbow Thread, Water Silk.

Flat. Flashabou was the first, it is soft and has a lot of action. It is sold in solid colors or mixed strands and available in standard and saltwater sizes. Flashabou makes a glow in the dark product as well. Spirit River's Mylar Motion is identical to standard Flashabou. Dan Bailey's, Spirit River and Flashabou sell holographic strands too. This stuff looks like it is moving, when it is standing still. Angel Hair (Angler's Choice) and hanks of Lite Brite (Spirit River) are super-fine flat flashes.

Twisted. Twisted materials like Rainbow Thread, Krystal Flash, Crystal Splash, Flashabou Accent and Reflections give off a scale like appearance. Wapsi Midge Flash is the finest diameter, and Hareline sells a thicker, stiffer Saltwater Krystal Flash for big flies.

Embossed. Tiewell Sparkleflash and Fire Fly are flat mylar strands that have been textured. The have plenty of action and refract light in many directions. Sparkleflash comes in very attractive pre-mixed strand color combinations. Traditionally, these flash materials have been used in streamers. However, they have other applications. George Harvey started tying Trico spinners with pearl Krystal flash. It makes a great visible wing. For the fisherman looking down on it, it's bright and shows up. From the fish's viewpoint, it's very clear. Krystal Flash or the finer Rainbow Thread can also create good high visibility parachutes or underwings on dries.

Glow-in-the-dark Flashabou in bright colors makes good easy-to-see dry fly wings and indicators on low floating flies like beetles. Krystal Flash and Flashabou in pearl, are some of my favorite ribbing materials for nymphs. The body color on the fly shows through the ribbing, causing a nice effect. Flashback nymphs and scuds are good applications for flash materials. This may look like an air bubble on a nymph, or maybe it just catches the fish's eye. With the variety of colors available in these materials the possibility for uses are almost endless.