Soft Hackles

"Halfordian Golfer" wrote in message
...
Tom do you ever strip the hackle from one side of the stem before
wrapping?

TBone

no, but it does make a stylish fly. I tie in by the tip and wrap the whole
feather.
Tom

In article WT%6j.579$R4.171@trndny05, Tom Littleton
writes

"Halfordian Golfer" wrote in message
...
Tom do you ever strip the hackle from one side of the stem before
wrapping?

TBone

no, but it does make a stylish fly. I tie in by the tip and wrap the whole
feather.
Tom



So do I Tom, but I forgot to mention in an earlier posting that I fold
both sides of the feather to one side - away from the eye of the hook
then start winding. This forms a great hackle for a wet fly. I always
tie partridge hackles in by this means.
--
Bill Grey

On 10 Dec, 20:00, "W. D. Grey" wrote:


So do I Tom, but I forgot to mention in an earlier posting that I fold
both sides of the feather to one side - away from the eye of the hook
then start winding. This forms a great hackle for a wet fly. I always
tie partridge hackles in by this means.
--
Bill Grey

I do about the same;

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/3672/part2fe4.jpg ( Bit more hackle
on these heavy bodied ribbed flies)

The "standard" dressing of a partridge and yellow;

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/2976/party1lr4.jpg

TL
MC

In article
,
Mike writes
On 10 Dec, 20:00, "W. D. Grey" wrote:


So do I Tom, but I forgot to mention in an earlier posting that I fold
both sides of the feather to one side - away from the eye of the hook
then start winding. This forms a great hackle for a wet fly. I always
tie partridge hackles in by this means.
--
Bill Grey

I do about the same;

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/3672/part2fe4.jpg ( Bit more hackle
on these heavy bodied ribbed flies)

The "standard" dressing of a partridge and yellow;

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/2976/party1lr4.jpg

TL
MC


If the hackle was nearer the centre of the body it would be spider
pattern. Nice and sparse.
--
Bill Grey

"W. D. Grey" wrote in message
...
but I forgot to mention in an earlier posting that I fold
both sides of the feather to one side - away from the eye of the hook then
start winding. This forms a great hackle for a wet fly. I always tie
partridge hackles in by this means.
--
Bill Grey


I do likewise, Bill, with the exception of very small feathers. I am
entirely too ham-handed to pull that off.
Tom

May be of interest;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuqSs...eature=related

TL
MC

In article hjj7j.2316$1p.627@trndny01, Tom Littleton
writes

"W. D. Grey" wrote in message
...
but I forgot to mention in an earlier posting that I fold
both sides of the feather to one side - away from the eye of the hook then
start winding. This forms a great hackle for a wet fly. I always tie
partridge hackles in by this means.
--
Bill Grey


I do likewise, Bill, with the exception of very small feathers. I am
entirely too ham-handed to pull that off.
Tom



I don't believe you Tom - if I can do it I'm sure you can :-)
--
Bill Grey

Santa came early and I have a new book that talks about soft hackles.
It's "Wet Flies" by Dave Hughes. I already had a book by Hughes,
"Trout Flies - The Tier's Reference" that I REALLY liked. I can't
wait to read about the soft hackles in this new book by him.

This time of year, I really enjoy reading (and tying) and dreaming
about what to try next season :-)

mdk77 wrote:

Santa came early and I have a new book that talks about soft hackles.
It's "Wet Flies" by Dave Hughes. I already had a book by Hughes,
"Trout Flies - The Tier's Reference" that I REALLY liked. I can't
wait to read about the soft hackles in this new book by him.

It's a great book, and he shows a way of tying the hackles on that I
have used ever since I read about it. I don't think anyone mentioned
this method yet in this thread (though I'll admit I haven't follwoed it
really closely).

I'm working from memory here, but the way I remember it is he ties
the feather on parallel to the hook shank by the butt end (with the tip
extended past the eye in front) with the concave side facing the tier,
and strips the barbs off the top of the feather.

Then with the thread hanging just in front of the thorax area, he
takes a couple of wraps of hackle back towards the thorax, traps the
feather and then wraps forward through the hackle, being careful not to
trap any of the feather fibers.

This makes for a very small, neat head on the fly, plus it adds
durability.


Chuck Vance (I did a horrible job describing it, but you'll see
how easy it is in his pictures)

Conan The Librarian wrote in news:fjmcq0$mhe$1
@news.txstate.edu:

It's a great book, and he shows a way of tying the hackles on that I
have used ever since I read about it. I don't think anyone mentioned
this method yet in this thread (though I'll admit I haven't follwoed it
really closely).



Even more importantly, he describes a number of methods of fishing the wet
fly, which range all the way from the way we would fish an emerger all the
way to a quartering swing. It makes you less afraid to try different
things.

--
Scott
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