Re: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: Soft hackle challenge

It creates a smoother body, and instead of getting bumps near the rear of the fly where you start your floss, it’s hidden up near the head.

R

Richard Farino

Urban Angler VA | 108 N. Washington Street  2nd Floor | Alexandria, VA 22314 

(703) 527-2524 | fax: (703) 527-3313 | richard@urbanangler.com    

From: Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders <tidal-potomac-fly-rodders@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Joshua Delmonico <jdelmon@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders <tidal-potomac-fly-rodders@googlegroups.com>
Date: Tuesday, January 26, 2016 at 12:14 PM
To: Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders <tidal-potomac-fly-rodders@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: Soft hackle challenge

Gene,
I am newish to tying. What are the options alternatives to "wind[ing] the silk down the shank, and then back up again"?

Thanks.

Josh

On Sun, Jan 24, 2016 at 8:43 AM, TurbineBlade <doublebclan@gmail.com> wrote:

That's absolutely true Greg -- good point.  Actually, I was doing that yesterday with a few feathers that were a little too big, save the barbs near the tip ;).  So long as you don't make too many turns, you won't get into the barbs that are too big.  

I forgot to mention one thing I've read and heard a lot -- that stem-tying permits you to "wind the thread through the feather" to reinforce it, and supposedly keep the fly more durable for multiple fish.

In practice, I've rarely had a soft hackle "unwind", whether tip-tied or stem-tied.  I think the "durability" idea is kind of overstated. What usually happens is that the floss or silk body unwinds -- actually, that happens all the time.  You can either reinforce it with a wire rib, or with epoxy, etc.  Also, what you don't want to do is wind the silk down the shank, and then back up again.  That will virtually guarantee that after a fish or two the silk will unravel and move down into the bend of the hook.  Hughes mentions this in his book and I've found it to be true.  

Not that it seems to matter whether the body looks good or not.  

It's always interesting to hear people say things, try it for an extended period, and decide for yourself whether it's true or not.  

Gene

On Sunday, January 24, 2016 at 7:48:05 AM UTC-5, Gs Feder wrote:

Excellent points, Gene. 

I like to tie in by the tip to get the shorter barbs that are at that end of the feather; for bigger flies, I tie in by the stem. Also, where you start matters when palmering hen hackle for a wooly bugger to get the right taper. 

Cheers, 

-- Greg

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 24, 2016, at 7:02 AM, TurbineBlade <doubl...@gmail.com> wrote:

Good articles there!  I used to over hackle them at first, but I've learned to purposely "waste" feather fibers for the sake of better flies ;).  You can take fewer turns, or strip one side of the feather -- both work.  

Often, you'll have game bird feathers which are too long for the "trout" size flies you may want to tie (e.g. 16s, 14s, etc.).  I've seen a few ways to resize larger feathers for smaller hook sizes (Craven shows one, and Hughes shows another in his book) but I like this method better than those:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-dfsN0ZPkc

One of the debates (for wrapping in the usual way) is whether to tie in by the tip (usually cut into a triangle), or via the stem.  Ivan showed a sort of variation on the tip method, by not cutting into a triangle and instead tying in the entire tip, then folding it back and putting more wraps on to fully secure it.  They all can work, but I'm getting to where i prefer the stem method at the front like Weilenmann shows here-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuK61AFV0NU

You kind of take your pick -- you either end up pulling the entire feather off the hook (tip method), or you simply lose your grip on the feather tip (stem method).  With the tip method, you get to use the stem as a "handle" but I'm getting more annoying with pulling out feathers over time.  It only happens once in a while, but it's still annoying.  

Of course, CDC collars work very, very well too -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvZb5R22nXU

Gene

On Sunday, January 24, 2016 at 12:15:27 AM UTC-5, Gs Feder wrote:

Found this 3-part series on soft hackles via The Fiberglass Manifesto:  http://theflyninja.com/blog.php

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