Grouse patterns?

[franklin]

I picked p a nice grouse neck at FFP on Saturday. Now I need some patterns to tie. Any suggestions?

 

[sandfly]

anything that uses partridge, you can use grouse.

 

[gfen]

What he said. Specifically any and all soft hackles and flymphs.

 

[osprey]

Make nice wing cases on nymphs and legs too , not wound like hackle but laid over like a wing case.

 

[franklin]

Tied up some wets (Bruce Fisher's Penns Creek Caddis) using Grouse hackle. The feather stems appear to be much more fragile than partridge. I like the patterns in the feathers but wonder how the flies will hold up?

 

[gfen]

Try laying down a drop of laquer before wrapping the hackle, it should permeate the stem and help shore it up?

 

[bam]

Another option is to tie them a little closer to the head and back over the stem after you tie it of. If you want it to stand out like a partridge pattern, throw a tight ball of dubbing just behind the tie in point.

I tie a lot of soft hackles with starling and they hold up well. Talk about fragile. At first I was breaking the stems just trying to wind them on

 

[yea-who]

Breadcrust Nymph

 

[gfen]

I like starling because the individual barbs are always short enough to work, but I can't seem to wind it on without breaking the rachis.

Vaguely on topic, what sort of hackle pliers do people prefer for this? I've got an entire collection, and just can't seem to figure out which one doesn't suck. Of them all, the one I have hte most luck with is tiny little English style.

The rotating, J, and electronics clips are all maddening, as are the larger English style.

 

[MKern]

gfen,

I have the really cheap ones and a $30 pair of Dr. Slicks and I prefer the cheapies when winding soft hackles.

 

[franklin]

gfen wrote:
I like starling because the individual barbs are always short enough to work, but I can't seem to wind it on without breaking the rachis.

Vaguely on topic, what sort of hackle pliers do people prefer for this? I've got an entire collection, and just can't seem to figure out which one doesn't suck. Of them all, the one I have hte most luck with is tiny little English style.

The rotating, J, and electronics clips are all maddening, as are the larger English style.

I have a couple different hackle pliers of various sizes. I have favorites depending on the type of hackle. When I buy a pair I polish off any sharp edges on the jaws. The best ones I've found for small hackle are small cheap ones I picked up at Dave's on 611.

Starling is one of my favorite hackles for small flies. I tie up some small black flies in size 18 or 20 with a bit of black or Trico micro dubbing and a short starling breast feather for hackle. I tie it in down close to the base of the stem so the lower "downy" section is part of the fly. Mike Heck was promoting Starling in some of his ties during a recent TU presentation he did. He suggests getting a Starling from early spring because the iridescence is best then.

 

[gfen]

I don't know when the guys at Waspi shot mine, but its plenty shiny. CM Stewart was a proponent of hackling the first third of the hook shank, spreads out the hackle to make it more lifelike, and less like a ring of legs. FWIW.

I should polish the ends of my plierses, y'all use fine grit sandpaper or something else?

 

[bam]

I have a couple hackle pliers, I'm sure the most expensive was only a buck or two. I used rubber shrink tube on the ends of one and it seems to have plenty of grip and hackles don't seem to break as easily.

Starling is great for small mayfly and caddis wets. As franklin noted, some of the best feathers are towards the base. They're buggier and have a great medium dun color, as opposed to the shiny black at the tips.

 

[delfam]

partridge and orange is a great fly, fish it deep to imitate a scud or just below the surface. Just use grouse instead of partridge.

 

[franklin]

gfen wrote:
I don't know when the guys at Waspi shot mine, but its plenty shiny. CM Stewart was a proponent of hackling the first third of the hook shank, spreads out the hackle to make it more lifelike, and less like a ring of legs. FWIW.

I should polish the ends of my plierses, y'all use fine grit sandpaper or something else?

I use sandpaper down to 800 or even 1000 grit.

 

[osprey]

Roughing up thee inside of hackle plier tips gives em a little more grip. and round off the sharp edges. I like the teardrop ones the best.

 

[DeweyGreen]

Grouse isn't good for anything you should send that to me for proper
disposal.. lol

 

[troutbert]

A wet-fly with grouse hackle, Hares-ear dubbing, and gold wire ribbing is very good.

It's probably an imitation of caddis, but is also just a good general "buggy" pattern.

A wet-fly with a grouse hackle, peacock body, and gold wire ribbing is also a good one.

 

[franklin]

troutbert wrote:
A wet-fly with grouse hackle, Hares-ear dubbing, and gold wire ribbing is very good.

It's probably an imitation of caddis, but is also just a good general "buggy" pattern.

A wet-fly with a grouse hackle, peacock body, and gold wire ribbing is also a good one.

What sizes do you recommend?

 

[troutbert]

franklin wrote:

troutbert wrote:
A wet-fly with grouse hackle, Hares-ear dubbing, and gold wire ribbing is very good.

It's probably an imitation of caddis, but is also just a good general "buggy" pattern.

A wet-fly with a grouse hackle, peacock body, and gold wire ribbing is also a good one.

What sizes do you recommend?

I use sizes 14 and 16 the most.