hackle less flies

[marcq]

im new to tying and im trying more dries in my box so i went out bought two diffrent packs of whitting 100's so i forked out 50 bucks for the hackle. i need a cheeper way to tie flies some of them i going to mess up i can tie basic patterns. is there any other way to tie without using hackle?

 

[afishinado]

You can tie nearly any dry pattern compardun style using deer hair instead of hackle. Here is a tutorial:

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw/052900fotw.php

Good luck.

 

[David]

I'm assuming you are talking about mayfly patterns primarily.
The two most common are comparaduns (using deer or elk hair for the wings) and CDC (using CulDeCanard for the wings). Both styles are effective. For my money, the comparaduns float better and last longer...but that is just my experience. There are some lesser used material such as snowshoe hare fur and duck feathers that have natural oils that will help keep them bouyant, but are better for slow / flat water situations.


Here's 2 compara style ties...
http://www.theanglersnet.com/Fly-Tying-Videos/play_video.asp?section=6&VID=30
http://www.theanglersnet.com/Fly-Tying-Videos/play_video.asp?section=6&VID=167

They do some CDC ties here...
http://www.kwsu.org/Offers/FlyTying.aspx

A snowshoe hare example here...
http://www.midcurrent.com/video/clips/tl_trico.aspx


Snoop around each of those sites, and you'll get some more videos of different styles of hackleless dry flies.

 

[dryflyguy]

There are cheaper hackle alternatives,
You can get a #3 neck for around $35, and have every size you need
You can also buy indian necks, which are very inexpensive

 

[ryguyfi]

don't get too frustrated with hackle. It takes some practice, you'll get used to it. try to use your hackle pliers and keep steady pressure on the feather. Wrap one turn in front of the other and leave enough room to finish the fly off. Keep trying and keep asking questions.

 

[Padraic]

Use hackle very sparingly. A little goes a long way. Most any catskill tie can be tied with 3 or 4 winds of hackle. That should float the fly in almost any water, except the most rolling pocket water.

Sparse hackle also lets light through the hackle, which makes it look like its moving.

 

[Spyder20oz]

CDC feather wing