hackle twist

[alatt]

How can I reduce (or stop) hackle from twisting when I'm wrapping a catskill style dry or wrapping around a post for a parachute style dry. Does it matter if I'm using whitting 100"s or a rooster neck.

 

[afishinado]

Here a great thread about hackle twist started by FrequentTyer.

Hackle thread

 

[blueheron]

Short answer , genetically defective stock

 

[afishinado]

I started to tie flies as a kid. With time and practice I got the nymphs and streamers down pretty well, but could never seem to tie a decent dry fly. I thought it took a whole lot more skill to tie dries than I had, until I bought my first decent neck (a Metz)......voila! This is one instance where the carpenter CAN blame his tools (or materials)....

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Yup - good hackle can make a big difference. Whiting 100's are usually pretty good though.

Some things that can help:

When tying in the stripped hackle stem, try to strip about a half hook shank length of barbs off the feather. This allows you to start the wraps without the "wild" fibers messing you up from the start. You still tie it in at the butt end, but get a turn or two of bare stem before the barbs come into play.

Make sure you have a smooth, and as level of a thread base as possible in the area you are going to hackle. You can also cheat a bit, and lay down a thin layer of dubbing there. This helps a lot when using lower grade hackle.

After you tie in the feather, give it a set by lifting it up past the vertical (or horizontal for parachutes). This basically "creases", or breaks the spine of the hackle stem, and makes the start of the wraps easier.

Lastly, you can compensate for hackle twist by using your hackle pliers to compensate while you wrap. This is just one advantage to using a true rotary vise - you can wrap while rotating the hook, as opposed to wrapping the feather around the hook shank. Any hackle twist is readily seen when hackling this way, and is easier to compensate for, by slightly rotating the feather as it's gripped in your hackle pliers.

Hope this helps...

 

[DGC]

I defer to the posters above on dealing with twist. Great advice.

A few other things to consider as you see fit (unless you are tying commercially or for competition):

During the Great Hair Extension Hackle Famine tiers made due with the hackle leftovers and discovered:

Hen hackle can actually float a fly well enough in the smaller sizes, say # 18 and #20. Even the cheap Indian hen necks. You wouldn't want to tie a Catskill, but certainly a Variant or Spider. And with some agressive brushing or shaping on stream, they are great for quad duty as a soft hackle, cripple, or spinner. This is not the case if I am tying a parachute, which I admit is often.

An Elk Hair caddis with a clipped hackle is just as good as one with a perfect genetic and doesn't even look that bad. Besides, any number of anglers prefer no hackle EHC's.

Though a nice Catskill tie is a pleasure to behold and you will find very strong, adamant opinions on how they should look, the ties by a Catskill legend such as Theodore Gordon were hardly in that mold. Images of his ties are available online. Though he probably had access to the best hackle of the day, it would not have been on par with our current genetics, and the flies look it.

Indian **** necks (not saddles, big difference) became popular for a while during the GHEHF. Those things wrap every which way and you don't get many turns, but they come out quite buggy looking. In fact, I would say that those hackles in # 12 and maybe #14 (they don't come much smaller) will catch better than a tie with perfect looking hackles.

Marinaro came up with a thorax hackle wrapping scheme that created a footprint far different from a Catskill. Frankly, simply using a lesser grade hackle that twists around will give you nearly the same effect without changing much about the body and wing position which is what Marinaro had to do to achieve his effect.

George Harvey and later Joe Humphreys were very particular about hackling a dry fly. Yet in the Dan Shields book which includes a great deal of quotation from Harvey, we learn when onstream he regularly clipped his beautifully tied hackles flush in order to catch. I have done the same many times as I am sure others on here have as well. "Inferior" hackle, which runs a bit softer, can be simply brushed up to provide that effect.

Short story long, for the twisted hackles you still have, I would embrace them for their possibilities.

 

[Chaz]

Try taking your hackle by both ends and holding it against something round, like the post of your standwrap it half way around the post and pull it from one end to the other, to loosen the stem up and make it more plyable.
Think of it this way, you are trying to wrap something arounda very fine wire that is designed by nature to remain stiff and straight, by running it against something round you are preparing it to be wrapped around the wire. I've found it helps.