Short soft hackle fibers

[troutpoop]

I've been on a soft hackle tying thing lately. Maybe I'm using the wrong fibers but it seems all the best feathers for size 16 & 18 soft hackles are up near the head? Not many on a partridge skin?
Any ideas? Maybe there is a different bird to use. I am aware, and have seen, the video how to use the longer fibers squished around the hook. I think it looks sloppy but I don't think the fish will care. I also do have starling which works nice for the darker patterns.
Lighter smaller fibers are the big challenge.

 

[PennKev]

I was unable to find a video (although I am certain one is out there), but you can use a clip tool like the Petitjean magic tool to insert soft hackle fibers into a dubbing loop. You can use oversized feathers in this method, trimming the fibers after they are in the clip. This is my go-to method for using up oversized soft hackle feathers. It seems to produce a better looking hackle collar compared to the fold-back method or just tying on loose fibers. The one draw back is that you need to be very precise when inserting the fibers into the loop so that the trimmed fiber ends do not protrude too badly from the finished collar.

Also, for what it's worth, I really like the Whiting Brahma hen saddles for this. They are a good substitute for partridge and about half the cost with a very high yield of usable feathers.

 

[afishinado]

troutpoop wrote:
I've been on a soft hackle tying thing lately. Maybe I'm using the wrong fibers but it seems all the best feathers for size 16 & 18 soft hackles are up near the head? Not many on a partridge skin?
Any ideas? Maybe there is a different bird to use. I am aware, and have seen, the video how to use the longer fibers squished around the hook. I think it looks sloppy but I don't think the fish will care. I also do have starling which works nice for the darker patterns.
Lighter smaller fibers are the big challenge.

Below are two videos that should help >



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ys6zTeTT68&t=3s



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31DWumnrPIs&t=2s

 

[redietz]

With practice, you can use the longer fibers (as shown in the videos) to tie a fly that's indistinguishable from one wrapped -- or better. I tie 18 20 sized soft hackles with mallard upper coverts and use the distribution wrap method even though there are a few feathers on the wing short enough to wrap because the stems on those feathers are so thick that wrapping makes a mess.

However, to answer your actual question, yes the neck feathers on a partridge skin are the smallest, but unfortunately, some providers (Nature's Spirit comes to mind) cut the neck off. With a full neck, there are a lot of those small feathers. Of course, those are the gray feathers, useless for a traditional Partridge and Orange. (Not to say that a P&O tied with them won't catch fish.)

Snipe coverts will give you feathers a few shades lighter than starling in about the same size range.

An alternative is to use a high quality hen neck. I have some from Collins Hackle with feathers small enough to wrap a size 22.

 

[troutpoop]

I haven't seen a place to buy a snipe skin? Feather emporium maybe but they have mixed reviews.
I can easily buy a few hen necks. I'll have to look around online for a source.

 

[JerryC]

For my small soft hackles, I use starling.

 

[Bamboozle]

I've been buying Snipe, Waterhen, Coot and a bunch of other LEGAL stuff for years from Steve Cooper in the UK at Cookhill Fly Tyer.

The quality is excellent and even though buying from the UK isn't as easy as buying on this side of the pond, his service is excellent as well.

 

[RLeep2]

When I was a kid, I had 3-4 snipe skins that my Dad and I shot while we were tramping around the swamp trying to jack Woodies and Mallards. I'm not sure if the British snipe is the same bird. Had a couple rail skins obtained the same way, but unsure of which species of rail they were. Maybe Soras...

We boraxoed all of them and they kept pretty well. I never did anything with any of them, though. I threw them all out some time in the early 70's. I learned to tie flies from old man Herter's yellow book and it set me back probably 10 years as a tier. He had no idea what he was talking about and he was proud of it..

 

[redietz]

RLeep2 wrote:
I'm not sure if the British snipe is the same bird.

Neither are the ornithological societies. Wilson's snipe (the American bird) differs from the common snipe (the British bird) solely by the number of tail feathers -- one has one more than the other (I forget which.) They've gone back and forth for years about whether they should be called the same species or not. For tying purposes, they're identical.

Since you mentioned rails, the common gallinule may or may not be the same species are the British moorhen -- the "waterhen" of waterhen bloa fames.

 

[troutpoop]

Thanks for the feather source.