Soft Hackles.

[sholgate]

What type of feathers are you using for wet fly hackles? I have used partridge and hen hackle but they get long quick. What would you recommend for smaller (14 & 16) hooks?

 

[joereese]

My fav' topic softhackles.
You can definitely tie 16s and even some 18s from a high quality partridge skin that retains the head area. Trick is to find one that has the dark feathers in that region. I finally found one after looking for 4 years

I also use speckled medium brown hen backs, but you have to be selective about the ones you choose. Always check out the hen backs at shops and if you see something you like, buy it. Even if you don't need it immediately.

I was recently given woodcock feathers by a fellow FF and hunter. They are the right color (especially for imitation caddis pupae and divers) and have much better banding/barring patterns than hen. They look great and are small enough to even tie a few size 20 wets from the skin! It is hard to find woodcock. easiest way is to find a hunter who will shoot one for you. I think I googled it once and found a place in the UK selling them on ebay. I have never found them at a fly shop.

 

[gfen]

Decent partridge skin pro ides ample small shoulder feathers. A starling is also a great source but very brittle.

There's also a way to tie them shorter even with the longer barbs. I'd love to describe it but I don't recall. Sorry to be useless on that count.

 

[joereese]

gfen's method (I think) is to remove the barbs from a stem and tie them around the hook evenly with the tips extending over the hook eye. You then fold them back over towards the bend of the hook and wrap the thread back over to form a head. This has the advantage of durability, but I could never spread the barbs around the hook evenly, sparse in some areas and too dense in others.

 

[gfen]

Thought it had something. To do with binding them down and then folding back but keeping the. On the raicus.

 

[SBecker]

I just bought my first European partridge at the show. It is beautiful, can't wait to start tying some soft hackles.

 

[sholgate]

Nice skins. Are there any other species like doves? or chukars or quail? I have a couple hen saddles but the left-overs get big quick. Looking for some ideas.

 

[boss_steb]

I second the comment on Starling...I have just started using it...very webby and irredescent hackle...but brittle...brittle...

Boss

 

[gfen]

I use hen for throats and rolled for wings rather than hackling.

Skue recommended using the silk and starling as a rope.

 

[bam]

Starling is dirt cheap and offers a ton of medium dun to black hackles in the smaller sizes.

 

[Treeguy]

I like a Golden Plover now..silk bodies also. Jim at campfire lodge MT sold me the skin.

I hear starling can be good or bad..not all skins are equal. I need to get a few good ones.

 

[gfen]

joereese wrote:
gfen's method (I think) is to remove the barbs from a stem and tie them around the hook evenly with the tips extending over the hook eye. You then fold them back over towards the bend of the hook and wrap the thread back over to form a head. This has the advantage of durability, but I could never spread the barbs around the hook evenly, sparse in some areas and too dense in others.

Page 69-71

The Dave Hughes book teaches this method. Tie them in midway, facing forward. Finish body over top, then thread dam/head to push them back.

The book explains with pictures.

 

[sandfly]

winter starlings are the best, thicker and stronger. I use a lot of india hackle since I have a pile of it..

 

[whheff]

gfen, thanks for that link.
Good stuff!!

 

[DGC]

Distribution wrap is the terminology I learned for the technique mentioned above. This video, despite needing a good edit, is decent at doing it and explaining it. He uses a heavy thread which may have made the job more difficult than it needed to be, and did the distribution over the thread instead of bare hook, which also may have made it more difficult--depends on the tier.

Tying Soft Hackles With Large Feathers

Since this is the first thing tied on the hook, you can do your distribution wrap, then check to see if it gave you the coverage you want, and if not, try it again until it looks how you want.

As for names of birds that give the sizes tiers want for a soft hackle wrapped conventionally, as in # 18 to # 14, good luck after you get past starling, at least in the U.S. I'm sure they exist, but I'm not familiar with them at least as far as what you can get from a fly shop.

A bird hunter who fly fishes would be a resource to treasure. I am sure ye olden soft hackle tiers of the U.K. killed their birds for the table or for sale to the restaurant and made use of the feathers because they were free.

gfen, I think you mean W.C. Stewart (The Practical Angler) as the one who twisted starling around the silk thread, then wrapped back to about mid shank to tie off. He got the idea from a friend, but we know the pattern as Stewart's black spider.

 

[gfen]

whheff wrote:
gfen, thanks for that link.
Good stuff!!

ITs a good book, well worth the price of a used copy on amazon.

 

[gfen]

DGC wrote:
gfen, I think you mean W.C. Stewart (The Practical Angler) as the one who twisted starling around the silk thread, then wrapped back to about mid shank to tie off. He got the idea from a friend, but we know the pattern as Stewart's black spider.

You are correct.

Dead English guys was never my forte, they're all dead and they all talked funny anyways.

 

[tomitrout]

Haven't tried this yet, but using a dubbing loop might be the ticket for small, brittle starling feathers...

SingleBarbed soft hackle dubbing loop.

 

[joereese]

The video: Funny he talks about tying it for a caddis pupae/imitation yet raves about the advantage of tying a small head. I don't get it. Maybe because the head is orange?

It'll catch fish though

 

[beeber2]

I use grizzly hen for just about all my soft hackles. The fish like em just fine.