FLYMPH FORUM

My new Ringneck Pheasant Soft Hackle hot off the vise this morning...

Hook-Dai Riki 070 #14
Thread-Danville's Flymaster #47 6/0
Tail and body- Pheasant tail
Rib-Counter wrapped fine copper wire
Hackle-Reddish neck feather

IMGP4176 by William Lovelace, on Flickr

That is really nice, Bill. Your PT work is excellent and I am intrigued by the faint linear striping on the neck hackle barbs -- not the same color of course, but the effect brings waterhen to mind.

"...I am intrigued by the faint linear striping on the neck hackle barbs..."

Bill,

I just took a good look at the Ringneck Rooster Pheasant hackle barbs with my 16x hand lens for bugs. What you are seeing is not another color stripe or a change in color like some of my Moorhen wing hackles toward the tip of the barbs. These barbs are a fairly uniform reddish brown color from base to the tip. What you are seeing is the result of reflected light off the feather surfaces. If you rotate the fly in hand the reflected light plays out off of different parts of the barbs depending on the light source. Note the uniform look of the barbs near top dead center on the hook.

Bill,

I had the same impression when I first looked at the photo. The bling effect will catch fish that have macro eyes!!

Bill, that's a very lively looking hackle. Nicely played, sir.