Hen Mallard Hackle

[Mataura mayfly]

First off, excuse the poor photos. My main camera batteries are flat and take some 20 hours to charge, that and the natural light I use and rely on has left us for the time being. Very dark out, cannot see the sun and there is snow on the ground.
So these were taken with my little waterproof Lumix point & shoot that usually resides in a vest pocket and I am still learning to use in modes other than "auto".

But I thought some of you might like to see what the hen Mallard (like Hans posted elsewhere) looked like if used as a soft hackle.
The flies below were tied with the feathers from the lower neck. The feathers from the front are lighter in colour than those from the back of the neck, but neck feathers (or wing coverts) are about the smallest suited to wrapped hackles you might find on a typical bird.

Each is photographed side on and then front on to try to show the hackle rather than the pretty average flies!

Fine yarn abdomen/ heavier yarn thorax #12 2XL Neck Front.





Fine yarn abdomen/ grey possum thorax #12 2XL Neck Back.





Purple Kinkame silk #12 Neck Back.





Brown button hole twist silk (well waxed Bailey cobblers) #12 Neck Front.





#8 Uni Cahill thread body/ rib (rib coloured with sharpie pen) #12 Neck Front.

[hankaye]

Mataura mayfly, Howdy;

Impressive batch of flies.

You still striving for the P-51 Mustang look for the hackles ...

hank

[Kelly L.]

Cool flies Jeff! Thanks for showing off that hen. I love duck feathers of all types. They just naturally look good to me.

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Jeff, Impressive, my friend. Nice separation of the barbs, clean dressings. Well done.

On a side note, the care package arrived whilst I was in Montana. Just had a chance to peruse the contents today. Very nice selection. Thank you. Haven't sorted out if I an watch the DVD on an American set or not. Will have to check it out. Again, my thanks for the goodies.

[Mataura mayfly]

These two were tied from the one material, tail- abdomen- thorax and hackle are all from the one hen Mallard flank feather each. Only the rib (copper wire 2XL, gold oval twist on the other) and the tying thread did not come from the flank feather.



Tails are barb ends, abdomens are wrapped feather barbs from the mid section of the feather, thorax is a noodle from the fluffy barbs at the base of the feather. Hackles are a section of barbs, held over the finished body and wound around with the thread, (Lawrence Finney has a video on how to do it on his site), ah-la Dabbler style. I might have left a little too much room between finishing the thorax and placing the hackle, so these look a little long in the "neck".



They give a nice drab darkish bodied fly that should sink well enough without any added weight.

[hankaye]

Mataura mayfly, Howdy;

Now, what prompted these. Just sitting around mulling over a
huge feather and wondering what might be done with it???
Both are beautifully crafted by the way.
hank

[Mataura mayfly]

Not really Hank, I use the bigger feathers for flat wing lures (streamers) as a rule.
It was more "examples of use" to get the ball rolling with those who may have got some Mallard hen feathers from the big bag I sent Ray and he distributed at the Roscoe gathering.
With a little luck we might all get to share in some new and exciting patterns compliments of that box..... once they all get sick of catching trout, get home and come back down to earth.

[hankaye]

Mataura mayfly, Howdy;

Yea, I'm beginning to believe they went off and formed
their own Mutual Appreciation Society ... ,

hank

[CM_Stewart]

I really like the use of different parts of the same feather for the different parts of the fly. Nice concept and well executed.

[Mataura mayfly]

Thanks Chris, here is one that might suit your particular style better.



Same flank feather barbs, laid onto and wound around with the working thread, facing over the eye and also over a small "ball" of the yarn used for the body to help "flare" the hackle.