Preparing a feather

[hankaye]

Now that Donald and Stendalen have given me ( and possiably some others), a clue as to what is what with the feathers I find that I still need to know what to do to prepare them for tying on to the hook. ok, breath here...
FYI... I require visual input as I was brought up with a Father that insisted that we all draw to explain what it was we were talking about. Been a bit of a hinderance at times. But that's how I do things (Monkey see...Monkey do AH-HA beat ya to it).
Thanks,
hank

[Ruard]

First you strip of one side of the feather: look to the dull side of the feather and strip of the right side, till you have the feather loos like the one in the picture. If you havea partridge feather be very careful and strip only 5 or 6 fibers in one strip.

Bind down the feather on the hook with the shiny side facing you and with the but to the left and with the triangle over the eye of the hook. 3 tuns with your thread and then flip the triangle to the left en fix it with 2 turns of the thread. Cut the triangle nad make about 3 turns with the hackle.


See also my site in one of the articles of David Westwood and the in the Dutch part/spiders is the whole tying instruction of the Fosfo and Ginger (did not have time to translate yet)

Greeting

[Soft-hackle]

Hank,
One of the best tutorials I've seen comes from Hans Weilenmann on how to tie his Partridge and Olive Emerger. It is pretty much a good method for starting to tie any wingless wet fly. Of course there are more ways to skin a cat, as they say, but this will give you a good, basic start.

http://www.danica.com/flytier/steps/poe/poe.htm

Mark

[hankaye]

Thank you both;
Ruard, I enjoy your website. Even the Dutch makes some kind of sense to me. I have been there a few times.

Mark, thanks for the link to Hans' site. It is helpful. By the way you also have one good site.

Both of you are helping the 'learning curve' to flatten out. A few days ago it was almost as verticle as a wall, now it is better.

Thanks again;

hank

[wayneb]

Hi Hank;

Mark also shows tying on a soft hackle feather in his description of how Leisenring tied a tups: http://www.flymphforum.com/phpBB3/viewt ... f=5&t=1203

A great book with visuals on several different ways to tie on and prepare a soft hackle feather is Allen McGee's book: "Tying & Fishing Soft-Hackle Nymphs"

Wayneb

[hankaye]

Howdy wayneb;

Yep, it showes tying it on but not the preperation of the feather prior to the tying on process.
The prep phase of getting the feather ready to tye on is the part that, I presume, is left out of most tying instruction as one is supposed to "know" that stuff.
I'm gonna hafta find a tying class or two I reckon...
The help that has come from all of you has been something that I have not experienced in my life. You will have a hard time getting rid of me...lol
hank

[wayneb]

Hi Hank;

Preparing, tying and subsequently wrapping soft hackles is one of those things that it seems like there are a million variations on a theme.

That said, you need to figure out which way works best for you for a particular type of feather, hen neck, partridge, startling, etc. and in each particular situation. Each type of feather presents it's own challenges and thus why there are soo many ways of doing this.

Another good visual aid is Sylvester Neme's DVD on tying soft hackles, he demonstrates tying primarily Partridge but also starling and I think hen neck. He goes into selecting the right feather, how to prep it, attach to hook and then how he wraps it.

Wayne

[wayneb]

Hi Ruard;

Thanks for sharing, your technique is one I've never seen before.

What type of feather are you using in that photo sequence Grouse?

Wayneb

[Ruard]

Hi Ruard;

Thanks for sharing, your technique is one I've never seen before.

What type of feather are you using in that photo sequence Grouse?

Wayneb

It is a feather from a hen saddle of Metz

Greeting

[wayneb]

Hi Hank;

Just saw this posted on another website: http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php? ... ntry434690

Tying a soft hackle with a distrubuted hackle method.

Oh, and the flies this person ties are beautiful!

Wayne