Are you a stripper?

[Sandan 0]

The most recent issue of Fly Fisherman magazine has a Rene Harrop flying ant pattern tied by Charlie Craven. He mentions that he's usually pretty vehemently against stripping one side of a dry fly hackle before wrapping. For the fly in the article he strips. Rene does and that's good enough for him. He mentioned that in this case the hackle stand perfectly upright and gives the right amount of sparseness to the collar.  I've never been a stripper, but when tying the pattern I did it. I really liked the results. I'm thinking that in the future I'll continue not to strip except in certain cases. Like when tying a fly that has two hackle collar, like an Adams or some of the Atherton dries, and perhaps some of those 24 and 26s that are so important on the waters I fish. So what say you all, are you strippers or not?

[flytire 0]

i do not strip hackle fibers off one side whether its a dry, wet or soft hackle

the featherbender, barry ord clark sure does make them look pretty

[Sandan 0]

22 minutes ago, flytire said:

i do not strip hackle fibers off one side whether its a dry, wet or soft hackle

the featherbender, barry ord clark sure does make them look pretty

He sure does. Thanks for your answer Norm.

[Jaydub 0]

I don't think I have ever stripped off one side of a dry fly hackle. If I want  a sparse hackle I use fewer wraps. I have seen flies with hackles immpressively close to perfectly upright that were not stripped. 

I have stripped one side on soft hackles occasionally. 

[chugbug27 0]

I was an artist's model in college for a while.... Does that count?

But yes, wet and dry, here and there depending. Mostly soft hackles, to keep them sparse. I think the splayed dry hackles would do better at floating the fly. Any engineers willing to chime in on that?

Whenever I do strip half the hackle I always feel like I'm throwing money in the waste basket. Stupid, but true.

[cphubert 0]

27 minutes ago, chugbug27 said:

I was an artist's model in college for a while

😲 Chug the mind's eye is a terrible thing to torment, lol. I personally am not a stripper of dry fly hackle but as Jaydub noted occasionally with schlappen.

[Sandan 0]

4 hours ago, chugbug27 said:

I was an artist's model in college for a while.... Does that count?

Well.... yes and no

But yes, wet and dry, here and there depending. Mostly soft hackles, to keep them sparse. I think the splayed dry hackles would do better at floating the fly. Any engineers willing to chime in on that?

Whenever I do strip half the hackle I always feel like I'm throwing money in the waste basket. Stupid, but true.

Not stupid, IMHO, I felt that way too. 

 

[niveker 0]

I'm the same as Chug (except for the modeling part), I'll strip a dry hackle on occasion but it gives me a sharp pain in the wallet, usually its because I can't get the full hackle to sit the way I want. 

[Poopdeck 0]

1 hour ago, niveker said:

I'm the same as Chug (except for the modeling part), I'll strip a dry hackle on occasion but it gives me a sharp pain in the wallet, usually its because I can't get the full hackle to sit the way I want. 

There’s an old saying, some people model and some people draw. Okay, maybe I just made that up. 

I don’t strip, errant misdirected crappy laying hackle don’t bother me. I wonder if stripping off one side is beneficial for straight fibers when using the lesser grade hackles that I use.

[Mark Knapp 0]

I have stripped one side at times to make a pretty fly. For fishing flies, I leave it all on. It sure does make a pretty fly.

[essequamvideri 0]

I’ve never stripped a feather. However I’ve forced wood into being an herb stripper. 
 

Does that count for any points?

 

Michael

[Sandan 0]

Multi points