Hair Wing Salmon Hackle Length

[dazzyd 0]

Hi all

 

Looking to pick a few brains… Trying to tie a Beltra Badger on a #8 B280 - It's an Irish hair wing pattern and it has a yellow cock hackle palmered through the body.

 

My question is: should the body hackle be x1.5 the gape of the hook in the same way as regular wet fly patterns, or should it stay within the gape?

 

This is my first attempts at the type of fly...

 

Darrell

[FlyFishin'Jam 0]

Good question, a pattern i am unfamiliar with so i had to google, but it seems the body hackle is around the length of the gape or less. I think Piker20 could help here, umm are you tying on singles or doubles out of interest?

[hairwing 0]

It's a puzzle !

I like the looks of a sweeping taper on a palmered fly from rear to front though. It fits my eye.

I'm by no means an authority but I size the body hackle using the 1.5 gape rule but use the barbs closer to the bottom of the stem to select a hackle. The barbs are longer there when tying with a India Cock neck and taper well toward the tip. Not so much with genetic hackle and saddles.

Most of the time when I use the 1.5 rule the hackle tips when they are swept back on the wet fly style reach that magical goal of touching the point of the hook from just behind the eye. Tying the hackle tip first at the rear of the body gives the impression that a smaller hackle is used.

Here's a pic showing a barb pulled from the tip and one from near the butt. Almost two times different.

[dazzyd 0]

Thanks guys - I've got one of my usual suppliers on the case checking with Metz regarding their Magnum Necks for suitability.

 

FlyFishin'Jam, the scant few pics I could find on Google do appear to have short fibre hackle - maybe they were tied with a genetic neck? I have no experience of tying these patterns and I can't seem to find any specific pattern proportion details on 'tinternet… Hairwing patterns do seem to be a little more "free-form" than other wet fly patterns (although I could be totally wrong about that!).

 

Hairwing, the tip-first at the rear of the hook technique is one I've used in the past, but on this occasion had totally forgotten about (must be old age catching up on me ) I have used it to great effect on some Bergman patterns so I may give it a go:)

 

Here is a quick snap of a the fly so far, with a hackle tied in (dry-run - please excuse the poor positioning of the tie-in point ), if you could give me your thoughts.

 

 

[Si_ 0]

The illustration in Chris Mann's book has the body hackle taper from its shortest (about 3/4 of hook gape) at the back, to barely longer then a hook gape at he front. However, If I was you I would not be chasing a yellow genetic cape just to meet that requirement! The feather you have on looks like nice quality and has a good strong colour. I doubt anyone will ever look in your box and say "nice flees, shame about the hackle on the Beltra!"

Remember also that most people tie up a few variants of the same fly with heavier/lighter dressings, longer/shorter wings etc. to suit different water conditions. To my eye the fly you have started looks better than the one in the book anyhow. Make sure you post a pic when it's finished.

[dazzyd 0]

Thanks Si

 

Photo to follow soon - spending Sat morning working on them:)

[Piker20 0]

Only just stumbled on this one. Si says it, taper from eye to bend. Common on lots of palmered flies over here, for trout and salmon. I dont mind my salmon flies being longer than the gape so long as the tail and wing balance it. Often the generic cock hackles are best for this with a very pronounced taper.

[Christopher K 0]

You're looking for it to be about the gape or a little shorter, very important to have a nice fast taper to the feather as well.

[dazzyd 0]

Thank you for the advice guys - most appreciated:)