marabou wings

[KOKOEK9 0]

Hi I want to wing a streamer with marabou but even a small blood quill is way to bushy and if I strip some of it is thin and scraggly, what am I doing wrong. I also want to tie a mickey finn with marabou

[JSzymczyk 0]

http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=72670&hl=marabou

[whatfly 0]

Sounds like you are over fixating on how the wing looks wet. If you are tie fishing flies, put the fly in the water and THEN worry about how it looks.

[phg 0]

The White Marabou is a classic streamer with a marabou wing. It works fine. I don't use full feathers on it though. Instead I pinch off bundles of the longest marabou fibers I can find. Two or three bundles gives a nice full look and incredible action in the water.

[Jaydub 0]

You might try something like the fly in my avatar. It uses four bunches of marabou tied in separately and spaced out along the front half of the hook shank. Google 'Spawning Purple' and I'm sure you'll find an SBS for John Shewey's original.

 

[KOKOEK9 0]

thanks I'll try that, I am not real creative is it right when I put in marabou and it cseem to just bush out of proportion not nice and neat like the picture of the fly

[KOKOEK9 0]

Hi I have been trying to ty marabou, it is impossible to handle. I am not worried about how it will look wet, I know it will been fine but when I dampen the marabou it gets all over my hands. just don't know what I am doing wrong

[Bryon Anderson 0]

Hi I have been trying to ty marabou, it is impossible to handle. I am not worried about how it will look wet, I know it will been fine but when I dampen the marabou it gets all over my hands. just don't know what I am doing wrong

You're not doing anything wrong. What's getting all over your hands is just excess dye and maybe a few stray fibers. If you keep a little cup or bowl of water next to your vise and just moisten your thumb and index finger and stroke the marabou feather with your moistened fingers, the fibers will temporarily slick back into a nice, neat bunch and will be much easier to work with.

Marabou can be difficult to work with, but it can be tamed, and it is an essential fly tying material, especially if you tie streamers. I can tell you from experience that you're on the right track with the marabou Mickey Finn--it's a killer.

Good luck and remember to have fun tying.

[KOKOEK9 0]

Thanks for the advice, I'll keep at it, I haven't even dared try the finn yet, when I put marabou on I lose the bishy affect. Using individual clues of barbs look more like bucktail

[Bryon Anderson 0]

You might look at palmering the marabou on your Mickey Finn (and other marabou streamers) instead of tying it in as a wing. Streamers tied in this manner are known as soft hackle streamers. You tie the marabou in by the tip of the feather (careful they are VERY delicate), and wind them forward as you would hackle, stroking the stray fibers back toward the rear of the hook after each wrap. You'll have to leave the marabou dry to do this and it does try to fluff out all over the place, but just take it slow and it works. The finished fly will look like the bride of Frankenstein having a bad hair day when it's dry, but in the water it's a whole different story.

 

This article should help. http://www.jackgartside.com/step_sh_streamer.htm

 

For the Mickey Finn soft hackle streamer, I wrap my tinsel body from the bend to 1/8-1/4" behind the hook eye, then palmer on three marabou blood feathers in the yellow-red-yellow sequence. Brookies and bass hammer it anytime, and it makes a good dirty-water pattern too as it is quite visible.

[phg 0]

You might look at palmering the marabou on your Mickey Finn (and other marabou streamers) instead of tying it in as a wing. Streamers tied in this manner are known as soft hackle streamers. You tie the marabou in by the tip of the feather (careful they are VERY delicate), and wind them forward as you would hackle, stroking the stray fibers back toward the rear of the hook after each wrap. You'll have to leave the marabou dry to do this and it does try to fluff out all over the place, but just take it slow and it works. The finished fly will look like the bride of Frankenstein having a bad hair day when it's dry, but in the water it's a whole different story.

 

This article should help. http://www.jackgartside.com/step_sh_streamer.htm

 

For the Mickey Finn soft hackle streamer, I wrap my tinsel body from the bend to 1/8-1/4" behind the hook eye, then palmer on three marabou blood feathers in the yellow-red-yellow sequence. Brookies and bass hammer it anytime, and it makes a good dirty-water pattern too as it is quite visible.

That technique is also used on the Alaskabou flies. They are fun to tie, get lots of ooh's and aah's at shows and do catch fish.

[KOKOEK9 0]

Hi, I read about the soft hackle streamer, But i am confused where do you tie in the marabou on the bend of the hook or by the eye, they way it reads he is telling tro do opposing things at once. I am using blood quill should I be using the flat ones

[PondStalker 0]

My experience is that in tying the Soft Hackle Streamer there is "no" marabou tail. The colors of marabou that you select to use are tied in one at a time at the front of the fly and wrapped in place stroking back the marabou with your non-bobbin hand as you palmer wrap it. I think using the blood quills work just fine. Once you have tied in one marabou feather and palmer wrapped it, if you choose, you can tie in another color in front of that marabou and repeat the process. Good luck!

[KOKOEK9 0]

thanks that sounds better, the other instructions were to tie in the marabou ahead of the tinsel and wrap forward that didn't sound right