wrapping soft hackles

[BostonTroutGuy 0]

Hello List--

 

I am a rookie tyer, in my first winter at the vice. I have a question about tying soft hackles. I find that when I wrap my soft hackles, the fibers usually end up bunched in clumps of 3-4 fibers, rather than a nice even distribution of individual fibers around the hook. (I am using feathers from a Wapsi Hungarian Partridge skin.) I prep the feather by stripping the feathers off one side of the feather. Is there something I can do to avoid the "clumping effect" or is it not something I should worry about? Oddly, when I use feathers from a bag of individual feathers I find that I experience less clumping.

 

Many thanks!

[flyguy613 0]

Don't strip one side of the feather, tie it in by the tip and wrap. Just a few wraps are needed

[mikechell 0]

It's possible the barbs are "marrying" by interlocking barbules. Run a bodkin (needle) through them to see if they separate and spread out as wanted.

[Jaydub 0]

Stroke the fibers back from the tip. Tie in by the tip. Fold the fibers back as you wrap. One full wrap may be enough.

[Dave G. 0]

You might be able to take a tooth brush or stiff fingernail brush and run it through the fibers of the tied fly and separate the individual fibers that way. Or you may have a batch of extra webby feathers. Also some grouse feathers ( cousin to the partridge) there isn't enough center barb at the tips to tie them in that way. But with either feather, tied in either way, generally 1-1/2 turns is sufficient for a soft hackle fly.

 

About stripping one side of the feather: that is mostly about how sparse you want the legs to look. Individual preference prevails on that one. I tend not to strip one side personally. Other people go the other way.

[phg 0]

I never strip the barbs off, because it weakens the stem. Instead, I carefully cut them off, as close to the stem as possible. One and a half to two turns is sufficient. This isn't meant to be a hackle collar like a dry fly, just legs and antennae on a swimming insect.

 

I often use a bodkin to separate the individual barbs, if they are sticking together.

[heavynets 0]

As I type I'm sure Flytire is looking up YouTube videos that will show you how it's done. Be sure you are using the right feathers and not wrapping on top of the previous wrap. Strip or don't strip, either way is OK. Stripped is less likely to cause your problem and will be more sparse.

[flytire 0]

 

yes i could find a video but i'll let others do it. give it a try yourself

 

there is nothing wrong with stripping off fibers from one side or not and there is also nothing wrong with tying in the feathers by the tip or by the stem. use the technique that works best for you

 

GOOGLE the following video "partridge and orange hans weilenmann". note that in this particular video he does strip off one side

 

then go to hans website and view his collection of soft hackle video

 

http://www.flytierspage.com/

 

a top grade whole bird skin will give your far better feathers than whats stuffed in a zip lock bag by some kid who doesnt know why hes stuffing feathers in a zip lock bag

[utyer 0]

It really won't matter at all once you get the fly in the water. The whole concept of a soft hackle is to get a lot of movement from the legs. They should be sparse, and any that "clump" together will move just fine in the current. If you really don't like the clumps, just blow on the hackle from the back side.

[BostonTroutGuy 0]

Many thanks for your very helpful replies!

[Crackaig 0]

There is something of a problem here that seems to have happened somewhere mid Atlantic. For hundreds of years game bird hackles have been used to tie wet flies known as "Spider Flies", or "North Country Spiders", or "North Country Wet Flies", in the area I hale from. When they crossed the Atlantic they became "Soft Hackles" and seemed to loose their history and tradition in the process.

 

The traditional way to tie these is what you see in Hans' excellent videos. The hackle being tied in when the thread is started. Where Hans differs from tradition is that he ties in the stem rather than the tip. The fibres are then teased back or "doubled" before or as the hackle is wound. To be mischievous Hans' will say he ties the hackle in by the butt, If you watch though he strips the stem so that he is using the same fibres as he would tying in by the tip, approaching it from the other side.

 

Traditionally one side of the hackle was not stripped. Stripping one side has several downsides. Game bird hackles usually taper very steeply. If we presume that everything else is equal in all other aspects, then the stripped hackle will have a greater variation in length as you will be winding more of the shaft of the feather for a given number of barbs. As phg has mentioned it can weaken the stem. Also it creates extra bulk as you have to wind more stem for a given number of barbs. If you use the "Cut through" method of tying off the hackle (as Hans does in his videos) the extra stem is not compressed. This creates a slightly more buoyant fly. Not much I'll grant you, but these are flies usually fished in the top inch or so of the water. It can make a difference.

 

There has been another myth expounded in your answers. Movement of the hackle. It doesn't happen! There are two ways that you can fish a spider fly. Either you cast it so it fishes "dead drift" i.e. upstream (or across and up to across and down, or other variations). In which case there is no pressure from the current to move the hackle. As Oliver Edwards put it they drift downstream looking like an open umbrella without the cloth. Or you fish it on the swing. (Of which TE Pritt said "'Tis the Devil's work my son, and do not let me catch you about it"). The pressure of the current in this case causes the hackle to collapse giving a sort of elongated tear drop shape. Neither of these produces "movement" of the hackle during drift or swing. Drop one in the water close to you and observe for yourself.

 

Cheers,

C.

[Dave G. 0]

I can only speak for our New England version of Soft Hackle as I see everyone use throughout the area, to include myself.

Are we even talking about the same fly though, it's a big world ? Here in New England we adopted/adjusted and or just created out of variation over time our own traditional soft hackle derived mainly because of local game birds I suppose, what you might think of as a spin off. What we term Soft Hackle around these parts though, is generally tied with Grouse or Soft Hen hackles ( secondary option) for one thing. Often lightly weighted as well. And often fished with some form of movement added, which causes darting towards the surface, undulation, fluttering downward . And we fish them on sinking line as one way in still water. Floating line another way in still water and in moving water yet another way. All effectively, especially for rainbows and salmon. The natural hen and the Grouse feathers we use run from mid greys to tans and browns, vs the Hungarian partridge which is lighter toned.

 

So you may have your local "tradition" and it may well be " the original" or even not be related to what we do here locally or elsewhere in the world. My personal experience in New England waters is the Hungarian Partridge feathers are less traditional to us and less productive than even natural hen, never mind grouse ( grouse has quite a range of tonality throughout the skin and it's best to hunt them or know someone who does to get the best of that full range. The Hungarian Partridge is not even close in fiber or color). In fact, the first soft hackle I ever tied I had no clue was ever tied over seas in any form !! A guy gave me a bunch of feathers from a grouse skin and I proceeded to tie flies like I saw others using locally with success.