Clouserhead

I was watching a Davie McPhail video of tying a Hare's Ear, and noticed he used flat lead ribbon to add weight. Is this common for flies of this type? Most of the local tyers I know use beads when they want to add weight. Does the flat lead come in different sizes? What would I want to buy if I want to try this?

Hi all, after a couple of years of tying saltwater flies mostly with artificial materials, I've been branching out into traditional flies for trout. After working in a realm where a #4 hook is on the small end, tackling the likes of nymphs is a definite challenge, and I've had to work on various skills. As a basic dry fly hackle, my local shop sold me a Whiting Bronze Half Cape in brown. These feathers look fairly long, so I was surprised to see the label state that the average feather from Bronze-labeled capes produces one fly. Should I only be using one part of these feathers? Also, in my first couple of ties the hackles look what I can only describe as clumpy. Is there a trick to getting them to lay out evenly? With some types of feathers I'm used to splaying the hackle fibers out perpendicular to the stem by gently pulling the fibers toward the feather's butt, but these don’t seem to respond as readily to this treatment.