From: "Mel Hocken" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> One item that is coming up in discussions on flies is tippet twist. One > notable fly tier( AK BEST) believes this is caused because the > fibres of the top grade hackles are becoming so stiff they are acting > like a miniature turbine causing the fly to spin as it is cast. If this > is true it may be an advantage to use #2 or #3 grade necks that have > slightly softer hackle fibres. > Hope this is of some help > Regards > Mel Mel, I agree with all of what you said, but would like to add a little to this portion. I have always reverse-splayed my hackles before tying dry flies. Just grab the hackle by the tip and run the hackle backwards through your pinched index finger and thumb, standing the barbs out to the stem 90 degrees. It may take more than one swipe. Don't know who I learned it from, been doing it for over 30 years. On older neck hackles (before dry fly saddles), this was necessary to find the 'sweet spot' on the hackle- the portion without webbing and the right length (size) before the final tapering. One would 'grade' a neck based on the length and quality of the'sweet spot'. On most necks this 'spot' was less than 2" long, and many only an inch. ( I remember well having to use 2 hackles to tie one fly!) A side benefit was that tying with the barbs sticking straight out from the stem eliminated the 'turbine-twist' of the fly and thus twisted leaders. AK is correct in that today's stiffer hackles can cause twist. But it is easy to eliminate the twist and still use the stiffer high quality hackles if you splay the barbs. It is easy to demonstrate. Tie a fly without splaying the hackles, and then tie an identical one with splaying. Look at the fly from the eye end. The un-splayed fly will have the barbs in the 'turbine twist' (not coming out directly from the center of the hook, but tangentially) and the other will not (with the hackles sticking out directly from the hook center). Some old-timers just used to grab the whole hackle end and give it a good counterwise pinch-twist to straighten the hackles. The a penetrating dab of head cement held it in place. I can't tell you what a joy it is to tie with today's genetic saddle hackles as opposed to the necks from 25-30 years ago. Another thing to consider is barb curl and cupping. Even reverse splaying can't straighten out a curved barb, which results from a cupped hackle. These will make a 'propeller' look on the front view. Today's genetic hackles have this little unwanted characteristic pretty much bred out. When you look at a neck or saddle next time, especially a 100 pak, look for the part of the feathers that have been splayed by the graders in order to size them. Do this to the whole hackle. Hope this helps, DonO
