Go to the upper part of your dry fly neck. There should be some larger hackles that have barbs that are long and are not stuck together. The top of the feathers are more round than pointed. These are the Spade Feathers, you will find some of the best tailing comes from these feathers. They are normally too big to use as hackle so there is no loss of hackle material. Lift a feather, preen the barbs so they are 90* to the stem. Take the number of barbs you will use between your thumb and forefinger and one quick pull down. The barbs should be lined up between your fingers and ready to tie in. Tony [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Desert Eagle wrote: > Evening folks, > Seams kind of quiet and thought I would toss out a problem I am having > and see if anyone can give me a fix for it. > I am working on my "Black Gnats" and have a problem. The recipe calls of > "Black Hackle Barbules" for the tail. Now I assume they are referring to > just pulling some of the side off a black hackle and using it. What I have > tried, ( "Not" getting into the few actual dry fly hackles I have), is not > at all satisfactory. Even on a #14 dry fly hook the finished product > collapses the tail and just "Mush's" it out. It will not stand straight. I > do have "some" pheasant hackle that is soft but at least it is a "Bit" > stiffer than this other stuff. Problem is, it isn't black and still not as > stiff as I would like. > I have gotten up to 12 segments, ( 16 on one), rope dubbing the body on > a # 14, dry fly hook and the hackle actually looks very good. "But" the tail > ruins the whole appearance. > Dose anyone have a suggestion as to how to maybe stiffen up the hackle, > or something else I can do to make these look as good as the rest of the > fly, or something else I can use ? I thought of Biot but don't have any > black in that either. I want these to be the best I have done yet, ( Except > for my "Prize" winning flies for the Rope Dub Swap). > Any suggestions or help would be appreciated. > Working smaller and smaller, > Jimi
