[VFB] Golden pheasant crest feathers

[John Roth]

Hey everybody.  I'm having a little bit of difficulty and I'm hoping someone fron the list might be able to give me  couple pointers to get me back on track.   Recently, I've taken to trying my hand at atlantic salmon patterns.  All in all, its pretty darned complcated, but generally I'm really enjoying it.  I'm having one major piece of trouble though.  When I tie in golden pheasant crest feathers for the tail or topping, the stuff won't lay in one nearly two dimensional unit.  It insists on flaring left and right, up and down.  By the time it's all said and done, I'm winding up with a fly that looks pretty good except for the crests looking like someone whipped them with a weedwhacker.   I've used all of the techniques for straightening the crest feathers and I'm extremely pleased with the results.  The quills of the feathers I'm using are super flat before I tie them in.  As far as actually tying the feather in, I've followed all of the vague instructions found in the book I'm working from (there aren't many of them either).  Essentially what's happening is that when I tie down the crest, its trying to roll both left and right around the hook as soon as the thread places any tension on the feather's fibers.  I guess this makes perfect sense, but I haven't seen anything in the book I'm using or in it's pictures which indicates anything different should be done.  Is it customary to strip the shaft of the feather up to the point where it gets tied in?  I've tried this, but it doesn't look quite right.  It makes more sense to me, but its still not solving the problem 100%.  Can anybody shed some light on this?   Thanks everybody!   John