on 12/10/03 12:26 PM, Gary Miller at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Loxy -
>
> Your last question (re. "skittability) makes me question your original
> question.
>
> Are you talking about tying the hackle in at the hookeye and palmering back
> toward the bend, or are you talking about the direction that the hackle
> barbs point? Hackle barbs pointing front to back would be with the concave
> side toward the bend of the hook while back to front would be with the
> concave side pointed toward the hookeye. As I understand it, front to back
> would be a wet fly style while back to front would be a dry fly style.
And that is all dependent on whether you tie the with the concave surface
"up" or "down". So there are 6 variables. Tying in by the tip or butt,
winding forward or backward, and concave surface up or down.
Experiment:
1) Take four identical hackles. Tie two of them on hooks by the butt at
the midpoint of the hook, but one with the concave surface up, the other
down. Wind them forward. Compare the direction the barbules face.
(better write down what you find)
2) Unwind them and rewind them backward. Again, compare.
3) & 4)Repeat above with the other two feathers, except tie them in by
the tip.
End result: After the hackle is wound, if the barbules face forward, the
fly will push more water and, if it's a dry fly, "skitter" more.
If the hackle barbules face towards the rear of the hoo, they will push less
water and, if a dry fly, give less resistance to the surface water film.
Normally you want barbules facing forward for dries and facing rearwards for
wets, no matter how you accomplish it.
Cheers,
a.
--
Allan Fish
Greenwood, IN
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
