soft hackle attempt

[WebFreeman]

You might Google a fellow named Sylvester Nemes, he has several good books with loads of soft hackle patterns. His book cover's ought to be enough to give you some ideas. Cheers.

Thanks, Gavin.

So here is what I used. Obviously not right in retrospect, but what are these used for. I have them died in several color. They don't seem stiff enough to use for a dry and don't really give a bugger the right action.

[troutchaser]

That looks like great wooly worm hackle. I'm guessing that if you tied it dense enough and put some permanent floatant on it, it would work on a dry such as the Humpy.

That's not to say it wouldn't work on a subsurface. Tie some up over peacock herl like a Griffith's Gnat or Big Ugly and strip it under the surface. Taneycomo trout like those on bright, breezy days.

Hope that helps you.

[motroutbum]

Those are are really good for nothing hackles. I got some as a gift and have tried them with several different types of patterns and they dont give the right action for anything. Those feathers are deffinitely not meant for tying soft hackles. The barbs are not stiff enough to hold up a humpy even with flotant. The reason partridge is the most widely used is because that was/is the traditional feather to tie s.hackles with. Phesant rump works alright, starling a little better and partridge the best.

When you are working with the partridge or whatever soft hackle feather, make sure you strip one side of the hackle. (preferably the side with the least amount of curve.) then tie the hackle in with shiny side forward. tie in the tip. If you dont tie it in by the tip, your hackle wont turn out right.

[WebFreeman]

Thanks, that's a good tip.

[Flysmallie]

If you dont tie it in by the tip, your hackle wont turn out right.

Alright motroutbum I have to question this, not because I think you are wrong just because I am confused. I've looked at a lot of soft hackle patterns and some people swear that you have to tie in by the tip and some say the butt. Can anybody give me a reason that one is better than the other, or is it really just tyer preference.

[troutchaser]

It's a preference thing.

I've tied both ways and they both have their drawbacks. Tying in at the butt requires some real manipulation of the hackle to get it to wrap correctly. It is, though, more sturdy than tying in by the tip.

My personal preference is to tie in at the tip, wrap 1 1/2 turns and tie off.

By the way, be prepared for your significant other to really question your sanity when you spend $20 on a partridge half cape and then proceed to strip large sections of it off to throw away.

[Leonard]

Here is a picture of a Primerose and pearl softhackle I tied

I dont tye softies that much.. so I still need some practice..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v732/Leo...73/PPmidge1.jpg

This was tied from a JV hen (from conranch hackle) www.conranch.com

Leonard

[Danoinark]

quote name='Flysmallie' date='Apr 2 2007, 09:25 PM' post='33534']

Alright motroutbum I have to question this, not because I think you are wrong just because I am confused. I've looked at a lot of soft hackle patterns and some people swear that you have to tie in by the tip and some say the butt. Can anybody give me a reason that one is better than the other, or is it really just tyer preference.

Ronnie much of it is preference. When I tie a small soft hackle in size 18 I will strip off the fluff and as much of the barb as possible to get the proper hackle length. I then tie in the quill as a first step to the point where I will make my turns. Remember to tie the quill where the dull side is facing up. This puts the feather in the proper position when you make the turns with the feather. Tying in this way helps get the proper size hackle even from a longer feather. I included a picture of what I am talking about. Dano

[WebFreeman]

quote name='Flysmallie' date='Apr 2 2007, 09:25 PM' post='33534']

Alright motroutbum I have to question this, not because I think you are wrong just because I am confused. I've looked at a lot of soft hackle patterns and some people swear that you have to tie in by the tip and some say the butt. Can anybody give me a reason that one is better than the other, or is it really just tyer preference.

Ronnie much of it is preference. When I tie a small soft hackle in size 18 I will strip off the fluff and as much of the barb as possible to get the proper hackle length. I then tie in the quill as a first step to the point where I will make my turns. Remember to tie the quill where the dull side is facing up. This puts the feather in the proper position when you make the turns with the feather. Tying in this way helps get the proper size hackle even from a longer feather. I included a picture of what I am talking about. Dano

Leonard--that looks good to me. Do you remember what size it was.

Dano--that's very helpful to me. A lot of the tying instructions kind of skip over that step and and say something to the effect of "tie in your hackle...".

I need to take another class to sharpen my skills. Though I must say I've seen some improvement in the last few weeks, though they are far from good. The last class I took was from Backcountry, probably in '93.

I've a couple soft hackles that turned out ok using what looks like an Indian Saddle Patch (see pic) since I started this thread. I need to post some pics to get more feedback. One think I noticed was hook size had a lot to do w/ my quality. I put just a random big hook in the vice to practice a few hackles on and they turned out nice, but once I put the 12s and 16s back in the vice, not so good. I think the tip of tearing off one side will help.

[Leonard]

hey Web...

try this...

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/f...050106fotw.html