Wyatt's flies

[Wildfisher]

Bob,

when you say

"Shoulder hackle: Hen pheasant wing covert, doubled and wound by tip."

I take it by that you mean use two hen pheasant wing coverts and wind them at the same time?

[Bob Wyatt]

Fred,

No.  I mean folding the feather so it winds more easily.  

I do that after I tie in the tip.  First, I stroke the fibers so they stick straight out form the stalk, then tie it in by the tip.  I then fold the feather so all the fibers are on one side of the stalk.    The tip section of these covert feathers is quite thin and fragile, so while it winds easily, you can snap the tip if you aren't careful.

One turn of the folded hackle is enough.  Keep it sparse.

I give the base of the hackle a good soak of varnish.  Better yet is to take a couple of winds of the thread back and forth through the hackle to really strap it down. Then this fly is pretty much bullet proof.

[Wildfisher]

OK Bob, thanks,  that's a good tip (probably for all game 'hackles'). I would have thought  the herls would just bounce back into their original position when  you let them go, but obviously they don't

[Bob Wyatt]

They bounce back a bit, Fred, but relax into a bit of a 'vee' so you can wind them on easily.

Some tiers prefer to tie in by the butt of the feather, but I find tying by the tip a lot easier.  And you can use the shorter fibres near the tip, too.

[Wildfisher]

Yeah,  I tied up a load of north country spiders a few weeks back and tied the soft game  hackles in by the tip. Never thought about doubling though. They do break easily when tied that way but  then if tied by the stalk,  the hackle pliers can tear  the tip…….so it's no win. But I agree tying by the tip is far better for the reasons of  fibre length you mention. Makes a far neater fly.

[Gander]

I'm a big fan of the Dirty Duster. Not because it is easier to tie than the DHE, but because for me it has been more effective.

This year I am looking forward to trying a variation. Really it is a combination of the DD and the striped quill DHE mentioned in previous posts. I am just going to use quill for the body on the DD.

I have been inspired to do this by an old pattern in a Tom Stewart book. The pattern was simply called the Badger. I'm going to get rid of the tail, and tie it on curved hooks to sink that abdomen. Maybe throw in a few different dyed quill variations.

Has anyone tried this already?