For what use ?

I recently bought a couple Chinese hen saddles because they were nicely mottled with fine stems. Now I find that they are just too large for the size soft hackles I want to tie. Can anyone suggest other uses? :confused:

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j1...n/IMG_3983.jpg

Beck's Super Bugger; I tie the body with 2 or 3 hen saddles.

Regards,
Scott

You can use them for dry fly wings, or use a tying technique that allows you to use larger feathers for smaller flies. Or use the necks for throats on salmon flies, or tails on wets.

The following is step one for 90% of the soft hackles I tie (And I tie over a thousand a year for sale) after starting the thread. I very seldom wrap soft hackles now unless they're genetic hen, and I much more commonly use game bird or India hen feathers:

--Strip some barbs, keeping the tips even. Tie in just behind the eye, facing forward. Spin the barbs around the hook using moderate thread tension and 2 wraps. Spread using fingers if necessary. Tighten thread.

Tie the rest of the fly as desired, then throw a whip finish ahead of the barbs to stand them up.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fly Tyer

use a tying technique that allows you to use larger feathers for smaller flies.

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Wally has a good video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-dfsN0ZPkc

Craig Mathews, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-jWkKpbLNU

Regards,
Scott

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Longs for Cutts

The following is step one for 90% of the soft hackles I tie (And I tie over a thousand a year for sale) after starting the thread. I very seldom wrap soft hackles now unless they're genetic hen, and I much more commonly use game bird or India hen feathers:

--Strip some barbs, keeping the tips even. Tie in just behind the eye, facing forward. Spin the barbs around the hook using moderate thread tension and 2 wraps. Spread using fingers if necessary. Tighten thread.

Tie the rest of the fly as desired, then throw a whip finish ahead of the barbs to stand them up.

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Exactly what I'd do with them.

Cheers,
C.

Those are good tips... I do have a lot of large feathers that I have no use for. Now I know what to do with them! :)
M

I have use all 3 of these techniques. One tip is to make sure and leave the hook shank bare where you are going to spin the hackles. I also prefer a thread that flattens out on the hook shank.YMMV
One of the cool things about Matthews method is you can tie 2 or 3 flies out of one feather. I use "Longs for Cutts" method for spinning mallard flank.

Streamers, Bass Flies, Woolly Buggers, etc....

Hi Ray,

I sometimes use such feathers for a soft hackle front hackle on a bugger. The extra length has even seemed to do well. In those cases I have sometimes used a single front hackle in place of a palmered hackle. This has been especially handy when I have tied down the chenille and trimmed off the extra chenille and then realized that I had forgotten to tie in the plamer hackle at the back of the fly. The long front hackle saved starting over, and the results seemed to fish fine.

Another use might be to use them in place of pheasant for the soft hackle on a Carey Special.

Regards,

Gandolf

I have tried Gandolf's suggestion of making little Carey Specials. I works great for sizes 12 and 14.
Thanks.