video - Delaware Adams

[Hans Weilenmann]

Hans,
Don't you wonder why Walt did not include brown hackle in the tail material?

Not especially.

The Delaware Adams certainly leans on the contemporary Adams recipe for some components, but that does not mean it has to have the mixed tail.

I would be more inclined to wonder why the present day Adams is still called Adams, when it has lost the spent wings, the grey wool body and the GP tippet tail of the original Lenonard Halladay recipe

Cheers,
Hans W

[Hans Weilenmann]

I'd have tied a grizzle saddle hackle in at the tail and done all the grizzle hackle in one operation back to front. Though you could do it your way around if you formed the body after winding the brown hackle. Just me thinking how would I save operations if I had to tie 10 dozen.

Here's the thing.

If you tie in the grizzly hackle at the tail and wrap it forward this has a couple consequences.

First the body hackle is (meant to be) one size smaller than the front hackle - hard to suddenly grow the barb length mid-wrapping. This would still require a second grizzly hackle.

Second you would lose the body reinforcement - though there are ways around this, for example by leaving a tag end of thread to cross-wrap.

In the scenario of tying in the hackle at the bend, would this be by the tip or the butt?

Cheers,
Hans W

[AlanB]

Now I've learnt something. Larger hackle at the head. The way the barb length varies on some saddles it is possible to jump a size or three mid hackle!!! but I take your point. With saddle it doesn't seem to make much difference tip or butt, If I had a long neck hackle then it would be by the tip.

Cheers,
A.

[Hans Weilenmann]

The way the barb length varies on some saddles it is possible to jump a size or three mid hackle!!!

To which I would suggest you should source better quality hackle

but I take your point. With saddle it doesn't seem to make much difference tip or butt, If I had a long neck hackle then it would be by the tip.

Tying it in by the tip would facilitate a decent taper, if the hackle is one with progressive barb length. It does, however, wrap against the feather's natural barb angle as they come off the stem, and often results in reduced control on how the barbs will radiate out as you wrap towards the eye.

Your serve, good sir

Oh, and would you rib it in any way?

Cheers,
Hans W

[Byron haugh]

I tied mine Walt's way. Wing; tail; tie grizzly in behind wing; wrap dubbing to tail - leave thread there; palmer hackle to tail and tie off and trim; wind thread through hackle to thorax; tie brown and grizzly in at thorax and wind both forward.
At least I believe that is how Walt tied them.

[AlanB]

The hackles I am talking about are both Metz and Whiting! There are often short sections of longer fibres. I've found brown to be most prone, but noticed them on grizzle and badger. Not sure where to go for better hackles!

If you really must rib through the hackle why not leave the starting tag of thread long and wind that back through the hackle. However, the one dry I use a lot that has a hackle wound back to front, the Griffith's Gnat, doesn't have a rib. I've never had issue with the longevity of them. When I tie a Griffith's I use a single strand of peacock wound in touching turns. The hackle stem sits hard against the stem of the peacock, which is in turn hard against the hook shank. Winding a hackle over a dubbed body would provide some cushioning and protection to the stem. For that reason I would doubt the need for ribbing.

We both know a certain river in Umbria where that pattern would probably work very well, in much larger sizes!

Cheers,
A.

[Byron haugh]

here is one presumably tied by Mr. Dette. From Eric Leiser's book, "The Dette's - A Catskill Tradition