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?
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?
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.
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
"And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world" Satchmo
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