I have an apology to make.

[Ronn Lucas]

I have something of an apology to make. I have said in the past that sunlight will turn Peacock feathers bronze. Well, I have had a bundle of Peacock ?tail? feathers in the sun for some five years or more now and I really can?t detect much if any change from greenish to bronze. I do know for a fact that sunlight does bleach color from feathers but am at a loss as to why these feathers haven?t changed other than to get lighter (bleached).

I have had a fairly good size bunch of Peacock ?tail? feathers that are in fact bronze but have had them for many years and they weren?t in direct sunlight.

The good news is that the regular green herl turns bronze in the water. So, no matter what color the dry herl, you will fish bronze flies tied with it.

Bottom line is that this long term test came as a surprise to me. I will continue to leave it in the sun to see if five more years makes any difference. I?ll update you then.

Happy Trails!
Ronn

[Jim Hatch]

Hey Ron,

Not to worry my friend. All is forgiven.*G* For pennance, please tie a
half dozen of your irredescent scud flies
and send them to me at .........*G* Warm
regards, Jim

[Hans Weilenmann]

Ronn,

Interesting experiment

The good news is that the regular green herl turns bronze in the water. So, no matter what color the dry herl, you will fish bronze flies tied with it.

Hmmm... are you sure about this?

It may very well be that green looking peacock herl turns a darker shade, bronze in your words, when slightly submerged.

The base material, the herl iself, does not have a color. It is black or a very dark gray. The color we see, be it green or be it bronze, is the result of light refraction. It does not take submerging very far into the water to have the material be out of reach of the light wavelength to still exhibit any color, and the result is very black looking herl

All this is fairly immaterial, though. Peacock herl must be among the top three materials on the trout-magnet chart! Trout love it, and so does this tier

Cheers,
Hans W


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=== You have a friend in Low Places ===
http://www.danica.com/flytier

[James Smith]

Ron,

I tried that same "experiment" by leaving a bunch of peacock hurl on the dashboard of my truck. I figured in the hot Georgia sun, I'd have nice bronze peacock hurl in no time. Four years later, I had a bunch of rather dry, brittle and somewhat dull green peacock hurl. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing that there is a color variant peacock that produces the bronze hurl.

Jim Smith

[eaustin]

Ronn, it reminds me of the time I advised someone to learn to whip finish the "right way", by hand. I thought I was giving good advise, but fortunately there was someone out there to point out that you can do a darn fine whip finish with a tool. I think that was you, and I stand corrected.
Eric

[Ronn Lucas]

Hans, humor me a bit. Please take some herl and put it into water and see what color it is/reflects UNDER the water surface. If your water and herl are anything like what I have here, it ought to be a distinct bronze color. The color shift in water is negligible at depths we normally encounter while fishing rivers and streams. Maybe at ten feet or more there will be color loss but little at a couple feet. The color of the water and rocks will influence color more.

Yes, the herl is a dark grey but for our purposes that is not relevant. It's the color we and the fish see that is relevant. I know what I see but can't get into a fishes head to see what it does so I will leave that to them to articulate. [8^)

Happy Trails!
Ronn

[Charlie]

Ron, Hans....you guys forgot one thing. You must walk around yer fly tying chair three times clockwise and then three more times counter clockwise with the peacock feathers in your front left front pocket before putting them in the sun. Or they won't bronze. Mr. Hatch knows that but is trying to get free flies instead of telling ya Ron.

Charlie

[Jax]

I seem to have been given the impression that Bronze or Green Peacock comes about because one is from the Indian Peacock and the other from the African Peacock.

It would be interesting to get the "Real Oil" as the Cochi Bundu recipe calls for Bronze Peacock Herl in some books.

I had plenty of Bronze Herl when I was in Africa, so there may be something in the two location theory. Jax

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I'm a much better Fly fisher when talking fishing, than when I'm Actually Fly fishing!

[Jim Slattery]

For what it's worth, Bronze peacock has different color than green peacock when submerged underwater. Both are bronze, but I believe the bronze peacock has a orangey hue. As Han's says " Your results may vary" Jim

[Ronn Lucas]

The Congo Peacock doesn't have much of a tail and nothing like the Asian Peafowl. Some Peacock tails that are bronze could well be from the Green Peacock but I don't have any that I know of. The various Green Peafowl are on the rare side so I doubt much if any gets into the tying/craft community. The Congo is very rare and I have only seen pictures of them.

It could be that any difference noticed between green and bronze herl IN the water if any, is a result of light bleaching of the feathers over time. In any case, any difference would be minimal at best. Not enough to be of consequence I would think.

Happy Trails!
Ronn