Reverse Palmer

[Ray Kunz]

When Palmer winding a hackle on a Hair Wing Caddis, for example, does "Reverse Palmer winding" mean to wind from the "eye" toward the "bend", to tie in the hackle at the bend with the base of the hackle so the flues get shorter toward the eye or does it just have the normal meaning of wrapping on in the reverse direction from the dubbed body ?

[Feenom]

Hi Ray....Ive always taken it to mean wrapping the hackle from front to back.......which would also put the hackle wraps across dubbing wraps that were applied back to front. Just my opinion....Jason

[Bamboozle]

I always assumed it meant front to back versus back to front with the biggest advantage being if the hackle breaks; you just tie in another at the head of the fly versus undoing the whole fly or something else to get a new hackle tied in at the rear or bend.

I tie all my palmered flies reversed for this reason. I usually leave a loop of thread at the rear of the fly at the bend. I cut this loop of thread after dubbing the body to make it a length of thread which I then use to tie off the reversed hackle and wind in the opposite direction as a rib to further secure the hackle.

The end result: An almost indestructible plamered fly!

[Eight Thumbs]

Bamboozle,

What a great trick and so simple. I wish that I had thought of it. This is what I love about FAOL, you can always learn something new! Much thanks for sharing. 8T

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You had better learn to be a happy camper. You only get one try at this campground and it's a real short camping season.

[RoyChristie]

There is a definition in FAOL 'Fly Tying Terms, under Fly Tying on the left hand side of the screen.
this one I am more familiar with...

" Reverse Hackle:
Procedure of wrapping the hackle with the concave side forward. Provides high riding quality and keeps the fly from tipping forward. Also used in some wet flies such as the Woolly worm where reverse hackling tends to give greater action to the hackle fibers. "

good hints above on strengthening too
All the best
Roy

[catskilljohn]

This is interesting,because I have yet another opinion. I thought it meant from back to front,but in the opposite direction
the dubbing was wound. Like said above,this site is great for a learning experience,which I am in need of every day! CJ

[WarrenP]

I have been tying reverse hackle on all my buggers for over a year. I tie in the tail, run the bobbin with thread to the front behind the eye, tie in the hackle at the stem, after removing the fluff part of the feather, tie in the chenille body material, run the bobbin and thread to the hook bend just in front of where the tail was tied in, wrap the chenille to the back and tie off with the thread, palmer the hackle back and tie it in at the same location as the chenille, palmer the bobbin and thread through the hackle back to just behind the eye and then whip finish. Makes a very durable fly and the palmered hackle seems to lay better doing it this way in my own opinion.

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Warren

[Bamboozle]

Warren:

Your method is another great way to do it; maybe better because of the thread control the bobbin affords. I construct mine the way I do because I use a rotary vice and I especially like the rotary feature for winding the chenille and hackle.

By making a thread loop at the rear of the hook, (one end cut later to make a length of thread at the rear); I can keep the bobbin behind the hook eye when winding both the chenille & hackle which for me is way easier when doing the rotary thing.

[Feenom]

some great ideas here!....I use a variation of this theme on my EHCs. I lay down a thread base full length then tie in the hackle at the front leaving space for the wing. I then dub the body back to the bend. This leaves the bobbin in position to tie off the hackle that I "reverse palmer". 3 tight wraps to hold the stem and then palmer the thread back to the front of the body as a rib. Tie in the wing and thats it!