I just got really lucky, a good friend of mine happens to own a bird, and it just started molting. he knew that i was big into flytying, so he asked me if i wanted any. me, being a sensible person and a horrible flytying addict of course said yes. so i was just over at his house today and he gave me the first few feathers so far. now that i have them, im kind of at a loss for what i should tie with them. the two outer feathers are wing feathers and the middle one is center tail feather. so what do you think?
Perhaps some pretty little biot flies with the wing feathers? I tye up some really kewl parrot biot flies … macaw, blue and yellow … that work wonderfully!
maybe you can use them for classic wet flies, or some wingcases on a nymph. hope you find a way you can use them
Be careful…there were some articles a year or two back in FlyTyer, I think, about using feathers from other sources…you might be treading on thin legal ice…for example, if you found some lovely blue jay or cardinal feathers in your yard…major deal if questioned. I believe Jim Krul (Catskill Museum of Fly Fishing?) could offer you some valuable opinions on this.
Better safe than in jail. George
sadly the biots are far too short to be of any use as a body. maybe as tails though…
yea is was originally thinking of using them for classic wet flies to get a bit more practice with them.
g3, i had started a post about that same topic about a month ago actually, but these feathers are from a bird that was bought from a pet store here in virginia, so all the feathers are perfectly legal.
thanks for all the advice. look forward to hearing more ideas.