Looking at ScottP’s thread on the spruce reminded me that I used to catch fish on them but somehow just quit carrying them, I decided to tie up a couple. I tied a body on the first hook and went to get the package labeled badger hackle I remembered seeing in a bunch of stuff I got cheap a couple of years ago. In the bag was a flexible plastic band full of feathers. Some of them were badger feathers. After a lot of sorting I decided that I had four hackles that would work. They didn’t quite match up but this was a fishing fly, not a display item. The feathers were all about the same shape but they all had different curvature. After fitting them together as best I could I tied them in and finished the fly. When the fly was held up to the light the silhouette was terrible. I tried steaming it which did nothing for this mess so it all got scraped off the hook.
I am reminded once again that you can’t tie a fly any better than the materials you start with:cry:.
I looked at the cellophane bag of badger saddle feathers ($.35 for 25 feathers) I had and realized it came from a shop that went out of business in the early 80’s; most were okay for hackling but I was lucky to find a few that would make a decent wing. If I was planning on tying any more, a rooster’s gonna have to die.
Regards,
Scott