Hackle, feathers, hackle gauge?

[greywolf]

Hi Everybody,

I am really new at learning to tie my own flies. Just purchased a "Peak Rotary" vise and lots of material to explore this aspect of the hobby. Unfortunately I have yet to meet anybody who lives near to me who is experienced in tying.

I am enjoying the tying immensely. Learning to whip finish by hand, the tricks of when to use the different materials and how to lay the materials down. What order to attach things etc...

I have a video, I've got lots of books and read quite a bit on the net. Most things are falling into place with the exception of "hackle". Can anybody help me understand or perhaps offer a simple view of the different feathers used, when these should be used (wet ?? Dry??) and what I should be buying.

Most of the other aspects of the materials and using these materials are quite clear. Hackle seems to be used by various people in different ways and to me it seems like the same hackle/feathers?

Call me featherbrained. :cigar:

Can you help?

Thanks

[professori]

Greywolf, there are many different hackles and many different uses, but for a starting tier, it is best to concentrate on 2 major differences.

One major use of hackle is for dry fly fishing. This hackle serves to help float the fly, as the hackle tips contact the water and spread the weight of the fly over many different points and keep a concentrated weight from breaking the surface tension. To do this requires a very stiff hackle, usually found in the neck and back (cape) of a rooster.
The other major use of hackle is to represent flowing and moving appendages of subsurface foods. For this one would use a hackle that is soft and flexible. Hen hackle (from a chicken) satisfies this requirement quite nicely, but is not suitable for dry flies. There are many other feathers (pheasant rump, partridge, starling,etc), many from the body areas of birds, that can be used as wet hackle. This is admittedly a very simplistic view of a vast area of tying, but can give you a place to start.

There was an implied question in your title, that I will try to answer as well. The hackle fibres for a dry fly should ideally be the the same length as the hook gap, or slightly larger. You can measure this by bending the hackle so the individual fibres stand out perpendicular to the stem and then measure them aginst your hook gap, or you can purchase a hook guage that has a post you bend the hackle around and a series of markings to indicate the size of hook that hackle is suited to. I keep mine on the post of my vise and am always using it.

[greywolf]

Thanks professori,

With your simple explanation (and that is exactly what I wanted) I was able to sort a bit more of this out. Since reading your reply I have re-read more on the net and some of it is starting to fall into place. The next hurtle I anticipate is learning how much cash I should be reasonably spending to obtain hackle for different uses.

Learning the difference between good hackle and not so good hackle I guess is to simply buy and try the stuff.

Thanks

[11th Warrior]

Thanks professori,

The next hurdle I anticipate is learning how much cash I should be reasonably spending to obtain hackle for different uses. Learning the difference between good hackle and not so good hackle I guess is to simply buy and try the stuff.

Thanks

With hackle, you get what you pay for. A full grade 1 Whiting saddle can run you $70 while a grade 3 can be significantly cheaper and the only difference being the number of flies you can tie with it. You can also buy 1/2 saddles or even 1/4 saddles if you don't want to fork out the money for a full one. There are also combo-saddles (two colors on one card). I purchase 1/4 saddles because I don't tie a lot of dry flies (only one box full, approx 75 flies). You could also buy what's called a "mini-pack" which has enough feathers for 10-15 flies if that's all you intend to tie in that color. I've purchased these (approx $5) for tying black ants and found they were a good alternative.

Talk to your shop and tell them which flies you want to tie and they'll point you in the right direction. If they can't/won't, you should find another shop. Welcome to the addiction

[Sunpeaksfish]

Greywolf, there are many different hackles and many different uses, but for a starting tier, it is best to concentrate on 2 major differences.

I'm fairly new to tying as well, been at it about a year now. Your explination was very helpful. Thanks professori!

[greywolf]

Just wanted to stop back in and say your advice was quite helpful. I'm starting to get the hang of tying and have had some enjoyable nights tying flies. I also joined the Shuswap Fly Fishers and the members have been very helpful and friendly.

Just in case anybody who is inexperienced like myself and looking for a fly tying vise, I can say nothing but wonderful things about the Peak Rotary vise. I also got the unit for a very attractive price of the Thornes Manufacturing site via the website. These people are located up by Edmonton and the service has been fabulous. I just finished ordering the magnifier attachment and it arrived in 3 days. I love the attachment...things can be now seen in very close detail.

This is a very quality made unit, easy to use and I have just started to use the rotary features when wrapping hackle, Flasabou, Stretch Floss and chennille while making chironomids and leeches and caddis.

Thanks again for your helpful information on hackle.

Jim