How to Tie Soft Hackles and Other Collars with Large Feathers, Hair, Flash, and Most Anything Else

#flytying #flytyingtips #tyingtipswithwalter #softhackle #innovativeflytying #betterflytying #beginnerflytying #yellowstonecountryflyfishing #walterwieseflyfishing
If you watch any of my pattern videos, you've seen the somewhat unusual way I tie soft hackles:
--Trim feather barbs from a larger feather
--Secure them facing forward near the eye, using a gathering wrap to spin them around the hook shank
--Advance thread in front of the tie-in point, then bind the hackle barbs upright by building a thread dam in front.
This video is an extreme close-up of this technique, using all sorts of materials. I demonstrate with barbs from a really awful feather (a wing feather!), flash, fox fur, and dubbing.
Note that this can be done anywhere on the hook shank. You could tie in your hackle or other fibers 1/3 of the way towards the rear of the hook, make an abdomen behind the fibers, then "dam" the fibers upright and dub a head in front of the hackle to create a caddis pupa, for example.
To book a guided trip or for info on fly fishing the Yellowstone region, visit flyfishmontana....
If you find this video helpful, please like and subscribe, and please consider dropping us a buck or two at buymeacoffee.c....

[@genegorse312]

Thank you! One of the most useful tips/techniques I’ve learned in over 60 years of tying flies! Will be sure to use and experiment over the next 60! Thanks Walter.

[@FlyFish-MT406]

Great technique well explained and demonstrated!

[@garyproctor6123]

Great ideas that can add a new twist to traditional patterns. Thank You for the detailed demonstration of the technique. Take Care

[@grantpetersen-xl2xb]

well OK, not technically soft hackles, but super useful. Thanks for the show, I learned something useful.

[@brian1204]

Turkey tail feathers are not soft hackles. This is not a soft hackle fly.

[@YellowstoneCountryFlyFishing]

@brian1204 It's also not a turkey tail feather, so there's that. As noted in the title, the description, and the video itself, the point of this video is as a technique demonstration, and I deliberately chose an inappropriate feather to show the possibilities.