Want clean, crisply hackled dry flies? Try this technique.
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- Опубліковано 23 сер 2024
- Try this hackling technique if you want a really clean, crisp looking hackled dry fly. It's not a hard skill to get the hang of but it does take a little practice.
Hook: #12-18 dry fly
Thread: Black (or any color)
Tail: Moose body hair
Rib: Thread
Body: Olive Superfine dubbing
Hackle: Dun dry fly
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Savage Flies is a project with the mission of encouraging and teaching fly tying to as many people as possible. The channel is named after one of my western Maryland homewaters, the Savage River. Thanks for stopping by.
Matt,
You have hit on some great points of technique here.
- Starting above the bottom of the hackle
- Tying in the hackle stem perpendicular
- The use of tweezers as shown
- Wrapping in touching turns.
I am no expert, but I have also found the selection of hackle to be the most important element of all.
As you note, it doesn’t have to be the most expensive, premium available.
But it needs to be even and without taper, it needs to be without web between the fibers, and it needs to be long enough to allow sufficient wraps. This sort of look in a dry fly, if it is what you are after, we’ll, really does come down to selecting the proper hackle for THIS job.
Absolutely great points David! I'm going to pin this comment to the top and hope others see it. Good hackle is vital. But it does not have to be expensive hackle. There are lots of good feathers on a bronze, or grade 3 cape. You just have to pick the right ones. Thanks for this note my friend. :-)
That's the kind of wrapped hackle that my OCD can appreciate! Thanks! 👍🏻
Nice job Barry...I mean Davie...I mean Matt. 😎 Have a great day Mr O'Neal.
Hahaha! You humble me Todd. But believe me, you won't see this kind of fly out of me very often. :-)
Picture Perfect. In my humble opinion there is nothing wrong with tying a beautiful fly. The tweezer technique really made the difference between a nice hackle wrap, and an ideal hackle wrap. Sometimes you just have to tie a fly that catches the fisherman. As always, thank you very much for taking the time and effort to produce outstanding programming. BRAVO ZULU.
Well thank you Dennis! And I know exactly what you mean. I've been flipping through a book and have come across a fly that looks so cool I just have to tie it. Knowing full well I'll probably never fish it. But if it's fun to tie... why not?
Not too shabby for a "fake-looking, fake bug!" That had me laughing. I just have a tendency to cringe at wasting barbs off an expensive dry fly neck or saddle. Good job, Matt.
Ha! I'm with you there Jim. But you know, since I started this channel, I have way more Whiting half capes than a normal person ever should. So yes, I still hate wasting good feathers, but I don't think I'd used that dun cape but maybe twice in the last year. At that rate, this thing will last me a good while. :-)
☕️☕️good morning Matt,
Nicely done, I always get a nugget from watching your videos.
Appreciate it Jim! Are you going to head out chasing the panfish this weekend? I was thinking of taking a kayak out Saturday, but now they're calling for snow. Ehhh... might be another good weekend to stay in and play around at the bench. :-)
@@SavageFlies oh no, I have been out everyday this week hunting them. Heading to the hand specialist this morning. And then to Gibbs Garden the weather is going to be nasty here as well. It’s moving in Friday evening/night! Yesterday the fish were hitting top water like crazy. After this last cold snap the fishing is going to be amazing I bet. I saw two big water snakes warming up in the sun. I will be at the bench like you said getting things ready. Hope all is well and this war is not going to have you in any dangerous areas.👍
Thanks Matt, love the honesty at the start, kinda makes me look at my own ties a little different, which is good, because they are far from perfect..
Ha! Thanks Monty. But I tell you, "far from perfect" should be my motto. You should see some of my fly boxes. :-)
Nice, clean looking fly Matt... As I stated once before a few months ago, the most durable tail material I've ever used was squirrel whiskers, they will outlast the fly... LOL If you know any friends that hunt them, have them pull them out as they are skinning the squirrel and place them in an envelope for storage... A few squirrels will yield a year's worth of whiskers... Roadkill squirrels work too but you get strange looks from the neighbors when you collect them... 🤣
Oh I'm no stranger to picking up roadkill Randy. I mentioned that in my DIY hackle video a while back. :-) I usually just trap or shoot a half a dozen every year or two and that's plenty of fur for my tying. I forgot you mention their whiskers. I'm going to have to go get a squirrel this weekend and try it out. :-)
Coffee and fly tying with Matt. No better way to start the day. Thank you for sharing this technique I will give it a try next time. Have a great day and stay safe my friend.
You too Karl! Have a great weekend my friend. :-)
Good morning Matt. The tricks of the trade. Love it.vYou made it seem that you gave up a magic trick. Nice tie and always enjoy your videos. Have a great day
Ha! Thanks Nich. There's nothing I know that I wouldn't be happy to tell a thousand other tiers out there! But also, there's still a whole lot I don't know. Not yet anyway. :-)
Matt, your knowledge of tying and different tying methods never ceases to amaze me. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, keep up the great work!
Well thank you for this kind comment John! And I certainly appreciate you watching my friend. :-)
Thanks Matt. One of the things I like most about your videos is that recurring reminder about keeping the purpose of the fly you're tying in mind while you're tying it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with tying a perfect fly, but if you're tying "fish catching" flies the extra work required for perfection isn't always justified or necessary. Stay safe!
Absolutely right Garrett! It's fun to play around with really pretty flies, but if I'm tying to refill my box for a fishing trip the next morning, I'm whipping them out as fast as I can. :-)
I have always used the same technique on nymphs and wet flies.It gives the leg illution better than a full feather.Still a great demo for someone wanting to tie a presentation fly.
Yep, I agree Michael! But honestly, I still probably wouldn't do this if I was making a shadow box for dry flies. I want my flies to look REAL. :-)
I love how your, "mistakes," became learning opportunities. I tie ugly fly's and can back cast trees with the best of them! Nicely done Mat!
I like your mind set and it is something that I need to remind my self. I can be a little ADA, I want every fly to look good. I am recovering from a knee replacement and I have sometime to tie flies for the spring and summer fishing (warm water is what I am focusing on). If my fly is not perfect I still put in the bin and will use it for the upcoming season. Keep up the great work.
You got that right Donald! My philosophy is if I think I can fool a fish with it, it'll go in my box. :-)
I love your comment, "We're already tying fake bugs!" But it certainly does make for a pretty fly! I was telling a friend about your site yesterday. He'll be impressed with this one!
Well thank you Tom! I appreciate you helping spread the channel. Have a great weekend my friend. :-)
Nice tie Matt .
Thanks Yvon! Appreciate you watching my friend. :-)
Good morning Matt!! Another great tip! I’ve not seen stripping one side of the hackle to make it look perfect! I’ll give it a try! But yes I do like the buggy look of a fly too!
Thanks Barbara! I always appreciate you watching my friend. :-)
You are too modest. A very handsome and I'm sure a very practical fly. :-)
Ahhh, thanks. Very handsome, sure. Practical? I don't know. :-)
Great job Matt.
Thanks Rocky! Appreciate you watching my friend. :-)
Great tips matt.and as Always thanks for sharing
Thanks Mike! Appreciate you watching my friend. :-)
Thanks for sharing this one technique for perfect dry fly hackles. I'm like you and prefer tying flies for fishing but will give it a try.
Thanks Darrell! Nothing wrong with experimenting with some "pretty" flies, but yeah, not worth the hassle if you're just going to fish with them. :-)
Like that you are honest! I have also looked at those instagram posting thinking;”why do my flies look so basic!?” Because they are! Nothing fancy
Thanks Hank! You'll find that I tie a lot of plain and simple flies on here. :-)
I’ve seen but rarely used that technique of stripping half the hackle fibers, but it’s the first time I’ve seen hackle fibers removed with tweezers just before final tie-in. Interesting! I might try it. It actually doesn’t look easy to do though.
You know, when I was watching the video after editing, I thought to myself, "I should have said, this isn't as hard as I'm making it look!" The practice fly I tied right before recording I didn't have any problem with the tweezers. I think it was a little harder with the backdrop up though. But good eye for noticing that. :-)
Thank you for clarifying this technique. It looks great and will catch fish!
That's one of my tieing problems over the years. I'm trying to make a fly look perfect when the fish don't care. I have gotten better with that. Love watching you tie Matt, you showed a few steps to that dry I never would have thought to do. Your making us better tiers. Thank you! Thanks for sharing, have a great day 😀.
Well thank you Jim, this is such a great comment to read. Kind words like this is what keeps me up late at night making videos when I should probably be in bed. So thank you for saying this my friend. :-)
For a simple fly that was great. Not a dry fly tier but this will work on bluegill flies. Thank You for this info.
I think you're right Peter. I just got an airbrush machine and am hoping to start tying some panfish poppers pretty soon. :-)
@@SavageFlies I’m kind of partial to evasote foam and alcohol based permanent markers. I get slot of my stuff from Bill at we tie it flyshop in Bolder Junction Wi.
Nice job. It’s beautiful. Thanks Matt
Thanks Chad! Appreciate you watching my friend. :-)
Nice trick. It really makes a pretty presentation.
Thanks DB! Appreciate you watching my friend. :-)
Interesting technique for straight hackles, uses almost twice the hackle length. Thanks for Sharing. Nice Video Matt.
Thanks Lee, and yep, it sure does. It's fun to do every once in a while but not something I do often. And partly because it just takes too long to strip half a feather!
Thanks Matt I always love learning new things
Thanks Marty! Appreciate you watching my friend. :-)
Nicely tied Matt and thanks for the pro-tips. As always thanks for sharing
You bet Layton. My biggest tip... tie whatever you want and just go fishing! Unfortunately, I can tie every day, but can't get out on the water every day.
Very nice hackling job Matt, it does look great but does it make a difference to the fish ? I'm not sure, I've had days that the scruffier a fly got the better it caught to the point it was just the thread underbody left on the hook and I've had days when all that would work was a perfectly tied small blue winged olive. Fish are strange creatures but so are most fly tyers 🤪
Quite so!
Ha! You're absolutely right Graham. But if I had to make an assessment, I'd say I've had more luck with my worn out scruffy flies than I have with perfectly tied brand new flies. :-)
As a counter point, the fly only got scruffy because fish were hitting it. But, I'm with you on the whole messy fly thing. That seems to be the consensus so far. But, technique can help one choose where and to what degree something is scruffy. :)
You're a nice technique as always thank you for your time sir
Appreciate it Charlie!
Another nice tie with my morning coffee!
Appreciate it Sally!
That is some good info Matt
I'm tying flies to catch fish not fisherman, although it is nice to show off some every now and then
Thanks for the video Matt and hope you have a great weekend
You too Dave! I appreciate the note my friend. :-)
Good Morning Sir Matt, I love them all but it's the elegance and perfect picture fly that got me started in fly tying. I have tied some flies that I don't want to fish I just want to look at them. Have a great weekend Sir Matt 😀
Oh yeah, I've seen some of your beauties Edward! I've got a few that I spent so long on I don't even put them in my box as I know there's a good chance I'll lose it in a tree. :-)
As always on Thursday mornings, I'm watching and enjoy your latest video with my morning coffee. Thanks for this tutorial. I'm not a perfectionist and I usually tie only for fishability, but I do like to save one for my display case. This will make that a lot easier!
Yes indeed Troy! And honestly, I just like the looks of scruffy flies. Fran Betters' Usual is one of the coolest looking flies out there and that thing is a mess!
My kind of tyer Matt. Flies I tye arent always the prettyest, but they catch fish. Love your vids.
Your videos are just perfect for a newbie like myself. Thank you so much.
Wow. All I can say is wow. Nicely done.
Thank you! 😊 I appreciate you watching Ed.
Nice technique. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Richard! Appreciate you watching my friend. :-)
Great looking hackle on that fly
Thanks Tony! Appreciate you watching my friend. :-)
Nice work Matt. I agree with you about perfect looks may not catch more fish but will catch more fly fishermen. I often catch more fish on a fly after it has ravaged by the fish and front hackle has unwound and flopping around. 😁
No doubt about it! I had a great day on a sheep fly last summer that was torn to shreds. :-)
You make it look easy. Thanks Matt!!
That's my selective editing Todd! I don't really do a whip finish in two seconds. Hint- anytime you hear the music get a little louder, I've sped the footage up at least 2x. :-)
Another Awesome job at tying, it’s so cool how you keep it all real.
Well I appreciate the kind words. I hope I never become some pretentious tier who only tries to tie perfect flies. On the other hand, that'll probably never happen so I don't think I have to worry about it. :-)
@@SavageFlies I love fly fishing and fly tying for many many years, every time I tried to either one I couldn’t do the I seen it done, have quit many many time because of frustration but I took it up again last year and found that you don’t have a perfect cast or perfect tied fly and had some really awesome people that have helped out and watching videos like your’s and now I’m having the time of my life doing both I’ve really improved in both, I’m mostly a nymph fisherman and tier but I do like to dry tie dries and there’s nothing like that matching the hatch lol and I have caught over 200 trout this last year, thanks again for keeping it real and what you do!!!
@@joutdoorsmen23 Holy cow! 200 trout in a year is a good year for anybody. I get to fish about twice a month and I'm certain I didn't end up with 200 last year. Now if I could add the bluegill and other panfish that's a different story. 20-30 of those in a day isn't rare. Thanks for the note and kind words. 🙂
@@SavageFlies I was very lucky to have fished 3 to 4 hours 3 to 4 times a week and I was very very lucky to have fish some club stream too
You’re very welcome too
Matt, thanks for this great video. I'm going to start using this technique. :-) Take care!
Cool Nicole! I appreciate you watching. :-)
Very Good Sir, thanks for sharing the Tip
Good morning Matt. Thanks for the tip with tying in the hackle. I’ve never seen that demonstrated in any of the “how to” books or sections of the books I currently have. I’ve seen where they strip a small piece on one side to start the hackle but never that way. Going to try that as it sure appears to be easier than trying to get both sides of a hackle feather pointing perpendicular to the hook shank. Time for another ☕️. Have a great day and take care.
You bet John; appreciate it. Now that you mention it, I don't recall seeing this in any books either. I think I saw Barry do it, or maybe it was Davie. And I've seen some flies use this half-feather technique on parachute posts. But generally speaking, it's not used or at least talked about too often.
My 11yo autistic son just started tying a little bit. He says he worried about the fly "not looking cool enough". I explained the difference between an Instagram fly and a fishing fly, and he says he wants to FISH with an Instagram fly...he's such a perfectionist!
Ha! That's a funny story. If I only fished with perfect flies, oh boy, I'd never get on the water. :-)
Great tip. But like you said in the beginning. I tie flys to catch fish. It's why I tie fly's.
Yep, me too Theodore! At least 95% of the time. But sometimes I'm just goofing around and having fun. :-)
Matt saying about tying a neat and beautiful fly reminds Mo of an old friend who owned a fly shop his wife tied bflies also really neat and beautiful but as he always said she ties flies to catch fisherman I tie the flies to catch fish
Nicely done!!
Always a good technique when it makes sense - like with small dries. But, I'm with you buddy, I think it's less convincing in larger sizes. Nature doesn't do clean very often.
You're absolutely right! Nature is messy. :-)
Thanks Matt I appreciate the lesson, always willing to learn something new
I will try it and see how it works out for me
Thanks Dooley! Appreciate you watching my friend. :-)
Well done!
Nice! Thanks for sharing!
Nice IG hackle job Matt. Looks like the hackle on Demuth's Sallie Verde, J. Stockard pro tiers from the 2019 catalog. They were also featured in Fly Tyer a while back. Honest intro too, and I agree with you 100%. Fun technique Matt, I doubt if I would ever do it, I can't see the waste. I cringed when Tim Flagler did a video on it. Good trick to add to the bag though. Thanks Matt !
Appreciate it Joe! I'll have to look for Flagler's video. And wow, I just looked up Demuth's Sallie Verde. That thing is certainly unique. It's got a glazed quill body and red hotspot like a nymph. And a cool story as they're from Tennessee and fish this in the GSM. I'd love to try something like that for the channel but that would be a 30 minute tie for me and I can barely keep people watching for eight minutes. Anyway, great comment and thanks for letting me know about that one!
@@SavageFlies Eight minutes?!? Sometimes I watch them 2 or 3 times with research in between! I'm not a "know it all" yet 😉🎓 so I need all the info I can get! Knowledge is key to any endeavor. You have a great base of subscribers from all over the US and some from other countries, they're a great source of info too. So thank you all!🤓 👍
Nice technique Matt. Great looking fly. If my hackle looked that nice? The first question I would hear, where did you buy that? But as they say, practice makes perfect. Sure appreciate your help buddy.
Always Jeff! I appreciate you always watching and commenting. :-)
I kind of like that actually, but I often go too crazy with hackle.
I'm with you there Ryan. When I see a pattern that says "sparsely tied hackle," I usually skip it. I like big bushy messes. :-)
Stripping half of the feather is something I've not seen before. Now, does wrapping the hackle stem first or tip first makes difference?
It might Ed, but I think it'll depend on how even the feather is. Really good hackle might have feathers that go from thick (closer to the skin) to a certain length of barb, and it'll stay that length for most the rest of the feather. So you might have several inches of feather with the barbs the same length. Cheaper hackle will have feathers with long barbs, say a size 12, then an inch down the feather it'll be size 14, then an inch later maybe a 16. So if you used that feather, your first wraps might be putting down a size 12, but before you're done, you're laying down size 16 barbs.
Do you think as a fly tire we are better off to buy the 100 pack whiting hackle or do you think it's any more wise decision to buy the entire piece as an investment? What's your opinion on that.? By the way the advice you give and videos like this are exceptionally needed by new tires like me. Thank you for the great info and great influence you have on the art. Luke
Thank you Luke; I appreciate the kind words! My take on the 100-packs is that they're a pretty good deal overall. I don't buy them because at about $22, the price difference between these and a half cape hasn't been too much. The last Whiting half capes (either Hebert Miner or their High and Dry) that I have bought were about $32-35. I've been seeing them lately at about $50 though so something has definitely changed. One con of the 100-packs is that they're a specific size. So if you normally tie #12s and #14s, and sometimes #16s, you'd have to buy three separate packs. Now you're already at $66. And if you wanted different colors too, well you could spend a fortune buying all the sizes and colors you want of these 100-packs. So unless you tie all your dry flies in a single size, or a very narrow range of sizes, I'd probably go ahead and start with buying capes or saddles. Hope this helps!
Loved this video, thanks Matt. Think I need to upgrade my hackle purchases from packets of odds and ends to capes, the difference is very visible. If you were starting from scratch what would be your two or three most useful/ used ones? Best Warren
Warren- great question. That's an easy answer for me. I'd get two Whiting half capes. A grizzly and brown, both a bronze grade. But wait, I just checked the price and these things are now $50. They were only $35 very recently. www.jsflyfishing.com/whiting-farms-dry-fly-1-2-cape-bronze That high price might change my recommendation. You can get their introductory pack with four half capes, but it's a bit pricey at $85. Still a better deal than buying them separately. www.jsflyfishing.com/whiting-farms-introductory-hackle-pack Or you can search for the Hareline "dry neck chunks." These are much smaller but they're usually only $10-12. I still like the Whiting half capes the best, so maybe you could shop around and see if anyone else has a better price. Good luck!
@@SavageFlies thanks Matt. I’m in the US in April so will pick up one of the introductory packs.
Great technique. But you’re right, probably not necessary.
How do I get your videos to stop showing up on my feed!
Matt is that a 1xl long hook dryfly hook?
It is Mitch. It's one of the budget hooks I use most often-- Saber's #7211, barbless dry fly and light nymph. I always prefer the black finish and while inexpensive, these hooks have always done great for me. And I use them for lots of patterns. If you're interested, you can find them at: flyshack.com/DisplayItem.aspx?ItemID=102612
Usually posters who criticize great techniques are lacking in their own ability. Keep practicing, use thinner thread. Thread and material management goes along way to not having too much dubbing. Remember less is more.
Your tail should only be as long as the eye to the bend. Long tails hinder your fly’s proper float in the surface tension of the water. Shouldn’t that fly have divided wings too?
Thanks R! I know I've got plenty of room for improvement. I appreciate you watching my friend.
No!... not this clinical hackle wrapping! And you're wasting half of the the expensive hackle too.
Just make sure the underground is smooth & flat and wrap a feather nice & tight
Ahhhh, yes! Another great point as to why I don't recommend doing this for all your dry flies. Another one I wish I had thought to mention, stripping the barbs from half a feather just takes too long.
I could tell from the thumbnail where you were going here. As a matter of coincidence I’m conducting a one-man campaign against half-stripped hackles! I think they look TERRIBLE ! To be fair, you weren’t really selling this, but here’s my take. As well as looking dreadful it’s very wasteful. The cult of the hackle (which I find very strange) is in full swing now. People are paying lots of money, for some reason, and then chuck half away! What!?
I have a theory, as yet untested (and probably wrong), that it might have a tendency to twist the leader. Certainly looks as if it should.
P.S. Not meant as a criticism, I think your channel’s pretty good, and if people want to do this, that’s as good as it gets. But it’s my hobbyhorse and I will ride it.
No argument from me Callum. I've done 361 tying videos on here and this is the only one where I've shown this technique. It's just not something I do very often either. But the views on this one were two times as much as a normal tying video so apparently some folks out there are interested in how to do it. Now speaking of the price of hackle recently, any idea why the increase? The Whiting bronze half capes I used to buy all the time for about $32 have recently gone up to $50. What's this "cult of the hackle" you're talking about?
@@SavageFlies Actually, I didn’t know there’s been an increase in price. Genetic hackles were virtually unknown when I started, but somehow we made dry flies that caught fish! I have used some low-end genetic hackles, and they certainly make the job easier, but have I caught more fish? Hmm…
Genetic hackles are little miracles to behold, honestly, but it seems like people who’ve been tying for about six months are being convinced they are must-have items. Guys in my fishing club post pictures of their newly obtained Hoffman capes, complete with jokes about keeping them (or at least the price) secret from the wife. I think they’re even more expensive in the UK, presumably most breeders are in the US.
If you’re going to do the thing seriously, you need black, brown, grey, dun, various grizzles, red game, blue dun, ginger, cree, cream, and some others I can’t think of just now. Kaa-ching! Cheaper to join the Moonies 🤣
Pointless, the fly will just spin and tangle your leader, use all of the feather and trim underneath for better presentation without losing buoyancy.
Well there are flies for fishing and flies for looking at. Anyone who uses this method is probably doing it for the latter. So in that case, it's not entirely pointless. Just not a great fishing fly. Thanks for the note.