Note how the hackle angle matches the slant of my thread base........

sorry about the multiple posts, i didn't realize only so many photos could be posted at one time.... I wondered why some appeared to go missing !!

Bill
No: I use my thumbnail to slide all of the barbs around. - Sometimes I leave them on top, sometimes I spread them around, depending on the pattern.
Dana

Originally shown to me by Ivan Willard in the 1980's, this method of hackling a fly is one of the very best in my arsenal. THE most important rule in dressing flies(or most anything else in life) is this: "the impression left from your first movement dictates the success of the following step.&...

Barry - that is the best description I’ve heard yet! The key is to have a tapered base underneath your bundle of fibers. Obviously the steeper the incline, the wider the flare. On some patterns I tie a very steep base, and leave a groove on the top - when I wrap the barbs down, it stands straight ou...

Lovely flies Karsten-good to see you back and posting again!
What is that red-ish brown body fly? It look like a piece of condor Quill......

Dana

The packaging changed too, first small cardboard boxes of several different types, then plastic covered boxes. Plastic tubes were used for a while also in the 1990's. This is a terrific thread--and it's about time I started sharing some stuff with everyone here. John's right, the packaging changed-...

Geez, Ray: I think you’ve just made the “post of the year”........ it certainly answered a lot of questions for me. Thank you !

I don’t know if this is the correct place to post this:
Over the last year or two, I’ve spoken with Ivan at great length regarding silk and soft hackles. So he sent me this bobbin he came across- it is a work of art! Has anyone else ever seen one of these?

Dana

Dana ~ Please describe (and maybe illustrate with a photo or two?) how you go about processing a mallard quill. Specifically, where does it come from on the bird and how do you "strip" it? John ~ Your flies look really good to me. Nice tying. Bill - there’s no easy way to strip quills.......

Excellent references, many thanks to John. But I want to add one more place to the list: the Catskill Flyfishing Center & Museum, which has been of one of my best resources for finding old materials. Many people leave items to the museum, and some of them are put up for sale in the store. Recent...