Hen Hackles and their fishability

[letumgo]

Precious!

[Izaak]

So what fly was Gollum using?

[Mataura mayfly]

So what fly was Gollum using?

That is easy..... if you ever have the chance to land at Wellington airport here in NZ, you can see he uses the "5 Finger" fly as a rule.

[Izaak]

[tie2fish]

What Izaak said

[FliTrap]

Way to go Izaak... referenced a "fishing" movie part that I can not recall.... Do you have a clue how that affects a OCD-type Fly Tyer? And the last Blockbusters in the whole country just closed? Guess I better renew my account with NetFlix... Watch it while I tie flies this weekend!
FliTrap

[FliTrap]

Note that the following information was Hijacked.... copied without the permission of the originator and re-posted here for the pure enjoyment and oh-struck-ed responses of those who gaze upon the beauty of such fine work! I claim nothing else, giving full credit to the original post and the man who made it public at the following web site:
http://www.flytyingforum.com/pattern4714.html



POP Fly (Soft Hackle)

tied by letumgo
Fly Type: Wet,
Target Species: Steelhead, Panfish, Trout,
Recommended Region: Northeast US, Northwest US, Western Canada, Eastern Canada,
Material List:
Hook - Mustad Model 3906 / Size 6
Thread - Black UNI-Thread (6/0)
Underbody and Tag - Silver Holographic Tinsel
Rear Body - Kreinik Sole Platte Silk (Orange/#635) wrapped over the silver tinsel
Hackle - Partridge Body Feather
Front Body - Peacock Herl
Head - Black tying thread sealed with head cement
Tying Instructions: - Start the tying thread at the mid point of the hook.
- Tye in the silver tinsel at the midpoint of the hook.
- Wrap the tinsel back to the rear of the hook and forward to the tying thread. Tye off and cut of tinsel tag.
- Tye in the silk at the midpoint. Wrap the silk towards the back of the fly, leaving a small silver tag at the back of the fly. Wrap the silk forward to the tying thread and tye off.
- Run the tying thread forward to the eye of the hook and tye in a single partridge body hackle. The feather should be pointing out over the eye of the hook.
- Tye in four or five strands of peacock herl by the tips.
- Run the tying thread back to the midpoint. Twist the peacock herl around the tying thread and wind it forward towards the eye of the hook. Leave room roughly one eye length gap for the hackle and head of the fly. Tye off the herl and clip off the ends.
- Clip the end of the partridge hackle in a hackle pliers and fold the fibers of the hackle. Wind two or three turns of hackle back towards the tying thread.
- Wind the tying thread through the hackle (wiggle it back and forth so the fibers are not matted down). Clip off the excess tip of the hackle.
- Pull back the hackle fibers with your thumb and fore fingers and form the head. Wrap the tying thread over the base of the fibers to make them sweep backwards and strengthen the stem of the feather.
Presentation Tips: Down and across - drag free drift.

If you feel this is in violation of this site and have the ability to remove it, please do so... let me know and I'll never HiJack again! If you feel that looking at such acquired stuff can make you go blind or grow hair in unexpected places, please do not review this post a second time!
This is an attempt of a public service announcement.. Please return to your regular viewing pleasures!

[FliTrap]

William!
Thank you for your mindful views on the topic at hand. Your explanation did well to provoke thought, and influenced me to go looking for the book you referenced, "Imitations". Sad to say, I guess I do not have one! (Something to add to my holiday shopping list!).
I was able to gain access of the POP Fly (Soft Hackle), one that I have had on my bookmark list for a long time. His work is tops!
And by the way... we must of both been working on our posts about the same time last evening as I had not seen yours when I hit the "post" button! I had to laugh at myself with my flipped post, as I read yours! Thanks again for your input and willingness to share!
FliTrap

[daringduffer]

Hendrickson Pop Top on page 6:

http://www.laingmanagement.ca/FlyTying_ ... p_0506.pdf

dd

[William Anderson]

Hendrickson Pop Top on page 6:

http://www.laingmanagement.ca/FlyTying_ ... p_0506.pdf

dd

Stefan, this is another fantastic snag. Nice find. The Pop-Top fly devised by Jim Slattery is a very different bug from the beautiful soft-hackle Pop series tied by Ray Tucker. Ray's intention was to create an attractor pattern that could be scaled to different sizes and is effective for everything from brookies to salmon and he's caught as many species on that fly as any other, as he tells it... . (and he's got the pics to back it up)

The difference is the way Jim goes the extra effort to palmer the hackle over half the body in most cases. It was the first time I had seen this (I had just started tying/fishing) and was stricken (and I still am) by the imagined effect ever since. Embarrassingly enough, Stefan, you've pulled the swap which included my very first attempt at showing a soft-hackle in public, photographed by Hans, no less, and my initiation into my current journey. It wasn't pretty, but not too shabby (partridge hackle, porcupine quill body, hare thorax) and hilarious enough, I happened to have a couple of these flies in my box while standing in the Beaverkill with John Shaner a couple of months ago. He poked at it and said, give that a try...I did, caught two nice little rainbows in a swift seam. More importantly, there is an example of the Lil Dorothy fly tied by Mark Libertone in that swap mix as well. Perfectly tied and consistent with every other version of that fly I've ever seen him tie.

IBF Swap #1 was a big step and a great risk for me back then. Fortunately there was a large group of folks on the FlyFisherman Forum in those days who were patient with my exploration and helped guide and instruct me...and they still do, here everyday. Thanks for the blast from the past.

w