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Re: Big, ugly palmer wets

Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2020 7:10 pm
by Roadkill
Have you tried any of the Whiting Bugger Packs?

Re: Big, ugly palmer wets

Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 7:10 am
by BrkTrt
Great looking flies. I tie large #8 hooks palmered wets and fish them in small streams. Both wild browns and brookies take them with gusto.

Alan

Re: Big, ugly palmer wets

Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 10:06 am
by Boarmountain
ForumGhillie wrote: Sat Nov 14, 2020 5:51 pm

If anyone knows a good source for long, soft skinny feathers for tying big, upgly palmer wet flies I would love to knw.


John

Try schlappen. Starts small and tapers nicely. Very soft also.

Re: Big, ugly palmer wets

Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 10:45 am
by driftless
John,

You could also use two different sizes of hen hackle.

The rear hackle could be one size smaller than the hook size, the front hackle could be the designated hook size. Tie in the rear hackle, then dub the body halfway up the hook. Wind the hackle forward to where the dubbing stops. Then tie in the second hackle, dub the body, wind the second hackle forward & whip finish. I tie soft-hackle wooly worms this way.

The woolies are like miniature wooly buggers, tied on size 16 and 14 3X long heavy hooks. Wisconsin tier and guide Rich Osthoff originated the idea. These smaller versions work really well on our spring creeks. You can also add weight to the hook if you want.

FWIW,

Paul

Re: Big, ugly palmer wets

Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 2:58 pm
by BrkTrt
Palmered wet.JPG
Palmered wet.JPG (255.88 KiB) Viewed 2583 times

Alan

Re: Big, ugly palmer wets

Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2020 7:40 am
by Theroe
John

You are in “night fly” territory, which is a big thing in eastern and central Pennsylvania.....
George Harvey even developed a series of pusher flies, which work quite well. Do you ever stay late when the fish are feeding at dusk??
Very nice flies by the way!
Dana

Re: Big, ugly palmer wets

Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2020 9:30 am
by Theroe
oh BOY - thats a nice FAT fish !!

Re: Big, ugly palmer wets

Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2020 5:15 pm
by Old Hat
I can certainly see why that would be a great twilight fly, especially for drakes. I will have to add a couple of these to my tying.

Re: Big, ugly palmer wets

Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2020 10:55 pm
by bocast
I strongly recommend the Whiting Coq de Leon hen saddles and capes for this. The speckled brown Coq de Leon hen feathers are soft and strong and spectacular, even if the flies I tie aren't yet.

Example: body hackle on this fly
LadyCarolinesStepsister_20201118.jpg
LadyCarolinesStepsister_20201118.jpg (270.06 KiB) Viewed 2522 times

Re: Big, ugly palmer wets

Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2020 10:02 am
by bocast
ForumGhillie,

If you want the pronounced taper, I agree the Coq de Leon capes don't have that. For " brahma-muddler type" ties and for long soft body hackle without a taper they are great.

I might try using the Swiss CDC clamp to spin up an angled sampling of the CdL hen feather to see if that works. The dubbing would have to match the barb color. I'll give that a try to see if I can get a pronounced taper.