Hello friends,
Being in Canada, I can buy heron feathers etc. and am considering ordering some. I was wondering what feather lengths to get?
2-1/2" - 3"
3"- 5"
Longer?
What are you folks using most often?
Also I was learning towards just getting a natural brown and a gray color?
Thoughts?
I got heron at Canada Tube Flies, I'm tying on a Diichi 2051# 1.5 hook the med heron to me seems fine. I did get the large heron and tyed it on a Blue Heron #1 hook and the feather seemed pretty long.
When using Grey Heron for McNeese #1,#2 and blind eye hooks would you recommend the extra large or large CTFC Gray heron and do you split the feather in two because in the pictures on the CTFC web page the Gray heron stems look really thick and I have no experience using the Gray heron. I always use the regular heron. Thanks.
Personally, I would stick with the medium to shorter barbs.
I have tied long fibers on traditional patterns, and while they sometimes look cool for display - they just don't swim well for me (the long fibers get wrapped up in the hook/ they eventually break due to their length.)
Medium to shorter fibers will last better on traditional patterns.
But if you are tying them on Intruder-type flies, go for it.
Both will work, but the large feather is quite long and thin enough for a body hackle on a long Dee iron. I actually have enough left over for a mid body hackle or a collar or two without getting into the thick stem.
Thanks for the input guys. My desire is to use them in traditional patterns on fishing flies. I don't generally tie on hooks larger than a #1 and most often tie between size
#2-#6
I've been messing with schlappen a bit lately stripped one side to wrap bodies with and it works ok but doesn't quite have the wiggle.
What other feathers I should consider using for the smaller hook sizes that will give that movement and "look"?
Thanks
Now that you stated that you tie on #2-#6 hooks regularly and occasionally a #1, I would steer away from heron feathers for all but the size #1 and #2. Small heron feathers may suit your needs for collars, but probably be too long.
Personally, I would abandon the heron and look at small to medium sized Blue Eared Pheasant or even Pheasant rump. Lately I think Pheasant rump has been completely under rated. With the latest "heron craze", the Pheasant rump has been put on the shelf and forgotten about by the tying community. In truth, it has some very fishy properties that no other feather has. The barbules are much softer than heron and have an iridescent sheen like nothing else, even when dyed. It's very easy to work with as well.
I purchased some fantastic XL Pheasant Rump from The Canadian Tube Fly Company, great quality !!
Mike, I'm happy to hear your thoughts regarding pheasant rump especially died ones. I have a couple low grade natural ones that have supplied a number of soft hackles but I'll have to keep an eye out for some better patches.
Cheers!
I might get bashed, but I have to put in a plug for select gadwall. It can come in natural, solid dyed colors, or barred (I often use this), and you may find a couple very nice spey hackles in each pack. They can be surprising long and yet have great movement because of the medium fiber length. They are also 'tough', which makes them a good fishing fly. While you may only find a couple 'perfect' feathers in each pack for large speys, the rest can be usable for collars, smaller speys etc. Because gadwall is inexpensive, and readily available, I find it to be a good alternative.
BEP, as Mike mentioned, is great, too, and often overlooked. Just be sure to inspect each package to make sure you get desired lengths.
If I would like to hackle ~half an AJS 1.5 would the strung ringneck phesant rump from The Canadian Tube fly company work, or would I be better off with the medium heron or grey goose spey?
In the past I would have used medium or large BEP for the same thing, but I can't seem to find BEP anymore.
In my experience with pheasant rump ... no.
Typically pheasant rump is not as long as BEP, so you will run out of usable feather before reaching the tie off point. I would say a typical pheasant rump feather can cover a 1/4 of a 1.5 AJ 2050 or 2060 series hook.
Saying that, I often use pheasant rump for collar/throat hackles only.
Hey there everyone......I saw this post last night and thought I would spend some time at the vise to clarify things.........I kept thinking that "a picture is worth a thousand words " :smile2:
Here is a couple side by side pics of both our Large Heron and our Medium Heron. Of course it goes without saying that what one tyer thinks is too long, another might think is just right. I have always recommended to tyers that if you are looking for (what most would agree to be) a traditional looking spey fly hackle, that anything in sizes 1.5 or smaller, it would be the Medium Heron Hackle that would be best. Anything larger than 1.5 would be the Large Heron Hackle.
This definitely changes with tube flies though. I've always recommended the Large Heron for any tube flies, simply for the reason that the larger diameter of the tube (compared to a hook) "eats" up more of the feather. Unless you are tying on really small tube, Large Heron is the way to go.
Anyway.....just thought I would put my 2 cents in Thanks too for the kind words
Yes! Using sparsely tied deer tail or even moose mane is an awesome replacement for heron. I like the long and skinny hairs from the edges of the deer tail. Combined with some burnt goose shoulder or pheasant rump, it looks and swims wonderfully. Here is my tying of a Jin Woo Lee pattern that uses deer hair in combination with pheasant and duck of some sort.
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