Fly Fishing

Hi,

I am kind of new to fly tying. I have had a course and I can tie simple flies. One of my friends is plucking a couple of male hens for christmas, what feathers should I ask him for, or is there a way to skin it.

Thanks

Male hens????????? Are you sure? Hermaphrodite possibly!

To answer your question, I don't know.

Hens are female .....

I am sorry for the incorrect language, I could not think of the correct name.

alasdair wardle

its allright cock.

Seriously Alisdair, theremust bea way to skin the bird, because what you buy in the tackle shop as capes (e.g. the feathered neck) and saddle (e.g. the back) are still attached to the skin. I assume that the bird (once dispatched) is slit lengthwise down the fron of the neck or around the top of its back, and the skin is then peeled back. I would imagine that some kind of nuetralising chemical or compound is then applied to the skin to stop it rotting or stinking the house out. I've never done it myself, co's I tend to buy what I need.

Most Cock saddle feathers are good only for making lures, because the feather fibres are much too long to use for hackles. As such, most saddles therefor tend to be dyed some bright colour.

Cock capes can produce feathers with shorter fibres, but the genetically bred birds, bred for the overall length of cape feathers as well as the shortness of fibres, are very good and top quality ones are very expensive. Ifyou can stretch your budget to buy one or two, you would almost certainly want to reserve the feather for dry flies.

Hen capes are used mostly for tying wet flies, because the fibres tend to be much limper than those on the cock feather.

Apolgies for making fun of you,

Regards,

Colin

The hens will have soft brown hackles, so they would be ok for wet flies which have these types of feathers.

I'd tie a few flies with the feathers and then chuck the capes away. Unless they are chemically treated they will start smelling and decaying after a bit.

I will try to do it myself so then I can do it again, some of the cocks must be useful, it should be cheaper aswell /forum/smilies/big_smile_smiley.gif. That is the only problem I have found with fly fishing and tying is the money /forum/smilies/tongue_out_smiley.gif.

Thankyou very much,

Alasdair

I don't think you save any money by tying your own flies, because you need a good selection of materials and kit to dress a variety of flies.

To save money, buy flies ready made rather than make them yourself.

Alsadair

What kind of water do you fish and what methods ? Whilst I agree with Keith2 in principle in my case it very much depends on the variety of flies you need for the water you fish. For example in the season of 2006/2007 I did a lot of fishing on the freestone rivers in the forest of bowland and found that whilst I only needed a few types of dry(ish) flies in my box, ( Mostly klinkhammer and grey duster) but I did need a large number and in a variety of sizes. The issue would not just be cost but availability (unless you have them tied to order) and you don't need a huge variety of materials to tie these patterns.

Both Keith2 and Grey Duster are right in what they say, but you may find that you get an extra buzz out of catching a fish on a fly tied by yourself.

There are some very cheap imported flies around, but they tend to fall to pieces quite quickly, so you may well find that buying good quality flies is not cheaper in the long run.

There are a couple of sites where you can get patterns for various flies www.diptera.co.uk and a section on www.flyforum.co.uk that you may find useful.

I have tried these 'cheaper' imports and they do literally fall to pieces. I mainly fish on rivers that have stoney beds, but the water is quite slow.

Thanks for the information,

Alasdair Wardle