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[freakonaleash]

 Im wondering if someone can tell me how to tie hackle for a wooly bugger. I can never get it super fuzzy, abundant and uniform on the hook no matter how hard it try ! It always comes out kind of clumped together. Where do i hold the hackle when im tying it ? Thanks so much !

[fintail1]

tie i in by the top of the hackle and spiral it evenly up the fly, put a bit extra on the top

[Jamison Jay]

Tie the top of the feather in at the tail, then wrap your chenille, then with the hackle feather follow the chenille you just wrapped, the hackle should fall into the groove left by the chenille, like it was said, do a couple of extra wraps at the head, then tie off. Use a weaving motion when tying the end off, this way you don't flatten out the fibers

[freakonaleash]

thanks for the tips, now it looks how i want !

[RalphH]

Try a reverse palmer hackle:

First off winding a hackle along the body of a fly is known as “palmering” I believe because the technique was developed by a tier named Palmer but the historical facts are obscure at least to me.

I reverse palmer my woolly buggers that is I wrap the hackle from front to back and then spiral a rib through the hackle to fix it in place. It takes a little longer but has advantages. The main difference is you must add a rib (wire, thread or even fine mono) and the hackle is attached to the front of the hook.

Simply wrap the thread on the shank, attach a tail add, some ribbing and the body chenille. Wrap the chenille forward and tie it off. Attach a hackle by the butt end and trim (I like to fold the quill over the shank after the first wrap of thread or 2 then take another couple of wraps over the doubled quill). Now attach hackle pliers to the hackle tip and wrap the hackle back to near the end (but not off the body). Let the hackle with pliers attached hang (good English style pliers are best) and counter wind the rib through the hackle to the head of the fly. Hint: make 2 wraps of rib at the back to keep the hackle in place. Sort of wiggling or zigzagging the rib through the hackle reduces the number of barbs pinched down by the rib but if you notice this they can pulled out with a large needle or bodkin. Tie down the rib ahead of the hackle. Cut it and you’re done. Finish the head as usual.

Why do this? Mainly it makes a more durable fly. Any palmer style fly is likely to have the hackle broken by the first or 2nd fish making it useless. The reverse style is much tougher and fish teeth seldom break the hackle stem.

[marmot]

guys ...don't forget.....

all hackles are not created equal!  Make sure your fibers are relatively equal length when tied in and not too tapered or your bugger will be buggered.

[freakonaleash]

yea im using cheap hackle. Along the lines of $2