Joyce, On dry flies, I tie the wide end in first by a projection of the clipped stem along the side of the hook and in front of the wing. If it's a two-hackle fly (e.g. Adams), I tie them both in with the stem fragment in front of the wing.
Then I wrap the thread behind the wing to lock the feather in at that point, bring the thread back to the front, then wind the hackle to the front and tie off. Why? Reminds me of my kids: WHY, DADDY? WHY, MOMMY? And I'll give you the same answer: Because! That's why! ;-) Actually, if I try wind the thread through the hackle, I have a hard time not binding down hackle barbs. This way works for me. There are plenty of ways to do it, but I think the most important thing is to do whatever works best for the person tying. On wet flies, I tie the clipped tip in first. On Wooly Buggers and Wooly Worms, I tie in the tip end at the back of the hook shank and palmer forward, placing the longest barbs at the front. I was taught to do it this way "so it would push more water." Maybe an old wives'........er.......tyer's tail, but it's hard to break an old habit. And I STILL say that the BEST way is whatever the tyer prefers to do it. A. -- Allan Fish Greenwood, IN afi...@sbcglobal.net -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VFB Mail" group. To post to this group, send email to vfb-mail@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to vfb-mail-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/vfb-mail?hl=en VFB Mail is sponsored by Line's End Inc at http://www.linesend.com
