Turkey Biots

[easymends]

is it me or are tying with turkey biots for tails on small flies a pain? I am having trouble making them look neat and cemetrical. Is there a secret or just more practice?

[rodeo11]

Put some extra thread on the hook to create a bump where you are going to tie on the biots. This should help flare the biots some and make it look like the tails are split.

[scottflycst]

Easy,
I second Rodeo's suggestion, also Biots do take a little time, but with practice you'll speed up.
Scott

[David Dalan]

I only use stripped Goose biot...so I don't know if the tips below will be applicable...

I don't know if this helps, but I tie mine in an "X" formation I find that most of the time my anchoring thread wraps move the boits together and eventually aling more like a "V". Also make sure you start with two biot fibers that are the same lengh. Helps visually aling things properly. And use longs ones, trimmin the scrap end later when needed.

Hope it helps!

[hikepat]

All the above plus on some flies you may need to trim the width of the rear of the biot down using an angle cut in the area you will be tying onto the hook. This will help put less tork on the biot as you tighten it all down with the thread well as keep the build up of thread and feathers down making it easier to get a smooth body. I find this even more important when tying biots as wings on fly like in the prince nymph but at times I use this trick on the tails as well for either small flies or flies that will have smooth bodies rather then fat dubbing bodies.

[Silver Doctor]

I also like the goose better as it tends to be more springly. Like others I tie inabump to force the bidots to fflare out. You can also experiment with the position of the bidots on the hook shank. I tend to place them slightly on side top of the shank as opposed to the top.