Feathers and Shanks: Serious Questions.

[WT]

Serious question #1
For tying intruders and such how do I tie with large stemmed feathers such as rhea and ostritch?

Serious Question #2
How do you mount waddington shanks in the vise for tying?

WT

[obiwankanobi]

WT,

Q1: If you are referring to the ostrich herls you just tie them near the head behind the eyes so that the fly has tentacles as seen in the original pattern. If you are concerned about winding rhea, just razor cut the smallest amount of feather stem that you can on each side so not the feather stem has been spliced from its original dia to a much more plyable dia. If the stem is still too stiff, I have heard of soaking in glycerine as being a stem softener.

Q2: Wad's are just as easy as hooks. Mount the wad vertically so that the loop on both sides is a perpendicular to your tying table, rotate the head of your vice 90 degree's and now you have a tying surface that is parallel to your tying bench.

[Kevin Giusti]

Hey WT. For Rhea feathers or other thick stemmed feathers you can soak the feather in warm water. Some people say fifteen minutes some an hour some a day??? An hour has worked for me. Keep in mind the top portion of the feather where the stem is NOT so thick can be trimmed off and wrapped. Also adding a tiny bit of hair conditioner seems to soften up the fibers on some stiiffer materials(pheasant tails) OK feathers good and soaked now grasp five or six fibers from one side of the TOP of the feather. And firmly and smoothly pull them away and down the rachis of the feather.If all goes well you should end up with a stripped piece that has the fibers and a thin portion of the rachis attached, you may have heard of people refering to this as stripping feathers. A search may bring up a better and more detailed explanation. Personally I like to bunch tie in longer fibered material. I just cut 5-8 strands of the material and tie it on as I would any other material. Work your way around until your happy. I seem to waste less this way and have more control of both the length and the fullness of the hackles.
Question 2. I use a norvise so I just mount the waddington and click it over 90 and Im good. Alot of intruders are tied in a "in the round sort" so to speak way. So besides orienting the trailer hook to your liking and mounting any eyes accordingly you should be able to mount the waddington Vertically (I guess thats what you would call it) and be able to tie your pattern accordingly, techniqually I guess you would be looking at the top or bottom of the fly instead of the side. Have fun, these flies are fun to tie and fish. And they look KILLER in the water!!! Hope this helps. Kevin

[halcyon]

There is a fairly good tutorial on this site http://www.irishangler.com/ under Tying Instructions|Shrimp/Squid Patterns of the Pacific Northwest
|Intruder

Regards,

[Kevin Giusti]

Was going to mention the link Halcyon gave but wasnt sure if it was ok to , in any case definatly check it out, some good stuff there for sure.

[WT]

Great info fellas, thanks for the link.
WT

[FT]

If you are going to use the stipping technique Kevin described, I'd recommend you do a couple of dozen feathers at a time and use a bit of hair conditioner (it is for the glycerin in it) or glycerin in the water you soak them in. The hair conditioner (glycerin) will keep the stem from getting brittle after the feathers have dried. You can also use ring-necked pheasant tails dyed any color you wish, G.P. tails, Lady Amhearst tails, etc. for Intruders. Prepare them the same way, i.e. soaking in water with hair conditioner (or glycerin), split them and strip as Kevin described.

If you do a few dozen at a time, you will have feathers for many Intruders already to go.

[Will Atlas]

I dont tie with Rhea, its too rich for my blood. I do tie on Waddingtons though. My vise is heinously bad so I have to mount the waddington sideways.

[Ringlee]

6 bucks a rhea feather isn't too bad if you can get 6-8 Flies per feather. Irish Anlger is a great source for Rhea and how to use it. I was tying alot with BEP and that gets expensive quick!

[TallFlyGuy]

There is a Source for rhea feathers I get them for only 1.63 a piece. They are between 12-22 inches. Not perfect, but you can't beat the price. Pm me if anyone is interested.

Justin

[Jergens]

yeah, BEP is a joke! thats a great looking intruder on the irish angler, but im surprised the dont tie it with any ostrich.

[Norseman1]

There is a Source for rhea feathers I get them for only 1.63 a piece. They are between 12-22 inches. Not perfect, but you can't beat the price. Pm me if anyone is interested.

Justin



PM send Justin.....thanks.

Paul

[fullerfly]

Usually I don't buy waddington shanks. I take a pair of pliers and cut a salmon/steelhead hook just about the bend to give you a straight hook to tie. Then just turn you vise sideways and insert cut hook. 60# to 80# spiderwire works the best for your hook loop. This is stiff enough to keep the hook up in slower water, while at the same time allowing it to move in the current or during the fight.

[Jergens]

Calvin- where the hell do you find spiderwire that heavy, the best i have found on big spools is like 30lbs.

[fullerfly]

I sell it...I think I order it from G.W. Inc. in Spokane... or you could go through All Sports in Billings. They should have it.