Eurasian Jay Feathers

[kosel80]

I Picked up some really great looking Eurasian Jay feathers yesterday,and was wondering if anyone has tied with it,and what flies it is used for? Looks like it would make some good looking throat or cheeks on a salmon or steelhead pattern...Thanks!

[obiwankanobi]

I Picked up some really great looking Eurasian Jay feathers yesterday,and was wondering if anyone has tied with it,and what flies it is used for? Looks like it would make some good looking throat or cheeks on a salmon or steelhead pattern...Thanks!

The teal blue wing feathers with the black barrs are what Classic Atlantic Salmon tiers relish the most with that species. They make great secondary wings on a full feather wing pattern, or I have even seen them used as "drop down" wings on other similar patterns. I would venture to guess that the softer body feathers could be used for soft hackle patterns for trout. Since the Eurasian Jay is such a beautiful bird and that only the blue wing feathers are used on that skin, I would be more inclined to tie flies for the "cork" than for actual fishing patterns.

[FT]

The bared wing feathers (as was already mentioned) are used in a number of classic salmon flies. They are usually tied in and wound as a throat (what non-classic salmon tyers would more easily recognize as a face hackle-i.e. it is tied on and wound in front of the fly's hackle). To wind them as a hackle, you have to split the feather's stem by breaking the tip and then pulling evenly and smoothly on the barred side of the feather the tip and barred fealthers (the other, small fibered, or biot, side is disgarded). This is necessary because the stem is too thick to wind around a hook and it will break or split when wound unless the stem is split.

The smallest wing feathers are used as a matched hackle tip tail on the classic salmon fly GHOST, which is also an excellent steelhead fly, especially when tied as a spey fly.

There are a few classic salmon flies that use these barred feathers as cheeks (for those that don't know this nomenclature the cheeks are feathers that are tied on the front half and side of the wing on each side and under the jungle cock sides). The flies that use them in this way are not easy to tie though. Most of these flies were developed (invented) by Traherne. The CHATTERER being one of the most well-known and famous of this type.

George Kelson use wond barred jay feathers wound in place a the normally used ostrich herl butt on HOLLANDS FANCY.

I've seen a fly tied in the Irish Shrimp style that had the barred jay feathers wound as the rear hackle. It had an oval silver tip, the jay hackle tail, flat silver tinsel ribbed with oval silver tinsel rear body, magenta hackle at mid-body, flat silver ribbed with oval silver front body, and a kingfisher blue front hackle. I don't remember the name it had though.

[kosel80]

Thanks for the information!

[devon flyfisher]

Hi
Throat hackle on an invicta, its a great old effective wet fly immitation of a sedge.
And as mentioned above, beautiful bird, but also a ruthless killer related to a magpie, kills young birds,chicks and raids nests.
Richard

[Marty]

Not the best photo but I use them for checks. The fly was fished last year in B.C.

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff35/martyoh/flybox3.jpg

[flytire]

there some wet flies that use them also.

[Fat Lady]

Jay Blue

http://gallery.fishbc.com/albums/Ray-Bergman-Swap/Jay_Blue_Walton.sized.jpg

[traditionalist]

I Picked up some really great looking Eurasian Jay feathers yesterday,and was wondering if anyone has tied with it,and what flies it is used for? Looks like it would make some good looking throat or cheeks on a salmon or steelhead pattern...Thanks!

Might help you a bit;

http://www.mike1.bplaced.net/Wikka/Jay

[flybill]

Damn, nice stuff guys! Marty and Fat Lady, very cool pic's!

I haven't gotten into the Atlantic Salmon patterns yet, but know a few people who are willing to teach me a thing or too. I will eventually try my hand at it though!

Interesting info! :thumb: