I'm trying to figure out if Marabou Strung Blood Quills are better for palmering or if I should go with extra select marabou for this. I'll be using on hooks as large as 1/0.
Thanks-
mark
I prefer the blood quill marabou. The blood quill and extra select are very similar but you get more bang for your buck with the blood quill. I've also had quite a few of the extra select have thick stems which makes it difficult to palmer.
I actually like the smaller marabou feathers for palmering, because the quill is more flexible. I simply use 2-3 feathers (or as many as you need on a bigger hook).
I just started using a dubbing loop. With the loop it doesn't matter how big the stem/quil is. I use two feathers at once on the loop. They look great, and I am tying them on a string----Moal Leech style.
I put the feathers in so the longer onces are toward the bottom. When I put two feathers in, it creates a little more "body" on the first few wraps, keep wrapping then the longer feathers go over those. This creates a nice little vortex of small and larger fethered ends all undulating all over the place.
I like how those pictures demonstrate the different quality of marabou feathers you get on a string. The second piece (pink one) has a nice thin stem that I'd gladly just wrap, but the first piece (blue) has a useless thick stem that makes it a horrible feather to wrap. Your technique enables the use of a feather I'd otherwise discard to the bottom of the bag. Nice.
Justin, Hey thank you a whole bunch for taking the time to post these pictures. I am so psych'ed to give this a try. This is way better info than what rock to stand on and which direction to cast etc. I think these types of flies might even work in ALL north sound S-rivers!
Sorry I forgot I even started this post. Thanks so much for sharing I just got down to reading it. Way cool technique! Never thought asking such a simple question would recieve such good info! Once again thanks!!!
TallFlyGuy, very informitive tip on the dubbed loop palmering technique. I was just thinking of a technique along the same lines to shorten long barbelled marabou for palmering. This is it, thank you very much for showing.
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