I'm new to the forum and new to fly tying, but I'm really enjoying both. I tied some banded snapping shrimp tonight. Need some work and had to improvise on some materials, but really a deadly looking fly! Thank you Black Francis. I also want to try Len's Hackle Merkin (Dick Brown's Book), but I don't understand how to tie in "folded" grizzly saddle hackle. What does he mean by folded? Can anyone give me some help? Also, I could use a good "basics" book that includes techniques for salt water flys. Any suggestions? Brown's book provides great patterns on a lot flys, but doesn't cover much on techniques.
Dick Brown does post on this forum from time to time..his handle is Marshrunner...so send him a PM with your question on folding. I think it may simply be an "expressive" term and not literally.
Folded hackle is the technique for folding the hackle barbs so that both sides meet on the same side of the quill. It's generally used to provide a fuller, neater tie when palmering or making a collar. It's a common technique for freshwater fly tying.
You can get away with tying that fly by stripping the hackle off one side of the quill and tying in multiple quills to palmer. It's quick and ugly but looks just as good when the job is done. Remember you'll be trimming most of it off anyway.
I agree with the other posts here but if you want to try it, you grab the pin end of the feather between your thumb and index finger of one hand (your Off hand), and the tip of the feather in your dominant hand between your little finger and palm. Then gradually bend the barbs of both sides of the feather together between the thumb and index finger of your dominant hand. it is not hard to figure out which side of the feather should be up.
If you find this difficult, there are a number of gizmos that have been designed to help that are available in some of the catalogs.
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