Goats Toe

[NCB]

Have been tying a few of these and wondered if the peacock hackle is wound on ,or , if it is tied more in a dabbler style with the bulk of the fibres being above and below the hook shank?
Can someone please enlighten me.

[scotfly]

I think it is wound on.

[Former member]

Yip, definately wound on.
Regards
Gerry
www.artifly. com

[NCB]

Thanks for the prompt replies lads.

[troutheaven]

Oh, b*ll*cks, here I go again, bucking the trend.

Generally speaking, the Ilen Blue feather is wound, but the unfortunate result of this is that you end up with a whole lot hackle stubs with fibres that are too long for use. I usually economise by stripping the fibres off the waste stubs and tie them in, pointing forward over the eye. Try to get an even distribution round the shank, and make sure you've got the fibre length just right. It is neater to do this as the first act of tying. Then tie in the rest of the fly. A medium sized black cock hackle wound in behind the p/cock fibres will help stiffen up the whole hackle and stop the p/cock fibres collapsing along the body length.

When the fly is virtually complete, pull the fibres back into a natural 'wound hackle' position and tie in a neat head with the thread 'leaning' against the fibres rather than tying them down. The hackle fibres should be just less than 90 degrees to the hook shank.

Mind you, you can 'hang the expense' and buy more hackles.

[The Bear]

I tie the Peacock blue hackle in first with the dull side up ,tie in the rest of the dressing then start winding the hackle and stroking the peacock hackle back all the time trying not to trap the hackle so as it lies flat ,i like the head hackle to pulse so it should sticking up in similar fashion as an Octopus.Just my way of tying the fly as it works for me especially in a size 12

[Highlander]

Kind of hard to get a decent neck feather, usually too long, so where as I prefer to wind hackle sometimes one has to resort to the other methods mentioned.

Tight Lines