Beard hackles

[11foot5]

Is there a particular method to use for tying in beard hackles ? I tie a lot of DBs and find that it's hard to trim the beard hackle below the hook eye after tying it in.....sometimes it leaves an untidy piece of hackle sticking into the hook eye itself....doesn't look right and isn't as tidy as I'd like I'm thinking about tying the piece of beard protruding beyond the eye doubled back and then trimming, but this is bound to make a bulky head.....there must be a simple tip out there

[brannan]

I tie my beard on the bare hook whilst catching my thread to begin with. After finishing the body double it back and form your head - keeps it very tidy

[11foot5]

I like it So simple.....why couldn't I think of that I knew there had to be a better way.....thanks!

[waybay]

Originally Posted by brannan

I tie my beard on the bare hook whilst catching my thread to begin with. After finishing the body double it back and form your head - keeps it very tidy

Top tip brannan! I'm going to try that. Thanks

[hiyabarney]

Top tip mate, tried it and it makes it easier not to crowd the head.

One other tip, is to have a small piece of silicon tube on the tip of the bobbin holder so that when you fold the beard hackles back, slide the tube along the thread onto the hook holding the hackle fibres down allowing the head to be accessed. This can also be used to hold back any type of hackle making it easier to finish off the fly, ie Wets or even Spiders....

Martin....

[GuyFromLaw]

Originally Posted by 11foot5

Is there a particular method to use for tying in beard hackles ? I tie a lot of DBs and find that it's hard to trim the beard hackle below the hook eye after tying it in.....sometimes it leaves an untidy piece of hackle sticking into the hook eye itself....doesn't look right and isn't as tidy as I'd like I'm thinking about tying the piece of beard protruding beyond the eye doubled back and then trimming, but this is bound to make a bulky head.....there must be a simple tip out there

Razor blade tidies up nicely. As was shown on another thread last week, insert one end of the blade into a wine cork. First take the blade down the middle of the cork and half it to make gripping and using easier.

[ibm59]

Originally Posted by 11foot5

.....there must be a simple tip out there

Trim the fibres to size before tying in.

Takes a bit of practice , but well worth the effort.

[11foot5]

Thanks for the replies chaps......looks like there are a few ways of doing this!! I'll try them all to see what works for me....thanks again..very helpful people on here