Heron Herl

[mayflyjunky]

Hi Guys

Which part of the body does the herl come from which is used to tie buzzer bodies and such???

[spidersplus]

By far the strongest and longest herl comes from either the primary and secondary wing feathers from a Heron - lovely shade of grey and very "furry"!

I think you might struggle using body feathers - from memory, the herl is rather brittle and fine.

Kind regards

[flyfishwithme]

Originally Posted by mayflyjunky

Hi Guys

Which part of the body does the herl come from which is used to tie buzzer bodies and such???

You can use almost all the feathers from a Heron. I have quite few feathers (picked up from under a rookery) but most I use come from the wing.
The feathers are soft and almost suede like in texture.
Here is a fly using a wing feather:

And here is one using a feather from the body of a Heron:

As you see, you can use quite a lot of the feathers and it will depend on the fly size and the body thickness.