Hen Neck Hackles

[Fused]

I'm trying out hen necks for tying wooly buggers. Supposedly, the fibers are more supple and give better movement in the water than dry fly hackles. My initial observation is that the overall feather length seems too short to wrap enough times and the length of the fibers is too long, extending about 2x the gap. If I choose a feather with a shorter fiber, it is also a shorter feather... Is there something I am missing? How exactly do you use these things for Wooly Buggers? Or maybe they're just for flymphs? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[RScott]

Fused

Have the same problem with some chartreuse and grizzly hackle, real long fibers and real short stems, but even with that, the boogers caught fish somehow. I bought a black and a brown "booger pack" at the Fish Hawk months back and they are absolutely perfect for boogers, I can usually get two boogers out of one hackle (sounds kind of disgusting) and there are nice spade hackles for tails.

Very large packages, probably will last me another year at least, wish they came in all colors...

RScott

[S.Trutta]

The bugger packs are a good bet, but have you ever tried using schlappen feathers?? They are very long and have great webby hackle, and usually you get a wide range of sizes in any given batch. These arent great if your tying on the small side, but if you tying good sized buggers, or want to tie collars on larger streamers like circus peanuts, etc



Rich

[SlowStreamer]

Never heard of schlappen feathers. Will have to keep my eyes open for them.

[Buck Henry]

Anybody used / heard of a Whiting product called Chickabou? I saw some good looking buggers out west that were tied with Chickabou hackle and they looked awesome. So far, I have not found any shops locally that carry the stuff.

[Gatorbyte]

Huh Huh. He said Schlappen.

:fslap:

[terry creech]

He said Schlappen.

Think its Yiddish. Some kind of mid-eastern chicken. Not to be confused with a Somali chicken, which is of course the world's fastest.

God I'm bored....

[RScott]

Schlappen Hackle, Strung, dyed over white, 6"-7", 1/4 oz.
These are giant hackles that flow from the base of the saddle and along side of the tail of a rooster. They are opaque and webby. They are great for very large saltwater streamers and have found much favor with steelhead fly tiers. Schlappens from Scottish roosters were the original spey fly hackle. For this application strip one side of the feather and saturate the portion that you are going to use with saliva. The saliva will break the barbuals down slightly so that they won't marry together and will remain separated and provide lots of action when fishing.

http://www.flyfishusa.com/fly-tying/strung-hackle-sch.htm

[fishinbub]

www.jsflyfishing.com

I believe they sell chikabou, and I know for a fact they sell schlappen.

[fetherbender]

Yeah we use the schlappen alot down here for saltwater flies.

They are the main ingredient for a good seaducer.