Bent Hackles

[lobsterman02649]

I tie a lot of flys. (Unfortunately I don't have a camera to you you them.) Frequently, I run into a problem where the feathers in a neck all seem to run drastically in one direction, a severe bend, in the top half of the feather, which if you tie deceiver patterns really screw things up! Lets face it, we need our feathers to run straight. Does anyone out there have a practical solution on how to straighten out these feathers so that they would be usable?

Thanks for any help, Lobsterman

[denis]

you might try a little steam,boil some water in a tea pot and run the hackle by the steam works most of the time.

[saltydog]

Lobesterman, denis's was should be fine. BUT if the VANE of the feather is broken it wont help. ALSO if you run them under HOT water the will strighten out an run trun. when testing new patten I always run them in HOT water to TIGHTEN the feathers an see how they will look.
about the creek, I dodn't know where he is BUT the
SCORTEN CREEK KID lives there. I havent heard from him in awhile. but I WILL be there in APRIL.
"GOOD LUCK GOODTYIN"

[Jaiem]

You can also try tying them tarpon style instead. That is, tie them so they curve outward. Assuming the spine isn't too stiff the outward facing curve does add more action to the fly.