• When tying a dry fly in this fashion, the stem and hackle fibers have to be tied down at the eye, making for a bulky, larger than necessary head. When tying a wet fly, the problem becomes even more obvious, as a thicker stem has to be tied down, especially with body feathers like partridge or grouse.
• The natural taper in a feather's fiber length (increasing from tip to butt) means the longest fibers are closest to the body, shortest ones closest to the eye. This reverse "cone" effect is far from ideal.
• If the stem breaks under the rigors of fishing, the whole hackle unravels.

I suggest a better way to hackle flies which eliminates these problems. Attach the thread tight up against the eye of the hook in three partly overlapping turns. Tie the hackle in by its butt on top of the shank with the tip extending forward over the eye of the hook. It will be secured as thread is wound toward the bend.

Trim the hackle butt and tag end of the thread one-third of a hook-shank length from the eye. Tie in the tail, ribbing, body, and thorax as usual, leaving space for the hackle.

Leave the thread where the body and hackle will meet. Wind the hackle in touching turns toward the body. Then catch the hackle tip with the thread and wind the thread forward through the hackle being careful to bind down the stem but none of the fibers. Making a slight zig-zag motion with the thread will help move the hackle fibers out of the way.

Finish the fly with a three-turn whip-finish. When you are finished, you should notice some advantages to this method:

• As there is no material to secure near the eye of the hook, you should end up with a small, barely present head.
• The thread wound through the hackle crosses the hackle stems, making the fly more durable.
• Because the hackle is wrapped away from the eye of the hook, the hanging bobbin is not in the way, removing the need to 'hand over' the hackle pliers. As a result, it is much easier to maintain even tension as the hackle is wrapped around the shank.

The very first pattern I learned to tie-- some 25 years ago--was a Brown Palmer dry fly tied in this manner. This pattern consisted of two or three hackles wrapped the full length of a fine wire 2XL hook. Since then, I have tied thousands of dozens of flies using this technique and haven't encountered any drawbacks. Try it next time you sit down at your vise. The fish may not like it more, but you will!

Hackling a Dry Fly
I have opted for very basic patterns here, concentrating on showing the hackling approach. However, the technique is equally valid for multi-hackle or winged dries.


Tie in the hackle directly behind the eye of the hook, shiny side up.


Complete the tail and body of the fly, leaving one-third of the hook shank open for the hackle.


Wrap the hackle toward the "shoulder" of the body and trap the tip with a turn of thread. Trim the excess.


Wrap the thread though the hackle being careful not to bind down any fibers. Use a three-turn whip-finish to produce a small, clean head.

Hackling a Wet Fly

Tie in the hackle directly behind the eye of the hook, dull side up. Notice that one side of the stem is stripped bare here. This aids in achieving a sparse hackle needed for this pattern.


Complete the body of the fly, leaving adequate space for the hackle.


Wrap the hackle toward the "shoulder" of the body and trap the tip with a turn of thread. Trim the excess.


Wrap the thread though the hackle being careful not to bind down any fibers. Use a three-turn whip finish to produce a small, clean head.

Hans Weilenmann lives in the Netherlands, but visits the U.S. often for fly-tying demonstrations and shows. His article His article "Tying With CDC" can be found in the March 2003 issue of Fly Fisherman. His website is www.danica.com/flytier/. You can often contact him on the Fly Fisherman fly-tying bulletin board.

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