Reverse Half-hackle Wings
TED LEESON AND JIM SCHOLLMEYER

Single Post | Divided Fiber | Feather Tip | Arc | Reverse Half-Hackle | Reverse Hackle

Like reverse-hackle wings, this style takes its shape from feather barbs that are pulled downward along the stem against the direction of their natural growth, to produce a wing with distinct venation. This wing type is termed "half-hackle," since only the barbs on one side of the stem are used to form the wing; the other half are stripped away. The approach produces a distinctly different type of wing and requires a different technique.

The reverse half-hackle is one of the most gossamer-like and elegant of all feather-wing styles. Formed from the hackle stem and barbs, the perimeter of the wing offers a cleanly defined silhouette, while nearly half the wing interior is simply open space. The result is a wing low in wind resistance and mounting bulk, and light in weight.

In some respects, though, it is the most limited wing style presented here. This wing style is best used on patterns incorporating a parachute hackle or crosshackle, where the wing profile is unobstructed and shows to best advantage. With some effort, a standard collar hackle can be used, though it tends to distort or obscure the delicate wing outline. Though sufficiently durable to be practical for fishing, this wing style is relatively fragile, particularly when tied in larger sizes; a bigger wing is more vulnerable to toothy jaws. Smaller flies, by contrast, seem to resist damage better. Nonetheless, in situations that call for a "secret weapon"--tough, fussy trout on clear, flat water--flies dressed with this realistic wing style will show the fish something they probably haven't seen before.

Unlike most upright mayfly wings, the reverse half-hackle is generally tied with a single feather to represent a pair of wings held together. Two feathers can be used to make a pair of divided wings, but to us, little seems gained in doing so.

Though many types of feathers could conceivably be used, the cleanest profile and most distinct wing venation is produced by using a relatively web-free rooster neck or saddle feather. A webby feather will produce a denser wing. While it is tempting to use the largest feather you can find, since the extra barb length simplifies handling the material, smaller feathers really work better on smaller hooks. The more closely spaced barbs on a smaller hackle feather result in wing veins that are a bit finer and more proportionate in appearance.

PHOTO #27: Choose a feather with barbs at least 1 1/2 times the overall hook length. Prepare the feather (rooster saddle hackle shown here) by clipping the base of the stem to remove the fluffy barbs, then strip away most of the barbs from one side of the feather stem. Leave barbs on both sides of the feather tip to simplify handling. Mount the feather as shown in the above photo at approximately the midpoint of the shank. Position the tying thread behind the hook eye.

PHOTO #28: With the left fingers, hold the feather vertically by the tip. With the right fingers, pinch a section of barbs equal in height to the finished wing. Pull the barbs outward and downward, keeping them aligned in a vertical stack so they aren't twisted or crisscrossed. Pinch the stack of barbs and hook eye simultaneously, as shown here.

PHOTO #29: The barb tips are secured using a pinch wrap. With the bobbin in your left hand, form a slack loop of thread over the barbs; pinch the sides of the loop against the hook shank with your right fingers.

PHOTO #30: Pull the thread firmly downward while pinching tightly with the right fingers to keep the barbs aligned in a vertical stack. Take an additional wrap of thread under light tension directly over the first wrap.

Thread pressure will cause the uppermost barbs to be drawn severely downward, pulling the feather stem with them. Now grasp the tip of the feather in the left hand and the barbs projecting over the hook eye in the right fingers. Lift slightly upward with both hands simultaneously, and draw the feather stem to a vertical (or near vertical) position. This lifting helps distribute the barbs uniformly.

The shape of the finished wing is controlled by the left fingers manipulating the feather tip. Pulling the feather stem slightly beyond the vertical, as we've done here, produces a relatively narrow wing. Raising it to the vertical will produce a fuller one. If the feather stem is left slanting toward the hook eye, a broad wing will result.


PHOTO #31: Bind the barb tips tightly and clip the excess; trim away the feather tip as shown above (left). The fly in the middle (above) is a completed pattern dressed with a parachute hackle. The fly at the right is dressed with a crosshackle. Since the preceding tying sequence is concerned with forming the wing, the steps for dressing a complete fly may not be obvious. The next photo illustrates some of the details involved in tying a finished fly.
PHOTO #32: Reverse half-hackle wings are generally used on patterns employing a "postless" parachute hackle (or as shown in the preceding photo, a crosshackle). Postless parachutes can be dressed in a number of ways, but perhaps the simplest is to tie an ordinary parachute hackle on some other post material, and clip off the post to a short stub. The key is to keep the post stub very small to avoid distorting the lower portion of the wing. In the flies pictured here, we've used poly yarn for the wing post. After the hackle is wrapped, the yarn post is clipped very short, and a drop or two of head cement applied to the stub. (If dressing a crosshackled pattern, the post of course is omitted, and the crosshackles are completed as the first component on the fly.)

Begin dressing the fly by mounting the wing-post material and tying in the parachute hackle feather (the brown feather in this photo).

Tie in the tails, then dress the abdomen to the midpoint of the shank. Tie in the winging feather (white in this photo) as shown in the preceding sequence.

Dub the thorax to finish the fly body, and position the tying thread behind the hook eye. A fly completed to this point is pictured at the top of photo #32 (above).

Wrap the hackle and tie it off behind the hook eye. Trim the poly post and apply head cement to the clipped top. Finally, clip away the barbs that project over the hook eye to form an open "V" as shown above (top view) on the fly at the bottom. Trimming the barbs helps simplify finishing the wing as illustrated in the preceding steps.