Fly Tying Tips & Techniques

Fly tying hackle is a feather, usually from a chicken, wrapped or tied onto a hook to float a fly, give it movement, or suggest legs and a collar. Stiff, web-free rooster capes and saddles float dry flies, while soft, webby hen feathers and schlappen move underwater. For most tyers, the right first buy is a Bronze-grade dry fly cape or half cape, plus one soft feather for whatever they tie below the surface. The wall of hackle in a fly shop is one of the more expensive places to guess. The packaging talks about grades, necks, saddles and genetics, and none of it tells you what you need for the flies you actually tie. This guide does that. It builds on Chicken Parts: All About Hackle Feathers, the guest post Mary S. Kuss wrote for this blog in February 2017. Mary's tour of the bird is still worth your time. What follows is the buyer's side of the same subject: what a grade tells you, how to size a feather, and which one to reach for by fly type. WHY DOES THE FEATHER MATTER SO MUCH? Because a feather's structure decides what it does on a hook, and you cannot tie your way around that. A feather has a central stem, with barbs branching off it. Those barbs carry smaller branches called barbules; where barbules interlock, they hold the barbs together as a smooth surface. On many rooster hackles, that webbing is concentrated toward the base. Farther out, the barbs are more separate and stiff, giving the feather its familiar dry-fly profile. That difference matters. Stiff, separate barbs spread around the hook and help support a dry fly at the surface. Webbier feathers have a more connected surface and tend to retain more water. Whiting Farms sets its baseline for a retail dry-fly feather at more than 85% web-free, along with a supple quill, no twist and dense barbing. Hen hackle does not meet that dry-fly benchmark; its softer, webby structure is useful on subsurface flies, where it moves with the water. So quality in hackle only means something once you know the job. A feather that makes a poor dry fly collar can make a very good Woolly Bugger. As one reader pointed out under Mary's original post, a wide, webby barnyard feather is good quality if wide and webby is what your fly needs. ROOSTER OR HEN: WHICH DO YOU NEED? Start with where the fly will fish. Floating flies generally need rooster. Dry fly rooster hackle is bred for stiff barbs, long supple quills and high barb density. More barbs per turn means a fuller collar from fewer wraps. Sinking flies generally want hen. Hen hackle is soft and webby. It takes on water, and its fibers move with the current, which is the point of a soft hackle or wet fly. Two exceptions are worth knowing, because they explain a lot of the range. Rooster does not automatically mean stiff: schlappen comes from a rooster and is wide and webby, and Whiting's American Rooster Saddle is bred with webby, tapered feathers for streamer, saltwater and steelhead flies. And hen does not always mean subsurface: feather tips from a hen cape make good upright wings on dry flies. The part of the bird and the breeding line matter as much as the sex of the chicken. If you are chasing a floating problem rather than buying, see why your dry flies keep sinking. WHICH PART OF THE BIRD DOES WHAT? Feather What it is Use it for Example Neck or cape Rooster neck. Feathers run small at the top to larger near the shoulder Dry fly collars across a wide range of sizes Whiting Dry Fly Cape, Bronze Saddle Rooster back. Long, narrow feathers Several flies from one feather; buggers and streamers on softer lines Metz Saddle Signature Schlappen Soft, broad feathers from the rear of the rooster's back Bugger hackle, streamer bodies, collars and tails Montana Fly Barred Schlappen Hen cape and saddle Soft, webby feathers, some with neatly shaped tips Soft hackles, wet fly collars, nymph legs, hen-tip wings Ewing Dyed Hen Cape Hen back Mottled body feathers Collars, legs and wing cases Hareline India Hen Back Coq de Leon A Spanish breed with long, stiff, speckled feathers Tails on dries and nymphs Hareline Coq de Leon Schlappen and Spey get lumped together, and many tyers use the words interchangeably. They are not quite the same thing. Schlappen refers to broad, soft feathers from a rooster; Spey describes a style of fly and the hackle used to dress it. Whiting's Spey hackle is a selectively bred rooster line developed as a heron-feather substitute. Coq de Leon is the oldest of the lot. Tom Whiting describes it as the oldest known chicken bred specifically for fly tying feathers, with written records in Spain going back some 500 years. For a modern tailing option from an ordinary rooster, the Metz Hackle Tailing Bundle uses the stiff feathers from the outer edges of a cape. CAPE OR SADDLE: WHICH SHOULD YOU BUY? A cape buys you range. A saddle buys you length and consistency. Everything else follows from that. Dry fly cape Dry fly saddle Size range Wide: Whiting's Bronze spans 5 to 6 hook sizes, typically 10 through 18, with some feathers into the 20s Narrow: Whiting's Bronze runs 12 to 18, mostly 14 and 16 Feather length Shorter Long: Whiting has described its saddle feathers at 8 to 12 inches Flies per feather About one Several, depending on size and how heavily you hackle Buy it when You tie many patterns across many sizes You tie a lot of flies in a few sizes The catch The sizes you use most run out first Little help outside its core sizes The practical sequence for most tyers looks like this. Start with a cape or half cape in your most-used color. Grizzly and brown are the obvious first picks. Use half capes for colors you tie less often. The Whiting Dry Fly 1/2 Cape, Bronze has the same breeding and the same size spread. It suits a Dyed Coachman Brown for the odd Royal Wulff better than a full cape does. Add a saddle when one size starts disappearing. A cape that has gone bald at size 14 is telling you to buy the Whiting Dry Fly Saddle, Bronze or its half saddle. WHAT DOES A HACKLE GRADE ACTUALLY MEAN? Less than the label suggests, and something different at each company. The common assumption is that a higher grade means a better feather. At Whiting, that is mostly wrong. Grades judge the whole pelt. Four things drive the assessment: Barb density: how many barbs per length of stem, and so how few turns a full collar takes. Stem: how fine and supple the quill is, and whether it wraps without twisting. Sizing: how uniform the barbs are along a feather, and how wide a range of sizes the pelt covers. Yield: how many usable feathers there are and how long they run, which comes down to how many flies you get. Worked example 1: Whiting Bronze Whiting says every dry-fly feather that reaches retail clears the same baseline described above. If a pelt does not, it is not sold at retail. Grade then sorts the pelts that pass, using more than 25 factors, including usable feather length, uniformity, barb stiffness, size range, stem condition, feather quantity and color consistency. A densely feathered pelt with a wide size range and long usable feathers grades high. In practice, the biggest difference you will feel is yield. Whiting Bronze saddles are sold as enough to tie at least 500 flies, and half saddles at least 250. Retailers quoting Whiting's grading figures put a full saddle at about 800 flies for Silver and about 1,100 for Gold. A cape is harder to reduce to one number because its feathers vary so much; J. Stockard describes the average feather in a Bronze cape as tying about one fly. Bronze is Whiting's value grade. Tom Whiting has described it as "adequate for 90% of most tiers' needs." Unless you burn through hundreds of flies in one color, that is the place to start. If budget is the deciding factor, the Pro Grade cape offers more feathers in sizes 14 to 16 and fewer at the small end. For product details, see Dry Fly Cape, Pro Grade Worked example 2: Metz Signature Metz uses its own grading labels. Umpqua lists Grade 1, Grade 2, Signature and Legacy for Metz saddles, but its product information does not explain how those labels rank against one another. Umpqua publishes no minimum fly counts for these grades, so there is no direct way to line them up against Whiting's. The more useful information is what the feather is for. Metz describes its saddle hackle as long and softer, and aims it at larger dry flies, streamers and Woolly Buggers. That is a different target from a Whiting Bronze dry fly saddle, as the comparison shows. What to check Whiting Dry Fly Cape, Bronze Metz Saddle Signature Format Rooster cape Rooster saddle Barb density High Not specified Stem Long and supple quill Long, softer feather Sizing Typically 10 through 18, with some feathers into the 20s Sold for larger dries, streamers and buggers Yield About 1 fly per feather Depends on the pattern and size Best for Dry flies across many sizes Larger dries, buggers and runs of similar flies The takeaway: a grade only compares pelts within one brand's line. Silver does not map onto Signature. Choose the format and the job first, then use the grade to decide how much yield you want to pay for. WHICH HACKLE SHOULD YOU BUY FOR EACH FLY? If you tie Start with Why Everyday dries in many sizes Whiting Dry Fly Cape, Bronze Wide size range on one pelt Dries in a color you rarely use Whiting Dry Fly 1/2 Cape, Bronze The same feathers, less commitment Dozens of one dry fly size Whiting 100 Pack Pre-sized, with enough for 100 flies Larger dries in runs Metz Saddle Signature Long feathers in a narrower size range Woolly Buggers, sizes 8 to 12 Metz Bugger Bunch Pre-sized, with a supple quill Mottled buggers and streamers Montana Fly Barred Schlappen Webby movement and consistent barring Soft hackles and wet flies Ewing Dyed Hen Cape Soft, webby feathers in useful colors Tails on dries and nymphs Hareline Coq de Leon Stiff and speckled Everyday dry flies Parachutes, Adams-style dries, Catskills, caddis and attractors all live happily on a Whiting Bronze cape. Take the color you use most, typically grizzly or brown, tie through a season, and let the feathers that disappear first tell you what to buy next. Start with something like a Royal Trude if you want a pattern that shows what a good collar does. Production dries in one size If you tie the same fly in the same size by the dozen, stop buying range. A Whiting 100 Pack, sold in sizes 12, 14, 16 and 18, saves you the sorting. A bronze saddle gives you long feathers concentrated in sizes 14 and 16. For small work, the Dry Fly Midge 1/2 Saddle, Bronze has at least 80% of its feathers in sizes 18 down to 24. For bigger dries, the Metz Saddle Signature offers long feathers suited to tying runs of similar patterns. Woolly Buggers and palmered streamers Palmering wants a long feather, a natural taper and a quill that will not crack on the way down the shank. The Metz Bugger Bunch is pre-sized for hooks 8, 10 and 12, using feathers of about 6 inches from the base of a rooster cape, with fine barbs and a supple quill. It comes in nine colors, including Grizzly Olive, Grizzly Burnt Orange, Grizzly Claret and Grizzly Purple. The Whiting Bugger Pack does the same job on long saddle feathers, for size 10 and up. If you want more movement and a more mottled look, wrap a Montana Fly Barred Schlappen feather instead. It is broader and webbier than bugger hackle, so the result is a fuller fly. Soft hackles and wet flies Here you want a feather that collapses and moves. The Ewing Dyed Hen Cape gives you soft, webby feathers in colors such as Golden Olive, Coachman Brown and the blue duns, plus barred grizzly versions. Its shaped tips also tie in cleanly as hen-tip wings on dries. For longer feathers in sizes 12 to 16, the Whiting Hen Saddle is the alternative, and India Hen Back adds a mottled option for collars and legs. A good place to put any of them to work is a Sulphur Soft Hackle. Our older guide to soft hackle hooks and materials goes further on the style. Streamer bodies and collars Schlappen does most of the work here. Montana Fly Barred Schlappen runs 5 to 8 inches, is dyed over white and then bar-dyed in black, and gives you consistent barring in eleven colors for bodies, collars and Deceiver-style tails. For plain colors, Hareline Schlappen 5-7" is the straightforward option. On bigger saltwater and steelhead flies, the Whiting American Rooster Saddle is built for the job. For how to set those feathers on the hook, read how to tie better streamer and baitfish tails with hackle. HOW DO YOU SIZE HACKLE TO THE HOOK? The usual rule for a standard dry fly is barbs about 1.5 times the hook gap. Tyers work anywhere from about 1 to 2 times the gap depending on the style, with bushy, heavily hackled flies at the shorter end. It is a starting point, not a law. Too long and the fly tips and looks overdressed. Too short and the hook settles into the film. There are two ways to check. By eye on the hook. Mount the hook, strip the base of the feather, and bend it around the shank so the barbs stand out. Compare them with the gap. This takes seconds, costs nothing, and measures against the hook you are actually using. With a gauge. Bend the quill around the pin and read where the barb tips land on the scale. The J. Stockard Hook and Hackle Gauge is the economical option, reading most reliably on feathers larger than size 16. The Stonfo Hackle Gauge reads hook sizes 22 to 4, and the Griffin Hook Hackle Gauge and Hareline's anodized gauge are also options. Gauges are useful for sorting feathers quickly, but they do not all agree, and hook gaps vary between models. Measure the first feather against the real hook, then let the gauge keep you consistent for the rest of the batch. Pre-sized products remove the question altogether, which is much of the appeal of 100 Packs and the Bugger Bunch. WHERE DID GENETIC HACKLE COME FROM? Genetic hackle means feathers from birds selectively bred, over generations, for fly tying. There is no lab in the story. It started in backyards. In the 1960s, good dry-fly feathers were still hard to find, and many tyers relied on capes imported from India and China. The foundations of modern genetic hackle were being laid by then. Catskill tyer Harry Darbee bred birds through the 1940s and 1950s and shared his stock widely. Minnesota lawyer Andy Miner took it further and gave away chickens and eggs to whoever asked. Tom Whiting calls him the "Johnny Appleseed" of the hackle world. Many of the major producers that followed drew on this stock. Three names on today's packaging carry the rest of the story. Metz. Buck Metz received 144 eggs from Miner in 1972 and went on to become the first major commercial hackle producer, with purified color lines that made shades such as ginger and badger reliably available. Umpqua Feather Merchants bought the operation in 1995. Whiting. Working separately in Oregon, Henry Hoffman bought barred bantams in 1965 and selected his sires by tying flies with their feathers. He produced the first true dry fly saddle hackle. Dr. Tom Whiting bought the line in 1989, later added the Hebert/Miner stock, and also developed separate lines for wet flies, Spey and Coq de Leon. Ewing. Doug Ewing started in 1989 with white and grizzly birds from Joe Keough, then spent years building a line of natural colors. The range today includes the Ewing Dry Fly Cape, with sizes from 4 down to 22, and the hen capes covered above. Why it changed tying comes down to three things. Saddles became dry fly feathers, so a single feather could tie several flies, and many tyers stopped depending on necks. As Mary noted in her post, that turned the old habit of buying necks for dries on its head. Small sizes became routine rather than rare. And dense, stiff barbs on fine, flexible quills meant fuller collars from fewer turns, on a smaller hook, with less fight at the vise. There was a side effect, also flagged in Mary's post: lines selected for dry-fly hackle did not supply every type of large feather and tailing material tyers wanted. That is why the range also includes purpose-specific bugger hackle and separate tailing bundles, and why this guide compares feathers by the job they do. Chicken Parts: All About Hackle Feathers Read more Essentials for Soft Hackle Flies—Hooks and Materials Read more FLY TYING HACKLE FAQS What is hackle in fly tying? Hackle is a feather, usually from a chicken, tied or wrapped onto a hook. On dry flies, it holds the fly up on the surface. On wet flies, streamers and nymphs, it adds movement, legs or a collar. What is the difference between a neck and a cape? Nothing. Both words describe the rooster's neck feathers on the skin. A saddle is a different pelt, from the rooster's back, with longer feathers in a narrower range of sizes. Is Whiting Bronze hackle good enough? For most tyers, yes. Whiting sets the same baseline feather standard across its grades, and a higher grade mostly means more usable hackle on the pelt. Bronze makes sense unless you tie very large numbers of flies in one color. Can I use hen hackle on a dry fly? Not as a conventional collar, because soft, webby barbs take on water rather than supporting the fly. Hen feather tips do work as upright wings on dry flies. How long should hackle barbs be? A common starting point on a standard dry fly is about 1.5 times the hook gap. Heavily hackled flies often use shorter barbs. Check the first feather against your actual hook, since gaps vary between models. Is genetic hackle genetically modified? No. The term describes selective breeding: choosing the birds with the best feathers as parents of the next generation. Breeders have done this for decades.

I had a question about stage fright lined up. It seemed like a fair one. Tying at a show is a strange kind of performance: a hook in the vise, a small crowd leaning in, and every thread wrap happening in public with no edit button. Then Heather Purvin told us what she does when she isn’t at the vise, and I quietly moved that question down the list. For the past 23 years, Heather has worked as an organ and tissue transplant coordinator with what she describes as the nation’s largest organ procurement organization. Before that, she was a paramedic. On a given day she might be getting a surgeon halfway across the country, or moving a recovered organ from the West Coast to Philadelphia, with hours on the clock and a donor family to look after. “When something crazy happens at a show,” she says, “I’m like, this is nothing compared to what I do on a day-to-day basis.” Fair enough. Next question... Heather picked up fly tying so she could get outdoors with her brother and young nephew, and learned largely from the YouTube videos her brother kept on repeat: the likes of Tim Flagler and Davie McPhail. She spent several years hosting the Delaware Valley Women’s Fly Fishing Association’s table at the International Fly Tying Symposium before sitting down to tie there herself, and she is now a regular demonstration tyer with a particular interest in historic regional patterns that have mostly slipped out of sight. She has also shared her routine for new tyers here on the blog in Fly Tying Tips for Beginners: How to Build a Routine That Actually Sticks. Greg Patterson and I sat down with her to talk about tying in public, getting better at the vise, and why a room full of tyers still beats a screen full of them. With so much tying content online now, how much does tying in person still matter? You probably saw my face when you said AI. Not a fan. I think it pushes aside the creators, the tyers, the makers. The online experience is genuinely important, though. Think of the person in North Dakota whose nearest shop or tying group might be six hours away. We learned that during COVID: having 30 or 40 women from all over the world tying together on Zoom was pretty insane, and for some of them it was the first time they’d had anyone to tie with. But if you have the opportunity, tying in person is a pretty critical part of getting better. I didn’t level up my tying until I was tying with other people, seeing what they were doing and having those face-to-face conversations. And I’d say consider every tyer your peer. There are certainly legends in this community, but you can learn something from everybody, including the person right next to you who’s just starting out. They might have come up with a way to do something you never thought of. At the core, we’re all artists, creators and innovators. Being able to say, “Show me what you’re doing, I want to see that again” is the whole point. You’ve built your show tying around historic patterns. Why go that route? I wanted to focus on something specific at shows, instead of being the person with every tool and material in the kit wondering what to tie. And I thought, I can share a pattern that might otherwise be lost to time. The Catskill Fly Tyers Guild does a great job of honoring the Catskill traditions, so I went looking closer to home: Jack Gartside’s saltwater patterns, like the Gartside Gurgler and the Beast Master, and Pennsylvania’s dry fly heritage. In central Pennsylvania we had George Harvey, who founded the Penn State fly fishing program. He tied a night fly, the Harvey Pusher, and Joe Humphreys caught his state record brown trout on it. Until a couple of years ago there really wasn’t a video of it. It was a paragraph in the second edition of George’s book, with a hand drawing. Ironically, the first photographed step-by-step instruction in fly tying books was done by a woman, Helen Shaw. People see the Pusher and think it’s a big moth dry fly. It’s actually a wet fly that’s swung in the current, anywhere from a size 8 up to a 2/0, for predatory trout that feed in the dark. The concave wings push water and create a vibration, so the fish chases it on feel, not on sight. Whatever colors you tie it in are really for the angler. The fish isn’t seeing the beautiful pheasant feather I’m using. It’s feeling the true form of the fly. George didn’t just make a fly that looked cool. It had a real engineering idea behind it. Does tying in front of a crowd still make you nervous? Yes and no. Pressure is what I deal with day-to-day, but there my audience is my peers or a surgeon, not a forward-facing public. So it’s a little different. I think we all deal with impostor syndrome from time to time, where it’s hard to imagine yourself on the same level as the people sitting next to you. I still get it. I still have that moment of freak-out before I leave the hotel room and go down to sit elbow to elbow with people I’ve looked up to for years. The symposium was the first place I met Cheech and Curtis, and I was too shy to even ask for a picture. how to improve your fly tying Carrying the torch for a pattern like that in public is a risk. Did you lose your mind, or were you inspired? Both. There’s an aspect of crazy to it. George was gone before I started tying, and a lot of people respect that history. You want to do it justice and still be able to say, this is my interpretation. I can’t even replicate his original form, because his wing feathers come from a bird that’s now protected under federal migratory bird law, and I’m not up for going to jail for tying flies. So we adapt, the way we always have. Honor the original materials, then use modern ones to give the pattern modern stature. I’m using synthetic dubbing and chenille in the body where we once might have used rabbit or muskrat. Some purists might curl their lip at my modern cheats, and that’s fine. Fly Tying Tips for Beginners: How to Build a Routine That Actually Sticks Read more In Celebration of Women's Fly Fishing Month Read more Do you tie differently at a show than at your own bench? And what happens when something goes wrong in front of everyone? At the symposium a lot of people are there specifically to learn, so I’m prepared for someone to stop me and say, “Can you show me that?” or “Tell me about your vise.” Depending on where I am in the fly, I’ll say, “Let me get this next turn done,” or throw a quick half hitch before I lose my place. There’s still been a time or two I got sidetracked and forgot to tie the wire in. So I say, “I just missed my wire. Let’s back this out, because I want a sturdy fly.” Sometimes I stop a fly and start over, or put it aside for the burn pile. I share that on purpose, because newer tyers think the pros are tying perfect flies all the time. That’s totally not true. All of us blow flies up, and I don’t care who you are. You have to break thread to learn how to control thread, and have deer hair blow up in your lap while people are watching you. So how do you get from blowing flies up to tying a box you’d be proud of? This is totally a Tim Flagler lesson. Don’t tie 12 flies. Tie 15, and kick aside the three you’re least happy with. Being that critical, saying that tail’s a little short, that body’s a little chunky, that collar doesn’t match the others, is what makes you a better tyer. Absolute beginners can’t do that yet, because they’re barely tying one or two flies at a time. So work up to three at a time, then six. That could take a week or a year. Build in small increments until you can tie 15 and cull the three. Then give those three away. Put them in a donation bucket for Project Healing Waters or Casting for Recovery, or give them to someone at the boat ramp: “Hey, these were working for me.” People did that for me when I was new. Someone handed me sulphurs one evening when I didn’t have that pattern, and I wouldn’t have caught anything otherwise. So I try to pay that back. Who keeps your bench running? J. Stockard was the first place I ever ordered materials from. My brother probably has J. Stockard catalogs from 20 years ago lying around. I remember picking one up and thinking, wait, there’s squirrel? What are you doing with squirrel? I’m a lefty, and there aren’t a lot of lefty vises out there, so the team at Renzetti takes care of me. I rely on Renomed scissors, I’m a big Semperfli Classic Waxed girl, and I don’t leave home without Fulling Mill and Semperfli materials and Ahrex hooks. Your tools, materials and hooks are the foundation of your tying. One of my favorite things at the symposium is saying, “Back in five,” and walking a new tyer across the room to the J. Stockard crew, or to Steve at Regal, and saying, “This is someone new to tying. Can you help him get started?” Or, “Here’s the Classic Waxed, but here’s the Nano Silk and the rest of the line.” It takes a village. Without the businesses and vendors, we’d still be tying with roadkill in a clothespin. Last one. What would you say to a newer tyer who feels they’re not good enough to be in that room? That’s exactly why we’re there. You might feel like your tying isn’t good enough, or you don’t know enough to take a class. But nobody is at the symposium to hide in a corner. We’re there to teach, to share our skills, and to tell you how not to blow up that deer hair, or at least how to try. There’s a steep learning curve in fly tying, and we’re there to make it easier, because we’ve all been on that path. Find Heather on our stand at The International Fly Tying Symposium when it marks its 35th year on November 21 and 22, 2026, in a new home at the Lancaster County Convention Center, 25 South Queen St., Lancaster, PA. Doors open 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Saturday and 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday, with tickets at the gate, cash only. Full schedule, classes and the tyers list are at internationalflytyingsymposium.com. Heather will share a table with Halena Fischer, a former US Youth Fly Fishing Team member now building her guiding career, who tied her first big event at the symposium at around 15. The J. Stockard crew will be there too with Semperfli, Fulling Mill and Ahrex team members in the booth. Come and say hello, or let Heather walk you over.

Somewhere around mid-October, the fly box can start to feel out of step. The size 16 Pheasant Tails that carried the summer may be too small for the larger baitfish patterns many anglers reach for in fall. Depending on where you fish, browns may be approaching their spawn, steelhead may be entering tributaries, and bass may be feeding on baitfish as water temperatures change. Fall can be a good time to fish streamers, though the season looks different across fisheries and regions. Brown trout commonly spawn in autumn, but their movement and willingness to take a fly vary with local conditions. Great Lakes steelhead enter tributaries at different times through fall, while bass may feed on baitfish as water cools. The overlap is useful at the tying bench: a handful of materials can serve several kinds of big, mobile flies. You do not need three completely separate shopping lists to get started. Articulated trout streamers, swung steelhead flies and baitfish patterns for bass can share materials such as shanks, rabbit, marabou, flash and weighted eyes. Each fishery still calls for patterns and hooks suited to its conditions, but a well-chosen core can cover a lot of tying. The short version: a fall streamer pack can start with articulated shanks, rabbit strip, marabou, schlappen, synthetic fibers, weighted eyes, flash and strong thread. Add hooks and tools that match the flies you plan to tie. Big flies put more demand on the bench, so start there. A size 18 midge can be forgiving of a tired setup. A large articulated streamer puts different demands on the bench. Long shanks and heavy hooks need jaws that fit and hold them securely. Bulky materials and heavy thread need a bobbin with a smooth tube and appropriate tension. Synthetic fibers and deer hair can also be tough on fine scissor edges, so keep a separate pair for rough trimming and use your best tips for delicate work. That is why this fall streamer pack starts with tools.  The Vise: Holding Your Hooks Securely For big flies, secure hook holding matters. Streamers can require firm thread pressure and repeated pulling, so check that the vise jaws suit the hook sizes and wire you use. If you tie on long shanks, verify that the jaws can hold them securely; some vises offer interchangeable jaws or heads for different hook ranges. A rotary function can be useful here. Palmering schlappen, wrapping a marabou collar, winding a dubbing brush and inspecting the far side of a fly are easier when you can turn the fly. See how to make the most of your rotary vise. For a closer look at jaw types, mounts and hook ranges, read our fly tying vise buyer’s guide. You can browse the current vise collection as well. How To Make The Most Of Your Rotary Vise Read more Choosing the Right Fly Tying Vise for You Read more C-Clamp vs Pedestal Vise: Which Base Suits The Way You Tie Read more Thread and Bobbin: Built for Pressure Big flies often call for stronger thread. Veevus GSP offers a high strength-to-diameter ratio and lies flat, which can help when spinning hair or securing bulky materials. Danville Flat Waxed Nylon is another established option for larger flies and deer-hair work; its flat profile helps cover a wider area with each wrap. The bobbin matters too. Under tension, thread can catch on a rough or damaged tube, so inspect the tube if your thread starts fraying. For GSP, choose a bobbin with a smooth tube and a tension that feels controlled. If yours is worn, browse the bobbin collection. See Product See Product See Product Scissors: Two Pairs, Not One Streamer materials can be demanding on scissors, especially coarse synthetics and hair. Keep a dedicated pair for rough trimming, and save fine-point scissors for delicate work. A KAI thread snip is handy for quick thread cuts. For more on blade design, steel and pivot tension, read our fly-tying scissor guide, then browse the scissors collection. What Makes For A Good Pair Of Fly Tying Scissors? Read more Everything You Need To Know About Fly Tying Scissors Read more Choosing a Style of Fly Tying Scissors Read more The Small Tools That Do the Heavy Lifting A handful of supporting tools make big flies noticeably easier: A whip finisher that handles large heads comfortably A bodkin for picking out fibers, placing resin and clearing hook eyes A dubbing brush or comb for blending synthetics and teasing out a finished body A hair stacker, if deer-hair heads are on the menu A pair of pliers or side cutters for wire and shank work, so your scissors never see it Most of these live in the fly-tying tools collection. If you are filling several gaps at once, a tool kit may be a convenient option. For a wider look at bench basics, see 4 Essential Fly Tying Tools. A Shared Core for Three Fisheries With the bench sorted, the materials list is shorter than you might expect. Many fall streamers draw on a shared group of components, though each fishery and pattern calls for its own hook, profile and weight. The Core Materials Shanks and hooks. Articulated shanks let you build longer flies with a flexible connection between sections. Streamer hooks and short stinger hooks finish many patterns. For steelhead and other larger fish, the big-game hook collection includes hooks intended for salmon and steelhead. Rabbit strip. Rabbit fur moves readily in the water and is commonly used for streamer tails and bodies. Zonker strips and other rabbit materials are in the fur and hair collection. Marabou and schlappen. These soft feathers are commonly used for tails, collars and movement. Both are in the hackle and feathers collection. Synthetic fiber. Craft fur and EP Fibers are useful for building baitfish profiles. Extra Select Craft Fur has longer fibers than standard craft fur; browse the wider synthetic hair and fibers range for more options. Weight. Dumbbell eyes and cones can help a fly sink and affect how it moves on the strip. Choose the amount and placement of weight for the depth and retrieve you want. Flash. A few strands can add a flash of light to a pattern. The fly-tying flash collection includes Flashabou, Krystal Flash and other materials. Strong thread. GSP or flat waxed nylon, as above. The Wet-Weight Problem One material decision deserves a moment before you order: what your fly weighs once wet. Natural fibers such as rabbit and marabou can hold water, so larger patterns may feel heavier to cast after repeated retrieves. Some synthetic fibers, including craft fur and EP Fibers, absorb less water and can be easier to cast in large profiles. The difference depends on the exact material and how the fly is tied. Neither is right for every pattern. Natural fibers can give a fly a soft, mobile profile; synthetics can help build larger shapes that shed water readily. Mix them according to the action and profile you want. Our bucktail vs. synthetic hair guide explains some of those trade-offs, and if craft fur is on your list, see the prep work many tyers skip. Build Your Pack Around the Fishery Trout: Big Flies for Fall Browns Fall brown trout fishing varies by river and local season. Brown trout commonly spawn in autumn, but it is too broad to say that all large fish become more territorial or aggressive before spawning. Streamers can be worth trying for larger fish, and articulated patterns offer a longer profile with movement from the rear section. Rabbit, marabou and schlappen are common choices for that movement; deer hair or synthetic fibers can shape the head. Olive, white, black and natural brown or yellow are useful starting colors, but local baitfish and water conditions should guide the palette. Some anglers try darker flies in low light. Dumbbell eyes can add weight for deeper presentations, while unweighted flies can suit floating or intermediate lines. From the pack: shanks, stinger hooks, rabbit strip, marabou, schlappen, dumbbell eyes, a little flash. Steelhead: Building on the Same Core Great Lakes steelhead enter tributaries at different points through fall, depending on the river, weather and water conditions. Swinging a fly is one established approach, but anglers also use eggs and nymphs. Intruder-style flies often use a long shank and a trailing hook to create a broad, mobile profile without tying in a large mass of material. Marabou, schlappen and flash are common choices; add a dumbbell eye or cone when you want more weight. Leeches can round out the box. A rabbit-strip leech in black, purple or olive is a familiar steelhead pattern and uses the same rabbit you might buy for trout streamers. Egg patterns are also commonly fished during fall steelhead runs; browse the egg materials collection. From the pack: shanks, steelhead hooks, marabou, schlappen, rabbit strip, flash, eyes or cones. Bass: The Fall Feed As water temperatures change, bass may feed on baitfish, making baitfish patterns a useful part of a fall box. Craft fur and EP Fiber can build broad profiles without taking on as much water as some natural materials. Articulated Game Changer-style flies create a swimming action that can suit a slow retrieve. Larger profiles and Clousers can both be useful, with weight and size matched to the depth and conditions. For more on fishing baitfish patterns through the water column, read Minnow Madness: Why Baitfish Patterns Rule the River. From the pack: shanks, streamer hooks, craft fur, EP Fibers, dumbbell eyes, flash. Tying the Pack: Batches, Not One-Offs Big flies take time, so tying in batches can make the work more manageable. Prep components first: cut rabbit strips to length, pair hackles and rig shanks with their trailing hooks. Then tie the same stage across several flies before moving to the next. This can reduce repeated setup and help keep the flies consistent. And speaking of the bench, Show Us Your Bench is running now. Post a photo of your fall streamer setup, half-finished articulated flies and all, tag J. Stockard and use #ShowUsYourBench. Email the same photo to service@jsflyfishing.com for free shipping on your next order. The offer applies to US orders; see Show Us Your Bench for full details.

Every fly tyer remembers their first vise. Fewer remember the first negotiation over where it was going to live. Maybe it was the dining table, borrowed for one evening that quietly became every evening. Maybe it was a handsome desk with a rounded edge that no clamp on earth could get a grip on. Maybe it was a hotel room the night before a float trip, or a folding table at a club tying night with twelve people, six lamps and one power outlet. The setting changes. The question underneath it does not, and it gets asked far less often than it should: how does the vise actually hold on to the world? There are two main answers. A C-clamp grips the edge of a table and locks the vise in place. A pedestal base is a weighted plate that rests on a stable, flat surface. Plenty of vises can be set up either way, and plenty of tyers end up owning both. But the two are not interchangeable, and the right choice depends less on the vise than on you: where you tie, what you tie, and how often you pack up and move. Here is an honest look at both, and which kind of tyer each one really suits. Why the Base Matters More Than It Looks A vise spends its entire working life resisting force. Every thread wrap pulls on the hook. Spinning deer hair, cinching down dumbbell eyes or locking heavy thread onto a big saltwater hook pulls harder still. And that force is not applied at the base. It is applied at the jaws, up at the top of the stem, which turns the whole vise into a lever with the base as its pivot. That is the mechanical heart of this entire debate. A C-clamp answers the lever by borrowing the stability of the table: once it is tightened down, the vise is effectively anchored to the furniture. A pedestal has to answer the lever on its own, with its weight and the width of its footprint. More weight, a wider plate and a lower working height all help a pedestal resist tipping or sliding. A light base with the jaws set high is easier to shift. Neither design is better in the abstract. Each makes a different trade between stability and freedom, and once you see it that way, choosing gets a lot simpler. The C-Clamp: Pros and Cons The C-clamp is the old-school bench mount, and for good reason. Its strengths: Stability where it counts. For hard-pulling work, a properly tightened clamp on a sturdy table is about as secure as a vise setup gets. The table is the anchor. Height you can dial in. This is one of the clamp's most useful advantages. On many clamp setups, the vise stem slides up and down through the clamp and locks at different heights, so you can position the jaws to suit your body, chair and table. That matters more than it sounds. Jaws set too low can leave you hunching over the hook; jaws set too high can make your shoulders creep upward. Aim for an upright, relaxed position with the hook easy to see and reach. Check the adjustment range on the specific vise, because designs vary. A clear bench surface. The mount stays at the table edge instead of occupying the middle of the work surface, leaving more room for materials, tools, a light and a waste bag. Front-of-bench positioning. Because it mounts at the table edge, the vise sits right at the front of the bench, close to your hands. Small and light to pack. A clamp usually takes up less room in a bag than a weighted plate. Renzetti, for example, offers the Traveler vise in both C-clamp and pedestal configurations. And its weaknesses: It needs the right edge. A clamp only works on a table lip it can grip securely. Very thick tops, strongly rounded or beveled edges, glass, and tables with drawers or a skirt directly underneath can all be a problem. Check the clamp's opening and design against your table before you commit. It can mark furniture. Cranking a clamp down on a finished wooden table can leave a dent or scuff. If the clamp does not already have protective pads, a piece of leather or firm rubber between it and the table can help. It stays where it is. The vise lives wherever that edge is. Sliding it aside for dinner, or chasing better light across the room, means unclamping and reclamping. See Product See Product See Product See Product The Pedestal Base: Pros and Cons The pedestal is a popular choice, especially when a tying space has to do more than one job. Its strengths: It works on almost any stable, flat surface. Kitchen table, desk, tailgate or lodge table: if the surface is level, sturdy and large enough for the base, you can usually tie on it. Seconds to set up, seconds to put away. Set it down and start tying. When you are done, lift it off and the table is a table again. Easy on furniture. Nothing clamps onto the table, and some bases, like our Deluxe Pedestal Base, have a soft foam underside to help protect the surface beneath. Easy to reposition. Slide it toward the window, turn it to suit your reach, move it out of the way mid-session. Small freedoms that add up over a winter of tying. And its weaknesses: Stability depends on weight and footprint. Under heavy thread tension, a lighter or narrower base can slide or tip. Our Flat Pedestal Base weighs about 2.5 pounds, and one customer notes that it can move on the table. A nonslip mat underneath can help, but hard-pulling tyers should consider a larger, heavier base. Working-height adjustment varies. Some pedestal setups let the stem slide through the base or use an optional riser, while others offer less vertical adjustment. The table and chair still do much of the ergonomic work, so check the specific vise and stem length if jaw height matters to you. It takes up bench space. The plate occupies real estate that a clamp leaves free. More stability usually means more weight. That extra mass is useful at the bench, but it is less appealing when you have to carry the base through an airport. Which Base for Which Tyer? Forget which base is “better.” The useful question is which one fits your tying life. Find yourself below. The New Tyer at the Kitchen Table Start with a pedestal or a vise that includes both. When you are new to tying, the vise often has to share space with family life, and the last thing a new hobby needs is a fussy setup ritual. A pedestal lets you tie for twenty minutes after dinner and clear the table in seconds. The J. Stockard EZ Rotary Vise is available with a C-clamp alone or as a bundle that also includes a pedestal base. For a shared table, the bundle gives you flexibility now and later. The Dedicated Bench Tyer Lean C-clamp. If you have a permanent tying station with a solid, suitable edge, a clamp is hard to beat. It leaves the middle of the bench clear and keeps the vise in a repeatable position. Depending on the model, it may also give you useful vertical adjustment. A budget-friendly edge-mounted example is the J. Stockard Rotating Spring Action Vise II, with hardened tool-steel jaws that rotate 360 degrees, spring-operated jaws and brass clamp fittings. If you are building that station from scratch, our guide to setting up a fly tying station is a useful place to start. The Deer Hair, Bass Bug and Saltwater Tyer Lean C-clamp, or choose a genuinely stable pedestal. This is where leverage matters. Spinning and packing deer hair, or applying firm thread tension on a big streamer hook, puts more force through the jaws and mount. A sturdy clamp on a solid table handles that well. A wide, heavy pedestal can also do the job; the Renzetti Traveler, for example, is offered with C-clamp and pedestal choices, including a larger 6-by-6-inch base option. A small, light plate is more likely to move under hard pulling. The Traveling Tyer Consider a kit that includes both. Travel is the one situation where neither base wins outright. A clamp packs smaller but needs a usable edge, and you never know what the lodge furniture will look like. A pedestal works on a suitable flat surface but adds weight. One tidy answer is a compact vise that ships with both. The J. Stockard EZ Travel Vise is a compact rotary vise, about 6 1/2 inches tall, that comes with a weighted base and a C-clamp. The Rambler Nomad Vise with Base takes the same approach, pairing a weighted pedestal with an included C-clamp. The Small-Space or Shared-Home Tyer Go pedestal, with a soft underside. Apartment desks, nice dining tables and multi-purpose rooms are pedestal territory. You cannot always clamp to good furniture, and you should not have to. A base with a protective bottom, like the J. Stockard Deluxe Pedestal Base, keeps the peace: smooth surface, rounded edges and a foam pad underneath. The Club, Class and Demo Tyer Go pedestal. If you tie at club nights, teach a class or demonstrate at shows, you rarely know what the tables will be like until you arrive. A pedestal removes most of that uncertainty. If you already own a clamp-mounted vise you love, you may not need a new vise: the J. Stockard Flat Pedestal Base accepts compatible vise stems up to 3/8 inch in diameter. The “Why Not Both?” Tyer Own both, and stop agonizing. Plenty of experienced tyers keep a clamp on the home bench and a pedestal for everywhere else, swapping the same vise between them. The key detail is compatibility, especially stem diameter. Both J. Stockard pedestal bases accept stems up to 3/8 inch, but check your vise before buying a second mount. Higher up the range, many premium vises are sold in either configuration, so you can choose the base that fits your setup. Browse the PEAK range and the full fly tying vise collection to compare. How To Make The Most Of Your Rotary Vise Read more 5 Reasons Why You Need a Rotary Vise for Fly Tying Read more A Quick Bench Test Before You Buy Before you choose, spend two minutes with the surface you will actually tie on. Check the edge. Is there a firm lip the clamp can grip, with clear space underneath? Measure its thickness and compare it with the clamp's stated capacity. If the edge is strongly rounded, beveled, very thick or blocked by a drawer, lean pedestal. Check the surface. Is this furniture you would mind marking? If so, lean pedestal, or pad the clamp. Check your flies. Mostly small trout patterns? Either base is fine. Lots of hair, big hooks or heavy thread? Lean clamp, or a properly heavy pedestal. Check your posture. Sit at the table in the chair you will actually use. If the hook would sit noticeably too high or too low for a relaxed posture, choose a setup with enough stem-height adjustment or plan to adjust the chair and work surface. Check your habits. Do you pack up after every session, or tie in more than one place? Lean pedestal. Do you have a bench that stays set up? Lean clamp. If your answers split down the middle, that is your sign to choose a vise that comes with both. For a wider look at jaws, rotary action and budget, see our J. Stockard fly tying vise buyer's guide. Nobody ever tied a better fly because of the base under their vise. But plenty of tyers have tied fewer flies because the setup fought them: the clamp that would not fit the table, the base that skated across the desk, the ritual that made a quick session feel like too much effort. Choose the base that suits the place you tie and the flies you tie there. Then forget about it. That is the whole job. Hold still. Get out of the way. Ready to set up your bench?  SHOP VISES

The first Surf Candy I ever finished with UV resin is still in a box somewhere. It is still slightly sticky. I tie mostly saltwater flies, at a bench in Cape St Francis on South Africa's south coast, for fish that have very little respect for my thread work. My boxes are full of things with gaping mouths and enough UV resin to qualify as a small art installation. So when I first swapped the epoxy for UV resin, I thought the hard part was over. Squeeze, shape, click, glass. That was the promise. What I got was a fly with a beautiful clear head that never quite stopped being tacky. Then another one. Then a whole evening's worth, lined up on the windowsill like a row of failed toffees. I did what every tyer does. I blamed the resin. I bought a different resin. Same toffees. It took me longer than I'd like to admit to work out that the resin was never the problem. The light was. I'd been trying to cure big, thick saltwater heads with a little torch that simply didn't have the punch to get through all that resin. The day I finally used a proper curing light, the heads went hard right through, the layers bonded cleanly, and I stopped leaving flies out in the sun and hoping for the best. Here's what I've learned since: this isn't just a saltwater problem. The trout tyer coating a Perdigon, the bass tyer building a popper face, the beginner sealing the head of a first Woolly Bugger, we're all relying on the same chemistry and the same little purple light. Get the match right and UV resin is the closest thing to a magic trick at the bench. Get it wrong and you get toffees. So this is the guide I wish I'd had. Whether you've tied three flies or three thousand, pull up a chair. The short answer: UV resin is a liquid coating that hardens in seconds under ultraviolet light. Most tyers only need a thin resin, a thick resin and a curing light that's strong enough and matched to the resin's wavelength. The light matters as much as the bottle. Not only a saltwater problem.  What is UV resin, and why do fly tyers use it? UV resin is a liquid coating that stays workable until you expose it to ultraviolet light, at which point it hardens in seconds. That single quality is why it has taken over so many benches. Traditional head cement dries in the air on its own schedule, and two-part epoxy starts the clock the moment you mix it. UV resin waits for you. On a fly, that patience translates into three jobs: Protection. A coat over thread wraps and heads keeps teeth, rocks and casting from unraveling your work. Shape. Thicker resins build heads, bodies, shells and eyes, adding profile you couldn't get from thread alone. Fixing. A drop can lock materials in place mid-tie, secure a stick-on eye, or rescue a fly that's started to come apart. If you tie for toothy fish, you already know why this matters. In my Ultimate Guide to Tying Bluefish Flies, resin is the difference between a fly that survives a bluefish and one that comes back as a bare hook. See Product See Product See Product Why the light matters as much as the resin Here's what I wish someone had told me before my windowsill full of toffees. UV resin doesn't really dry. It cures. Most fly tying resins contain a photoinitiator, a compound that absorbs light at particular ultraviolet wavelengths and kicks off a reaction that links the liquid into a solid. No light at the right wavelength, no reaction. That's why the resin sits patiently in the bottle, and why your choice of torch matters as much as your choice of resin. Wavelength is measured in nanometers (nm), and the lights tyers use typically sit in the upper end of the UV range. The J. Stockard UV Light emits at 385 to 400nm, Loon's UV Bench Light runs at 395nm, and Loon's UV Infiniti Light covers 395 to 405nm. The practical takeaway is simple: use a light the resin maker recommends, or one that matches their stated wavelength. Power matters too. A weak or fading light, or one held too far from the fly, may leave the surface soft or sticky even when the resin underneath has set. Upavon says as much about its own Sure Set UV Torch, which is built to cure fully "without the tacky surface that underpowered torches leave behind." With some formulas, oxygen in the air can also slow the cure at the very surface. If you've ever finished a beautiful head that stayed faintly tacky, one of those is the likely culprit, not you. See Product See Product See Product Thin, thick, flex or tack-free: which UV resin should you buy? Resins are sold mostly by viscosity, which is just a measure of how runny they are. Think of it as choosing between water, honey and toothpaste. Thin resins flow into thread wraps and soak into materials, leaving a light, hard coat. They're the everyday choice for whip finishes, heads on trout flies and sealing thread bodies. Try Solarez Fly Tie Thin Hard Formula, or the thin or ultra-thin "flow" versions of Loon UV Clear Fly Finish. Semperfli No Tack UV Thin, described as having "the viscosity of light honey," is handy for locking down bucktail or hair as you tie, without building bulk. Thick resins stay where you put them, which makes them the tool for building shape: baitfish heads, shellbacks, bodies and eyes. Solarez Fly Tie Thick Hard Formula is the bench standard here, and Loon's thick UV Clear Fly Finish does the same job. Flexible resins cure with some give, so they suit soft bodies, swimming tails and anything that needs to bend without cracking. Look at Solarez Fly Tie Flex Formula. Tack-free resins are formulated to cure to to cure to a dry, glossy surface with no wiping. Solarez Fly Tie Bone Dry cures, in Solarez's words, "to a clear, hard, glossy finish in under 10 seconds," and Upavon Crystal Coat UV Resin is built for Perdigon bodies and slim nymph heads where a glassy finish is part of the design. If you're not sure where you'll land, the Solarez Fly Tie 3 Pack is the friendliest place to start: Thin Hard, Thick Hard and Flex in 5 gram tubes, enough to find out what you actually reach for before you commit to bigger bottles. Which UV curing light do you need? You don't need the most powerful light on the market to tie good flies. You need one that's strong enough for the resin and the size of fly you tie most. Getting started: The J. Stockard UV Light is a simple LED flashlight made to cure all the UV coatings J. Stockard sells. The Loon UV Nano Light is pocket-sized, which Loon pitches as "an excellent option as an economical light for tyers just getting started." Everyday bench use: Loon's UV Bench Light is its best-selling "do-it-all" light, a 3-watt, 395nm torch with a high-intensity beam. Heavy use and big flies: The Loon UV Infiniti Light is a 10-watt, USB-rechargeable light Loon describes as its most powerful. The Upavon Sure Set UV Torch is a dedicated curing light paired with Crystal Coat. Travel: The Solarez PRO Roadie Kit bundles a half-ounce resin assortment with a UVA flashlight, a sensible box for the truck or the road. How do you get a clean, clear cure? A few habits will save you a lot of sticky, lumpy heads: Go thin and build in layers. Two or three thin coats, each cured, look cleaner and cure more reliably than one thick glob. Let the vise do the work. Rotating the fly as you apply resin keeps the coat even and stops it pooling on the underside. If you tie on a rotary, here's how to make the most of your rotary vise. Tack it, then finish it. Solarez suggests that with its Thick Hard Formula, a 30 second partial cure lets you keep working, while a full cure takes around three minutes with a flashlight or exposure to sunlight. Check each resin's own guidance. Get the light close. Hold the torch near the fly and move it around so every surface gets a direct hit. Keep the bottle in the shade. Sunlight cures UV resin too, so cap your bottles and keep them out of a sunny window. Look after yourself. Don't look directly into a UV light, keep resin off your skin, and tie somewhere with decent airflow. Follow the safety notes on each product. The Surf Candy: where it all clicks If you want one fly that shows off what resin can do, tie a Surf Candy. Bob Popovics' classic baitfish pattern is basically a slim wing of synthetic fiber encased in a clear, hard shell, with eyes set into the coating. It was originally built with epoxy, and UV resin has made it far more approachable: no mixing, no racing the clock, and no rotating drying wheel. It's also a lovely lesson in viscosity. A thin resin locks the wing down, a thick resin builds that glassy, translucent body, and a final thin coat polishes it. As I put it in the bluefish guide, you coat the whole thing "until it feels like a saltwater lollipop."  Where should a beginner start? Keep it simple. One Solarez Fly Tie 3 Pack, one J. Stockard UV Light or Loon UV Nano Light, and a dozen woolly buggers or simple nymphs to practice on. Coat a few heads with thin resin. Build one shellback with the thick. Ruin one fly on purpose to see what too much resin looks like. You'll learn more in that one evening than from any guide, this one included. And if you've been tying for years and still reach for head cement out of habit, try a bottle of Bone Dry or Crystal Coat on your next batch of nymphs. You may not go back. My windowsill is toffee-free these days. The Surf Candies come off the vise hard and glassy, the lights live within arm's reach, and I spend a lot less time blaming perfectly good resin. If there's one lesson from the whole journey, it's that fly tying is about light more than we give it credit for: the light you tie by, and the light you cure with. Which is exactly why I want to see yours. Show Us Your Bench is J. Stockard's annual community showcase, and it isn't a competition. No judges, no prize for the tidiest desk. Just real benches, as they really are. Show us the window you tie by, the lamp you finally upgraded, the clip-on light on your vise stem and the curing torch that ended your own toffee era. If your bench could use a better light, the cordless Zephr Fly Tying LED Light clamps straight onto a 3/8 inch vise stem. Here is how to get involved:  Take a photo of your bench as it really is. No need to clean up. The half-finished fly, the pile of hackle, and the coffee mug are all welcome. Post it on Instagram or Facebook and tag us. Use the hashtag #ShowUsYourBench.  Tag two of your fly tying mates and challenge them to post there benches. (Purely optional but the idea here is classic - the more the merrier.) Tell us a little about it. Where your bench lives, what you tie most, and the one tool you'd grab first if the house caught fire. Email it to us for free shipping. Send the same photo to service@jsflyfishing.com and you'll receive free shipping on your next J. Stockard order. *Applies to orders within the USA only.  Browse UV resins, head cements and glues The Ultimate Guide to Tying Bluefish Flies Read more Fly Fishing For Spring Stripers - timing the migration and what flies to have ready Read more

Baitfish fly patterns that pre-spawn bass actually eat: matching forage size and color, dialing in sink rate, and the fluttering pause that gets a strike.

Craft fur shows up in more fly boxes than almost any other synthetic on the bench, and for good reason: it's inexpensive, it's durable, and it moves in the water in a way that convinces fish it belongs there. What doesn't show up nearly as often is a clear explanation of why two tyers can use the same bag of craft fur and end up with two very different flies. The difference isn't the material. It's the prep. That's the gap McFly Angler's Shawn McQuadeset out to close in a recent video breakdown, walking through how he selects, cleans, and manages craft fur before it ever gets tied to a hook — including how removing underfur, adjusting taper, and choosing the right variation of craft fur changes what the finished fly looks and swims like. Who is Shawn McQuade Shawn McQuade is the tier and teacher behind McFly Angler, an educational fly-tying channel that has grown to nearly 70,000 subscribers across YouTube and other platforms, with hundreds of tutorials spanning beginner technique through advanced pattern work. McQuade's path to the vise ran through fishing boats and fly shop counters before it ever ran through a camera — a background that shows up in how practically he talks about materials. Beyond the channel, McQuade teaches fly tying and fly fishing classes for disabled veterans through the Enduring Freedom Organization, and works each summer with kids through Reaching Outdoors camps, introducing a new generation to the vise and the water. Craft fur isn't one material — it's three The first thing McQuade's video makes clear is that "craft fur" isn't a single, interchangeable product. Standard craft fur, Extra Select Craft Fur, and Salty Craft Fur each behave differently off the hide, and matching the right one to the fly in front of you saves a lot of frustration at the vise. Extra Select Craft Fur is the step up in fiber length and density, built for larger streamer and baitfish patterns that need real bulk and movement. Salty Craft Fur is built with saltwater durability in mind, standing up to repeated casting and toothy fish without breaking down at the tie-in point. Standard craft fur remains the workhorse option for general streamer, shrimp, and crab pattern work. Cleaning and managing the underfur Every hide of craft fur carries a layer of soft underfur beneath the longer guard hairs, and what a tier does with that underfur has a direct effect on the finished fly. Left in, it adds fullness and a denser silhouette — useful on the belly of a baitfish pattern where a little extra bulk reads well in the water. Combed or picked out, it leaves only the longer fibers, which produce a sparser, more mobile profile suited to sleeker streamer and shrimp patterns. McQuade's approach is to make that choice deliberately rather than by default: decide what profile the fly needs first, then manage the underfur accordingly, rather than tying every pattern with fur straight off the hide. Adjusting the taper Craft fur fibers taper naturally from base to tip, and trimming that taper changes how the material behaves once it's wet. A bundle left at full length swims with a long, trailing action well suited to larger streamers and articulated baitfish patterns. Trimming the tips shortens the taper and tightens up the profile, which works better on smaller, more compact patterns where a fly-length tail would overwhelm the proportions. The same logic applies to how the fur is tied in — tips forward and folded back "hollow fly" style for a fuller, rounded profile, or tips back for a straighter, more streamlined silhouette. Neither approach is universally correct; the fly being tied should dictate the choice. See Product Where craft fur earns its place at the vise The versatility that makes craft fur a bench staple comes through across pattern types. On streamers and baitfish imitations, it delivers the long, undulating movement that makes a fly look alive on the pause. On shrimp and crab patterns, trimmed sections mimic legs and antennae with a level of realism that's hard to match with natural materials at the same price point. And for tiers building large synthetic brushes, craft fur — spun into a dubbing loop — produces a full, mobile brush body that holds up through repeated casting. Understanding how each variation and each prep choice changes that movement is what separates a fly that looks right on the bench from one that fishes right in the water. Watch the full breakdown In short Craft fur has been a fly-tying staple for long enough that it's easy to reach for a hide and tie it the same way every time. Shawn McQuade's breakdown is a reminder that the material rewards a little more attention than that — a few extra minutes deciding what to keep, what to trim, and which variation belongs on which fly pays off in flies that swim the way they're supposed to. Shop the full range of craft fur and synthetic tying materials below:  "Craft fur" covers three distinct materials — standard, Extra Select, and Salty Craft Fur — each suited to different patterns and conditions Underfur is a choice, not a default: leaving it in adds bulk and fullness, combing it out produces a sparser, more mobile profile Trimming the taper shortens and tightens the fiber profile for smaller, more compact patterns; full-length fibers suit larger streamers and articulated baitfish Tips-forward "hollow fly" style versus tips-back changes the fly's silhouette and should match the pattern being tied Craft fur works across streamers, baitfish imitations, shrimp and crab patterns, and dubbing-loop brushes — the prep is what makes it fit each application SHOP CRAFT FUR

Squid Fly Patterns for Striped Bass: Tying This Season's Bumper Bait | J. Stockard

Short answer: choose bucktail for slow, clear-water presentations where its natural taper and hollow-fiber buoyancy read subtle and lifelike, and choose synthetic hair like craft fur or EP Fibers when durability, color consistency, or heavy current and aggressive retrieves matter more. Many effective bass flies combine both materials in the same pattern. The right call depends on the water and how you're fishing it, not on which material is newer. Bucktail has been the foundation of bass fly tying for generations because it does something synthetics still haven't fully matched, and synthetic hair has earned its place at the bench because it solves real problems bucktail can't. The breakdown below covers exactly when each material wins, and when it's worth combining them. When does bucktail still outperform synthetic hair? Bucktail just has that beautiful natural taper so many tyers love. Each hair narrows from base to tip on its own, which means a bucktail fly built in layers naturally thins out toward the rear without any extra work from the tyer. That taper is a big part of why a bucktail Clouser or Deceiver has the subtle, lifelike profile it does. The fly looks like it's actually built out of something organic, because it is. Hareline's Northern Bucktail also has hollow fibers, which give it natural buoyancy that helps keep a fly's profile from collapsing flat the way a lot of solid synthetic fiber does when fully soaked. In clear, calm water, on slower presentations, where bass have plenty of time to look closely at a fly before committing, that natural taper and movement is doing real work. A largemouth sitting under a dock in flat, clear water staring down a slow-moving fly is exactly the situation where bucktail's subtlety pays off over a synthetic that reads a little stiffer or more uniform up close. Bucktail also remains the more economical choice for tyers building flies in volume. A single quality tail produces a large number of flies across a wide size range, and the natural color variation within one tail, lighter near the tip, darker toward the base, gives you built-in shading that you'd otherwise have to blend by hand with synthetics. When should you reach for synthetic hair instead? The case for synthetic hair starts with durability, and it's not a small advantage. Bucktail eventually mats, frays, and loses its taper after enough fish, enough casts, and enough time in the water. A bass with a mouth full of small teeth and the kind of aggressive headshake largemouth and smallmouth are known for will wear out a bucktail fly faster than most freshwater species. Hareline's Extra Select Craft Fur and EP Fibers are both built to resist that kind of wear, which matters if you're fishing a single fly hard through a whole session rather than rotating flies every few fish. Color consistency is the second real advantage. Bucktail varies tail to tail and even within a single tail, which is part of its charm but a genuine headache if you're trying to match a specific color combination exactly, especially for commercial tying or for replicating a pattern you know works. Synthetic fiber is dyed to a controlled standard, so the chartreuse and white Clouser you tied last month looks identical to the one you tie today. Synthetics also hold up better in heavy current and aggressive retrieves. Bucktail's hollow fibers, the same property that gives it buoyancy, can also make it harder to keep a tight, controlled profile in fast water or on an aggressive strip, where the fly is fighting against more resistance than it would on a slow presentation. EP Fibers and craft fur both shed water faster on the cast and hold their shape better under that kind of pressure, which is part of why so many river smallmouth and heavy current largemouth patterns have shifted toward synthetic materials over the last two decades. See Product See Product How do you decide between bucktail and synthetic hair on the water? If you're fishing slow, clear, calm water and the fish have time to inspect the fly, lean toward bucktail. The natural taper and subtlety are doing work a synthetic can't fully replace in that situation. If you're fishing fast current, heavy cover, or an aggressive retrieve where the fly needs to hold its shape and survive repeated contact with structure and teeth, lean toward synthetic hair. Durability and consistency matter more than subtlety once the water gets demanding. If you're tying in volume and want consistent results across a large batch, synthetic fiber's color uniformity will save you time and frustration. If you're tying for yourself in smaller batches and enjoy the natural variation, bucktail remains genuinely hard to beat on price and produces flies with a built-in character that's difficult to fake. Plenty of the best bass flies tied today actually combine both: a bucktail collar for natural taper and movement near the head, with a synthetic tail or underbody for added durability and color consistency where the fly takes the most abuse. There's no rule that says you have to choose one material for the whole fly. In short Bucktail's natural taper and hollow-fiber buoyancy remain unmatched for slow, subtle presentations in clear water Synthetic hair like craft fur and EP Fibers resists wear from teeth and aggressive strikes far better than bucktail Synthetic fiber's dyed color consistency matters most for volume tying and exact pattern replication Fast current and heavy cover favor synthetics for shape retention; calm, clear water favors bucktail for subtlety Combining bucktail and synthetic fiber in the same fly is a legitimate option, not a compromise Hareline Northern Bucktail, Extra Select Craft Fur, and the full range of natural and synthetic hair are available here: SHOP NOW