A Question

[HC]

I grab the maribu at the thick end of the quill and peel down the side of the feather to rip off a strip of maribu/quill, then I rip off the remaining bit of quill from the fluff. Its just a gob of really limp maribu at this point. I wet the gob, smooth it back wring out excess water, and apply to the hook . This nets a tail that responds to any slight motion of rod or current, just what I want. I never liked those stiff tails on a bugger. HC

[Fats]

When I was teaching fly tying classes, I always got three trout sized buggers (8's or 10's) from each marabou feather. I'd peel and roll the feather fibers from each side and the third one came from the tip. The tips always look the best... I'm not really sure the trout ever cared!

Somebody pointed out a great point... not all marabou is equal. If the stuff has a really thick stiff stem... pull off the fibers from the side. If the stem is thinner and more flexible... you can tie in an entire tip. Marabou isn't the most expensive material but if I can stretch it some... I will.

The whole point of this is that you are happy with fly that you've finished... and it catches fish. I've caught a lot of fish on ugly flies but the pretty ones make me feel better!

[gene goss]

Here's my 3 cents worth....the shaft in marabou feather run's almost to the end of the feather and is stiffer then the barbs....also the barbs are attached 90 degrees to the stem and cause the barbs to flare out the sides....what i do is cut the top of the stem off....then i take my scissor points and slip it into the window on the marabou feather and cut the stem about 3/8 of a inch from the top...you now have a stem with both side of the barb attach.....fold the barbs back and tie what every lenth you want....i stack different colors of marabou cut stems together to make my blended wiggle tail.