business and finance | February 15, 2026

What is Palmered hackle?

What is Palmered hackle?

We will now palmer the hackle! “Palmering” is a term for covering the majority of a flies body with hackle, instead of only wrapping the front of a fly. Using your hackle pliers or your fingers, begin wrapping the hackle. You want to wrap the hackle away from you over the hook, then towards you under the hook.

What does a Hornberg fly imitate?

The Hornberg Special Streamer is not only for imitating fish, but also is used as a dry fly imitation of caddis and stonefly. Some experts suggest fishing the Hornberg dry until it sinks and only then fish it as a streamer.

What is fly tying hackle?

Put most simply, hackles are feathers that are used to make fly fishing ties. These feathers are used to make flies that either sink under water or float on the surface of it, in order to make fish think that the fly is an insect.

How do you fish a Hornberg fly?

The Hornberg can be fished as a dry fly dead drift or fished as a streamer below the surface of the water. Alternately a combination approach can be employed. It can be cast out upstream and drifted until the fly swings below and dangles. Then the fly can be pulled under the surface and stripped in as a streamer.

Where does fly tying hackle come from?

True spade hackle, as in classic Coq de Leon feathers, are from the humeral tracts, which are a relatively small patch of feathers situated over the first and largest wing bone, the humerus.

What is a hackle used for?

A hackle is a metal plate with rows of pointed needles used to blend or straighten hair (or flax, for which see heckling comb). This tool is used as a preliminary step in the process of custom wig making. It is typically clamped firmly to a table before use.

How do you fish a Hornberg?

One of the most effective ways to fish the Hornberg Special is to use it subsurface as a wet fly or streamer. While you can do this with a standard Hornberg Special once it becomes waterlogged false casts can dry it off and your streamer pattern ends up floating again.

Can you use chicken feathers for fly tying?

Just like the CDL Rooster Capes and Saddles, the hen pelts have various uses. The feathers can be used to tie nymph wing cases and legs, and even used for larger soft hackle flies along with tying on collars. Additionally, capes can be used for matuka-style fly patterns.

What kind of chickens are used for fly tying?

Today, the gold standard hackles are made by Whiting Farms in Colorado—voluminous, symmetrical capes, and saddles that arc and flow like a fountain. Dr. Tom Whiting (of Whiting True Blue namesake) might select only a handful of roosters each year from among 100,000 or more as potential breeding stock.