Goose wing feathers

[boreal]

I have a bunch of them.
I lotta bunch. My daughter has taken to "collecting" them from the park down the street once she realized I was using feathers at the vise in the basement.

Any ideas on what or how to put them to use?

[Hardyreels]

Post a picture of the different feathers you have (sizes) if you can and I can be of help.

Ard

[boreal]

Poor light from a cell but wife took the good one to Chicago for the weekend.
Idea of sizing anyway.

[Hardyreels]

No image on my end, but if they are huge primary flight feathers you can use them for wings on really large wet flies. The secondary and Tertiary feathers may be more usable. Wings are about it in my experience. Perhaps some members will have some better input for you. The flank feathers may be good for large soft hackle flies. Tertiary feathers are close to if not what we call shoulder feathers. These can be bleached to remove the barbs on the fibers and then dyed. I buy these feathers and do just that 'bleach and dye' to create the hackles on many of the salmon and steelhead flies I tie.

Sorry I can't be any more help,

Ard

[futuramille]

Many of the big goose wing feathers have that short thick leading edge. that's my source of goose biots and I haven't bought goose biots for years as I simply use what I find left in our horse pastures or around the horse ponds.

[stimmy7]

As pointed out by others,the leading edge of the primary flight feathers is where biots come from, and depending on their natural color, you can use them as they are, or bleach, or dye them to obtain other colors.

Sections of the feather on the opposite side of the quill can be used for wing cases on nymphs or downwings on wet flies- this is also true for any other wing quill feathers. To make them more durable, you can coat th ereverse side with a light treatmetn of clear nail polish, head cement, or clear silicone. This won't impact the natural color or sheen of the face side of the feather.

I've also used the tip of the quill itself for extended bodies on hopper patterns. Cut them off at an angle and cut a slit in them, and you can anchor them to a 2xl or 3xl hookshank with thread at whatever angle looks appropriate for you (with the quill tip pointing back) I've experimented some with packing the quill tip with yellow/chartreuse CDC fibers (most of my hoppers are yellowish green) and can't really tell it it improves how they float, but they look pretty cool =) And naturally, you can sharpie color them to match whatever your natural hoppers or crickets are.

[JoJer]

I have a pretty good supply of goose biots, too. I color them with Sharpies to get the colors I need. I found a good selection of earth tones/bug colors at the art supply store.