Raiding Ard's Flyboxes

ak4570

ak4570

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As a recent convert to feather wing streamer, traditional salmon and spey-type ties, as well as being blessed to live in the Great Land, I've been raiding Ard's (Hardyreels) "Flies for Alaska Salmon" thread down in the Alaska section... Hint: if you haven't seen these yet, stop right now and go look...



Done now? Good...

In many of these flies as well as elsewhere I keep running into "Burned Goose Shoulder". Now I understand that this is a reference to bleach burning the feathers so that they can be wound as spey hackle but could someone please explain the process?

Thanks,
John
 
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gatortransplant

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A quick refresher of Ard's flies the other day inspired me to tie a few flies on salmon irons. Granted, my ties were awful, but they were at least inspired :D I'm definitely going to be tying up the Nine-Three in particular soon, I'm looking forward to it being on the end of a line being cast by the two-hander I'll have soon :frogdance:
 
ak4570

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Oddly enough, it was the two-hander that got me interested in swinging something a little more refined than a hunk of rabbit zonker lashed on a hook; I've been playing with a 9 wt. Streamlight since last fall... I may not be the prettiest caster out there but by gum, that thing will cover some water.

John
 
Ard

Ard

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Hi John,

I'm glad you found your way to the flies thread and like the patterns. Since you're in Alaska you should send me your phone number via PM and I'll give you a call tomorrow evening. I can explain bleaching and dying to you and maybe we can meet up. I met 'cw76' last Friday down in Homer and I get around a little so it's possible.

Right now I'm enjoying Moose by Moonlight. I've been cutting birch trees for next winters firewood and hoping to keep some moose fed and away from the roads at the same time. It's been working pretty well and there are 2 of them out back as I write this. One is bedded down right beside a couple nice big tree tops and the other is filling up the gut on the fresh browse.

Anyway, I'm about to hit the bed but I'll look for your number in the message box tomorrow. To send a PM just click the user name Hardyreels and choose send message from the drop down menu :)

Thanks for the kind words about the flies from all of you guys,

Ard
 
Ard

Ard

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I think that many people fishing Alaska believe that their flies have to be huge and weighted in order to be affective. To a person casting a Dollylamma or an articulated leech pattern my flies probably look like whimsical ties for those who practice wishful thinking. I have found that the fish take the flies as readily as they will grab anything except for when they will chase after a Blue Fox #4 spinner in glaciated flows. In the fouled water it is you that must find the fish with the fly and not the other way around. Generally speaking every fly I have made since coming here in 2004 has caught a fish so you can tie away with confidence at these and your own whimsical looking things :)
 
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stimmy7

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ak4570 said:
As a recent convert to feather wing streamer, traditional salmon and spey-type ties, as well as being blessed to live in the Great Land, I've been raiding Ard's (Hardyreels) "Flies for Alaska Salmon" thread down in the Alaska section... Hint: if you haven't seen these yet, stop right now and go look...


In many of these flies as well as elsewhere I keep running into "Burned Goose Shoulder". Now I understand that this is a reference to bleach burning the feathers so that they can be wound as spey hackle but could someone please explain the process?
Click to expand...
Well, now you've gone and done it... you're about to take an adventure FAR DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE....

As for the bleaching issue, I won't try to describe it for you, in a large part because the process is VERY subjective- it depends on the quality of your initial materials, their age, if they were dyed, subjected to heat, how much pith is in the quill and many other factors.

One thing I will caution you about though is once you begin doing this, have a dedicated area to do it in, so you don't get solution on any household work surfaces. AND.. you need to have your "stop solution" bath ready to immediately arrest the bleaching process. Generally, this is a bath of cold water and baking soda, but again won't suggest any specific concentrations because it depends on the bleach concentrations.

When I was doing more of this, I was fortunate enough to get 2 blue eared pheasant skins at reasonable prices to use as Spey hackle and I also got my hands on some VERY LARGE guinea fowl skins- there were easier to bleach than goose shoulder and had similar results.
 
ak4570

ak4570

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Thanks to all who chimed in with assistance... I spoke to Ard last night and he's set me straight.

Thanks again for all the help Ard, and it was good talking to you.

John
 
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