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The•Quilted•Tyer
Fly Tying, Fly Fishing and a little bit of everything *Pardon the appearance, Under construction*
On My Vise: The Starling and Herl
The Starling and Herl is a very quick and simple fly to tie, consisting of only two materials those being peacock herl and starling for the hackle.
- Hook: Standard wet fly hook 16-18
- Thread: Black 8/0 or 70 Denier
- Body: Peacock Herl (usually from the eye)
- Hackle: Starling
I tie this anywhere from 16 to 18 and sometimes a small as a 20 but if that’s the case, the size 20 I will just tie more as a Stewart’s black spider without any herl.
The Peacock hurl itself (and sometimes I will use one that has been dyed a different color such as green or purple under tone) can represent blue wing olives emerging or even a small darker Caddis.
You will have to experiment since I have found that using the Herl strung (which means it’s a handful that is all stitched together and comes in the plastic packaging) is sometimes a little bit too large once wrapped around the hook, so for that I have used it from the peacock “eye”which is really the tail.
When working with starling be very careful because the feathers are extremely fragile.
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Fly Tying Scrap Bins
Magnetic option for the top on a marvel fly tying scrap bin
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Regal Vise
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” I didn’t think this would ever be something that I could become so quickly addicted to, but after taking your beginners fly tying course; I’m hooked! I will admit I was a little bit nervous when I arrived since I had never tied…
didn’t have Starling but made one with green and one with black hackle.
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