The Caddis Fly: Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

Comparing the Schlappen feathers in two packages of 5″ – 7″ feathers.

I have been using Schlappen feathers on a regular basis lately while tying up my boxes of winter steelhead flies. Fact is, I have been very surprised and pleased with the overall quality and diversity of the feathers I have obtained lately, and I guess it would be fair to say that my recent experience is but one more in a long string of situations where I continue to learn even after having more than fifty years experience as a fly tyer under my belt.

It was my routine practice to avoid purchasing Schlappen feathers, preferring instead to use hand selected saddle feathers for use as collars and beards on my salmon and steelhead flies. I was fond of being able to pluck feathers from a full saddle patch, from the shortest feathers at the top of the patch to the longest webbiest feathers at the base of the saddle patch.

In case you are not already familiar with these feathers, I would describe Schlappen as the softest, dullest feathers found near the base of the rooster’s tail and these lay between the saddle feathers on the rooster’s back and the long tail feathers.

I formerly considered Schlappen to be junk feathers, far less desirable than saddle hackles.

Lately, however, I have completely reconsidered that opinion and done a full reversal of my decades-long disdain for these feathers. I have tied flies with randomly selected packages of Hareline Schlappen during the process of tying a wide variety of winter steelhead flies, including Intruders, and have been overwhelmingly pleased with the results.

Sure, there are waste feathers in each package and the proportion of junk feathers will vary between packages and also depend on the variety of flies that you intend to tie with any specific package.

I just did an analysis of a random pack of black Schlappen and here my opinionated assessment. One package of Schlappen had had 84 feathers in it. i discarded 25 feathers, set aside 20 feathers that had good tips and 29 feathers that met my standards for high quality wet fly collars from tip to webby base. Priced at under seven bucks for the package, I’m pleased to get that many good feathers for my steelhead and salmon flies. Most of the feathers that I discarded as so-called “junk” could actually have been used for smaller flies beards, tails, and various smaller wet flies.

29 super select Schlappen feathers prepared for use as collars on winter steelhead flies.

The 29 super select Schlappen feathers are pictured above, after I stripped off the stem where it became too thick to wind on a tube or hook.

How representative were the results of this Schlappen package? I have found an occasional package with lower percentage of feathers that met my standards and a few packages that had an even higher proportion of super feathers.

Stem thickness of Schlappen feathers – tends to be slender, more so I think than you will find on most strung saddle feathers. Slender stems make it easier to wind the collars and reduce bulk on my flies, so I have been very favorably impressed with these slender stems.

Overall length of Schlappen feathers – these feathers are in packages labeled as 5 – 7″. When the wholesale dealer gets these feathers from the producer, they are on a sewn string that is roughly four feet long, with the shortest feathers on one end and the longest feathers on the other end. These long strings are then cut into short sections for packaging. As a result, any specific package may be from the short end, the middle, or the long end of the feathers sewn together on string.

The photo at the beginning of this post illustrates two different strings of Schlappen that represent about the two extremes of feather lengths that you will find in any given package of these feathers. The average length of black Schlappen feathers in the one package is about 5″ with some feathers as short as 4″. The average length of the purple Schlappen feathers is closer to 8″ with a few feathers nearly 10″ or so. These two packages represent extremes of the packs that you are likely to find on the pegs at your local fly shop, and you are more likely to find feathers that are in the range of 5″ to 6″ than smaller and larger feathers.

I find that I like to get a few packages of the shorter feathers and a few packages of the longer feathers – that way I have a broader range of feather qualities to use on my flies.

I hope that this post helps answer some of the questions you may have about Schlappen feathers. My enthusiasm for tying with these has blossomed in the last two months and I think that my winter steelhead flies have benefitted greatly from my new perspective.

Questions? Shoot an email the Caddis Fly Shop and I’ll try to answer.

Jay Nicholas, late November, 2016

Hareline materials-only fly tying kit has all first rate products and step-by-step instructions to tie 20 great fly patterns.

Our friends at Hareline Dubbin in Monroe Oregon have recently introduced three new options in fly tying kits that I have had the opportunity to examine recently. Nicely done. Following I’ll note some of my observations on these three kits. They are all in stock and available as gifts or for the beginner who is about to venture into the world of fly tying for the first time.

First, the fly tying instruction booklet is very good, providing clear instructions regarding how to tie 20 of the best trout flies that are fish catchers in most waters around the world. In addition, the skills you will exercise while tying these patterns will provide a foundation for tying flies for salmon & steelhead,  bass, pike musky and bonefish at the least. Sorry, got carried away.

The instructions are good, the materials are first rate too, from threads to dry fly hackle to dubbing and hooks and so forth. All of the materials contained in this kit are the same as I select to tie flies myself, and that is my test for quality. This is not to say that there are not other high quality fly tying kits out there, only to say that I have personally inspected these kits and believe that they represent excellent value and price, with far more and diverse selection of materials than anyone could possibly purchase for a similar investment in normal packaging sizes.

Except for the spooled materials, all of these packaged materials generally represent a smaller quantity than normal packaging that you would find in fly shops. Downsizing on the materials makes perfect sense in fly tying kits because a person would not normally want to get larger quantities of many of these materials until deciding which patterns they want to tie most often.

What is in the Hareline materials-only kit? Briefly, you get two sizes of beads, six sizes of hooks, six spools of veevus thread, copper wire, gold wire, silver gold mylar tinsel, yellow floss, pearl krystal flash, sparkle emerger yarn, parapost wing, Mcfly foam, three colors of chenille, a half Hare’s mask, five colors of dubbing, rubber legs, elk hair, comparadun hair, rabbit strips, crosscut rabbit strips, marabou feathers turkey tail feathers, keough sadddle feathers and grizzly saddle feathers, tailing feathers for dry flies, saddle feathers, ringneck pheasant feathers, partridge soft hackle feathers, a half grizzly cape suitable for tying wings and all sizes of wet fly collar hackles, peacock herl, two colors of bulcktail hair, Loon water based cement, and a Hareline drink coaster, all contained in a useful plastic box.

What flies will the instruction booklet cover? San Juan Worm. Brassie. Bead Head Caddis. Prtridge & Yellow soft hackle. Girdle Bug. Woolly Worm. Woolly Bugger. Hare’s Ear Nymph. Pheasant Tail Nymph. Darian’s Kool Kat Soft Hackle. TP’s Little Nymph Thing.  Buck Tail Streamer. Bead Head Bunny Leech. Comparadun. Elk Hair Caddis. Adams. Light Cahill Parachute. Black Ant. Griffith’s Gnat. Black Gnat Dry Fly.

Hareline also offers two complete kits, the first includes an economy vise and economy tools. This vise and tools are perfectly fine for the beginner who is not sure how dedicated they will be to the adventure of fly tying. This is the Hareline Economy Kit.

The superior full fly tying kit offered by Hareline is the one I am most impressed with and includes a premium vise and premium tools.  The Hareline Premium Fly Tying Kit includes mostly USA tools and this is the best choice for the beginning tyer who is likely to continue tying – because the tools are more durable and in my opinion perform at a higher level than the imported economy tools.

Tools include a vise, a bobbin, scissors bodkin, hackle pliers, hair stacker, and a whip finish tool.

The instruction booklet also shows the proper way to secure a hook in your vise, , dub material on thread, start your thread on a bare hook, thread a bobbin, and as previously noted, tie 20 great trout flies.

Jay Nicholas, November 2016

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In this instructional fly tying video Matt Powell demonstrates how to tie the Red Bandit. This “attractor” nymph pattern was developed by Matt in Colorado, but has produced a lot of fish for him in the Pacific Northwest. The fly features Hareline’s new Gritty Tungsten bead, giving it a “glowing” red head. Tie one on and see if it measures up on your favorite trout stream.

Red Bandit

Hook: TMC 5262 or Daiichi 1710, sizes 8-14
Thread: Danville 70D, Red
Bead: Hareline Gritty Tungsten Bead-Red
Tail: Natural Ringneck Pheasant Tail
Body: Wapsi Awesome Possum Dubbing, Natural
Rib: Ultra Wire, Red
Back: Pearl Flat Mylar Tinsel
Thorax: Senyo’s Fusion Dub-Rainbow
Gill: Hungarian Partridge
Hot Spot/Collar: Hareline Ice Dub, UV Red

August through early November is prime time for fishing October caddis pupae. In this video Matt Powell demonstrates how to tie an excellent imitation. This pattern works for trout and steelhead on our local waters and beyond.

Troublemaker October Caddis

Hook: TMC 2302 or Daiichi 1760, sizes 6-10 (size 6 in video)
Thread: Danville 140 D, Black or Olive
Beads: Bead Black Brass; 2nd Bead Copper Brass (5/32 in video)
Underbody: Lead Wire 8-12 wraps (.030 in video)
Body: Hareline UV Chewee Skin, Peach
Thorax: Hareline Angora Goat Dubbin, Black
Collar: Senyo’s Fusion Dub, Emerald
Hackle: Hungarian Partridge, Natural

Matt Powell demonstrates how to tie a simple shank style steelhead fly. The weight and color combo are perfect for summer steelhead on the swing. The OPST shanks and Senyo’s trailer wire make this fly an effective “trailer hook” style pattern proven on Oregon Steelhead.

Purple Prospector

Thread: Danville 140 D-Black
Shank: OPST Steelhead Shank-32 mm
Bead: Hareline Plummeting Tungsten Bead, Black Nickel
Trailing Hook Wire: Senyo’s Intruder Trailer Hook Wire, Purple
Hook: Gamakatsu Octopus or Daiichi 2557 or OPST Swing Hook, sizes 2-4
Body: Hareline Ice Dub, UV Purple
Wing: Hareline Rabbit Strip,Purple
Hackle: Hareline Strung Saddle Hackle, Cerise
Collar: Senyo’s Fusion Dub, Midnight