Old School Hook & Hackle Storage

Jeff Dodd

Jeff Dodd

Steelhead
Port Ludlow Fly Fishers held a garage sale this summer and there was an absolute ton of stuff. I bought streamer hooks and materials, but I wanted to share the feathers, and particularly, the storage system a former commercial fly tier had developed for his hackle.

I bought all they had left, but they happen to be the colors I use for the Platte River Spider & Platte River Special. Yellow and brown furnace, plus a few others. All feathers removed from the cape, sorted and stored in boxes, with little weighted pieces of wood to slightly flatten & control the feathers. Each peice of wood (or plastic) cut for the compartment, with a little handle of tape on each.
Sheesh! I would have never thought of, or been disciplined enough to create this system. I certainly am enjoying it though .
I hope my half-ass description and photos convey the idea enough for those that are interested in recreating it.
Possibly others do this and I am just unaware…. Fly tying is one of those activities that is fun to do with others, but it’s largely done solo!
Thanks to this forum, we can share.

IMG_9681.jpegIMG_9682.jpegIMG_9683.jpegIMG_9684.jpeg
 
Jeff Dodd said:
Port Ludlow Fly Fishers held a garage sale this summer and there was an absolute ton of stuff. I bought streamer hooks and materials, but I wanted to share the feathers, and particularly, the storage system a former commercial fly tier had developed for his hackle.

I bought all they had left, but they happen to be the colors I use for the Platte River Spider & Platte River Special. Yellow and brown furnace, plus a few others. All feathers removed from the cape, sorted and stored in boxes, with little weighted pieces of wood to slightly flatten & control the feathers. Each peice of wood (or plastic) cut for the compartment, with a little handle of tape on each.
Sheesh! I would have never thought of, or been disciplined enough to create this system. I certainly am enjoying it though .
I hope my half-ass description and photos convey the idea enough for those that are interested in recreating it.
Possibly others do this and I am just unaware…. Fly tying is one of those activities that is fun to do with others, but it’s largely done solo!
Thanks to this forum, we can share.

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That's a cool system! I've never seen the like.
 
Sheese…and I thought I had OCD :rolleyes:

That said, I think it was no longer active forum member GOAT?? or GOTY?? who asked a year or two ago about sorting and storing feathers from a skin….and I remember thinking nature did a pretty good job of keeping likes together…so why mess with it

but lately I’ve seen the potential value of sorting feathers after repeatedly digging through this pile for that perfect size

IMG_0544.jpeg

but it’s still gonna havta be an awful rainy crummy day for me to cut little pieces of cedar or plastic so the feathers lay flat. 😉

although I’ve heard doing meth helps with such repetitive tasks🤔🤪
 
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