Tying maribou patterns

[FrozenFish]

Trying my hand at making a few maribou type steelhead flies. I have tied plenty of jigs, but those basically consisted of whipping a couple of feathers to the shank and hiding the butts inside some beads. What are the different types of techniques used to get your maribou to lay down flat or go really poofy? Some patterns I am thinking of would be like the blue moon, allutian queen, and some of the all feather prawn patterns. Thanks for any ideas -FF

[Skunked]

You can also tie them in by the stem and wrap around the hook shank. In my experience it works best if you tie them in by the tip rather than at the base. If you want a sparse look you can strip off one side of the plumes first.

[GraphiteZen]

Part of it has to do with the fibers you chose. Pick up your bundle and look through it carefully. You might find some feathers that have longer, more slender fibers and some might have fibers that are a little fatter towards the tips. The slender fibers are easier to use if you want them to lay flat and the fatter ones have more bulk and end up looking a little fluffier.

With that said, you can still use either type if you want to lay them down or spike them up. If you want the fibers to spike out more, pull down a little more on the very last wraps you make towards the bend of the hook before you wrap the thread back up to the eye and tie off.
Getting them to lay down flatter is a bit trickier. It takes practice to do it well with your fingers and it's tough to explain but I can give you a good idea of the goal describing it with the use of a drinking straw. First you get all the Marabou on the hook. Wrap it on so it nice and secure, do a couple half hitches and cut the thread. Don't worry about a whip finish or anything because your going to tie it right back on and cover the half hitches. Then get your drinking straw and cut about a quarter inch off or whatever you need. Run your eye through the straw and push the straw back so it holds the fibers against the shank and leaves you with fibers exposed on the eye side of the straw that haven't had anything wrapped around them. Tie your thread back on and wrap it further back over the fibers semi-loosely so they are held more against the hook and not forced to spike out as if you had pulled down hard on the thread. keep wrapping loosely up towards the eye before you tighten down the wraps or you will spike up the fibers. Tie it off and cut your thread take the straw off and finish.
You can do the same thing with your fingers but it takes practice.
Good luck!

[D3smartie]

if i want to get a little bit bigger profile i will put a couple wraps of chenille behind the marabou to force the feathers out.

[Twitchs_Tackle]

Check out 'Salmonfly dot net' might even find a few of mine in there:D

[FrozenFish]

Gentlemen, good stuff here. Many thanks for sharing your ideas! -FF

[Pelhament]

Marabou stems are too thick for my liking so I use a Petitjean Magic tool to make dubbing loop of Marabou. I then wrap it around the shank as a collar or palmer it up the fly.

[Skunked]

Oh yeah I forgot to mention this earlier-
If you will be swinging these flies you may want to put some stiffer hackles just in front of the marabou and use a minimal amount of marabou.

The reason is that the stiff hackle will block the current and create a low pressure area where the marabou is. If you also use sparse amounts of marabou then they will have lots of room to wiggle around in the low pressure spot that you have created, if you go really sparse the marabou looks like a bunch of little legs or tentacles wiggling around in the current

[GraphiteZen]

Good stuff!

[etacada]

good stuff indeed!

I like the idea of using a straw to hold back the maribou for easyer tying. I own a magic tool but never thought to try it with maribou-will do.

I do believe that sparse is better too, lots more action from the feathers. I fish maribou/rabit strip flys all the time with great results.

chris

[Pelhament]

I use my magic tool for everything, marabou, rabbit, ostrich herls, lady amhearst. It works great to make big steelhead flies like intruders, metal detectors, and alaskabous.

[mckenzieguy]

Chris,

Those flies going to show up in Brandon's hands next week??? :flowered:

Good stuff folks.

Steve

[Pelhament]

Chris,

Those flies going to show up in Brandon's hands next week??? :flowered:

Good stuff folks.

Steve

Yep, here is a preview

The Metal Detectors and Intruders are tied using the Magic Tool like I mentioned above

Foxee Prawns (http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=41535)

http://www.westfly.com/photopost/data/500/IMGP0438.JPG
http://www.westfly.com/photopost/data/500/IMGP0436.JPG
http://www.westfly.com/photopost/data/500/IMGP0434.JPG

Metal Detectors (http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=41536)

http://www.westfly.com/photopost/data/500/IMGP0444.JPG
http://www.westfly.com/photopost/data/500/IMGP0442.JPG
http://www.westfly.com/photopost/data/500/IMGP0440.JPG

Intruders

http://www.flytyingforum.com/uploads/gallery499653c3551a1.jpg
http://www.flytyingforum.com/uploads/gallery4996539a79436.jpg
http://www.flytyingforum.com/uploads/gallery4996536fdc4ec.jpg

[etacada]

Nice work! What material is the wing on the foxy prawn? Bucktail?

those should stir a steely or two.

chris

[Pelhament]

Nice work! What material is the wing on the foxy prawn? Bucktail?
chris

Arctic Fox, hence the name. That was my first question about the pattern also, but then when I was told, it was a big DUH! moment.

[finnedwonder]

If you want some good tactics for working with marabou and overall streamer profile fly construction check out the fly fish tv series where Kelly Galloup ties his favorite streamer patterns and explains how and why the materials work under water. The tying articulated streamers vid is awesome for showing the fastest and most effective way to palmer marabou I found it very insightful.
Also, I have found that soaking your marabou (while it is a pain in the ass :flowered:) before you sit at the vice really improves the life of your flies. If you get the plumes totally wet then lay them out to dry (I speed it up with a hair dryer on medium heat) then once they have dried out and just barely started to poof out again they are not only much easier to work with, but any fibers that were weak to begin with have usually fallen out in the water so your flies maintain their appearance longer. Not to mention how many times have you had your box in the bottom of your boat or opened in in a rain storm or you put a fly away wet just to open that box again next week and find all your white spey fibers and marabou died purple or pink :passout: this pre soak prevents a lot of color from running. I tie wet for all my spey fibers and presoak most of my marabou in this fasion works pretty good for me.:twocents:
Tight Lines
~FW

[flyfisher]

Take a look at www.sparkleflies.biz (http://www.sparkleflies.biz) and maybe you can find a pattern or two there.

[flyfisher]

Take a look at www.sparkleflies.biz (http://www.sparkleflies.biz) and maybe you can get some ideas.

[Fly Junkie]

Yep, here is a preview

The Metal Detectors and Intruders are tied using the Magic Tool like I mentioned above

Foxee Prawns (http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=41535)

http://www.westfly.com/photopost/data/500/IMGP0438.JPG
http://www.westfly.com/photopost/data/500/IMGP0436.JPG
http://www.westfly.com/photopost/data/500/IMGP0434.JPG

Metal Detectors (http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=41536)

http://www.westfly.com/photopost/data/500/IMGP0444.JPG
http://www.westfly.com/photopost/data/500/IMGP0442.JPG
http://www.westfly.com/photopost/data/500/IMGP0440.JPG

Intruders

http://www.flytyingforum.com/uploads/gallery499653c3551a1.jpg
http://www.flytyingforum.com/uploads/gallery4996539a79436.jpg
http://www.flytyingforum.com/uploads/gallery4996536fdc4ec.jpg
Is that pink flash or uv flash on the pink metal detector??:shrug:

[Pelhament]

Its UV Pink Polar Chenille. The links above the Foxee Prawns and Metal Detectors take you to their recipes.