Fly Tying

Emu feathers deserve a special place in fly tying world. These feathers are not so popular between tiers probably because is not easy to find them. Some shops stock them and a pack with these feathers should be in all fly tying kits because Emu feathers has an interesting structure that suits for fly tying:

• are versatile ( can be used for nymphs and streamers )
• easy to work with
• long and elastic stem
• dense barbs  with almost the same length from base to the tip of feather
• barbs soft and fluffy at the base
• medium soft barbs at the middle of the feather
• barbs from top  with elastic and wax aspect

For nymphs you can create:

• nice legs for freshwater flies like stone flies and scud flies
• for saltwater shrimps you can create  very interesting legs or antennae
• can be created gills for big mayflies or stoneflies nymphs

For streamers you can make:

• tails for big flies like those used for saltwater fishing of freshwater fishing ( pike for example )
• pulse fantastic well in water
• resistant at fish teeth
• perfect for making side for streamers also
• can be palmered to create interesting bodies for streamers
• can be palmered to create

The photos bellow gives you an idea about them:

Emu feather:

The base view of Emu feather is very fluffy:

The middle part of Emu feather is well balanced with not so dense barbs:

The tip part of Emu feather has barbs very shinny like quills as you can see:

And a photo with a gammarus tied with the tip part of Emu feather:

For these reason we consider an interesting material that should be tried by any tier who like to create new models of flies and love this beautiful hobby – fly tying. Soon we will add a few photos with streamers tied with these feathers.