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Posts: 1
| Hi Folks!
I am new to the board here, so glad a friend showed it to me. There is so much cool stuff on the site!
I was hoping someone might be able to share some wisdom with me...?? I have been tying actual bucktail for some time, but as the walleye bite in northern WI gets tougher and tougher, I am getting more and more into chasing the elusive musky. In recent months I have began tying bucktails with marabou. I love the stuff. While I thought I was doing a good job, I realize that mine are so weak compared to everyone else.
I was wondering if anyone might be able to shed some light as to how to stack so many feathers on a single bucktail?? I am in awe with my JH and Dadson blade baits. How do they get such a clean finished look and get so many feathers on there??!?! When I try to put that many feathers on the thread head just gets so big and bulky.
What is the best type of thread?? I have used braided line, embroidery thread, and basic sewing thread. I thought maybe when I wrap the thread I need to pull it tighter but then I started breaking my thread frequently. By stepping up to light braided line I can wrap tighter but do not gain anything because its a bigger diameter. And how many wraps does it take to keep a feather stack on?? Maybe I am wrapping too much?? Idk.
Thanks Guys. Can't wait to get on the water this spring and share some musky stories! |
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| I'm certainly no expert but when I tie up a spinner, I use Kevlar thread found at the fly section of big box retailers. |
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Posts: 54
| In a pinch when I ran out of regular thread, I used some left over 6lb nanofil line. I used a drill and fill my empty thread spool with nanofil so I cold still use my bobbin. I could wrap as tight as possible and never had a break. I was very pleased with using it, not sure if there is a thread equivalent to it though.
take you time, a feather or two at a time. try not to use ones with big steams, or trim the steams. wrap each one just tight enough that it doesn't move. Once you make your way all the way around with feathers, then do a bunch of tight wraps. then use head cement and let it dry before your next layer. |
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Posts: 273
Location: US | When I started tying marabou I had the same problem. I'm certainly no pro, but here is one of mine after a little practice.
anderj85 - 2/23/2017 12:54 PM
Started making a few bucktails this winter. Took a few practice runs to get something I was happy with. It's quite addicting 
I found that I was trying to use way too much of the feather. I trim the feather until you can hardly distinguish the stem and tie that on one at a time. It will seem like you are wasting a lot of marabou, but the thick stem stuff doesn't "swim" much in the water anyway. I use regular sewing thread, no need to get it "thread breaking" tight. I tie one feather on and wrap 5-6 times. Every 4 feathers I apply a coat of head cement. Once done tying I finish with epoxy. Again I'm an amateur compared to some of these other guys and if I'm wrong I'm sure someone will chime in! |
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Posts: 44
| I don't tie marabou but do tie bucktail and also Kevlar thread like mnmusky. |
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Posts: 833
| Basically what has been said in here already. The trick to marabou is to go slowly and not overload the material. I find I can do 1-2 feathers at a time. After a few baits you'll get a feel of how it lays on the bait and that will allow you to stack the colors you like to create the desired effect.
You will know it is wrong when you take it casting the first time and the feathers starter coming out of your tie after a few casts. That means you are putting on too much at a time.
Do not forget the hackle at the back. Those feathers swim differently than the regular marabou and add a nice effect in the water.
When you do the epoxy, be careful and make sure you can rotate your coil to get a nice even cure. Do your best to not let the feather get into the goo. Once you get comfortable with it you can do fun stuff like adding paint or glitter to epoxy to create an additional flourish for your bait. I doubt the fish care much about it, but it looks sharp.
Enjoy, I prefer tying Marabou over Flash, it is just a more enjoyable process IMO. |
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Posts: 386
| A lot of guys have been using Kevlar here, I would highly recommend using 210 denier thread over the Kevlar. It "bites" into itself and the material a lot better. The Kevlar tends to slip off material and in particular, itself. The 210 is much better when building up heads for this reason. It is plenty strong, it is often used when spinning deer hair for flies which requires far more pressure on the thread then the tails we are tying for bucktails. When I switched from Kevlar to the 210 it made my tying experience much more enjoyable. |
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Posts: 54
| My first "major" tie. Definitely not perfect, but I doubt the fish will mind. I tied directly to the wire on this one. Going forward I may go back to coils just for the ability to "rebuild" if I want to. But I did like how building on the wire prevented a real heavy build up. I probably have around 4 hours in to this bait.
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