You can use brown hen for the hackle, but you can also substitute a pheasant rump feather...the kind w/ the black tip. Also, the traditional recipe uses chenille for the body, but peacock herl gives the fly that shimmery bug look. The downside with tying em this way is that they are not as durable as the chenille body. Also, check this website for help. Good luck.
http://www.flytyingworld.com/flyindex.shtml
I think it might have been the wings that I was having trouble with. I seen some recipes using white calf tail hair. Is this hair more dense as say compared to some normal white deer hair which might be more hollow. My flies always tending to ride high or even float. So I'm sure this is where my problem is. And I have been using peacock hearl for the body, I like the shine it gives off.
Thanks for the info fellas.
