I may be doing this wrong.

[smalljaw]

Well I was looking at some jig tying videos, I often get some new ideas from them and today I found a jig tying video of someone palmering marabou. What got me was it was completely different than the way I've been doing it but it still worked so it leads me to this question, am I doing it wrong? I tie the marabou feather to the jig by the quill end, I secure it so it is where I want it and I then tie forward and then back to where I will begin palmering the feather forward. I snip the end of the quill off and then I move to the feather and grap the center of the feather with my hackle pliers and I begin to wind. As I wind I constanly brush back the fibers that come loose until all that remains are small fibers on the center of the feather so I simply wrap that around and then tie it off. What I saw today is someone tying the feather down by the center of the feather and then grabbing the quill and palmering forward and it looked ok but it didn't seem as full to me but it was hard to tell as the guy used a few feathers where I usually find 1 is plenty unless I want to just tie the feathers in without palmering them. Let me know if I'm wrong so I can correct it but it does look ok, at least I think it does, but maybe I learned something new.

 

[CrappieHappy]

JoJoPro, did a good tutorial here:

http://www.jigcraft.com/tutorials/marabou_body_01.html

 

[SaltyBuckster]

smalljaw,I just tie the tip end of the feater back about a 1/4" back of the head,Grab the quill with my fingers and dip my fingers into a cup of water to tease the barbs of the feather back towards the hook point.I then start to wrap the feather around the hookshank over and over until the feather is at the quill.Making sure to stroke the feathers back after each wrap to keep them from going around the bend in the hook uintil copmpleted then wrap the thread around the quill to keep it from unravelling.The shorter feathers at the tip of the feather make the bulk of your body while the longer ones at the base of the feather give it the lenghth.

 

[smalljaw]

JoJoPro, did a good tutorial here:

http://www.jigcraft.com/tutorials/marabou_body_01.html

That is awesome, but my jigs are too big for that, as I would need an entire feather just to make the body but that is a little different than what I'm talking about.

 

[SaltyBuckster]

JoJoPro, did a good tutorial here:

http://www.jigcraft.com/tutorials/marabou_body_01.html

I've never seen that tutorial before.Going to try it out.Palmering is very addictive to me.I just love it,lol.That really is not a palmered feather though,as it's tail is just the tips of the feather.The body is palmered though.

 

[smalljaw]

smalljaw,I just tie the tip end of the feater back about a 1/4" back of the head,Grab the quill with my fingers and dip my fingers into a cup of water to tease the barbs of the feather back towards the hook point.I then start to wrap the feather around the hookshank over and over until the feather is at the quill.Making sure to stroke the feathers back after each wrap to keep them from going around the bend in the hook uintil copmpleted then wrap the thread around the quill to keep it from unravelling.The shorter feathers at the tip of the feather make the bulk of your body while the longer ones at the base of the feather give it the lenghth.

That is how I saw it done, but when I do it like that it never seems full but when I hold the tip and wrap the fibers seem to pull away on their onw and I just guide them back until there isn't anymore and they have looked ok but when I do it by holding the quill as I just tried it before writing the thread, it looks like it is hollow in the center and it needs a tail or something, I can't describe it. I just know I've been doing it backward it seems so I'll mess around with it some more and see if it gets better.

 

[SaltyBuckster]

Take the one that you tried to do as I did and put it into some water.See if the action and pulse is there.I bet it is.Picking the right feather is also important.A nice full marabou feather that is already bulky will make you a very puffy jig the just pulsates in the water.

 

[AtticaFish]

No 'wrong' way to do it IF it catches fish. Comes down to how is the easiest way to get the look you want that will stay together once a fish eats it a time or two.

Have you tried pulling the fibers off the quill/stem in a large bunch and tying them in that way? Some feathers will let you pull large sections off together and makes it easy to tie in. Then again i have never palmered marabou to know the difference so maybe should zip my lip.

 

[Fatman]

rather use dubbing or a zonker strip.

 

[smalljaw]

Well I did it the way I saw it done which is the same way SB does it and it worked well but different. What I found is if I don't use part of a feather tied straight in as a tail then I need to palmer two feathers as a single feather makes the jig look as if it is missing something. The reason is plamering from the quill end seperates the individual fibers more so than palmering from the tip which fills the center more that doing it from the quill. I like doing it from the quill better and I will continue to do it this way, thanks SB, the reason is I can actually blend 2 different colors as I can use 2 feathers and the action in the water, I did the tank test, my original marabou ties worked really well and I was really happy and then when I tried the new ones it had the same type action but actually was more erratic. My other ties the marabou had a really nice breathing type action but it looked like the fibers moved in unison but the other way the feathers had the same movement but it was like all the individual fibers were moving in their own direction, that looked really cool and that I believe will catch more fish so thats what I'm going to go with on my future marabou ties so thanks all.

 

[SaltyBuckster]

Like attica said.There is no wrong way,especially if it catches fish.Good job.