Okay I use Salt Water Neck Hackle as long as they make it in the color I want and if not I will use regular Neck Hackle and it works just fine, but Salt Water Neck Hackle is longer and wider and more webby in general. You will find some regular that is wide and web, but not as an average! So here is a picture of some of each I have. The regular I measured and is 4" long which is right in the middle of regular coming in at 3" to 5". The Salt Water Hackle in this picture is 6 1/2" long and SW comes in 4" to 7" long. Someone ask me to do this on another board and thought it really brings home the difference!

Great photo & info Skip! That's why I switched!

2nd Pepop and made the switch last year

thanks!!!! I have a question tho: with the neck hackle, do you cut along the spine of the feather, then take those pieces and make a tail, or do you just cut the feather in pieces? Hope that question makes sense.

Jay, They are not telling you that one hackle is better than the other. They are used on differ size jigs and you need to get what you need. As to your question about the feathers yes. When you have a feather to do a 1 or 2 jig always do them first. next 4 and then 6 as to what the feathers will do. The last few weeks the 1/64 jig on a 8 or 10 hook at about 3/4 inch with white or chart. tail, black, blue or silver body is getting the most and biggest crappie on the east Texas lakes.

Jay, not to be contradictory, but for the way I tie & the size heads/hooks I tie on, the SW hackle IS much better. I still use the other but only if I can't get a color in SW. The reason the SW is better is because every jig I tie is made up of 1 or 2 "tip's" and from 2 to 4 "V's" and the SW feather's, because they're generally longer & wider, will yield 1 tip and usually 3-5 V's allowing me to usually tie a complete jig using 1 feather with very little waste. But that's just me.

I use the SW hackle in the same way Pepop does. Saltwater hackle ties a much better looking jig when the jigs are dry, but the regular hackle works just fine. They also look exactly the same when they are wet. I started using the SW hackle last year and prefer it, but it is usually more expensive as well. I have a bunch of regular hackle that I bought on clearance and just have to use 2-3 tips when I want a full tail.

Exactly! I check with wholesale places all over the country once I wanted to buy a pound and they always gave me a price for regular neck hackle and then I would ask for the 4" to 7" still and the price would double every time! Plus I know Hareline's feathers come in looking better than others!

I think everyone should understand that there is two kinds of crappie jigs. One to sell to people and one to fish with. The one for sale have to look nice to the folks. Fishing jigs for ones self its all about what they do in the water. I do know how it works I sold jigs for over 40 years. In this day and time it is cheaper and works better to use all man made stuff. No feathers at all. The biggest thing to learn is do some of your big jigs in 1/40 th to 1/60 th weight. This is done by the pen and bead. Also about half of your jigs need to be on reg. hooks not jig hooks. The only way for a jig hook to fall is head first. Some jigs need to fall level or slower, you need all.

Well, again I don't want to be contradictory nor do I want to be argumentative but I only tie 1 kind of jig and only because I enjoy tying jigs. That one kind of jig I tie I also fish with and so do several friends & acquaintances, and not to boast, my jigs catch fish. I do sell a few jigs mainly to offset the cost of them durn SW Hackle feather's LOL!, and if the jigs I sell didn't catch fish, I wouldn't be able to sell many more. Finally, upon recommendation from a friend, I've been tying more "Finesse" jigs in the 1/32oz, 1/48oz and 1/64oz size and although I don't fish anything that small, the guys I tie them for tell me that they indeed do catch fish.

Pepop, you and I are saying the same thing. But, anyone in East Texas needs to have some of everything if they are like me and crappie fish over 300 days a year. I think we all have that go to jig, with me it is what I call a swivel tail minnow at about 2 1/2 inch. I have been doing it for over 50 years and have several 100's crappie over 3 pounds with it. A man named Ward Bean of warm water jig tyers does it and has been about as long as me. He calls his The jointed minnow. We don't do it the same but close enough and he has a film on YouTube if anyone wants to look at it. Its not a everyday jig but one that ever one should have in their box. As for as the hackle goes for my use it was always cheaper because I got more out of it.

Hmmmm... I guess i will have to take a pic of what im talking about.

Jay, Skip did a video of the process but I can't put my finger on it right now. Maybe these photo's will help...
You pick out a feather

First, determine the length of tail you want and cut the Tip that length

From what's left of the feather, cut "V's" down to the "fluff"

The way I do it is place the widest V on the bench then the next widest on top of the first then the tip then the 3rd V. this is the "Stack" I'll tie in for the jigs tail.

This shows the stack tied in (different feather but same process)

Here are a few pictures where I am doing both the things, or I think I am, you asked about.

I marked some dots up the quill, about where you you would cut to get the best V's. You just nip the quill.


Three V's and the tip of a saltwater neck hackle.


I gathered the three V's and trimmed the ends right at my finger tips.


Then I tied the V's on the hook and then added the tip.

A finished Cinnamon/Blue, a little blurry.

LOL! Pepop beat me to it!