My daughter brought these duck flank feathers home from a recent hunt. Not sure what all ducks were involved. Y’all have any ideas on patterns to use these on? I’m mostly into warmwater and saltwater fish.

I've mostly seen them in classic flies, which can be fun to learn.

https://globalflyfisher.com/patterns/classic-wet-flies


https://globalflyfisher.com/streamers/carrie-stevens-patterns



There are a couple of more modern nymph patterns that use them as legs too.

Those look good, very fancy! I’m thinking of doing a Gartside soft hackle streamer and the one feather shrimp.

https://www.jackgartside.com/step_sh_streamer.htm

https://globalflyfisher.com/patterns/one-mallard-shrimp

The top ones look like gadwall and I generally use those flank feathers as softhackle collars on large (long) streamers. I bet the work at pretty well as "legs " on shrimp patterns.

Very nice.

Used 4 of the flank feathers on these Gartside Soft Hackle Streamers. Only variation from original recipe was that I added a sparse craft fur tail, 2 in chartreuse and 2 olive. Swam great, slow sinking with my all fluorocarbon leaders. Promising pattern for fresh or salt. Let’s see if the fish like them.

Tried out the Gartside Soft Hackle Streamer today. I love the pattern.

Nice looking flies and looks like the fish thought so also.

That right there is awesome!!!

Did a few more. Fun it is to do something I haven’t done before.

Those look dang good.

Here are those two hooks, side by side, Bones72.

Kinda like the looks of the Mustad for mullet patterns and such though it seems like I may be sticking with the Gamakatsu for gurglers and the like.

Is the B10S saltwater friendly? It seems like it should be, but it's not marketed as a "saltwater" hook.

I tie almost everything on them, so it would be better if they were....

Not completely. The finish is more durable than what might be on an average freshwater bronze hook. Resistant to corrosion but not to the degree of a stainless hook. Maybe a little less resistant to corrosion as compared to a good tin coated carbon steel hook.

I try to rinse them off well after saltwater exposure then let them dry thoroughly in open air. Used flies have their own box and don’t get mixed in with virgin ones.

I carry a ceramic hook hone and sharpen off any surface corrosion that might happen as the fly gets used. In my experience, it is very rare for a hook to rust apart before a fly gets torn up by the fish or otherwise lost.

These are just fun. I hope the fish, I’ve barely fished any, will like them as much as I like tying, casting and fishing them. Have on order more colors of marabou and some dyed mallard flanks to make even more color combinations.

Anyhow, it’s fun to have something new, new to me, to work on. I could just toss something like a clouser every time I fished, but some variety and options makes it more stimulating for me.

Gartside soft hackle streamers work in freshwater, too.

Look like the fish definitely like em. Mallard and pintail flank dyes pretty well with koolaid as does wood duck and teal if you don't want to order it. I did some in pink and purple for traditional catskill flies when I was stationed at Ft. Knox. I'm kinda far sighted so I needed something that stood out on the narrow confines of tiny streams in the Smokies when I ventured that way. Pink for sunny days and dark purple for cloudy days.

Do they still make cool-aid? I grew up on cherry and grape cool-aid. I haven’t tried using any dye like that, but it’s worth a shot. What the recipe, x amount of time in the solution gets it done?

Pretty sure they still make it. I never used exact recipes. Just use heavier amount for deeper colors. You get it all dissolved in the water bring it up to boil and then drop the feathers in and then take it off the heat. The longer you leave em in the more color they will absorb. Tea and coffee are also good that's how I got "wood duck" flank from mallards when the woodies wouldn't play in the decoys.

Trying some more color combinations.

Man those look good. Bet you could even build the head up a bit and slap some decal eyes on them.

True.

Got the gartside soft hackle streamer into action yesterday. It’s the only thing I could get an eat on from on the redfish.

Getting a little low on chartreuse through attrition and wanted to try a couple in pink. Size one Mustad Stingers.