1. Select hackle from neck or saddle. Hackle barb length should be 2 to 2 & 1/2 of hook gap length. Hackle, depending on hook size, should be 6" for a size 8 woolly bugger.

2. Holding hackle by tips with right hand. Pull off fuzzy (if any) from base of hackle stem.

3. Hold feather by tips horizontally with right fingers. Shiny side of feather should be against your thumb.

4. Take left fingers and pull hackle barbs backward without stripping them off and hold in left fingers.

5. Adjust hold so tips point downward at an angle. You are ready to tie in hackle.