There are a lot of tools for the fly tier on the market. Some are good, some are useless, some are expensive but worth the money, some are cheap and still super usefull.

I used a lot of different tools and gimmicks in the last 20 years, and in this series I want to show things, which worked well for me and I’ll try to tell you why.

Part 2

Every fly tier needs a good hackle plier. You can find a lot of different pliers on the market. This are the two types I can highly recommend.

1. Dorin Hackle Plier

You can buy it normally for less than 5,- €. It works great and has a lot of power holding different materials. I use it often, when I have to tie with a high strength, especially ribbing with mono. Just wind the mono two times around the wire. The only negative point for me is, that my finger does not fit into the loop of wire.

This is the Dorin hackle pliers I use. It looks a bit shabby, but it’s over 13 years old.

From time to time the plastic tubing is damaged and the materials begin to slip. To solve the problem is very easy.

Just push the tube over the edge and cut it. Now it works like brand new. You can see, that it’s not necessary to do it often. Like I said, the one on the picture is more then 13 years old and it was used very often. There is still some tubing left. ;-)

Here is the expensive one. C&F hackle plier. About 30,- € for the cheapest model. Well, a lot of money, but it’s worth every cent. It works perfect as an all around hackle plier. You can tie with it many years and it still works like on day one. The rubber pads are missing on mine, but that’s no problem. Still working great.

The secret of success. The tip is rough in a microscopic way. Hackles, feathers and synthetics are hold very well.

This is the rotary version of the C&F, which I sometimes like to use when tying smaller patterns.

Well, that’s it! My two cent on hackle pliers. These are the pliers I use since many, many years without any problems. Still working perfect.