The Indian Crow feather is commonly used on many Atlantic salmon fly patterns. By using substitutes you also help to preserve the few remaining birds in the wild from being killed for their feathers.

Step l. The feather I begin with is a ringneck pheasant white neck feather. The first step in the process is to clean the feather. A cleaner is necessary to remove oils and can be used in the dying process itself. I use a cleaning agent called synthrapol (available through Hunters).

Step 2. After the feathers are cleaned I dye them yellow containing a small amount of orange and scarlet. If you want to save time you can purchase toucan substitute feathers. They are most often white ringneck pheasant feathers dyed the proper shade of yellow.

These next steps few steps will produce an accurate substitute. Note, that the Indian Crow feather has a dark base and stem. The ringneck pheasant feather has a gray base and stem.

Step 3. After the dye process the base will have a slight yellow tint that is undesirable. You may want to dye the base with a small amount of scarlet or brown.

Step 4. After the feather has dried, I color the tips. You can use dip dying, however, this does not achieve the same results as coloring the tips first with a red washable Crayola© marker. I smudge the color downward to give the feather a look of slowly fading from yellow to red.

Step 5. To bring out the intense fiery red in the tip of the feather to match the crow, use a red Sharpie© and gently color the very tip of the feather.

Step 6. My next step is to either use a fine point marker or a fine brush. Color the stem with a brown dye or pen up to the last quarter inch or so from the tip. The stem is very fine, so be careful and try to stop before the yellow fades to red.

Step 7. The last step is crimping the tip of the feather. There are several different methods you can use to create the desired effect. A zip lock bag can be used. (A method that is also very effective is to use a clothes pin. Remove a small amount of material in the jaws to form the basic shape needed. Then glue a piece of soft rubber between the jaws of clothes pin. Wet the feather and place it in the jaws and allow it to dry for a few minutes. The crimp will be very similar to the natural feather. (Editor).

You may want to experiment on the percentage of colors you use in each step. A brown tint to the base can be obtained by using more scarlet. Or, you may want a darker stem by using black in place of brown.