Marabou
A soft, fluffy feather used in fly tying to add motion and bulk with very little weight, most often in streamers and leech patterns.
- Group
- Hackle & feathers
- Category
- Fly tying — materials & tools
- Level
- Beginner
- Water
- Fresh & salt
Last updated
What Marabou means
Marabou is a feather material used for tails, wings, and collars on flies. The fibers are long and mobile, so they pulse and breathe with small changes in current or a slow strip.
Most marabou sold for tying comes as blood quills or marabou plumes in a wide range of dyed colors. Tiers use it heavily on streamers, leeches, and some wet flies, and it also shows up as a tail on patterns like the Woolly Bugger.
Because it is so soft, marabou is usually tied in with a firm thread base and a few controlled wraps. Too many wraps or too much handling mats the fibers down and reduces movement.
Why it matters on the water
Marabou lets a fly look alive at slower speeds. That helps in cold water, in softer currents, or anytime the retrieve is more of a crawl than a rip.
Shop Marabou
Read next
- HackleHackle is feather fiber used on a fly, either wrapped around the hook or tied in as a collar or wing. It adds movement, buoyancy, and the outline of legs.
- StreamerA streamer is a fly meant to be moved to imitate a baitfish, leech, sculpin, or crayfish. It is often fished with strips, swings, or a steady retrieve, but it can also be dead-drifted.
- Tungsten beadA tungsten bead is a small, heavy metal bead tied on a hook to add weight and help a fly sink faster.
- Woolly BuggerA Woolly Bugger is a simple streamer with a marabou tail and a fuzzy chenille body, usually palmered with hackle. It’s fished to imitate small baitfish, leeches, or big nymphs.