OK, so I tried to tie my first ever midge pattern last night. Didn't go so well. Was following a recipe that called for a size 20 (or smaller) hook, black thread body, fine gold rib, orange poly post, with grizzly hackle wound around the post.

Everything was going just fine, all I had to do was tie in the hackle, wind it around the post, tie it off, and whip finish.

I had two major issues at this point:

1) I got my half neck of grizzly hackle from my supply box. Using my hackle guage (for the first time) I started to search for a feather near a size 20. All I could find were 16 and 18. After reading the package label, I realized that bronze grades only go up to 18. Is matching hackle size to hook size very important for wrapping hackle around a post?

2) So I ended up using an 18 anyway. It looked quite big compared to the hook. Tied it in anyway and made three wraps around the post. Then I had to tie it off. Big problem. I kept smooshing the hackle I just wrapped. Furthermore a whip finish behind the post smooshed some more of the hackle. It looks like crap. Any advice on tying down hackle that's been wrapped around a post?