first off, congratulations on makin the plunge! what you described is called hackle, palmered hackle is slightly different in that it starts at the back of the fly or jig and spirals toward the front, like a wooly worm fly. just select the right size feather and clip it off just above the fuzzy portion, then strip a 1/32 inch section at the butt end. don't split the feather, just tie the butt end in at the front of the jig. ok, here is a tip. leave yourself enough room at the front of the jig for this hackle wrap, in other words if you crowd the front of the jig it will be all bunched up. ok, once I have the butt end of the feather tied in, I wrap it around the hook, away from me, in the same direction I'm wrapping my thread. your feather wraps should be almost on top of the last wrap, I even wrap on top of it at times, when you get the desired fullness, tie the feather down and trim it off. I know a master panfish popping bug maker, that uses saddle hackles which are real long, on his poppers instead of rubber legs. he told me he uses two compleat feathers, and thats all in a space of about 1/8 inch. I'm not that good but just shows what can be done with practice. the feather splitting thing you mentioned is done on tiny trout flies where they want minimum buildup of the hackle. hope this helps