Another hackle recommendation....

[GANGGREEN]

I'm pretty sure that I've posted a positive review of the Collins Hackle Company here before, but I was up to see Charlie Collins again this morning and I was fortunate to pick up a nice handful of capes/saddles and thought that I'd give my opinion and make another recommendation. The selfish part of me wishes to stay quiet and hope that Charlie doesn't quickly sell out of his remaining inventory of hackle because I'd love to keep purchasing a cape or three every couple of months, but the fact is that I know Charlie's dealing with a lot of personal issues at home and know that he's probably anxious to unload his remaining inventory if he's able.

Today I picked up nothing but commercial grade capes and grade #3 capes/saddles and can report absolutely that ALL of the capes I purchased today are WONDERFUL colors and very high quality dry fly hackle that I'm completely satisfied with, and at a fraction of the cost of almost any of the other hackle merchants/growers. Off the top of my head, I got a light barred ginger, a grizzly variant, a brown, a smoky dun, a couple of barred rusty duns, a rusty dun and a couple of barred bronze duns, oh, a barred cream as well.

Each of those colors are jaw-dropping, but more importantly, the hackle itself is very, very nice. The feathers aren't as long as a Whiting for sure, but they're comparable to or longer than almost anything else out there with little taper and little web. They also aren't stocked on the neck as tightly as some Whitings that I've seen, but each would last me a very long time if they were the only dry fly cape that I owned. Barbs are stiff, the stems wrap very well and flies tied with these hackles just look buggy (I've already tied a dry fly or two from at least 4 or 5 of the capes I bought today). Another shortcoming for some people would be that the sizes might be slightly more limited than on some Whiting necks, especially if you tie a lot of very small dries, but for me, they're outstanding. Each of the capes that I got today had a handful of size 12 or maybe a bit bigger, a handful of size 18 and maybe a bit smaller, but a ton of size 14 and 16 feathers (which happen to be what I tie the most). Same for the saddles that I got. Some of the saddles are admittedly nicer than some of the others (for the cost, I'm not complaining one iota about the quality of any of his saddles), but most of them provide some very nice dry fly hackle and mostly in the 14-16 range.

If money were not a consideration, I could see people going the Whiting/Hebert route and I think some of the other small operators are probably also close to the quality of Collins capes (albeit at a higher price for the most part), but for me, there are no other hackle providers who produce such a nice cape, such great colors at such a reasonable price. As I said before, Charlie's basically out of business and just selling off some remaining inventory, so he may not have the color or grade that any individual may want on a given day, but if you aren't willing to at least give Collins Hackle a look or some consideration because Whiting provides everything you use, you're probably selling yourself short to some degree.

 

[jeffroey]

I very much appreciate the review. I have a handful of Collins' capes and I like them very much. I don't disagree with any of your observations.

I've purchased all of my capes from Charlie via mail order and although I don't get up that way hardly ever, I often thought about stopping in. Curious if you call ahead or just "knock up" when you visit.

 

[GANGGREEN]

I very much appreciate the review. I have a handful of Collins' capes and I like them very much. I don't disagree with any of your observations.

I've purchased all of my capes from Charlie via mail order and although I don't get up that way hardly ever, I often thought about stopping in. Curious if you call ahead or just "knock up" when you visit.

No, you need to call ahead. Aside from the fact that he's dealing with some pretty serious family health issues, I don't think he'd like someone just knocking without an appointment (though he may invite you in and sell hackle, I couldn't say). He can/will also give you a pretty good idea if he has what you're looking for based on color/grade so that you potentially wouldn't waste a trip. I know that a lot of people say that they'd never buy hackle via mail order because they prefer to see it first, but you aren't going to get a sub-par cape from Charlie as they're all pretty good quality. If you already have a lot of hackle and really only want one or two colors or grades, that would be one thing, but if you're willing to accept a bunch of different colors/shades or grades, you'd definitely get something. I am to the point where I have a few duplicates and have a few saddles that I don't really use, so one of these days I'm going to post an offer somewhere to trade for colors/grades that I'd use more, but I simply won't resell the capes or saddles that I've purchased from Charlie. I know that he's offended by that and I wouldn't do it to him.

 

[falcon]

I have a couple of Collins necks. The best attribute besides cost is the excellent colors and barring. A tier at a shop was using a Collins grizzly ginger for sulphurs. That neck was better than any barred ginger I ever seen.

 

[GANGGREEN]

I thought I'd provide a bit more help by posting photos of what I purchased yesterday. These are the 4 commercial grade capes that I purchased and I'm convinced that there simply is no better value in fly tying than Collins commercial capes. They don't have the number of feathers as a Grade 1 cape or they may have a handful of broken feathers or bare spots (I really haven't found this ever on one of Charlie's capes though), but the feathers themselves are the same as you'd get on a grade 1, 2 or 3, meaning very high quality for dries. From the left, this is a grizzly variant, a light barred ginger, brown and a smoky dun. Geez louise, what beautiful necks.

 

[GANGGREEN]

And here are the 6 Grade #3 capes that I purchased. I think from the left, these are a barred bronze dun, barred rusty dun, barred bronze dun, barred cream, rusty dun and barred rusty dun. Once again, geez louise. For the price, you'll not find better dun colors or better quality feathers.

 

[GANGGREEN]

And finally, here are the saddles that came with those capes (same colors and in the same order). Admittedly, as I mentioned before, some of these saddles are loaded with good quality dry fly feathers (mostly 14 and 16, but a few larger or smaller) and some aren't as high quality or are larger feathers. I see the saddles as a bonus and there are 2 or 3 of these that are really nice.

 

[JeffK]

I will have to call. Collins has by far the best black wet fly necks I have ever used. They are natural colors with gold barring at the tip or an iridescent sheen or something extra. Most other black necks I have seen are dyed and a little flat looking.

 

[nfrechet]

i have 2 collins neck/saddle combos, whiting and metz as well and seem to pick the whitings first over the other two. but thats just me

 

[GANGGREEN]

i have 2 collins neck/saddle combos, whiting and metz as well and seem to pick the whitings first over the other two. but thats just me

Yep, to each his own. I have Whiting, Hebert, Metz and Sideling Hill and Collins is my favorite.

 

[WV waver]

Fairly new to tying, I went from “Cabelas Dry Fly Hackle” couple years ago to Collin’s & some Whiting I purchased from a board member last fall. After learning to use the Cabelas stuff, the other stuff is a super big upgrade. I was in amazement at how many more barbules, length of hackle feathers, durability, ease of tying with smaller stems, appearance and ability to stay afloat there was in comparison. I’m so impressed that I cannot tell the difference in Whiting & Collin’s. Maybe in time?

 

[GANGGREEN]

Fairly new to tying, I went from “Cabelas Dry Fly Hackle” couple years ago to Collin’s & some Whiting I purchased from a board member last fall. After learning to use the Cabelas stuff, the other stuff is a super big upgrade. I was in amazement at how many more barbules, length of hackle feathers, durability, ease of tying with smaller stems, appearance and ability to stay afloat there was in comparison. I’m so impressed that I cannot tell the difference in Whiting & Collin’s. Maybe in time?

I like the Hebert necks fairly well and find them to be somewhat comparable to Collins. Seems like the Hebert capes are clearly a bit bigger and personally I like the tying attributes of the Collins a bit more. The Collins capes are also quite a bit less money, if that's something that matters. Hebert colors are more consistent too, but that's one of the things I like the best about Collins. You can purchase two capes that are both marked "barred cream"or whatever and they might be entirely different(but still with the same quality feathers).

 

[joebamboo]

I personally prefer saddles over capes. You get a lot more hackle with the longer feathers. Feather Emporium has a tremendous selection of quality Feathers. Whiting, Metz etc. in a multitude of sizes and colors.

 

[GANGGREEN]

I personally prefer saddles over capes. You get a lot more hackle with the longer feathers. Feather Emporium has a tremendous selection of quality Feathers. Whiting, Metz etc. in a multitude of sizes and colors.

There are lots of places to purchase quality saddles. It's been widely reported that Charlie Collins' saddles (which are included free of charge with a graded cape) aren't as high in quality as a Whiting saddle for instance and I would absolutely agree with that, but they're basically free. They also aren't very consistent as one may be VERY nice for tying dries and another of the same grade and color might be poor quality feathers for dries (but very nice for streamers, buggers or something else). That said, of the 20 or so Collins saddles that I have, about 6-8 of them would knock your socks off for their color, their length and consistency and almost all of the others would tie at least some very nice dry flies. Personally, I much prefer to tie with capes in general, but I can fully understand why some people prefer saddles, especially commercial tyers or someone who might sit down to knock out 20 of the same pattern at one sitting (which I would rarely or never do).

When you consider that you get a cape AND a saddle for one price, it basically eliminates the benefit of a Whiting having longer feathers or more tightly stocked feathers. Then it's mostly a matter of whether you can afford one or the other on any given day and which YOU prefer. I haven't found anything yet that I prefer to Collins hackle, but there may be bias because I like the man, because he lives reasonably close to me or because I'm cheap by nature (or poor, I haven't decided which yet).

I have several lifetime supplies of dry fly hackle at this point I would think, but I'm still hopeful that I might be able to manage at least several more Collins capes before they become impossible to find. I have a couple of grade #2s, but all of the rest of mine are either grade 3 or commercial grade, so I wouldn't mind purchasing at least a couple of grade #1s one of these days.

 

[falcon]

Parachutes and patterns with vertically wrapped hackle when trimming the bottom flush do not require grade 1 or even 2 hackle. The hackle represents legs and provides little floatation qualities. Catskill type flies are the exception. I have have tied parachutes with Collins hen necks (maybe a extra wrap so two) that float just fine.

I am unlikely to call Charlie or drive there for hackle. In reality slight shades of hackle are in consequential in my opinion. I think they are cool but not a game changer. I do wish him and his family well and miss seeing him at the Fly Fishing Shows even though he has not attended in at least 5 years.