Dry Fly hackle

[nomad_archer]

After the jam last weekend and seeing some of the beautiful dry flies that were tied. I am determined to learn to tie and fish dries this year. Compared to hackle for buggers, soft hackles, and nymphs these dry fly capes are a bit more expensive. Not that big of a deal with the bronze and tyers grade but it makes me more cautious since I don't want to buy a bad cape. Making mistakes on capes could quickly become cost prohibitive to correct. My guess is buying a cape is a lot like buying deer hair in that it needs to be done in person.

I am thinking buying a few 1/2 capes would be a good place to start but I have some questions.

Are there particular brands I should look at or stay away from?

What grades are the best value for the quality?

How do you select a good cape?

What is a good selection of colors for a beginner?

Feel free to add any other information that may be beneficial it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance
- nomad

 

[joebamboo]

Everything you need is right here. Quality and price very good.

http://www.featheremporium.com/

 

[JohnPowers]

Six guides on the upper D in a recent article when asked gave a favorite fly. Not one classic catskill fly. I've got lovely light Hendrickson and red quills and get outfished by my friend fishing a comparadun trailing a bead head pheasant tail. I'm tying up sparkleduns now. I'm not sure about getting too invested in dry fly necks or capes. I concur with the source given above.

 

[nomad_archer]

JohnPowers wrote:
Six guides on the upper D in a recent article when asked gave a favorite fly. Not one classic catskill fly. I've got lovely light Hendrickson and red quills and get outfished by my friend fishing a comparadun trailing a bead head pheasant tail. I'm tying up sparkleduns now. I'm not sure about getting too invested in dry fly necks or capes. I concur with the source given above.

Interesting. This is something I didn't realize. I just assumed for whatever reason that mayfly dries needed hackle. That is my inexperience showing. I have no problem tying deer hair wings as I have plenty of that and it more cost effective to purchase in small quantities.

 

[McSneek]

Nomad - check out the Whiting 100 packs. You can tie a lot of hackled flies with what comes in them. I mostly fish deer hair or cdc comparaduns but still enjoy a good old parachute dry fly now and then. Also if you wanted to do traditional elk hair caddis you need some hackle. I'll often tie a thorax style dry with a cdc wing and a sparse hackle palmered through. Do you need hackle? No. But if you want to expand your tying and arsenal there are options beyond going all in on a #1 full cape.

Colors? - grizzly, cream, dun and brown may be the most common and most called for in patterns. If you can find a true cree neck they're nice too.

 

[nomad_archer]

McSneek. I am not planning on going all in on full capes as I will never use them. That is why I was thinking a few bronze grade 1/2 capes and then I will have options. I may start with one 1/2 cape for elk hair caddis and go from there. I have been tying deer and cdc caddis recently and wanted to try the original that requires having some hackle. I am certainly ok tying the majority of my dries with cdc and deer hair. I can buy a lot of cdc, antron, and deer hair for the cost of one full #1 cape.

 

[Brianh]

joebamboo wrote:
Everything you need is right here. Quality and price very good.

http://www.featheremporium.com/

I would stay away from Feather Emporium.
I placed an order there back in Sept. and it took 3 months and my contesting the order through Paypal for me to get my product. I even spoke with the owner 2 times on the phone and he never shipped the order even though he said it would go out in a few days.

 

[McSneek]

nomad_archer wrote:
McSneek. I am not planning on going all in on full capes as I will never use them. That is why I was thinking a few bronze grade 1/2 capes and then I will have options. I may start with one 1/2 cape for elk hair caddis and go from there. I have been tying deer and cdc caddis recently and wanted to try the original that requires having some hackle. I am certainly ok tying the majority of my dries with cdc and deer hair. I can buy a lot of cdc, antron, and deer hair for the cost of one full #1 cape.

If you're only getting one cape get a grizzly IMO. Again the Whiting 100 packs will give you variety, consistent hackle length and good quality. A bronze grade may not give you a lot of good options for smaller hackle. Probably OK for 12s - 16s with some 18s too.

You're right that a pile of cdc, antron and deer hair is a lot cheaper! My go to caddis has long been a copy of TCO's cdc caddis. It's two shades of dubbing and a clump of cdc for a wing. Works anywhere they're eating caddis. I like an elk hair caddis but something lower in the film works a lot better unless your in a pretty heavy riffle.

 

[PennKev]

I would not hesitate to purchase a Whiting or Metz neck without seeing them in person. The quality of these brands is good enough and consistent enough to buy with confidence.
Saddles are a different story, but only because they tie just a couple sizes of fly and I want feathers that suit my needs. Still, those two brands are reliable.

 

[Rolf]

http://www.troutandfeather.com/fly-tying-videos/#/beginnerrecommendations/

Good Luck!

 

[PennKev]

Brianh wrote:

joebamboo wrote:
Everything you need is right here. Quality and price very good.

http://www.featheremporium.com/

I would stay away from Feather Emporium.
I placed an order there back in Sept. and it took 3 months and my contesting the order through Paypal for me to get my product. I even spoke with the owner 2 times on the phone and he never shipped the order even though he said it would go out in a few days.

I had a very similar experience. The guy has got some nice products, but he's out to lunch when it comes to running a business and interacting with customers.

 

[nomad_archer]

Any recommendations on where to order from? The local shop had like 4 capes in stock.

 

[lv2nymph]

http://collinshacklefarm.com/Home.asp

 

[Rolf]

lv2nymph wrote:
http://collinshacklefarm.com/Home.asp

You can't go wrong with Charlie............

 

[wbranch]

Nomad,

I fish dry 95% of the time and I would say selecting dry fly hackle should always be done in person if you know what to look for and if you are looking for specific colors.

I have as many necks and half necks as I will need for the rest of my tying life. Some guys I know have dozens of dry fly necks. I guess if they can afford them fine but I'd rather use all that money to buy a rod, reel, or line.

I tie hundreds of dries every year and catch plenty of trout on just a few colors. These are the necks I have and in my opinion all you need; grizzly, dark dun, medium dun, coachmen brown, cream, honey dun. I only use saddles for two very important reasons; I don't tie a huge range of sizes in my dry flies. Most are #14 - #20. The other reason is neck hackles are pretty short, especially in the small hook sizes like #18 - #22. Saddle hackles are amazingly long and the barbule length is very consistent length from the base of the feather (once you strip away any fluff) all the way to the tip of the feather. Neck hackles do not have uniform lengths from butt to tip. I can tie at least 1/2 dozen #16 - #20 flies with just one feather so in my mind I am really getting my money's worth when I buy saddles.

I used to buy only Hoffman saddles but I think Whiting bought Hoffman out years ago. That is how long it is since I had to buy a saddle - at least fifteen years ago.

Regarding grades of hackle; I'm not familiar with the names Bronze, Silver, or Gold. When I was buying saddles the grading was #1, #2, and #3. #1 being the best and #3 being a lesser grade. You know it all depends on who is doing the grading and how skilled they are I have seen plenty of saddles graded #2 that were #1 quality. I've seen #1's that IMO were #2 grade.

I look for total feather length, barbule length, barbule stiffness, hackle stem flexibility, stem dryness - saddles and necks that are improperly processed have hackle stems that break very easily. Also uniformity of color is very important if you are buying dyed hackle.

Now you say you want to learn how to fish and tie dry flies in 2017. Well as another gentleman said you don't have to use fowl necks and saddles to tie great dry flies. I use CDC wings on almost all of my dry flies. I even tie compara-dun wings with CDC. If you learn to tie parachutes you don't even need primo hackles because instead of the fly resting on the points of the barbules the fly is resting more on the abdomen and thorax of the fly and the entire length of the barbule since it is now parallel to the water instead of being perpendicular to it.

PM if you want me to take you out and help you get into dry fly theory, casting, etc. Too much to type here.

 

[dryflyguy]

Hackle is one thing that I prefer to see before buying.
Looking at pictures online or in catalogs, doesn't always do justice to what you're getting.

I still like to use necks. You get so many different sizes on them.
And you don't need to buy #1's - or gold I guess - to get good hackle.
I've used lots of #3's - and they work just fine.

As for colors, probably 90% of my flies are tied with just two - dun and ginger.
I do use some brown for march browns and grannoms
And mix in some grizzly for march browns and gray fox.

I would also agree with the recommendation for collins hackle. The quality is good, and the price is a little more reasonable than the other brands IMO

 

[nomad_archer]

Thanks guys. It seems like I need to give charlie a call.

 

[steveo27]

McSneek wrote:
Nomad - check out the Whiting 100 packs.

I like the 100 packs for convenience and consistency. Definitely worth checking out.

 

[MKern]

I'm a fan of the 100 packs too. I have a few necks, but always gravitate to the whiting 100's when I'm tying.

I know it's a little more costly, but saddle hackle is nicer to work with and being presided helps.

I would like that you could get away with a medium dun and a ginger for most flies. Grizzly is probably another color to carry.

 

[J55tyger88]

Yo Nomad, pm me your address, I have some feathers for you.