Cappgun

Trying some classic wets...

I used to have the same problem, I hate to say it but when i switched to Whiting hackles my problem went away. In my experience, the recent Metz hackles have too thick of a rachis and they want to twist too much. On the other hand, I also have some Hebert Miner Whiting capes that may be a bit thin in rachis (they break a bit too easy). I have found I prefer standard Whiting capes (red packaging) for my tying needs.

I've never had a hard time tying 18's with Uni 8/0. I do have some smaller threads laying around, but I've typically been too lazy to dig them out.

I personally prefer Daiichi, then TMC. I had some Mustad hooks I bought a couple of years ago that were not impressive. Lack of quality control on eyes, even had some missing eyes all together.