How many colors do you need?

[gespliesste 0]

Hi,

what do you think are the hackle capes colors every fly tyer should have on his bench?

Thanks Olaf

[day5 0]

how many do they make?????

 

No i only have what I tie sell and fish personally. But I add every now and then I have 10 colors I work from.

[Guest]

Well I guess Grizzly, Brown, Dark Dun, light dun, and ginger are pretty obvious choices however the first question has to be what are you tying for? The colors I've listed would give you the ability to tie most dry flies for trout provided you got them in the correct sizes but may be useless to a steelhead or saltwater tyer. Think of the patterns you wish to tie and obtain the hackles to tie them. Add to your collection as required to tie new patterns, that way you don't end up with expensive stuff you don't need. Have Fun.

[Joe Hard 0]

It realy depends on what you are going to tie.

[gespliesste 0]

I would tie mostly trout flies.

Olaf

[appalachian angler (tn.) 0]

Where do you fish Olaf?

 

If you can obtain a local Hatch chart, study on the colors of those bugs in the area you fish most often. Then select the colors of hackle that suit those of the bugs you wish to imitate. If you don't plan to tie huge numbers of flys, you can purchase 1/2 capes or Whiting 100's packs of the colors you will need.

 

My must have list would be (and I say this will cover most of the species in North america) Natural medium Dun, Grizzly, Brown, Medium ginger, Cream, Natural Black(which can be a substitute for "dark dun"). I like the natural colors because Dyes tend to make the feathers more brittle. Those are the colors I need in hackle capes at a Minimum. I purchased them one at a time over a period of a few years and bought the best I could afford.

 

As for saddles, I am less fussy and willl buy dyed ones. I like saddles for palmering hackles, streamers and on occassion for hackles on caddis and stonefly imitations. The Whiting 100's are from saddles and are good enough for most dry fly recipes, however I prefer cape feathers for Catskill style traditional mayfly patterns.

 

These are merely suggestions from my own personnel experience and preferences. Take your time and buy wisely. If possible, purchase your feathers at the local fly shop so you can inspect the color and overall quality before you pay for them!

 

Good tying to you,

 

AA

[Redwings1 0]

It really is dependant on what you are going to tie. I have atleast 8 or 9 different full capes on hand as well as some half necks. If you are just tynig for yourself then that is the way I would recommend you go. Whiting Farms now has mixed bad half necks so you can get two different colors half necks in a package. Their Grade 2 necks are wonderful for fishing flies and not all that expensive.

[oldfart 0]

Olaf, According to Vince Marinaro, in the Dry Fly Code, a pale watery dun is all you need, use just enough to float your fly, It will be invisable to the fish, as it blends with the sky, and still leaves the impression of legs on the water. I did it for years with great success. But I also tie some flies with other colors, brown, dark dun, and grizzly.

[gespliesste 0]

Did some one use this Capes:

http://www.conranch.com/

and

http://www.angelfire.com/biz6/crbirdfarm/

 

Olaf

[Royal Coachman 0]

It may be that silhouette is more important than exact color. I use mostly grizzley, brown, tan, black, dun.

 

 

RC

[flyline64 0]

I use mostliy grizzly. Frankly, as far as the fish are concerned, I think tyers do fine with that one color, with perhaps a lighter neck for the really light winged flies like sulphurs and cahills.

 

A few years back I chatted with Ed Koch--the co-author of "Terrestrials", not the mayor--who recommended tyers buy a single, pro-grade grizzly cape for all their tying. That may be a bit extreme--but not much.

[ashley 0]

I find I only need three for dry flies-dark ginger variant (basically a brown grizzly),grizzly and pale dun.For salt mainly white,but some black,olive and chartruse and just black,claret,olive and brown for my Irish wet flies.

[Hairstacker 0]

Ok, I will take a departure and answer this from other than a minimalist viewpoint. For trout flies, I think a tyer should have at least the following rooster capes on the bench:

 

brown -- standard for the Elk Hair Caddis

coachman brown -- standard for "royals" (e.g., royal coachman) and trudes

medium blue dun -- some may argue, but I prefer these as standard for blue winged olive imitations

medium ginger -- Light Cahills without ginger? (Cream doesn't cut it.)

grizzly -- this and brown are standard for the Adams

black -- many like this for ants, although coachman brown is a nice alternative.

 

To the capes, I would want to add at least a medium dun saddle for tying up Ralph Cutter's E/C Caddis.

 

-- Mike

[Guest]

Ok, I will take a departure and answer this from other than a minimalist viewpoint. For trout flies, I think a tyer should have at least the following rooster capes on the bench:

 

brown -- standard for the Elk Hair Caddis

coachman brown -- standard for "royals" (e.g., royal coachman) and trudes

medium blue dun -- some may argue, but I prefer these as standard for blue winged olive imitations

medium ginger -- Light Cahills without ginger? (Cream doesn't cut it.)

grizzly -- this and brown are standard for the Adams

black -- many like this for ants, although coachman brown is a nice alternative.

 

To the capes, I would want to add at least a medium dun saddle for tying up Ralph Cutter's E/C Caddis.

 

-- Mike

 

I can't disagree with the Old Gent as mentioned above, re: Pale Watery Dun, but I'm more inclined to have these same colors as mentioned by Hairstacker. I often tie Caddis with grizzly because of the segmentation in the legs as well as veining in the wings.

[flyline64 0]

To some extent, we are answering different questions.

 

If money is no object, I agree: no reason not to have as many colors as possible in both capes and saddles.

 

If money is an issue--as it is for most of us--there are tradeoffs. I stand by my answer--especially for beginning tyers--one grizzly and one light colored neck.

 

(Also, for many of us, the advent of non-hackled dry flies and emergers--comparaduns, cdc, snowshoe rabbit--along with parachutes for which the hackle isn't really imitating a wing, means that a wide variety of colors has become less important.)