scotth 0 Report post Posted January 3, 2008 Hello All...I bought a Metz #1 Saddle Natrual Brown Cape. When I bought the cape I could see that there was some black on the barbs closest to the quill, I thought nothing of it. When I looked at the feathers I noticed that there was a lot of black on the barbs, every feather has black at the base of the barb. Is this what natural brown is? Is there another color that has an all brown barb? I wanted an all brown feather to tie Elk Hair Caddis. I'm going to another shop Saturday to look for something different. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks! Regards, Scott Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rhinorods69 0 Report post Posted January 4, 2008 quick question what size caddis are you tyeing . have you thought of dry fly quality capes my suggest is figure out 2 thing are you going to be tying a ton of dries with the brown would a whitting roster saddle work better they tie down to size 20's and go up to i thing 12's depending on the grade and you will get 3-5 flies out of each hackle feather me i prefer silver grade it has size 18 and 16 and a and a few 14's the reason i like it is i tie my 14 dries with a size 16 hackle and 16 's with a size 18 hackle those are the best deal for you money for dries also if looking at hackle bring a hackle gage and gage what size feather are on the cape wit it take measure meant from a couple area on the cape and do not pull out feathers they will fall out very easily and whiting hackle in the bronze roster cape are great for the beginner fly tier the sizes are a broader range in the capes. any wys good luck and tight lines rhino.................. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rockworm 0 Report post Posted January 4, 2008 Scott Natural capes come in many shades and variations. Natural brown may be all-brown, very brown (coachman), brown with a black center stripe (furnace), or furnace with a black edge (cock-y-bondhu). For what its worth: I prefer the furnace and cock-y-bondhu (sometimes also called Greenwell, because of its use in that British pattern.) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites