Elk Hair Caddis

[wnctroutbum 0]

I am still not good at figuring out what materials to use on what flys. I am wanting to tie some size 14-18 Elk Hair Caddis and I was worder what is the best hackle to use for the money. I dont have a ton to spend right now. Any help would be greatly appricated.

[smallieFanatic 0]

Buy a brown Whitings 100 pack. The best hackle for your money! They go for about 16-18 bucks apeice, but they have a load of fine quality hackle that in my opinion is enough for over 100 flies.

Good luck!

 

 

 

 

Jan

[TitanFlies 0]

I am still not good at figuring out what materials to use on what flys. I am wanting to tie some size 14-18 Elk Hair Caddis and I was worder what is the best hackle to use for the money. I dont have a ton to spend right now. Any help would be greatly appricated.

All you need is some dry fly dubbing, some small copper wire (not medium or brassie size),some dry fly hackle and some elk hair of your choosing. You can buy all of these at a basic shop. The best hackle to use when you're on a limited budget is the Whiting's 100 packs. They run you about $17 a pack but you get at least 100 flies outta them. Our sponsor J. Stockard sells all the materials as well.

[utyer 0]

If you have some spikey hair blend dubbing, and deer hair, thats all you really need. Apply the dubbing in a dubbing loop, and pick out the hair to make it rather shaggy. Then just put the wing on. Leave just a few of the deer hair butts long on each side for legs. it will float lower in the water, and work just fine in all but the fastest riffles.

[Old Hat 0]

Unless your fishing really fast water as Utyer said I would just go with an x-caddis pattern. I think they fish better than elk hair caddis and you don't need any hackle...again except for fast water.

 

X-caddis tutorial

 

or try Hans Weilenmann's cdc and elk...a very easy pattern and a great producer.

 

CDC and Elk

 

I also prefer to use genetic hen hackle on my elk hair caddis patterns. A Whiting genetic hen cape is not as soft as most hen and yet a little softer than dry fly hackle. Shane Stalcup turned me onto this. The hen is much cheaper...wrap the hackle as normal then stroke the bottom fibers apart to create an upside down "V". The flexibility of the hen lets the fibers bend out on the water's surface giving you more surface contact, better flotation, and keeps the hackle from penetrating the surface of the water. A top grade genetic hen cape will cost about $26 dollars and give you a good variety of sizes from #12-#18.

[flytire 0]

if you can find one, buy a 1/2 brown saddle from whiting. it shoud have the feathers to tie the flies in the range you originall asked for.

 

whiting 100's are usually sized for a specific fly size such as 14.

 

the othe materials you will require will be in the pattern recipe.

[wnctroutbum 0]

Thanks for all the help, I think I am going to order one of those 100fly packs.

[peregrines 0]

I am still not good at figuring out what materials to use on what flys. I am wanting to tie some size 14-18 Elk Hair Caddis and I was worder what is the best hackle to use for the money. I dont have a ton to spend right now. Any help would be greatly appricated.

 

I'd come at it a different way. In terms of bang for the buck to get started, I would look for a Pro Grade Hebert Miner Cape (neck) or Grade 3 Cape from a small breeder like Conranch or Collins Hackle. They will typically tie about 350+ flies in sizes 10-18 and run 25-30 bucks.

 

The Hebert Miner line is now owned by Whiting (it has a green label as opposed to the usual whiting blue label) You can find Pro Grade Capes for about 25-30 bucks from many online shops.

 

Conranch is a small breeder in Washington state. You could order direct from them at www.conranch.com through their website or call Denny or Liz on their 800 number. Their Grade 3 necks go for around 29 bucks, and Grade 2 goes for a bit more (Grade 2's can be split, so you could get 2 colors with 2 Grade 2 1/2 necks for the price of one grade 2)

 

Collins Hackle is a small breeder in NY. He doesn't have a website but you could call Charlie Collins directly at 607 734-1765. His Grade 3 Capes run under 30 bucks and include a free saddle.

 

The nice thing about dealing directly with the small breeders like Charlie at Collins or Denny and Liz at Conranch, is that they can help you pick out what you'll need based on what you're tying. And because you're dealing direct, you get a very good value for your dollar.

 

Good dry fly quality saddles are typically easier to work with than capes with thin flexible stems, and you'll get several flies from their longer feathers. But saddles typically tie a smaller range of sizes compared to capes, so for starting out, I'd go with capes. with Pro Grade or Grade 3 you should be able to tie sizes from 10-18 with no problem. Higher grades will be more expensive but will let you tie more flies and in the case of capes, smaller sizes. This can lower the per fly cost of tying, but for someone starting out, that usually isn't as big a consideration as being able to get some basic colors like brown and grizzly to be followed by medium dun and light ginger (or cream) that will tie a range of typical sizes.

 

Whiting 100's are also a pleasure to work with but they range from 15-18 bucks a pop. You'd get enough saddle feathers (12 or so in a pack) to tie 100 flies in one size and one color. So to tie sizes 12-18 would be 4 x 15 or 4 x 18 bucks in one color, or about 60-72 dollars to tie 400 flies sizes 12-18 compared to 25-30 bucks for a Pro Grade or Grade 3 Cape to tie 350+ flies from 10-18. A cape for less than the cost of 2 100 packs would be a much better buy in my opinion.

 

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