Hackle Question

[Mace3 0]

I haven't been tying for too long so this might be a potentially stupid question. I purchased a materials kit from Jann's and the black and brown hackle that came with the kit have really long fibers on the feathers. When wrapped, the fibers extend below the point of the hook. Should I look into getting a higher quality hackle for tying smaller dry flies? Is there a practical use for the long fibered hackle? Is "long fiber" even the correct way to describe it?

[utyer 0]

The "correct" size for dry fly hackles is 1.5 to 2 times the hook gap. If your hackles are too long, use them on woolly buggers or use them as streamer wings. What you would want to dry flies is good quality neck or saddle hackle. Something like Whiting, Metz, Collins (there are others.) I have not seen many kits with good dry fly hackle.

[nick2011 0]

also you may want to get a hackle guage to help judge the proper size.

[Mace3 0]

All the the feathers are the same size on the ones I have, so the hackle gauge will not help me at the moment. Ill look into getting some better ones soon and pick up a gauge then. Thank you both. Could I use the Metz Grade 2 Saddle for dry flies?

[1hook 0]

You can order some variety packs with different color half or quarter capes for reasonable. Then if you " out grow" them or use up all the good feathers you can move onto to buying full capes or saddles.

[SilverCreek 0]

The hackle on a palmered hackle dry fly should be identical to the body length. This is equal to the hook shank length. For a standard length dry fly hook, it is 1.5 times the hook gap as Utyer as stated. But since some dry flies are tied on extra long hooks, it is best to use the shank rather than the hook gap to measure the hackle.

 

So to measure tying in the hackle, measure it against the hook shank.

 

For parachute flies, the hackle can be longer and that is where the 2X the hook gap can be used for standard dry fly hook.

[Bryon Anderson 0]

Whiting Hackle sells what they call "100 packs", so called because each pack has enough hackle for approximately 100 flies. The nice thing about these is that all the hackle is pre-sized, meaning that each feather in the pack will have the same fiber length and thus will "fit" a certain size hook. That saves you a lot of time trying to locate and pluck the right size hackles off of a cape or saddle. The hackle is very good quality and they sell for about $20 now, I think. They come in all the standard colors - black, brown, grizzly, dun, ginger etc.

 

When you're ready to start purchasing full capes and saddles, I highly recommend Collins Hackle Farm. Wonderful quality, and when you buy a cape, they give you the matching saddle patch free.

 

Good luck and have fun tying!

[Mace3 0]

All great suggestions, but I'm still curious. Is there a difference between the saddle and cape? Do i need to buy one specifically for dry flies or will they work for both wet and dry?

[Jaydub 0]

There are both dry fly quality capes and saddles. The key is dry fly quality. You want feathers with stiff fibers and little to no web.

 

Dry fly saddles will have very long feathers. (By long I mean the length of the stem not the length of fibers) One feather may tie several flies. However, The feathers will be mostly in just a couple of hook sizes. A cape (neck) has much shorter feathers but in many more sizes.

 

I haven't been impressed with Metz #2 saddles for dry flies.

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

ok wet and dry hackles are 2 different types of hackle feathers dry fly hackle has stiff barbs that aren't webby at all while wet fly hackle is soft and supple with a flow and are webby to the end

[SilverCreek 0]

To answer the Saddle vs Neck question, a neck has higher quality dry fly hackle. Taken from the same bird, the neck hackle will be stiffer and it will have less of a curvature to the individual barbs for the same length hackle.

 

But a neck ties fewer flies of a given size than a saddle, and a single saddle feather will tie more flies than a single neck feather. All things considered, a saddle is a better value if you going to tie lots of flies of a given size. Modern genetic saddle will tie 2 or possible 3 fly sizes and a neck will tie the whole range of sizes larger and smaller than the saddle from that bird.

 

Be very careful of the Whiting 100's labeled size 12 and larger. They are very often a smaller size 14. Size 12 saddles are hard to fins as the breeding has made the saddle feathers both longer and individual barbs shorter.

[flytire 0]

read this

 

http://www.mwflytying.com/materials/feathers.html

[Mace3 0]

Sorry, for the late response, but thank you everyone. A lot of great information.

 

flytire, that was an extremely helpful link. feels like i just took Hackle 101.