A.K. Best: Grade 3 Hackle

[KOKOEK9 0]

Hi I am new to tying, are you saying that hackle quality is not as important as some experts say, it is a matter of what ties the fly well.

[utyer 0]

Yes, in various ways that is what most of us are telling you. The Pro grade, or 3 grade or even some hen neck hackle is plenty good enough to tie perfectly good dry flies with. You won't get significantly better hackle in a 2 or 1 or ultra grade. What you may (and that's a big may,) get is more total feathers, better consistency in the color. The differences are subtle.

 

Lets face it, your going to be loosing it soon enough, keep it as inexpensive as you can.

 

There is a real BIG difference in Chinese or Indian necks. They will have hackle that would tie a floating fly, but the usable portion of the feathers will be much much shorter than in a genetically bread hackle. In the smaller sizes, you may find that your hackles are too short to get more than a couple of turns.

 

The 25 to 30 dollar hackles from Whiting, Collins, Keogh, Metz, and other custom hackle growers is all a better value than the 5 to 15 dollar imported necks.

 

If you ONLY tie a small range of sizes, a Saddle is a very good option. You get much longer feathers in a saddle, but you may only get 4 sizes total. Most necks will have hackles in every size from big 1 or 2 (think poppers,) all the way down to size 24 and smaller. I have a dun (gray) saddle that has hackle suitable for size 18 to 22. From each feather I can wrap 6 to 9 flies. So far I can't even see that I have used any feathers off this saddle. So it was 30 bucks well spent.

[RedRoverMike 0]

I prefer to use Whitting Bronze Capes. Capes have a much larger variety of feather gauges then saddles hackle, which usually only has three to four close gauges (#10-12-14 for example). This is also why you should never buy a rooster saddle on ebay unless the gauge or hook sizes are mentioned. Sometimes palmered hackle will twist a tippet if you Palmer your hackle too far apart. Palmering hackle on a fly like an elk hair caddis or stimulator can act like an airplane propeller when casting. You could use a stiffer tippet but then you restrict the flies ability to float naturally as it should on the water. A stiff tippet overpowers the fly in a way. You can avoid this by twisting your rib or thread with your hackle and then palmering around the body of the fly. This causes fibers to stick out in random directions without looking like a mess on the hook. Standard dry flies will never twist a tippet. If they are twisting your tippet then it has more to do with the loop in your casting then it does your fly. This is because the fly is at the end of your line which is shaped and formed like a bullwhip (line taper). The fly is at the end of a elastic fulcrum, which basically means it is at the skinny end of the taper. For a fly to twist your leader just by flying through the air, it would need the same amount of strength to twist the thickest part of your line that your casting. This is because the energy your line is transferring from the thickest part to the thin tippet at the end is equal. Even though the tippet is lightly weighted, it makes up for its weight in speed. This is why casting to hard to fast can "whip" your fly off the line. To much energy is put into the cast and it causes the tippet to accelerate beyond the sound barrier causing a micro sonic boom just like a bullwhip.

[Crackaig 0]

Kokoek9, Yes that is what we are saying. If you think of it in terms of buying a car. There is constant development to "improve" performance. If you can accelerate fast enough to get out of trouble and sit at the speed limit comfortably, do you need any more? Now If you had to buy a new car every 6 months you would probably look for the minimum spec that will do the job. In terms of hackle for dry flies the breeders achieved it perhaps 15 years ago. These days the very best capes don't go to to fly tiers, but to fly tying material collectors (yes these strange creatures do exist).

 

Without doubt the top, Platinum Plus grade, capes will tie superb dry flies, and will tie more of them per cape. The question we are looking at is do they make any difference from a fishing perspective. They undoubtedly do! They make you think twice before trying to cast under a bush to a fish rising in an awkward position. For the price of one of these capes you can buy two pro grades or grade 3s and pay for a good fishing trip. Then you will not be afraid of loosing a fly.

 

Cheers,

C.

[BassMouth87 0]

Collins Hackle Farm grade 3 capes/saddles look superb I have 6 capes and 6 saddles headed my way from a friend in the U.S at a cost of $220 (shipping included). I would have gotten two whiting pro grade saddles locally for that price, now I have cream, barred dun, golden bar, grizzly, barred olive, and golden grizzly full capes and saddles on the way, and from the pictures I have been sent they look top notch and about on par with #2,#3 Metz hackles.

[phg 0]

Collin's barred hackles are some of the best in the business. His #3 is a bargain. He also has commercial grade (no saddle) for even less. It's about all I use anymore.