Collins Hackle Farm

[BassMouth87 0]

I just wanted to share the experience I have had with Collins Hackle Farm as well as a few pictures. After looking around locally and finding most grizzly saddles at a range of $52-100+ tax I started searching out a cheaper option to get my hands on feathers. I came across a few posts mentioning Collins Farm and found the website and did some investigating. I made a phone call and talked with Mr.Collins and he was very friendly and helpful. I had a great conversation with him about the feather in the hair fad, current prices for capes/saddles and it sounded like he nearly fell off his chair when he heard what local prices and even ebay prices were for saddles and capes. He asked me the right questions to figure out what grades would benefit me the most and would give me the best bang for my buck. He said a $30 grade three cape with free saddle Sadly he does not ship to Canada so he suggested that I find a friend out of the U.S to re-ship for me, and that is exactly what I did.

 

I figured that 2 quality saddles would set me back around $200 around my parts, so that is what I would spend. For the $200 I got a grade 3 saddle and cape of: Grizzly, Barred Olive, Golden Grizzly, Barred Dun, Cream and Barred Ginger. My friend split the orders and purchased three capes/saddles at a time. Each order was at his doorstep within a week of mailing the cheque and order information. The entire transaction was smooth, the gentleman running the show passionate and old school, and the capes/saddles really good quality for grade 3.

 

The capes and saddles came packaged in there own bag with white thin card indicating the grade and color. The saddles came in the back of the pack but I choose to take them out and place them in large freezer bags with some paper towel by themselves. The capes are top notch quality, high feather count, good barb count, very uniform and a wide range of sizes. The saddles have a good range with some odd smaller/larger feathers, and I did find a few odd feathers with dried chicken poop on them, but considering the price and the fact that it sounds like a small ma and pa operation it really did not bother me, I simply plucked them out.

 

They say a picture is worth a thousand words:

 

 

[DryFlies4Life 0]

Looks like you got a really good deal. A grade 3 cape and saddle would ost around 75$+ at most local and online shops I visit.

[Dcap240 0]

Thanks for sharing. I have seen these Collins hackle once or twice online before and saw the price and thought that there is no way they could compare with whiting/ Metz and be that cheap. I guess I was wrong for assuming that. I'll definetly give them a shot now. I'm interested in what he said about the fashion industry thing because I'm starting to think its just a good excuse to raise prices as I haven't seen a girl with feathers in her hair around here in at least 2 years and even then I saw none of them with high quality saddle/ cape feathers. But I definetly could be wrong because I definetly don't know what is in, in other parts of the country/world.

[Bryon Anderson 0]

Collins Hackle can absolutely hold its own with Whiting and Metz -- I have used their capes and saddles for years and don't even bother looking anywhere else for hackle. Mr. Collins is a true American - he believes in what he does and he does it very well and sells his product for a fair price. I admire him tremendously and he has secured my business for as long as he continues to grow and sell hackle, which I hope will be for a very long time.

[Ebrant10 0]

Charlie is a great guy and his birds are without a doubt of great quality. Theres a saying other breeders have about whitings and metz, "their hackle isnt twice as good as mine and mine is half the price".

[FlyFishin'Jam 0]

Well these look perfect to me! Farm fresh with included chicken poop! Should keep you busy for a while

[BassMouth87 0]

Thanks for sharing. I have seen these Collins hackle once or twice online before and saw the price and thought that there is no way they could compare with whiting/ Metz and be that cheap. I guess I was wrong for assuming that. I'll definetly give them a shot now. I'm interested in what he said about the fashion industry thing because I'm starting to think its just a good excuse to raise prices as I haven't seen a girl with feathers in her hair around here in at least 2 years and even then I saw none of them with high quality saddle/ cape feathers. But I definetly could be wrong because I definetly don't know what is in, in other parts of the country/world.

 

He was just talking about how the fad has pretty much died and how a lot of other vendors jacked up prices to take advantage of the situation while he kept his prices reasonable. We got talking about prices on E-bay and I had mentioned my theory that a lot of the saddles and capes that are listed are coming from hairdressers trying to unload stuff they have and can no longer move, for example I was after a grizzly cherise saddle for bluegill flies and finally found one...with a $320 price tag, and I have seen the same cape relisted several times. He is really down to earth and when I mentioned the $100 price tag locally on saddles he yelled out "Don't you dare pay $100 for no chicken feathers, you can get three grade 3 capes and saddles for that price and they will tie the same flies!".

 

Really impressed and have found my cape/saddle supplier for sure, the trick now is just having to get a friend from the states to place the order and re-ship.

 

Jam: Should keep me really busy!

[tctrout 0]

Gotta reply that Collins Hackle has been one of my go-to's for the last decade. Now that Clearwater Hackle is on the rise, I have two places to get NY-style hackle from. It's tough to beat these two down-to-earth places, and their hackle quality is excellent! Mentioning the other providers is out of the question to me; I'll stick with these two.

 

TC

[whatfly 0]

Collins Hackle can absolutely hold its own with Whiting and Metz. [snip]

For capes perhaps, but not across the board. Haven't seen anyone come close to the Whiting midge saddles, for example. Furthermore, I'm not sure that I'd ever put Metz up againd Whiting to begin with...but that's a different thread.

 

Still, those are nice enough looking capes that I might have to order a couple, although I much prefer saddles for most of my tying.

 

Thanks for the review, OP.

[Ephemerella 0]

Charlie Collins has had excellent dry fly capes and saddles for years. He is often at the Northeastern US fly show circuit in the winter. As you point out he's a small one man operation. His operation is a hobby gone out of control - he is a retired teacher. Occasionally his name shows up in the fly fishing / tying magazines, but he mostly operates "below the radar", no web site (somebody now retails his stuff via a web site) - old school.

 

The birds are descendants from various original catskill birds, and he feeds and treats them in the old ways. His chickens are "free-range" which means they eat more than just grain. He has told me he believes this omnivore diet and sunshine accounts for higher quality feathers - trace minerals and all that...

 

And the guy knows his stuff - at a show, if he's not too tied up with customers, he'll be glad to teach you about the feathers and his birds. And he's really interested in ensuring you are successful and pleased with his product - world would be a better place if there were more like him.

 

Not as many #20 - #24 feathers on a cape, but honestly, #18 is the smallest I'll tie. Straight quills mean the feather fibers point out when hackled, not all every-which-way. And as you noted, always a little chicken poop in there-nothing that can't be washed out.

 

Another thing, he specializes in the vareigated or colored grizzly patterns. In fact his single color capes, other than the natural browns (e.g. coachman), are dyed. But the various natural grizzly, cree (yes he has cree, and beautiful), and barred ginger are spectacular - and the dyed over colors of same are really buggy looking. May not be an exact pattern, but try tying a Dark Hendrickson tied with a dark bronzy dun overdyed on a barred ginger. Makes a beautiful fly and the fish think so too!

 

Also, he used to include a free saddle from the same bird with each cape - appears like he still does that for mail-orders. Interesting that the saddle coloration often is unlike the cape. And as BassMouth87 pointed out, the saddles themselves are not too bad - although not the same consistent barb size as the feathers from his capes - but consider what you pay for them - and they are excellent too.

 

I wish I had learned about Charlie Collins earlier in my tying experience -would have saved quite a bit of money over the Whiting capes. Don't get me wrong - the Whiting capes are top shelf, just pricy. And the Whiting dry fly saddles are the best, although I'm partial to the old Hebert line (now part of Whiting product family) of colors. But I really do like the Collins dyed over barred ginger colors. And the Collins feathers are in the same league as the Hebert line as far as barb count, barb stiffness, stem straghtness, and feather count per cape.

 

Collins: Good dry fly hackle, and a knowledgable friendly guy.

-Peter

[BassMouth87 0]

I have tied up around 8-9 dries using collins hackle. I have tied three adams, three humpies, and a few bi-visibles and I really think this hackle is top notch. The grade 3 saddles do not have very many small hackles, maybe the odd 12 and smaller, but it seems the second grade has a fair number of 12's, and I would assume that the first grade capes would have more feathers at a wider range. The barb count and stem strength are good, and these feathers are a pleasure to tie with. If you tie smaller sizes I would likely recommend going with the higher grade capes.

[phg 0]

All capes have a "sweet spot", and it doesn't really have much to do with the grade. Some chickens have smaller feathers than others, it's as simple as that. When you call Charlie, tell him what size flies you want to tie. He'll try to match the cape to your requirements, or he will tell you that he doesn't have a cape that will do that.

[BassMouth87 0]

When I talked with him on the phone I told him the sizes I wanted to tie mostly, hence the recommendation of grade 3 capes, if you tie smaller stuff he said the higher grade capes offer more feathers and usually in smaller sizes. I usually tie bigger stuff but have been starting to get a bit smaller with my dries, luckily I have a few others capes to fill in on these sizes. I will post some pictures later of what I have been up to.

[cheech 0]

Collins Hackle can absolutely hold its own with Whiting and Metz. [snip]

For capes perhaps, but not across the board. Haven't seen anyone come close to the Whiting midge saddles, for example. Furthermore, I'm not sure that I'd ever put Metz up againd Whiting to begin with...but that's a different thread.

 

Still, those are nice enough looking capes that I might have to order a couple, although I much prefer saddles for most of my tying.

 

Thanks for the review, OP.

I wholeheartedly agree. Whiting is on an island all on it's own right now.

 

One thing to consider... Whiting is much more expensive, but you get more than double the amount of useable feathers (sweet spot) in a wide range of sizes. I recently got a new bronze Whiting grizzly cape from my local fly shop ($60), and I was able to tie legit #32 para adams all the way to a #10. This cape will probably last me 5 or 6 years (I tie a LOT). That is worth the investment to me.

[BassMouth87 0]

The price difference between the U.S and Canada on hackle is beyond amazing...I paid $55+ tax for a grade 3 half grizzly Metz cape last year that I have pretty much used up at this point. For larger fishing flies I think collins is the way to go personally, but I do understand that sometimes you get what you pay for. All of the hackle manufacturers are top notch and offer a good quality product it seems, its just nice to pad out to the supply and have such a wide range of colors to work with. I am sure at some point I will buy another Metz or Whiting saddles for the much smaller stuff, but at the moment I am set...or at least that is what my significant other is telling me lol.