What's going on with soft hackles?

[Rake 0]

I'm guessing someone on this board will have an idea...

 

I love fishing (and, therefore, tying) soft hackles. Back in the summer, several months before my October trip to the Fork (Henry's) and the Creek (Silver), I ordered a couple of Hun skins. Both were back-ordered with the natural eventually arriving (after my trip, of course); the olive remains on back-order.

 

While awaiting the original shipment, I placed an order for a natural and a dyed skin through another supplier. Neither of these has arrived. At last check, neither house could tell me when they might receive their orders. In the meantime, I began looking for alternatives and found Clearwater JV hens. I don't know how I'd missed them earlier, but stuff like that that happens, being self-taught and a bit of a loner, I suppose. In any event, the JV skins have not been available from Clearwater. Also, while waiting on the hun skins, I did find some hen, but these also took some time to arrive.

 

I'm really intrigued by the Clearwater hens as they purportedly have feathers suitable for smaller flies which constitute a lot of my tying I do have a starling skin which I've been using for smaller bugs, but this obviously restricts the color of the hackle (do the fish really care?)

 

So, after much rambling, my question is in the subject line... what's going on???

 

Mike

 

 

[whatfly 0]

You picked some bad vendors to do business with? Or was there another question here? Have not noticed partridge being hard to find either online or in stores. The JV hen skins are OK for some applications, but not really a substitute in my mind. Clearwater (formerly Conranch) is a small operation and you are buying at near the end of the year, so I would not expect them to have much in the way of stock (vaguely remember that Conranch used to harvest sometime in January). Lots of other alternatives for hen capes if that is what you have settled on. Have seen Whiting grizzly hen capes in all my local stores for example, and while pricey, would meet your needs.

[Dave G. 0]

Just FWIW, I bought a couple of hen capes from Wapsi and the natural has been really good for my smaller flies. These must be small birds, lots of smaller feathers . I have some badger cock skins from them too. I saw them at Bears Den on a trip up there one time and bought these specifically because they looked quite good for the money and have been well pleased with them. Course the last time I went up there they had no Wapsi packages at all ! In fact on that particular trip I couldn't score on anything I wanted, it was a waste of time gas and money.

[Moshup 0]

I know it's gonna be a stupid question but what is a JV hen neck.

[mvendon 0]

I know it's gonna be a stupid question but what is a JV hen neck.

They're from juvenile birds that supposedly have more tender stems and tie better. I have a few and don't really see all that much difference between them and Whiting, Hebert, Collins, Metz, or Krosch (sp?). They are a nice sized cape though. All of them have many small feathers suitable for softhackles.

 

Regards,

Mark

[planettrout 0]

I have not had any problems getting good Natural Partridge skins from Nature's Spirit. I also have dyed Olive and Brown Skins from Wapsi. As for Starling, White Fox Fur and Feather Co. offers them in a good range of dyed colors...this is their Olive:

 

 

They have a store on Ebay...

 

 

PT/TB

[troutguy 0]

Starling and peacock is a great soft hackle.

[Piker20 0]

Really can't go wrong with a good partridge skin.

[Rake 0]

You picked some bad vendors to do business with? Or was there another question here? Have not noticed partridge being hard to find either online or in stores. The JV hen skins are OK for some applications, but not really a substitute in my mind. Clearwater (formerly Conranch) is a small operation and you are buying at near the end of the year, so I would not expect them to have much in the way of stock (vaguely remember that Conranch used to harvest sometime in January). Lots of other alternatives for hen capes if that is what you have settled on. Have seen Whiting grizzly hen capes in all my local stores for example, and while pricey, would meet your needs.

Obviously, I'm not going to mention the vendors here, but one is a shop that I've been doing business with for nearly 15 years and have never had a problem with in the past. The second is newer, but offers many items that I haven't seen elsewhere in the states. Both have been very communicative and each have told me the same thing... their suppliers (Wapsi, Hareline and Whiting were mentioned in emails) had back-ordered the skins. Now, I guess it is possible, since I haven't inquired over the last month, that the distributors have fulfilled the orders and my back-ordered items have gotten lost in the shuffle... I will check.

 

As for Clearwater, I guessed that their lack of JV skins might be related to time of year. Thanks for the confirmation.

 

To my question, I simply came here to find out if others were having any issues finding partridge. I live almost an hour from the nearest shop and two hours from the next closest, so online shopping is my primary method of buying. It seems, from the answers others have provided, that my situation is isolated and that there's no systemic issue with supply. That's all I was asking. Thanks for your reply.

[Rake 0]

I have not had any problems getting good Natural Partridge skins from Nature's Spirit. I also have dyed Olive and Brown Skins from Wapsi. As for Starling, White Fox Fur and Feather Co. offers them in a good range of dyed colors...this is their Olive:

 

Thanks, PT... I hadn't seen dyed starling in the past; I will check out White Fox.

[atxdiscgolfer 0]

Orvis also carries a good quality Hungarian Patridge Skin