ScienceGuy141

My grandpa caught a groundhog that had gotten into his garden. He had a good laugh after serving it to everyone at the next family gathering. It was actually pretty good, but some of the family was less enthused about eating groundhog.

From an aesthetics standpoint, I like the traditional grizzly and brown. For whatever reason I just think it looks cool. I'm no entomologist, but the cree does look more natural to me.

Haha, I always appreciate the guidance in choosing the right path. Going off of the chart @silvercreek posted, coming out at about 1/3 the listed unit price of a Whiting Bronze isn't too bad! Now I just need to find some time to put the feathers to use.

I had just about talked myself out of picking up the feathers, but happened that I'd have to drop my girlfriend off at the airport and the seller lived only a few minutes from there. I tried to negotiate down and started at $20, but they were firm at $40 and we eventually made the deal at $40. I'm pretty pleased with the quality at least on general inspection. Tips are all there, stems are straight on the sizes 14 and down with some good larger hackles too. It only looked like a few feathers had been used from the grizzly, but the others looked relatively untouched.

Ha, yeah the good bit of the fun for me is more so keeping my eyes open for used options that come up. So much of what comes up isn't of much value to me or is over-priced for used options, so picking through is kinda fun. If I am venturing to the area I might offer them $40, but otherwise it is also an hour drive round trip to go pick them up. Considering the time and gas, the cost almost puts me back to buying a new intro pack that could be delivered right to my door. With a little digging I have still found them new for $66. It still seems like a fair deal nonetheless, just not a sweet enough deal to make me feel pressured to jump on it I guess after I took the pickup into account.

Yeah, that's a good point. I have also noticed a lot of shops are sold out of common cape colors. I appreciate all of the advice and suggestions. Thanks on the well wishes too!

@Moshup that certainly does make them more appealing knowing that. Thanks for pulling out your own and checking. Part of my hesitation is certainly me being a cheapskate, but the college years are supposed to do that to a guy.

@Moshup Oh, really? I was skeptical that there would be many smaller sized feathers on them since the packaging says primarily sizes 12-16. I figured they'd be more likely to stretch the size range vs stay on the conservative side.

Yeah, no dun and sizes not going down to 18 are negatives. I was hoping the seller would come down from $40 since they have been up for sale for 9 weeks now. I also just spent a few bucks on a different fly tying order, so I don't "need" any more feathers right now either.

Thanks for all the input! This has been really helpful. I should be able to take a look at the hackle before purchasing. It has been up for sale for awhile now, so hopefully the seller will be eager to drop the price and get rid of it.

Hi All, I was looking for some input about buying hackle. I have a chance to possibly buy a lightly used ("only a few feathers used") introductory hackle pack. I was wondering if people had any experience with these introductory packs. From what I was able to find, these capes aren't graded by Whiting, but I found some claims that they are similar to bronze grade hackle. Is that consistent with others' experiences? What would be a fair price to offer on previously owned hackle like this? The only other comparison I have come across is I have seen tyer grade intro packs similar to this new for $40. Thanks in advance for any insights.

https://youtu.be/R3uAhg7d1gU Jump to around the 17 minute mark and he talks about how he puts eyes on his flies

Fly tying and fishing is for sure a great release. It's a good way to break up the seemingly endless hours of studying and an excuse to get outside. Thanks, Mike!

My name is Reid, and I am from east central MN. I apparently made a profile on this forum last summer, but don't recall doing that and have only recently been on here more. I started fly tying in 4th grade in an after school fly tying class led by my 4th grade teacher. I actually tied for quite awhile before really fly fishing much at all, probably because I slowly taught myself with books and videos. I still am a pretty sub par fly fisherman and days of no catching are common. I finished my undergrad in 2018 at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse. I really enjoyed getting the chance to be close to a number of good driftless streams for those 4 years. After graduating from college I started to tie more and experiment with the fly rod on the St. Croix River for smallmouth bass. I started medical school at the U of MN this past fall, so time and money has become more limited, but I am hoping to get to SE MN and learn more about fly fishing for trout as time allows.

Thanks for the advice Poopdeck! After hearing that I'll plan to swing through walmart soon and pick up some fabric fusion. I'm an almost entirely self or YouTube taught fly tier and fisherman, and have more recently been starting to look to forums for help. I really enjoy watching some of the top fly tiers/fisherman and their skills, but it gets intimidating when they are constantly using some top of the line, expensive material/gear that I dont have. Finding the line between quality materials and cost-effective alternatives with equally effective results is always helpful.