Keough any good ?

[tennesseeflies 0]

Keough any good i see it on ebay ? can someone tell me

[ashbourn 0]

I feel they are on the same level as Ewing it is more then dry fly quailty but it is not the best value by far.

Joe

 

[Batman 0]

I have used their hackles for a few years now , I'm no pro and they do me just fine. B

[day5 0]

yes they are a good quality feather but buying any feather I can not hold and inspect is a insane idea to me.

[Bruce Derington 0]

Bill Keough sells some of the best feathers out there, and in my opinion he has as good a quality as Whiting. He lacks the varity that Whiting has but thats it. He's out of Michigan and is great to deal with. I don't know who is selling them on Ebay so I don't know what grade of feathers are being offered. He does sell a tyer's grade

[Iowaflyguy 0]

Hi Tennessee

In eastern Tn day 5 is probably right. Go to a good fly shop and inspect what you want to buy. Here in Eastern Iowa that is not an option. There is a Gander Mountain about 40 miles away with a little tying supplies.

When I was there last week they had a few Keough saddles (mostly dyed) tyers grade. They also had

two Indian rooster capes.

 

That is about all there is around here. This is really not fly fishing country. I have never even set foot

in a real fly shop. I buy most of my stuff online. I try to deal with reputable suppliers only. For my

feathers I use the sponsor of this site Jstockard or feather-craft. I have had good results with both. If you have to buy yours sight unseen I would strongly recommend dealing with a well known dealer.

 

If you get feathers with critters in them it could wipe out your whole stock. The little extra you

might pay will be well worth it for a reliable quality product. Also if you have a quality problem with a stockard

product (which I never have) James gives very good service.

 

My opinion only, your mileage may vary.

 

Regards

Tom

[phg 0]

I have 2 Keough saddles and two Keough capes in my collection. I won't try to pretend that the tier's grade Keough cape is as good as a gold Whiting, but all of the modern genetic capes are much better than the Chinese and Indian capes that used to be the standard for dryfly hackles. If money is limited, I don't think you will regret buying the Keough capes. They are pretty good hackles.

 

The Keough saddles, on the other hand, are generally too soft for dryflies, but make great woolybugges and wetfly collars. I wish I had bought more of them when I had the chance.

[tennesseeflies 0]

where can i buy it online ?.

[Nealbo 0]

http://bobmarriotts.net/detail.aspx?ID=19285 I like this website. I use it all the time. I have 4 of the cape. I tie for me and my family and they do just fine.

[day5 0]

feathers mc???

[Crotalus 0]

J. Stockard - see link at top of page, is running a clearance sale right now

[Inconnu 0]

I did a major comparison on a number of different capes and though Keough was not the best, it was still pretty good. The problem wiuth buying them on line, like many other capes, is that the quality can vary in a large way. You are much better off to look locally and watch for sales. The other issue with my comparison, is that there are different standards for grades of capes from various suppliers. Even though this may not be the way it should be, what I found was that it was indeed a fact. The only place I buy capes on=line from is a fellow who sells locally and I know what he has.Local may be better if possible, IMHO.

[phg 0]

I much prefer to handle a cape or saddle before buying it, but like others, that's not generally an option. The biggest problem is the variation in color, especially in natural colors. One man's medium dun is another man's pale dun, and one man's brown is another man's ginger. Then too, every cape has a sweet spot which can only be determined by handling it.

 

I've bought from JStockard, and he does give good service as well as good prices. Hook & Hackle also carries Keough capes.

[Alex C. 0]

I'm just your average blue collar guy trying to support a wife and 2 kids. I need to make every dollar I spend on materials count. The first neck I bought was a #3 Metz and thankfully my dogs ate it. I went to the fly shop for the first time, told the guy the fly I wanted to tie and he went and grabbed everything I'd need for it. I learned a few lessons from that experience.

 

1.) learn to grade materials myself

2.) Even though I may save a few bucks by buying a lower grade, the lower quality ends up costing me in the long run

3.) keep materials in places that my pets can't get into them

 

The next hackle I bought was off ebay. It was a saddle from Collins Hackle. Since to that point all I'd used was the #3 Metz neck, I was blown away by how much easier they were to work with. All the sudden I could wrap hackle just like in the pictures. That taught me a lot and having hackle that actually did what I wanted it to really helped improve the look of my dries.

 

So all the sudden I could tie descent dries, and wanted to tie more but only had a one color. I tried to be smart when buying hackle colors. It seemed that most dries I wanted to tie needed grizzly, brown, dun, or cream hackle. So those were the first colors I went for. Now buying 4 necks was a big buy for me and I didn't want to risk getting bad ones so I went to a different local shop than the first time and they sell Tyers Grade Keough necks and saddles. I grabbed every neck they had in the colors I wanted and just sat there at the counter going through each one and trying to figure out which one was the best. I bought a few more colors when I needed them and for a while I ws pretty satisfied with the Keough necks.

 

By this time I had an even better understanding of what qualities I wanted out of hackle. I also had a good feel for what hook sizes I tied on the most. Then I discovered Silver Grade Whiting Saddles and haven't looked back, although I'd like to give Conranch a try.

 

Sorry for rambling

 

If you're on a budget and tie flies in a wide range of sizes you might be happy with the Keough necks. The main complaint I have with them is stem suppleness and twisting is sometimes an issue. Other than that they're not bad. If you tie mostly in the 10-14 size range or the 14 and smaller you're gonna have a lot of feathers you won't use from the Keough neck and might want to consider the silver grade whiting 1/4 saddles. Price should only be a few bucks more than a Keough neck and you'll have better feathers to work with that you'll use all of.