What to do with this?

[jd1983 0]

I've had this hen cape for a decade and a half. I've used it a little since getting serious about tying but just for wet flies. What else can I do with it? Thinking I may try and trade part of it since I mainly like tying dries and nymphs.

[rockworm 0]

Are you sure thats a hen cape?

[jd1983 0]

Positive. It says it at the bottom of the card it is on.

[kimjensen 0]

Hen capes are very usable. I wouldn't get rid of it unless it's damaged. The soft feathers will give flies allot of movement in the water. Basically there's nothing you can't use it for, except dryfly hackles.

[mikechell 0]

It also says, at the top of the package, that it's dry fly hackle. I will assume, at this time, that the feathers will make great legs and wing for dry flies. I'd be using them for legs on beetle and ant pattern. And ... you can always use lang thin feathers for streamer tails.

[flytyer56 0]

You could use the longer feathers for wrapping on a bugger or use the fibers for tails on nymphs. You could use some of the smaller feathers for wings on dries I would think.

[jd1983 0]

Mikechell - that's what has me a little confused. The feathers are too short and soft for hackling a dry fly.

 

Never thought about it for wings and legs.

[BattenkillBum 0]

And Hebert necks are crème de la crème. I bought a bunch of them 20 years ago when I was young, single, and had money to blow. Anyways that's a nice neck to have.

[Gene L 0]

Mikechell - that's what has me a little confused. The feathers are too short and soft for hackling a dry fly.

 

Never thought about it for wings and legs.

It's a hen cape. "Whiting Dry Fly Hackle" is the banner of the company. They ALSO sell hen capes, which are softer, shorter in feather length, webby, and the cape is smaller over all. Good for collars on wets, wings on dries, and other uses for a wet fly. It's a good cape, a Grade 1.

[Steve P 0]

Some tiers even prefer hen capes for dry fly hackling as the generic capes tend not to be very webby and the barbules are only slightly softer than the cock hackle of old. It's said that the softer hackle collar will spread slightly giving you better surface area contact to float the fly as opposed to the spiny sharp barbules of cock hackle. It's all a matter of opinion and don't let anyone ever convince you theirs is right.

 

Steve

[Bruce Derington 0]

And Hebert necks are crème de la crème. I bought a bunch of them 20 years ago when I was young, single, and had money to blow. Anyways that's a nice neck to have.

Ted Hebert had some great birds, But this particulr neck doesn't have many good Dry Fly quality feathers (possibly some 12's/14's) other than for tailing.

[Jaydub 0]

Mikechell - that's what has me a little confused. The feathers are too short and soft for hackling a dry fly.

 

Never thought about it for wings and legs.

It's a hen cape. "Whiting Dry Fly Hackle" is the banner of the company. They ALSO sell hen capes, which are softer, shorter in feather length, webby, and the cape is smaller over all. Good for collars on wets, wings on dries, and other uses for a wet fly. It's a good cape, a Grade 1.

 

If that's the case, they have since figured out that it was a bad idea to label that way. My Hebert hen necks are labeled as wet fly hackle. It should be good for all of the uses mentioned. Lots of nypmhs have collar hackles.

[Gene L 0]

The bottom of the package says "Hen Neck" or words thereof. Not very confusing, and it's pretty obvious from looking at the neck that it's from a hen.

[Stevester 0]

You have only had that for 15 years? It is just now getting properly aged, use it to start tying better flies immediately. I have necks that are twice that old and plenty that are at least that old. My experience is that processed dry and wet fly necks from Metz, Whiting, Herbert and Collins last until there are no feather left. A number of the game bird skins that I have gotten over the years start to "rot" for want of a better term. I particularly remember a mallard skin that I won at a TU raffle that I didn't use for a few years that gradually turned to liquid in the plastic bag. I ALMOST opened the thing in my tying room before I noticed the brown sludge and got it into the trash just in time.

 

Steve

[djtrout 0]

Everything in my stores is old, except a few newly acquired bags of CDC. When I started tying 15 years ago I got hung up on using precisely the "correct" materials for patterns, and of course tying the standard patterns that were published for the day. Eventually I started enjoying my tying and using all the accumulated odds and ends for all kinds of creations, some of which I doubt any self-respecting fish would be caught biting ... but they're purty!

Use these for crafts (like dreamcatchers) if you're into that. Strip the feathers and use the quills for dry and nymph bodies. Buggers galore! Tails for sculpins perhaps.

 

Attach a couple of feathers to your Christmas cards as a signature piece. Using fly tying approach, I've made earrings out of feathers; tied on a normal hook with barb cut off. Have kids? School crafts.

 

Sorry, got carried away. You should see some of my masterpiece "carried away" flys. At any rate, don't get rid of them. Eventually you can find uses.