Selecting my first hackle

[Poopdeck 0]

Very well written post Silvercreek! I would have said something like, "save your money and buy the cheaper stuff, there's so much BS in fly fishing and fly tying that new comers actually believe a kings ransom must be spent to tie a fly a fish will take."  For obvious reasons people don't listen to that message. I envy your eloquence and thanks for the teaching moment. 

[Moshup 0]

Yes I’d recommend getting the Collins Commercial grade in several colors. Good quality,great color and won’t break the bank.  If you become a dry maniac later on venture onward to what Whiting offers.

[flytire 0]

[Dave G. 0]

I don't have enough time left on earth to use up whole capes anymore so I've been buying 1/2 necks in Metz #2 grade when J Stockard has their Metz sale each year or I see something I like when in Bears Den. I like the Metz half necks, very affordable and one side out near the end usually has large softer feathers suitable for streamer feathers at least in the size streamers I tie. The small barbules are quite stiff. I don't know, they work for me at this age I find myself at. They might work for someone starting out too. My Spencer necks are running out of usable feathers so figured I'd try these, they;re fine for me.

[caddis16 0]

Or you can buy the whole hackle farm. 

http://theriaultflies.com/chickenhackle.html

[Sandan 0]

15 hours ago, samsonboi said:

... whereas twisting can be a big problem with Whiting....

 

 

I've been tying w/ Whiting for many years and have not run into this problem at all. If you tie your hackle feather in shiny side towards or away from the hook, depending on which way you want your barbs to face and leave about a half wrap of stem so your first turn of hackle barbs don't slant you're fine. 

[essequamvideri 0]

3 hours ago, caddis16 said:

Or you can buy the whole hackle farm. 

http://theriaultflies.com/chickenhackle.html

Caddis16,

I'm curious if you have been to his shop?  If you haven't, you might want to stop in sometime.  It is just north of east west nowhere.  It is about 2 1/2 hours north of my home.  However, his shop is amazing and his hackles he has created are incredible.  I thought they were quite reasonable in price and picked up a couple.  Interesting guy to have a conversation with,  he is a retired Game Warden and has a multitude if stories.  

 

Michael

[Kimo 0]

1 hour ago, Sandan said:

I've been tying w/ Whiting for many years and have not run into this problem at all. If you tie your hackle feather in shiny side towards or away from the hook, depending on which way you want your barbs to face and leave about a half wrap of stem so your first turn of hackle barbs don't slant you're fine. 

 I've had the same experience as Sandan.

Kimo

[Val Schmaus 0]

Also check out Sidling Hill Hackle  from Pa.He has some of the Collins breeding in his birds.I have both and they are  very similar.If you like the Catskill style dry fly you cant beat Charlie Collins capes.

[Jaydub 0]

1 hour ago, Kimo said:

 I've had the same experience as Sandan.

Kimo

I also have never had a twisting problem with Whiting of with Hoffman before that. I did have one Metz cape years ago that would not wrap correctly on matter what.  

[James 0]

Hi have agree with what everyone has shared about buy necks and saddles one thing I have not seen mentioned was Whiting 100 packs these are great for a new tier they are saddle feathers that you should be able to tie a100 dry flies the come in all or most colors and each pack is sized so if you are only going to tie say 12 Adam's then you can buy the Grizzlies and brown in that size I would suggest going onto the feather emporium to research the product line but and take this as you may you can buy from them but I would caution you to be careful doing any transaction they do have a history of bad business practices your choice what you do but a great place to see products that available from the growers Collins line is there also.

[Gene L 0]

Good thing with necks is .you can tie down to about any size dry you want.  Plus you get tailing material.  Problem is you get a LOT of feathers you'll never use. Mostly, you can get one hackle per feather, and the feathers taper, so you are limited to using the top part of the feather.

Good thing about saddles is you can tie 3-5 flies off one feather. The barbules are even most of the way up and the stems are generally thinner.  Problem with saddles is you can generally get only 2 sizes of feathers, say 14-12, or 14-16. And you don't get any side feathers for tailing like you do on necks. If you're sure you're going to tie only in the narrow range of the saddle, they're hard to beat.  But they're not readily available in the small sizes, whereas the necks are way more varied.

I use Whiting necks and have collected saddles from whomever, they're not marked, but they're good and work well.  I buy better than I can really afford, but it's a hobby for me, and I'll spend money on a hobby I wouldn't otherwise. I need good hackles because I lack the skill to use poor quality feathers.

Even the worst genetic hackle today is far better than what our parents used.  I remember in the 70s watching a kid in a wheelchair tie a Royal Coachman using what I'm sure was Indian necks. I didn't tie then and thought how wonderful he tied, but nowadays it would probably not get any favorable attention.  Davie McPhail tied an example on Indian or Chinese neck, just to show, said it would work just fine, but it wasn't pretty.

One more thing is I haven't had a lot of usage from furnace hackle.  I've got a neck, but I seldom use it and never thought of it as a substitute.   The half-necks above are a great value, especially the Starter Pack.

 

[Moshup 0]

I agree with you Gene on the furnace hackle but I do find that they do tie up a pretty nice dry fly.

 

[Gene L 0]

Nice!  What is that body made of?  The recipe would be welcome!

[niveker 0]

23 minutes ago, Mogup said:

a pretty nice dry fly

Very purdy, Mogup.