Cookshill - Cock Saddles

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I hope that no one mind me posting this here, it probably comes across as a bit of an advert, but is meant with the best intentions, to hopefully help anyone looking for some quality saddles at a very reasonable price.

Pretty much everyone here must have heard of Cookshill, I don’t think I’ve heard a bad word said about Steve or his products on here. Now, I may be very late to the party here, but I never realised that he did genetic capes but as I was ordering some bits and bobs anyway I thought I’d ask. I was after some grizzle saddle capes to dye and as it happens Steve didn’t have any, he did suggest a barred ginger as an alternative. I explained what I wanted them for and he also mentioned that he had some nice dun saddles in stock. So I ordered a barred ginger, a dun and a natural black saddle. In all honesty I wasn’t expecting too much because they were only a tenner each.

When they came through the post I couldn’t have been more pleased, the hackles are about 12” long (the natural black is closer to 16” long) with really supple stems and would tie from about a #14 to a #10. Some of the larger feathers have a bit of web, but for my purposes (palmering wet flies) a bit of webiness is a good thing. The smaller sizes are virtually web free and would be cracking for smaller klinks and dries.




To sum up, the saddles represent fantastic value for money, you can get 2 for the price of one Metz #2. Steve knows his stuff, so if you tell him what you want you won’t be disappointed.

[Wee Jimmy]

Thanks for the heads up Steve,super value for money on those saddles by the look of them....

[midlander]

Not sure but they look very much like Keough saddles. If they are, then I can say that they're a very nice cape/saddle indeed. Slightly softer than Metz, noticeably softer than Whiting, a very good colour range and just right for palmering wets. If you're intent on finding a down side then the barb count is lower than the big two. Fantastic capes for the price though and dye nicely too.