Help buying hackles

[tatts]

I started tying a month or two back and i'm slowly learning but the only thing i can't get my head around is hackles/saddles

I want to start tying some daddies, klinks etc. I've bought a few packets before now but feel like i keep wasting my money. I've tried some crunchers etc & i'm happy with the way they look until the hackle goes on. I got a cheap hen cape from ebay and it just doesn't look right (too fluffy & soft?)

Can anyone recommend what i should be buying please?

[roll cast]

Metz hackles although dear are probably the best you can get and there are far more hackles on a cape than any of the cheaper alternatives.

You'll have a hard job finding saddle hackles, which are the mutts nutts, but a good cape should serve you adequately for the purpose.

Metz Cock Grade 3 Half Neck Cape Turrall MZD

A couple of those should serve you well for what you are tying.

[syphogenic]

Originally Posted by tatts

I started tying a month or two back and i'm slowly learning but the only thing i can't get my head around is hackles/saddles

I want to start tying some daddies, klinks etc. I've bought a few packets before now but feel like i keep wasting my money. I've tried some crunchers etc & i'm happy with the way they look until the hackle goes on. I got a cheap hen cape from ebay and it just doesn't look right (too fluffy & soft?)

Can anyone recommend what i should be buying please?

First of all, don't buy loose hackles, buy capes, even if they are cheap indian capes. Klinks are easily tied with genetic capes, will cost you...daddies, you'll get away with indian and chinese capes...I hope this starts the ball rolling...

[denzil3009]

I would avoid buying capes from ebay. I have bought lots and the condition your get them in are horrendous when comparing with capes of a good quality.

Im not an expert with capes, but i know to never buy capes from fleebay again.

[silver creek]

Hackle is a generic term for feather usually from chickens bred for fly tying.

An entire chicken skin is split into two parts. The front part over the back of the neck and thorax is called a "neck" or a "cape". The back part of the pelt including the tail feathers is called the "saddle". Capes/necks have stiffer fibers than saddle.

Roosters have stiff hackle for dry flies and hens produce soft feathers for wet flies. When a neck or a saddle is mentioned without the sex, it is assumed to be from a rooster for dry flies.

Necks/capes have a large variation of fiber length so they can tie a dry flies over a large size range. But the individual barbs are shorter and they gradually taper so each feather cannot tie as many flies and the fiber length may start a certain length and end another length. The tip section of a feather from a neck may tie an 18 and closer to the butt a size 16 fly.

Saddles have longer feathers and a more consistent barb length. The barb length also varies only slightly, and a saddle may have only only two or three sizes of hackle but each is long and will tie many flies. So saddles are the best buy if you need hackle to tie only a couple of sizes of flies.

Buy only quality hackle for dry flies - Whiting branded (Whiting and Hebert Miner) hackle and Metz hackle are best know but other hackle farms such as Collins and Conranch are also quality brands.

I would buy a neck if you are going to tie a large variation is fly sizes. Having said that, most tiers do not tie a huge range of sizes for a given fly, and a saddle that ties 14 and 16s is probably the most cost effective.

Even more cost effective is to buy the lower grades such as the Pro Grade Whiting. I've found some terrific buys in the pro grade hackle, but you need to know how to grade hackle and what you are looking for.

[steve collyer]

Lakeland sometimes have sales on some very nice capes indeed.
Ideally, something like this is what you want for dries:
Stunning dry fly cape bargain!

[tatts]

Thanks for all the helpful replies
I will try and source a saddle for my dries, the majority of them will be a size 12 or 14 with the odd 16.
For daddies, i take it you mean indian / chinese cock capes? are these like other capes, do you still get what you pay for? Will these also be ok for nymphs? Are there any capes on sportfish worth buying? i got some gift vouchers for xmas i could use

[diamondx]

Hi
I have bought lots of capes of ebay and not been disapointed, infact been rather suprised at the quality of capes I have bought. I bought capes from
newdrive52 - based in brampton cumbria

regards
Ross

[yellow owl]

some good advice being given dont waste your money on loose hackle buy the cheaper indian and chinese capes there great with a great range of feather sizes ,you should get what your looking for