capes and saddles and hens and cocks

[stubbs04]

Hi
Im at a bit of a loss.
Im starting to tie trout flies mainly sizes 12-16
Ive got some capes but cant tell if they are cock or hen.

Most of them are pretty short nothing like the length you see from the likes of a metz etc.
Ive looked at these and at £30 a shot it would be pretty expensive if you needed to cover most colours.
Does anyone have any tips on how one can economically cover most bases.
Is it a good idea to get some natural, cheap hen capes and dye them?
Any guidance on feathers would be great.

PS
The fibers on a lot of the capes and loose feathers I have, seem to be way too long (i.e. would not look out of proportion on a size 8 hook) again is this a quality things

[GuyFromLaw]

Post up pics of what you have with a coin next to them for size.

[stevekale]

Not a bad way to start out:

Flytying Boutique - for unusual and interesting materials

[harveyangling]

Originally Posted by GuyFromLaw

Post up pics of what you have with a coin next to them for size.

This is the best way to get them identified here.

Genetic capes (Metz, Whiting etc...) are expensive especially for full capes. The Flytying Boutique offer is well worth considering, this will give you access to a range of feathers / colour for smaller outlay.

Another option is to look for half capes / saddles. Maybe buy with a friend(s) and split the capes yourself.

Genetic capes do offer good value for money, if you buy the correct cape it will have many feathers that can be used when compare to cheaper Indian / Chinese capes. They are also easier to tie with if you are learning.

Post some pictures and you should get some good advice.

[GuyFromLaw]

Sorry stubbs, you asked if there was a cheaper way to do things, and I completely missed out on answering that.

Yes, there's a much cheaper way of doing things. You should be able to buy 4 or 5 Chinese or Indian capes for the price of a good metz cape.

Cookshill do some okay budget materials. Cookshill Fly Tying Materials

But no matter who you're buying from, email or PM them first and just explain what you want, the sizes of flies you want to tie, and they'll be more than happy to send you what you need.

If anybody tries to tell you that you are better off spending more money on capes then they're either deluded or trying to sell you more expensive capes.

[dazwah]

Whiting do an introductory pack which is four half saddle or Capes in different colors. Quality does matter, I get 2 flies per feather on a bronze grade cape...

[stubbs04]

Hi All
many thanks for the replies very helpful indeed.
Cheers

---------- Post added at 03:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:01 AM ----------

Ill post up some pics too as soon as I get time.
thanks again

[stevekale]

We never asked you what sort of flies you want to tie. The expensive genetic capes and saddles from the likes of Whiting and Metz are great (some would say necessary) for dry flies. If you are tying wet flies which call for cock hackle, often a cheaper, non-genetic hackle is better. The reverse can be said for hen. Genetic hen takes on some of the characteristics for which it is bred - longer, less web, pointed tips. So for a dry fly with hen hackle tips as wings, a genetic hen isn't ideal as the tips will likely be too pointed rather than the preferred rounded hackle tips of a non-genetic hen. The longer, less tapered genetic hen hackle can be useful for palmering the bodies of wets, however. So what you want to buy depends on what you want to use it for. It's important to learn about the structure and properties of different feathers before plonking down a ton of cash.

[thedeadskunk]

Originally Posted by stubbs04

Ive got some capes but cant tell if they are cock or hen.

Cock capes are pointed at the tip;hen capes are rounded at the tip.

[stevekale]

Originally Posted by thedeadskunk

hen capes are rounded at the tip.

Unless they're genetic