Cheap Hackle

[Phlyfisher]

I started tying my own flys about a year ago. Somebody gave me a fly tying kit. I have pretty much used up all the hackle that came in the kit and when I went to buy a cape it was about $40.00. Is this normal, or are there places to go that sell it cheaper?

[mcgx2]

That's about the right price for a good genetic cape. You can go for an Indian Neck but you have a lot of limitations on the size fly you can tie and sometimes you need 2 to 3 hackles to hackle the fly properly. Another option may be to get some grade #3 genetic capes (usually around $20 if I think, but have never bought one). Again you cant tie down to small sizes but they are better than most Indian Necks.

Once I started using genetic capes about 20 years ago I never looked back. You can't beat them. My advice if you want to get into dry flies seriously, bite the bullet and buy genetic capes. Start with Grizzley and Brown which will cover many of the flies you want to tie, then expand from there.

mcg

[Larry S.]

Ouzel made a suggestion on another thread about just buying the Whiting 100's. That is a lot less expensive than tying up so much money in a neck or saddle that will take you years to use.

Also, I have been in Rainey's and Kohn's shop in the past and seen what they send off to have their flies tied up in and believe me they are not the grade 1 stuff. If you buy a Platinum grade saddle or neck are you going to want to use the feathers or just keep them for an investment ?

They are like RAW's flies.....too nice to use. I think I used this analogy before...Remember the old indian in "The Outlaw Josey Wales"? He said of his piece of candy" it's not to eat, just for looking through".

[FlyGuy]

If you're like me and tie almost entirely trout flies, here's what I'd suggest. Cabela's sells sized "sections" of Metz necks. They're packaged in 3 color combinations with the size 16 and smaller package at around $25. The larger feather sections are a little less. It's not particularly less expense if you'd use an entire neck, but this way you're not purchasing feathers (waste money) you won't use. Anyone want to purchase some grizzly capes with all of the size 12 and larger feather still in tact?

I understand that grading is largely a function of feather count with additional consideration given to barb count and number of flies tied per feather (length). Lastly, with what is likely hundreds of dollars spent on equipment, why would you want to scrimp on the only thing that actually gets the fish to bite?

[Strike]

Last year when I got into fly tying was looking at hackle and was amazed how much that stuff costs. I thought tying would be more economical that buying flies, but boy was I wrong. Well I wasn't entirely wrong. I imagine after years of tying it will pay off. Anyway, in my quest to find a less expensive hackle, I came across a cabelas neck that is made by Whiting. They run about 35 -40 bucks. I bought three different colors. They quality is really good. I have a Metz #1 and must say that the Cabelas is just as good if not better than the Metz. I will never run out of hackle and have a large variety of flies I can tie. #6 Wooly buggers to #22 BWO. Maybe I made a mistake in buying whole necks but I felt that over years it will pay off. These are dry-fly necks. The barbs on them support dries pretty well. I use them for all my flies, which may be to my disadvantage, but I feel that for the money I did pretty well. If worse comes to worse you can always return them and get your money back.

I have also seen necks on e-bay, but never had any experience with them. Hope that helps. If you want to get together and tie, just let me know.

[Curtis Fry]

I think I've mentioned this before, but I'll put my 2 cents in. When I first got into tying, I wasn't in the position to buy expensive hackle. I bought some Indian necks and they were horrible for any flies smaller than #12. Then I went to grade #3 necks and had ok luck with those. Finally I realized that in order to tie good dry (hackled) flies, you need good hackle.

But with that said, I'd say it's been about 5 years since I've touched my dun or cream Metz necks. I don't use hackle any more. CDC, Deer hair, mallard quills etc are much cheaper and work just as well. The only thing I use the expesive necks for now are midges (grizzly). I use brown for caddis etc, but that neck is an old # 3 Metz. Otherwise, my necks sit in the box. For Wooly buggers etc I use lower cost saddles, not necks.

So I guess my suggestion is that unless you're sold on the good ol' stand-by patterns, you might consider going "hackle-free" in your tying. I know quite a few people that do this and do just fine.

Fishon!!

Curtis Fry

[Wes Johnson]

Whiting Farms now has packets of about 10-12 saddle hackles that are good for about 100 flies. These are usually sold in specific sizes. You can get grizzly, brown, black, dun, etc. Each packet is labeled for particular size of hook. These are usually Grade 1 or better saddle hackles.

If you only tie enough flies to get you through a year, this is an economical way to do it.