Discussion On Hackle

This was spurred by double tapers read on $250 chickens.

We actually had a rather lengthy discussion on hackle in the FFP shop on tuesday.

We have come to the conculsion that while buying necks and saddles serve the purpose of tying many different sizes of flies that due to price and availablity of the actual amount of flies tied in the sizes you prefer that both are a waste of money. With the whitings farms 100 packs and the metz 100 packs you get more flies for less money by buying them if you are not a commerical tyer.

Take for example the two most common dries I tie locally.

Sulphur, BWO

The BWO most often is a size 18. How many size 18 hackles do you find on a grade 1 neck... 20-30? and they are not long!

The sulphur, most often in a 16, how many size 16 hackles are on that same cape? Take into account a grade 1 neck is close to $30.

So assuming you get two flies out of each hackle, which most of the time is unheard of. You got 120 flies MAX.

For the same price you bought the hundred packs you have almost twice as many flies. Sometimes we really need to stop and think about the situation. Unfortunately colors like cree dont come in 100 packs so were stuck if we want something special.

By far the 100packs are a better value, better quality also. One other loss is that if you need a hackle down in the 22+ range you cant get it on a 100pack.

Moral, buy one dun neck for the odd times you need it, from there on out buy the hundered packs if you are not a commercial tyer.

ORIGINAL: doubletaper

jlh, no dobt you're right about the 100 packs and the amount of hackle of no use to some of us in capes. any more i buy in packs or 1/4 capes in what i need. i've been buying more quality saddles more than capes. i have found some good saddles in the small sizes i tie, you just gotta look around.
where are you finding quality grade one capes for $30.00 may i ask??

My bad, they are in the 50 range for most. I get a big discount.

ORIGINAL: SilverKype

ORIGINAL: jlh42581

ORIGINAL: doubletaper

jlh, no dobt you're right about the 100 packs and the amount of hackle of no use to some of us in capes. any more i buy in packs or 1/4 capes in what i need. i've been buying more quality saddles more than capes. i have found some good saddles in the small sizes i tie, you just gotta look around.
where are you finding quality grade one capes for $30.00 may i ask??

My bad, they are in the 50 range for most. I get a big discount.

yeah, Izz gonna say dumas.

urA dik\

I am an FFP employee, Im not in the shop much. I dont work the shop. Getting ready to release their new site maybe this weekend. :)

Skip, while doing some reasearch on the collins hackle I came across him as well. You'll notice, he doesnt have dun. They are supposed to be good from what I read from other people.

EDIT: I guess he does have dun. How i missed that the other day Ill never know.

ORIGINAL: Pgh Kid

What is FFP as in:

We actually had a rather lengthy discussion on hackle in the FFP shop on tuesday.

And:

is someone suggesting that hackel can be purchased by the size and quantity that you want?

FFP is a fly shop in state college.... FlyFishers Paradise

Yes, the 100 packs come in a specific size. You choose the color, you get about 5-8 really long saddle hackles that will only tie that specific size... you can get a 100 or more drys out of the pack, thats why they are called hundered packs.

http://www.cabelas.com/prod-1/0023336317476a.shtml

metz makes them as does whiting farms, whitings goes down to size 22, looks like metz stops at 18

ORIGINAL: dano

ORIGINAL: doubletaper

any more i buy in packs or 1/4 capes in what i need.

Me, too.

Not too long ago, Rooster necks were the way to go. I'm still tying off of quite a few $30-$40 Whiting necks I bought over a decade ago.
On some of the necks I'm getting thin on #14 & #16 so that's where the 100 packs come in handy.
My dark dun neck was pretty much picked out on #20 to #26's but I got a nice Whiting 1/4 Midge Saddle that, believe it or not, ties down to #24.
The only full neck I've purchased recently was a grizzly by whiting that was heavy in #18 and smaller. That was two years ago. The only reason I got it was because I needed 22 to 26 feathers for Griffith Gnats and spade feathers for tailing. Now I have a lifetime supply of midge hackle in grizzly.  

Whiting has done amazing things with hackle but there is a consequence. Its getting tougher to find long soft woolybugger type hackle. Also, usable spade feathers are almost nonexistent.

For now on, I'll stick to 1/4 saddles. It seems I get the biggest bang fot the buck with them.

I use strung hackle for most of my buggers but they dont come very small.

In my opinion, its hard to beat whiting hackles. They have a higher barb count than the other brands i've seen. Jeremy mentioned earlier that you can get 20-30 size 18's out of a neck with a grade 1 (i'm assuming metz, since numbers are their grading system). I always get a lot more than that out of a silver (or better) grade whiting neck. Not to mention the fact that I can use that same neck for a lot of other common hatches we have in central pa like the hendricksons, blue quills, slate drakes, or any others that may call for the same color hackle neck.
 
I looked at keough's necks at the flyfishing show in NJ last week, and gotta say, they werent bad, especially for the price.

ORIGINAL: SilverKype

ORIGINAL: thedrake

I looked at keough's necks at the flyfishing show in NJ last week,

Was retardo there???

 
You mean strappy?

Logan Outfitters (aka the Spring Ridge Club) were there. They werent fooling anyone though. Very few people were stopping at their booth. I didnt see mister DB there. It would be hard to show your face to the public after trying to take the public's water on the LJR.

"Joey" and "Davey" were there, walking around WITHOUT Spring Ridge Club logo'd shirts or hats on. You'd think they were ashamed of where they work or at least attempting to hide it. lol