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I hope to
describe to you, the reader, the important essentials in
choosing a cape or saddle suitable for your fly tying. I am
constantly surprised at the choices some make when
purchasing either necks or saddles. I am not laying claim to
the title of "World's greatest authority on capes", but I do
have the experience of handling thousands of capes behind me
and producing flies commercially, I also happen to breed
what I consider to be the highest quality genetic poultry in
Europe, having obtained Darbee and Miner stock from the USA.
I hope this gives me an insight into capes that perhaps the
novice might not have.
Ignoring colour for starters, the first question to ask is
what flies will I be tying in what quantity and what sizes.
The production fly tyer will have a different answer to the
average home tyer. My experience of fly tyers in general is
that fly sizes below #20 are very rarely produced in
UK/Ireland and the bulk of the patterns are in the #10 and
#12 range. Again in the UK/Irish market traditional wet
flies and lures greatly outnumber the quantity of dry flies
produced.
Cape & Saddle Pricing
Various claims will be made by different breeders of genetic
hackle and the processors of both Indian and Chinese capes
as to the relative value of their products. Essentially
capes and saddles are graded by their ability to tie small
dry flies. This pattern of grading reflects the demand in
the US and the difficulty in obtaining high quality Indian
pelts suitable for small dry flies (Chinese capes are not
considered as dry fly hackle at all). The greater the number
of tiny flies a pelt will produce, generally the higher the
price. However, the relative cost per fly will vary from
brand to brand. If you do not produce flies below a #18,
say, there is little point in spending your hard earned cash
on a pelt that will wrap a #28 fly. Such a pelt will
certainly cost you considerably more that a pelt that will
wrap only to #20. The other factor to take into account is
the feather count on a pelt. An Indian neck is likely to
give you only a few dozen usable hackles. A half decent
genetic neck, will on the other hand give you literally
hundreds. I used to buy commercial grade Hoffman necks for
my fly tying. These are necks Tom Whiting wasn't willing to
stick the Hoffman name on as they weren't up to the quality
he wanted to retail at. They cost me the princely sum of
$3.99 each. Sadly no longer available, I reckoned on getting
about 700 flies per neck. The smaller feathers near the head
went to my dry fly production and the larger feathers were
dyed an appropriate colour and went into my wet fly
production. This raises another point worth noting. The
small feathers at the top of the neck may be relatively web
free and of good dry fly quality, but the web on the larger
feathers of genetic necks can be very webby. If you want
large web free feathers, examine the cape before purchase. A
lower grade pelt may provide a greater quantity of the type
of feather you seek. I am not a poultry geneticist (although
I do have more than a passing interest in the subject) and
I'm sure more knowledgeable people than me may have evidence
to contradict what I am about to say, but my comments come
from observation of the poultry of various breeds that I
keep. It has already been established that the genes
involved in feather growth of the saddle are largely
independent from those of the neck. By that I mean if you
select for narrow dry fly hackle on the neck, you don't get
them on the saddle. You have to select independently for
saddle quality. On some of my Roosters, I note a break point
approximately one third of the way down the neck where the
feathers change quite dramatically in form. This is
particularly in evidence on some Old English Game I have. I
wonder if there are at least some genes that control feather
form about the head and others that control hackle growth
nearer the back.
Back to the problem at hand, what pelt to choose.
For smaller dry flies (less than 14), there is no doubt that
a genetic neck is far better value for money than a bag full
of Indian necks. The number of Indian necks with quantities
of feathers below this size is not large. Genetic necks from
the US are now available at £25.00 for a full neck and
slightly more than half this for a half neck. So for the
price of two good Indian necks, you can have half a quality
genetic neck from a US breeder. Having seen examples of
English reared hackle, my opinion is that the American
products are greatly superior and I wouldn't entertain the
English product currently at the price it is on offer.
For smaller flies, there are also a number of breeders
offering genetic saddles in appropriate sizes. Where
production tying is taking place, these are superb products
to use. Hackle after hackle in the same hook size and some
brands produce several flies per hackle. The one problem
with this that no one ever tells you about is that a saddle
seldom contains more that two hook sizes of hackle. If your
tying is restricted to a couple of hook sizes or you've got
the resources to buy several pelts and access to sufficient
quantities to choose yourself the pelts you want, then there
are some superb offerings out there.
For larger dry flies, I would still tend towards the genetic
pelt. You get more for your money than with Indian necks and
you can still use the smaller hackles for spent wings if you
don't actually want to tie tiny dries. Be wary of my earlier
comments on increasing web as the hackles get larger. Indian
necks will give you quite a few hackles in the required
sizes when you start talking size #10 and #12. Careful
selection of the cape will produce dividends as the quality
of hackle on superficially similar capes can in fact be
greatly different. Cheap Genetic saddles also come into
there own when talking hook sizes #8 through #12. These are
available for under £10.00, will give you lots of hackle of
prodigious length and are available in a huge range of
colours, Again choose wisely as web can be prevalent on some
saddles, not a quality one would wish in a dry fly hackle.
The largest market here is for hackle for wet flies. This
can be either sunk flies or what I would call surface film
wets, such as bushy bob flies. If one reads the book by Mr.
Justice Kingsmill Moore, that great Irish Angler, then all
Bumbles (read palmered flies), should be tied with quality
cock hackles. However, it is true that many very effective
dressers use the softer Chinese hackle to excellent effect.
I would therefore be of the opinion that personal preference
is the ultimate arbiter in this case as they both work as
far as the fish are concerned. For sunk wet flies, mobility
of the hackle is all important and Hen necks, from whatever
source or Chinese necks are both excellent.
For Salmon flies, which in the main fall into the sunk wet
fly category above, mobility is what counts. Again Chinese
necks generally will provide excellent service to the fly
dresser. These are variable in quality. Inspection before
purchase is recommended. Either that or buy a graded pelt,
such as those on offer from Wapsi.
Turning Problems
I have noted the comments by some authors, regarding turning
problems on hackles. I am not disputing at least some of
these claims, but there is another answer. Firstly, if you
don't put the hackle squarely on the hook, such that the
shaft is not at right angles with the hook and such that the
barbs on both side of the hackle are not at right angles
also to the hook shaft, then you are almost certain to
encounter turning problems. Secondly, if you fail to
maintain sufficient tension in the hackle whilst wrapping it
around the hook, then it does have a tendency to twist and
will also have turning problems. In reality, the problem is
not one with the hackle, but one of technique on the part of
the tyer. Don't just take my word for it. Exactly this was
written in an article by John Veniard years ago. |
