Rooster feathers for feathear wings and dee bodies

domantas said:

Yet another subject I want to get straight...

I been using "poor mans" strung saddle hackle for most of my tying temple dogs and it worked but now I want to tie some more dee's and featherwings. I need some hackle.

What should I get? Neck, cape? I looked into Whiting American capes. They look promising but I want some more experianced tyers to chime in and help me choose the cape or neck for wrapping first half body of dee style flies and some feather wing flies such as orange heron.

Hipefully this completes my array of questions...

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Saddles or necks are where it's at. Saddles are wider necks are more slender. Just a matter of how large and what profile you want. Size it up.

Indian necks will work great.

any hackle for body hackle, from pheasant to guinea to cheap hen to cheap rooster to anything. body hackles are the most forgiving. main thing you want is appropriate taper. but many dee flies do not have this, they have a very large heron or sub.lots opf the pheasant species make suitable subs as does burnt goose. its all about the length of fibres then.

I grabbed a whiting black American saddle the other day from a local fly shop, was on sale for $12. Feathers will be perfect for the long flowing hackling on Spey and Dee flies. Schlappen will get the job done as well.

Sorry guys if I wasn't clear but im not looking for long flowing hackle. I have blue eared pheasant for that. What I need is a cape that I can use for featherwings and some rear body palmering for flies like Aykroyd.

get what you can touch if possible. only then woill it have the feathers you want for certain... but still, any cheap neck strung saddle, or ameriucan neck to get fancy.

I only posted the pictures because they were handy and show what you can do with the cape feathers.

Hardyreels said:

I only posted the pictures because they were handy and show what you can do with the cape feathers.

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Badger Indian cape is what's on that Dee fly above. Great stuff, very versatile.

Interesting, i have only ever used poor mans cheap as strung saddle hackle like you but have never considered buying anything different as it just works. For interest a few flies here you can see, featherwings, dee's and the such, all strung saddle. http://s644.photobucket.com/user/mikebishop_album/library/ForDataBase?sort=3&page=1

I agree with zilliox and jam, I just buy cheap hackle for the most part. They won't all have the spear shaped taper you want for a body hackle but some will do great. As said above Indian neck hackles usually have a great shape, in my experience they are short but if you're just doing a few turns on half a body they are great, and CHEAP! Oh and on Dee flies (I.e. akroyd) I prefer American necks as they have much longer fibers, but that is a personal preference thing... I bet you're good with what you have

I use strung Chinese saddle hackle for body hackle for rear hackle on flies like Ackroyds, and also for my classic salmon fly throats, and some of them are suitable (tapered) for body hackles on salmon flies too.

For body hackles on smaller salmon flies and feather wings on Glasso type steelhead flies, I use Chinese rooster necks. They are a bit harder to find, but they are a good economical source for them.

For grizzly and badger hackles, I've been sourcing Whiting, metz or keough capes.

For spey hackles BEP is great, and Ringneck pheasant will work on smaller flies. Schlappen can be a good alternative on smaller flies too.

That's just what I use, and what works for me. Your mileage may vary.

Aaron

I use whole capes almost exclusively. I very much like the ones I have bought from Aaron Ostoj, as well as Whiting. I use these for several reasons.

1. They are economical. For $25, I get easily 3X more usable, quality feathers than I do on a low end $10 or $12 Indian or Chinese saddle. The value is even better when compared to packages of strung hackle.

2. Unlike strung hackle, I can quickly select left and right matched pairs. This enables me to use the natural curve of the feathers to create sleek, low set wings. I like the look of those more than wings that set up at a 45 degree angle from the shank.

3. There are a nice variety of feather widths on a pelt, so they can be used for palmering or collaring on a variety of hook sizes.

Dom,

I'll just go ahead and plug Mr Ostoj, I buy Chinese rooster necks from him for body hackle on Dees and wings on Glasso's. I've never been disappointed. I'm not affiliated in any way. Just a satisfied customer.

Chinese Rooster Capes are the lowest cost and easiest to find hackle for body hackle and Glasso hackle tip spey wings. Whiting American Rooster Capes (I use a lot of them for body and collar hackle) are very, very nice and have a huge number of very usable hackle feathers, but the smaller hackles are not as wide as Chinese Rooster Capes. Any of the genetic growers' Saltwater/Warmwater/bass/pike rooster necks will also provide what you are looking for.

Thank you all for your opinions! I decided to give Whiting American capes a shot. My Chinese cape does have suitable feathers for wings but I find barbs a bit long for palmering aykroyds. I thing going with a full cape has advantages over strung hackle because of that option of left and right feather match. To begin with ill start with orange for orange herons, black for black herons, and yellow for hopes.