[James C]

I found a shop in OR that has some of these Whiting Rooster Spey Capes in the Bronze grade. Anyone have any experience with these newer capes? What size flies can you hackle with them? How is the quality of the feathers? Do they need additional burning to get the fibers to separate?

Thanks a lot!

 

[sinktip]

James,

My experience is several years old but I have five of these capes: two bronze and three silvers in black(2), purple, silver doctor blue and orange.

No burning needed as the fibers don't marry up at all. They are thinner than BEP or heron and not as long either although one of my bronze has some quite long fibered feathers. Most of mine are good for up to 1.5A AJ work. I find I usually use two feathers and fold them to get enough bulk. I have been using them for years and really like them. Even when using heron, I have been wrapping a single feather as a collar for the illusion of bulk in my dirty water flies.

Hope that helps.

Sinktip

 

[James C]

They look really thin and whispy SinkTip. I bet they move really well.

Nice fly by the way.

 

[sinktip]

Yes, they are thin. Hence folding and even doubling up with two plumes.

 

[Steelheadfreak]

I have a couple and as said above, double or even triple up sometimes.

 

[James C]

I have a couple and as said above, double or even triple up sometimes.

So, how is different than sparsely dressed marabou?

 

[fe2head]

Folding and winding two of these Spey Cape feathers at the same time is the way to go in order to get a fuller hackle....I even mix colors, black and orange, pink and orange, black and blue....they look great. It's a little tricky, but it's worth the effort.

Jim B.

 

[theCC]

Yep...I use them...though not as robust has heron, but a good alternative man.

 

[davidstrout]

Yes

Hi James

The capes are interesting to work with..

IMO

On their own as single feathers they are slightly better than worthless

Theres a large discrepeancy in fullness of feathers ..some have lovely full feathers and others are all stem with lots of missing or broken barbs

As many have posted I wont regurgitate except by saying YES! Use two or even 3 or 4 ..I prefer to wind them seperately as I can control the stem better ..the stems are supple and the fibres do lay back nicely..the movement is tasty and you wont be disapointed , especialy if you support the feathers with a few turns of Ringneck or marabou (as shown in my attachments) ..the black streamer has 3 purple feathers tied in over marabou
and the brown has 2 tied in over ringneck

good luck!

D

 

[Troutstalker1]

James,
There fun capes to work with although they take a little to get use to working with such a light airy feather. I found myself twisting and tangling the feathers the first few times I used them. Once you get the hang of it though there pretty great. I use them as palmered hackles and collars. I also find it works well if you pull the barbs off the stem and tie the barbs in as clumps or roll the clumps around the shank of the hook to form a hackle with very little bulk. Here's some shrimp flies I did in a few colors with the spey hackles. Hope that helps.

Vincent

 

[Troutstalker1]

A few out of the box.....

 

[SSPey]

So, how is different than sparsely dressed marabou?

the individual fibers are thinner and sparser than marabou, slightly less prone to kinking, and very slightly more durable - but still more fragile than heron, bep, etc. They also shed water well and cast easily when tied into big flies.

I mostly use it by lashing entire hackles into a river squid pattern. For this, I prefer the webbier feathers and softer stems of the spey rooster saddles (formerly sold as bird fur)

 

[flytyer]

I've been singing the praises of Whiting Spey Rooster Necks for quite a few years. The do make for a lovely spey or dee fly.

Because I prefer my spey and dee flies to be on the sparse side, I rarely use more than one of these feathers on a fly. I do start the hackling at the mid-point of the body though and always make 2 wraps at the front of the body after tossing a single wrap of thread over the hackle stem at the front of the body before making those two wraps.