Hackle

[Rick]

Hi to all. The discussion of Howards Hackle has me confused. Can anyone explain the difference between a saddle and a cape? I would have thought they were one in the same but I now think I'm wrong. I have what I believe are saddles (long good dry fly hackle). I also have a couple of necks that have some very good hackle for very small drys but I have no idea what a cape is. Would the best dry fly hackle be found on a saddle or a cape? Thanks to all who answer. Rick.

[headscan]

My understanding is the cape is from the neck and shoulders of the bird, so the necks you have are probably similar to a cape or the same thing. The saddle is from the back (and maybe part of the sides) of the bird. I think the cape is considered best for dries, while the saddle tends to have feathers decent for dries and also the webbed feathers that are good for wet fly hackle. I have only been tying for a month now, so someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

[admin]

Headscan, you are right.

 

Basically Necks or Capes are the pelt of the rooster from the head to the lower back of the bird. Near the head, the feathers are tiny, John Howard carries around a bag of long #28 /#32 hackles from some of his birds. Near the bottom of a neck, their feathers are large and used mostly on streamers or as tails and beards etc. The long streamers that Dave and I tie usually have wings created from these feathers. The nice thing about necks is that they have a large variety of hackle sizes. A good cape will have #20 - #6 dry fly hackle. There are people who claim the Necks to be better quality hackle, and in a lot of cases they are. The saddles are opt to have more webbing present.

 

Saddles are the pelts that you see with the very long feathers, sometimes 15 or more inches. One nice thing about saddles is that you can tie 7-10 flies from a single feather, but the biggest disadvantage is that the selection of sizes is minimal. you will normally have a saddle that ties 2 or 3 sizes with a few feathers that will tie outside that range. ie a saddle that has #10 -#14 sized hackles and a few #8 and a few #16. if you only tie in that range, a saddle is a good choice.

 

This holds for genetic hackles that are of dry fly quality. Indian, Chinese and domestic capes may have some feathers usable for dries, but they are often soft, short and difficult to work with for that purpose.

 

Hope that helps

[cheeler]

http://www.traditionalangler.com/Whiting_Capes.asp

[Weedy1]

One nice thing about saddles is that you can tie 7-10 flies from a single feather....

You may be able to, I'm lucky to get two, but I suck......

[admin]

BTW, I just heard throught the grapevine that Whiting isn't going to have a good year for capes. They may be hard to get come the spring.

 

I can get 1 fly per hackle on a cape hackle, but a long hackle it's a lot. It depends how heavy you hackle too. I'm talking EHC, Gnats or parachutes. If you're tying catskills dries or any heavy hackled fly, 2-4 is more like it with a saddle hackle.