various hackle

I am familiar with recent Whiting and Conranch hackles and I was wondering how is the current quality of Metz and Keough.

dfly,

Depends on how you look a it.

The 'lowest' grade is far superior to ANY hackle readily available say 30 years ago, and we were catching fish with flies tied back then. When I think of the all the beautiful flies that the old time, say 1900-1950, tyers made, it seems that hackle 'quality' really isn't all THAT important...

I love all of it.

Good Luck!

Buddy

I'm pretty new at this but I have grade 2 necks in Whiting, Conranch, Collins, and Metz and I'd have to say that all of the first 3 are definitely superior to the Metz in terms of geting enough hackles for smaller flies. I won't be buying any more Metz. It's Conranch and Collins for me.

The last few Metz capes I bought had stiff, heavy quills that were difficult to wrap. Metz has gone down hill a bit. I like Collins hackle, even over Whiting for most of my dries. I have not tried Conranch hackle. Later, Jim

I've got a couple of grade 1 and grade 2 Metz necks, and I have been quite happy with them. Much better quality than the Conranch necks I have, although not as good as my hackle from Whiting (especially the rooster saddles).

I haven't played with his dry fly hackle, but Bill Keough sells the best wet fly saddle hackle I have found, so far. Unfortunately, they are hard to find in CA, but if you need Wooly Bugger hackle, Bill Keough's saddles are unbelievable. YMMV.

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-whatfly