Whiting Cree- how to get?

So... my local fly shop laughed in my face upon my asking that they try to track down a silver or gold whiting cree cape or saddle.

"We save those for Dr. So-and-so. He buys a half dozen Abel #5's every year! Any others we get go to the owner of the shop."

And they had a really good laugh.

I know about Conranch and may get one sometime, but I want a whiting first.

SO... how does a mere mortal track a Whiting Silver+ Cree Cape or Saddle??? Any leads???

Many thanks-

Check out the whiting farms web site and see who the dealers are and call them.

Do a search on GOOGLE for cree necks.

Go back to that fly shop and buy 7 Abel #5's!!! and go to the top of the list!! HeHe!!!

Be aware the Cree Hackle is also very hard to get and fly shop owners, when they even get them in, reserve the right to sell them to their best and loyal customers or even hoard them for themselves. If you bought what that guy did, you would probably be at the top also.

You are greatly limiting yourself by being so picky or maybe your tying some museum quality flies.

1 grizzly and 1 brown hackle makes a good substitute.

So maybe you should consider the other growers of fine hackle. You may be suprised by the quality.
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Norm

A little effort on your end reaps just rewards.



[This message has been edited by flytire (edited 27 October 2004).]

[kengore]

If you are that picky about the whole cape being of perfect cree color you might find something at...
[url=http://www.flytyervariant.com/:43b12]http://www.flytyervariant.com/[/url:43b12]

They sell Whiting hackles that don't quite make the grade for standard colors. Sometimes they have caps that are mostly cree in color with some other colors mixed in.

I also find the Whiting dark barred ginger to be a pretty good substitute for cree.

[This message has been edited by kengore (edited 27 October 2004).]

[McManus]

Second rate? I use a lot of hackle and like Whiting quality.

Please explain.

Thanks,

McManus

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Swing hard, in case they throw the ball where you're swinging. Duke Snider

it's a bias.

whiting cree is most certainly not second rate.

mgj

All good points, my friends.

This is my treat to myself for scoring very well on the law school entrance exam...so it is an irrational pursuit. I promised that if I scored X, I'd finally get a good cree cape.

Perhaps I'll recontact Denny C.

Thanks again.

[flymaker2]

Easy to get on a List by e mailing Denny Conrach. Also-the alternate source is Doc Knoll (Non Sponsor).

Denny and Doc both sell beautiful Crees that are second to NONE!!

The genetic code has been broken, so Crees are starting to become more avaialable to us common folk.



Shoulder feathers from one of the Crees I bought. Not a Whiting.

Rich

RL

[This message has been edited by flymaker2 (edited 27 October 2004).]

[Al Beatty]

Hi jwest,

The substitute I use is Whiting grizzly dyed golden brown. On the hook it looks like the real thing. One of the other good people on this site suggested dark barred ginger as a substitute and it is also a good choice. FYI, the difference between cree and dark barred ginger (as Tom Whiting identifies it) is the shape of the dark coloring in the pelt. The dark part on a cree is shaped like a sargent's stripe and on the dark barred ginger it is diamonded shaped. The information I provide is what Whiting uses to identify cree/barred ginger. Denny Conrad may use different criteria, I'm not sure. I can tell you the cree pelts I've seen from Denny are beautiful. Take care & ...

Tight Lines - Al Beatty [url=http://www.btsflyfishing.com:4d3ce]www.btsflyfishing.com[/url:4d3ce]

[bones]

Go with what Al says... The waiting list for Cree is VERY LONG.

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harry mason
[url=http://www.troutflies.com:2b79f]http://www.troutflies.com[/url:2b79f]

Can't thank you guys enough for the time.

Joe