Conranch Grade 3 cape

[anieman]

I was thinking about getting a Conranch Grade 3 cape, but i wanted to know how much hackle in the 14- 18 range i will get.

Thanks,
Austin

[dsaavedra]

omg i was just looking at their page and that special offer and i was wondering the same thing. that is very cheap for a whole cape....

[Rick Z]

Contact Denny. You will get a straight answer about this. He is avery nice person to deal with.

Rick

If you want a cape that has the majority of the hackle in a certain size range, Denny can do that for you. That is what is nice about ordering straight from the source.

Denny and his daughter raise the chickens, and can mark a rooster just for your special request. Conranch does not sell wholesale to fly shops, only direct to customers, so you save on money with no "Middle Man"!

Conranch chickens have longer ancestral records than most "Royal Families", and they have over twenty different families of chickens. Thing I really like about the hackle is the stem, which is oval. The oval stem on the hackle, allows the stem to flatten, when wrapping a collar on dry flies. I have not seen this in capes from any any other chicken farms that raise fly tying capes.

[Denny]

anieman and others having the same question.
I will not try to give you numbers but I personally tie with grade 3 capes and saddles. The dry fly quality is as good in a #3 as in a #1, just more flys can be tied from a higher grade.
The size range in a #3 runs from 28 on up to quite large. I tie a lot of size 22s which I like to fish. (can not see well enuf to tie smaller)Tying for my personal fishing I find I can tie a long time from one cape, #3. There are far more hackles in each size than one would expect. In all honesty I feel at the regular price a grade #3 is a "Best buy for the $$". At our year end sale you can not beat it I assure you.
Unless you are tying commercially a grade #3 should suit you well for the sizes you are looking for.
I have taught myself to tie two flies from each hackle.
This is of course not on heavily hackled flies. Still, a bargin and many tiers stear away from the grade #3. I could understand this 10 years ago. Today the development of our genetic flock has made even the grade #3 one of the best.
Give one a try and you will agree with me I am sure.

[caddis16]

I will let you know in a couple of days. I bought one each of the brown and furnace capes, and one each of the brown and furnace saddles. At 12 bucks each you can not go wrong. I bought a #2 saddle off Denny earlier in the year and it stacks up very well against my #1 store bought saddles. As a matter of fact it gets me thinking that maybe I paid too much for my #1s

[ducksterman]

I'm curious ...does the sale mean the brown and furnace chickens are hornier than the others?

[anieman]

Thanks for the help. I am pretty sure that I will be ordering at least one within the next few days.

Austin

[dsaavedra]

man i really want to buy one but i dont have the $$

[caddis16]

Must be tough to be a flytier and not be able to afford a 12 buck neck. I remember when I was young and on a budget. Ahhh the bad old days. I guess the only good thing about getting old is being able to buy stuff when I want. Now if I could just remember were I left my vise....