wet flie cape or saddle

[stream]

For some reason I like fishing wet flie's. In the size #10-16 Now i wish to tie some but having a hard time figuring out do i need a cape or a saddle . Some of the pattern's call for hackle tip's and some of tip's look look like the soft hackle hen i use on my prince nymph.
And Looking for book's on wet fly pattern's

[rainbowchaser]

For that size range you will want a hen cape. They are much cheaper than dry fly hackle and work much better for wet flies. For a general overview of wet flies you might like Dave Hughs's book entitled WET FLIES. ray Bergman's TROUT is the classic source on the subject for American fly fishers if you can find a copy.

[Steven McGarthwaite]

Besides Hen Cape (chicken), there are many other soft hackle capes available. Pheasant, Quail, Grouse, Duck, Geese, Partridge, Starling, Waterhen, Coot, Golden Plover, Woodcock....almost a endless list, many can be found in different colorations, or dyed.

My suggestion is stay with the local soft hackle available in your region, and modify fly patterns where needed. It is more about dressing hooks to catch fish than to try and reinvent patterns where the material is not readily available. ~Parnelli

[Eric-WD]

I suggest Conranch they will send you both saddle and cape, great feathers, great price and an
FAOL Sponsor

http://www.conranch.com/

Eric

[Bass_Bug]

Indian Hen is very versatile for wets and nymphs and you cant beat the $3 or $4 price. Versus upwards to $100 for a saddle and a cape.http://www.jsflyfishing.com/cgi-bin/...-Hen-Back.html
J. Stockard http://www.jsflyfishing.com/ has about every kind of feather the average tyer could ever want.

[NJTroutbum]

Like has been mentioned above, all of the game birds lend themselves to wet fly applications perfectly. Genetic hen and Indian capes are well suited also.

[Steven]

I'm by no means a wet fly expert, but I do catch a few on soft hackles every season.

A light brown partridge skin, a starling skin, and a medium dun hen cape should make you all good.

[DUB]

I fish with wets year round. Brown hen capes from Whiting are my choice for 90% of my SH patterns. They too are starting to add the Saddle to their packaging. It's tough to beat a feather that you can get 3 flys out of.

[quivira kid]

I use India hen backs on a lot of my wets. "Natural" brown, and dyed brown.

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Stream,

Genetic Hen makes a great soft hackle, as do many of our game birds like partridge, chukkar, quail, etc. For books, one of our members is selling his collection of Ray Bergman's Trout for really good prices. http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/s...Trout-Blow-out

If you go with the gamebirds, I've found the packages of loose feathers are almost useless. I buy the entire bird skin and have feathers that will probably last my lifetime.

Steven mentioned a starling skin and that is a great bird for hackling flies. Almost every feather on the bird can be used in one way or the other.

REE