Black Tipped Badger and Coch-a-bondu Hackle

[gerry l]

Not too long ago I needed some Badger and furnace hackle. There seemed to be plenty for sale from the importers, but much of it no good. Supplier reputation seemed to work reliably. Orvis and a couple of the faol sponsers had some really good ones. I really like to tie conventional streamers using White or golden badger.I do not need tiny feathers for the patterns I encounter. I ignore the black tip.

Gerry L.

[ashbourn]

When it comes to badgers, furnaces, coch-a-bondhu, and greenwills (golden badger with no black tips) breeders are lasy about looking close at the hackle to give it a real color grade. All of these colors are very easy to get despite what people say and it is just a matter of knowing where to look.
Coch-a-bondhu can me found on hackle many breeders grade as furnace, Metz can be worse sometimes calling them brown.
Greenwills are often just marker as Golden Badger or even just badger.
Badgers are a huge toss up I do not know of any breeders who say if the feathers have black tips or not. Most are very unclear on shades. I look as badgers being silver, cream, or golden. Then each one can have or not have black tips. This makes for 6 different colors that can all be marked as only 1 or 2 colors.

I tie alot of very old classic dry flies and most were very selective on they type of badger. If you can handle your material before you buy chances are you will be able to fine the shade you need from any shop with a real stock of hackle. If not find a shop that knows what to look for and that you can trust to select the right shade.
I have gotten to the point where I am regrading what color hackle I receive from suppliers just so I can quickly find the right product for customers.

Joe Fox