I’ve been reading lately about the shortage of saddle hackles. Seems a lot of people are wearing them in their hair and it’s the latest craze. Well tonight as I was watching American Idol with my family I noticed one of the judges, Stephen Tyler, had several beautiful saddle hackles woven into his hair. Looked to be a bunch of 8-10 feathers. Millions of other people watched the show tonight. I wonder how this might affect the future supply of saddles. I also wonder if the demand will create a spike in prices.
I have wondered about this myself but somehow I don’t think they are willing to spend the money on quality fly tying hackles. Then again one never knows…
Now wouldn’t it be weird if they sell those used hackles on ebay, we buy them and find out the hair dressing they were using eliminates our need for desiccants?
I have heard that each feather can bring $10-15 at the salon. The necks can be sold for hundreds of dollars and the salons are buying them up. I understand one vendor is selling 16 feathers for $20. This feeds the braid market but helps feed the fly tyer supply also.
It sounds like the suppliers are doing their best to protect our supplies but I am sure there will be scalpers out there also that will make a quick buck off of thsi.
Hopefully the fad will not last that long.
iaflyfisher
Wow sounds like I was wrong! They are getting a premium per feather for sure.
Denny if this lasts long you may be getting really, really busy.
We do not sell anything to the wholesale market. We are very short with Salon marketing persons. We only tell them our products are for fly tiers. I do have quite a few of these Pushy Ladies more than a little angry with me. One of these marketing Ladies tried to buy all of my inventory. She had a very short phone call when I had to ask her what part of “NO” do you not understand.
Not to say we have not sold any because we have been selling a few here and there to gals who tie their own. This is not new, as my records show it is over one year now. We have not raised our prices. I feel there is no need to get too excited over a fad. Fly tying will last. I understand some breeders are catering to this fad, even special packaging. Rest assured we will not. They only want saddles, no capes. Our prices are staying the same as usual. We never try to produce the grade #1 saddles. Not much demand for them. To get the length for a grade #1 it takes an extra 4 to 6 months and that equates to lots more feed which is going up in price daily. Do not Panic!
I know you take care of us Denny and it is very much appreciated! I was being a bit tounque in cheek but shouoldn’t have been because this is very dear to you. I mean I am serious about the impacts of it too. Glad you told them no too.
Thanks Denny, you do your business proud. I hear tell that others are giving in to the capitalist urge and both raising prices, and pulling “Euro Hackle” off the market…not to name any names.
I hope my supply holds out, and if no? I will call Conranch.
I wish there were more suppliers out there like you. It seems like everyday I see more and more CHICKEN HEADS running around. Maybe we should drop some chicken feed on the streets, and see… It’s just a fad and should be over in a year or so. Remember the Pog fad, those stupid little round cardboard tokens, all the kids had to have them. That was a short lived one, hope this may be too.
Well I don’t get out much but I haven’t seen it here yet. Using soft hackles like on roach clips does not bother me but what these folks are doing is different to me somehow. It just doesn’t sit right with me.
Denny I took one look at those furnace capes of yours and well you got mail!
I was told by a professional fly tier and teacher that fly tiers use only about 1% of the colored marabou sold today. The rest goes to the show girls of Vegas & Reno & Atlantic City.
That’s funny, I heard the same thing about G-strings…go figure!
Once this trend hits something like AI, it will get out of control quickly. There was already enough of a shortage. A friend of mine has a shop and said he was told it would be at least a year for saddle hackle again to show up. Guess Czech Nymphing will be taking off this year.
I got in a hackle buying frenzy about 5 years ago, thank goodness I don’t think I will ever have to buy any.
Denny is the smart one. He’s supplying his core customer base that will be there long after the feather fad fades. Imagine what it will do to a business that opts for big short term gains, but alienates the longterm customer base in the process.
Did you see that American Idol sign they gave Tyler to hold in front of his mouth every time he made what I assumed were off color remarks?
All this time I thought I knew what he was saying.
“Is that f…ing (bleep) good, or what?”
Now I really know what he was saying.
“Is that fishing good, or what?”
Denny, thank you for taking care of your core folks, we do appreciate it very much!!! take care, John.
Lotech Joe,
I’ve been sayin for years, that those Las Vegas gals were cornering the market on the good ostrich plumes. I spent 3 yrs in the Las Vegas area (86-89) but didn’t frequent the Strip! Little did I know, that I was in the midst of a gold mine (of feathers). You can tell I’m getting old or a fly tyer or both, because if you catch me oogoling the girls, it’s because of the feathers they’re wearing! LOL!! If you’ve ever watched Alec Jackson’s spey fly tying tapes (Hooked On Tying Series) you will wonder where the heck he got those REALLY nice ostrich plumes? My first suspicion was - he must have a source out of Vegas! LOL! Anybody here have feather connections in Las Vegas? PM me - we’ll keep it on the down low! Just kiddin - or am I - hmmm!!
Best regards, Dave S.
Man I can’t believe that you spent that much time in Las Vegas and didn’t get any plumage! 
OoPS! I forgot thsi is a family site! 
OH MY GOD! I just witnessed some of the frenzy first hand at my buddy’s shop. He just sold nearly 200$ worth of feathers in the half hour I was in there. I just took a seat and watched. CRAZY!!! The scenery wasn’t too bad though 
Exactly what is an American Idol? George Washington? Ben Franklin?
Brad