Conranch Grade 3 cape

Fly Patterns
1

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

2

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…

3

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

Rick

4

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.

5

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.

6

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. :slight_smile: I bought a #2 saddle off Denny earlier in the year and it stacks up very well against my #1 store bought saddles. :smiley: As a matter of fact it gets me thinking that maybe I paid too much for my #1s :oops:

7

I’m curious :twisted: …does the sale mean the brown and furnace chickens are hornier than the others? :lol: :lol: :wink:

8

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

Austin

9

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

10

Must be tough to be a flytier and not be able to afford a 12 buck neck. :frowning: I remember when I was young and on a budget. Ahhh the bad old days.:frowning: 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…

11

Caddis,

I was in that situation many years ago. An avid fly tyer, young, and on a rather small allowance :cry: . THANK GOD FOR HERTER’S!

Now days, I seldom misplace my vise but reading glasses are another thing altogether. 8T :smiley:

12

Young tiers deserve the best hackle even when school keeps one from holding a job.
David now has good hackle in his hands and reports he is having fun with it.
Liz sent him a Christmas package. When asking him to get permission from his father for us to send something, his Dad offered to pay for shipping but Santa took care of it. :smiley:

Denny

13

Now that is a class act.

14

Denny is a class act and one hell of a guy to boot. If I could just talk him into growing some more exotic birds I would buy some more amgolds off of him. Kudos to you Denny.

15

Nice…I’m considering purchasing … what’s better a saddle or a cape?

16

Is Denny contributing to dsaavedra’s mis-spent youth??!! Oh were I to have been able to mis-spend my youth this way!! I had to go with pool halls and science fiction books. Oh well. I just ordered a brown and furnace saddles from Denny after speaking to him on the phone. I am greatly anticipating their arrival.

17

Denny I find that very touching. You da man!

18

:smiley: that was so nice of you denny!:smiley:

19

Denny & Liz,

Super nice way to celebrate the holiday season. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: 8T

20

Denny…you deserve all of the praise that people have given you. There are some of us who have had the true pleasure of having spent time with Denny. We are truly blessed to know such a wonderful person. But even if you haven’t met Denny in person, he treats people the way they want to be treated. A true class act is an understatement.

As a side note, his hackle is as good as it gets. I have a grade 3 saddle which I love using for various purposes, especially for stimulators and EHC. Even some of the feathers that the hackle distributors (for lack of a better word) leave off of the saddles, Denny leaves on and I have been able to find a use for them. An example would be some feathers I have found to be very good for making the tails of woolly buggers (instead of marabou or chickabou). I have a grade 2 cape which I love for different reasons and use those feathers for different flies (great for traditional flies such as a Catskill style fly or a parachute). No matter what you decide to buy from Denny, you will get the best quality hackle that there is to be found. And the best thing about Conranch Hackle is that you get the best bang for the buck (sorry Denny for stealing your line on that but I couldnt come up with anything better).