I recently bought a little package of maybe 8 feathers @ $7. Does anyone have a good source on maybe a little more of the bird like a cape for a decent price?
Coq de Leon is not cheap even in Spain, but it is great stuff for many patterns (I could not live without dry caddis with coq de Leon wings…LOL; deer and goat hair work pretty well…but not the same.)
If you like, have a look at this link, www.pescamosca.com . They are now working on the new catologue for next season, but I think you will find information about prices in Spain.
Hope to be of any help.
Andres T.
This sponsor offers saddles http://www.stoneriveroutfitters.com/hackle.htm
Personally I think those little packets from Spain are a COMPLETE WASTE. Yes, the feathers are nice enough, but not enough to justify their cost. Who they heck thinks it reasonable to pay that kind of money just to put a TAIL on a dry fly?
Whiting Farms has a product usually labelled “Whiting Tailing Pack” that contains three sections of CDL feathers suitable for dry fly tails. These used to be pretty cheap but it looks like the price has almost doubled in the last couple of years. Regardless, the Tailing Packs are still a MUCH better deal than the “real thing.” You would think the Whiting CDL capes and saddles would work as well, but the feather on them just aren’t as good as the Tailing packs.
Charlie Collin’s name always comes up in these sorts of discussions as a potential supplier of conventional spade hackle. I haven’t personally seen nor used his product, so you would have to contact him directly to find out what he might have available.
Luck.
Whatfly, I want it for Soft Hackles, although it is cool tails.
It is just so whispy looking:
Ah, hadn’t thought of that. Nice tie.
Again, there’s no reason the tailing packs wouldn’t work because they are roughly the equivalent of the Spanish feathers. For soft hackles, the Whiting CDL rooster cape or saddle would probably be a better bet. From the picture I’d say you need a “medium pardo” colored saddle (or maybe even “dark pardo”) . Neither the capes nor the saddles are all that expensive ($20-$30 I think). Stone River Outfitters (sponsor’s page) carries the saddles and can probably get the capes for you.
You may want to see if you can find some of the CDL hen saddles for soft hackles, however. The rooster feathers make great tails but would be too stiff, for me anyway, for soft hackles. The hen saddles are more like partridge although the range of the feathers is not as good. The colors are different, however, so if you are looking for the exact same effect, you’ll have to stick with rooster.
Luck.
Fly Goddess, nice fly. I am a big fan of the soft hackle flies. Coq de Leon is a great hackle. I use it for both soft hackles and tailing, but I’m sure if I had more time . . . I know lots of folks use it for mayfly winging, too.
I use the Whiting, but they’re only selling it now in the cape/saddle combo and it is expensive.
Ron
Ron, do you have a link, and by expensive are you talking over $100.?
FG,
If your willing to settle for hen capes for soft hackles, Stone river has them, http://www.stoneriveroutfitters.com/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi?key=HAC_M02375&preadd=action , for $18.00.
I just got one from Softhackle on the For Sale Board and it’s a beautiful thing.
Stone River also has rooster CDL saddles for $18 and $27. http://www.stoneriveroutfitters.com/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi?key=HAC_M02371&preadd=action
REE
Look through a bunch of Whiting and Metz necks and you will find some unusual stuff…
The silver Badger on the left is tightly speckled and very pretty. It is dry fly of the highest order, all the way. It was labeled as Silver grade and silver badger. It was marked down because the color was nonstandard.
For a better example, this cape was marked bronze and included a black hen saddle and it was on sale for $15!
They called it brown!
Point being if you look through lots of hackles you will find some neat stuff… I prefer unusual colors…
Denny is the first call I would make though, since you want it soon…
art
Fly Goddess,
I just purchased a CDL Whiting Tailing Pack from the Bob Mariott store this past weekend. It was selling for $16.00. Hope this is what your looking for.
Beaver
I just use some partridge for my soft hackles cause its way cheaper and I am mad cheap! great tie!!! I like um!
I do also, plus Some Speckled Hen Backs. The Partridge just has sooooo much fluff and garbage feathers in it, I get frustrated trying to find one good one while the rest fly all over.
CDL is new for me, but I love the effect! I am sure the fish won’t give a hoote!:roll:
FG,
For soft hackle feathers (partridge, snipe, waterhen. etc) your better off buying a whole skin. Better selection of feathers and they are conveniently sorted according to size (closer to the head=smaller feathers). Buying those kinds of feathers packaged is really a pain.
REE
Goddess you have to get an actual partridge skin. I use to use the cheap packs you can buy from most any store and had the same problem. A lot of the feathers were just crap, they only tied larger size 10-12 patterns, and digging in the bag caused an overload and they would fly all over. I only use the actual skin now and it’s much easier and you can find feather that tie down to an 18 or 20 if you get a really good skin.
I understand that the gunuine Coq De Leon plumes emanate from the Valley of Curue?o region in the district of Leon. And that for obvious reasons the price is held high.
Some of the breeders from the villages of the river Curue?o valley say that when roosters are taken away from the area, the feather quality diminishes and that they think it is due to a mysterious element of the soil that the roosters get when they are fed. It has been attributed to the uranium seam that is located in the soil, and some say that radiation could be responsible for the brightness of the feathers. This story only adds value whether you believe it or not!
However harvesting the valued feathers resembles “catch and release”.
It is not necessary to kill the bird, as is required to obtain the hackles for tying dry flies. The feathers are removed from the rooster roughly every four months, avoiding causing it any stress, as this is another important factor in the acquiring of high-quality feathers on the next occasion.
They are unique looking feathers and can dress a fly just right.
But there are no cheap options on this.
The feathers are gradually plucked from the bird’s back and then arranged by colour and size in groups of 12. These are then tied together at their base to make bundles, as they are known.
A number of years ago, I bought some Coq de Leon feathers from Paco Soria in Spain. They were not cheap by any means, but they were absolutely beautiful.
I haven’t heard about him in several years, but here’s a link where he offered Coq de Leon on FAOL a few years back: http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/showthread.php?t=6420
Does anyone know whether Paco is still selling these feathers?
John
Isn’t that funny, non-standard colors should be worth MORE unless you are a commercial tyer! I want my flies to look just a “little different” and non standard hackle does that 
Scientist
You should be exactly right! 
Here is the really funny part…
That is a size 22 hackle on the neck and it is well over 3" long! The stems are pretty stiff, but a quick shot of steam lets them wrap beautifully… I think the bronze grade is way low as I have others graded much higher that cannot compete.
art
I have many TOP OF THE LINE capes ( had a good friend that visited Whiting personally), but they are not whispy enough for a good soft hackle. I have made them out of these feathers but I think they are more midge like.
I won a top notch cape in a beautiful furnace/honey color for a fly contest once. I don’t think I will ever use that whole thing up. There are more feathers on the hi grade right?