I am a beginning tyer and I have been looking at hackle. Any opinions on Whitings Introductory hackle packs? Thanks. Luke
4 1/2 capes in ginger, dun, brown and grizzly for $60. According to the description at one site they come “from a whole new type of bird! Whiting developed them just for this purpose”. The pricing puts them below the Pro Grade in quality, so they’ll probably have few usable hackles for anything smaller than #18 but if you’re just starting out, sounds like a good way to start your hackle collection. Whiting puts out a good quality product.
Regards,
Scott
Welcome to fly fishing Luke. If you are just starting out tying flies, try soft hackle wet flies.
They mostly use hen hackles, or game bird hackles, and are not difficult to tie.
Whiting Hen skins are very good, also Conranch skins are well worth a look.
Cock hackle is much more limited in its uses, mainly dry flies, and is more expensive.
Again welcome to our obsession.
Whiting is mostly what I use, but I tied a few (half dozen) parachutes last night using a Grade 2 Metz Cree that I purchased a few years ago. While the density of fibers wasn’t equal to Whiting, I did find the feather wrapped flatter. That is to say, it did not exhibit as much cupping as a Whiting.
That said, Whiting is a great product and the intro pack should serve you well so long as you are getting the colors you will use most often.
Interesting product. Had not known these were on the market. While I have not used them, I do think Whiting hackle is the best out there, albeit usually at a high cost. Looks like it comes in capes and saddles, and I would recommend the capes for a beginner so you have the largest possible range of feathers as you develop you skill. Another choice is the “Bronze Cape Combo” or whatever it is called which is two higher quality 1/2 capes in grizzly and brown. Best of luck.
Whiting has excellent products, but another quality source you might want to consider and an excellent bargain is Conranch Hackle. Here is a link to their website. http://www.conranch.com/
I had looked at Conranch’s capes and they are very impressive. I like the idea of dealing with a Family and not a corporation, but I am just starting out and looking for multiple colors and I just can’t justify sinking that much money into 4 whole capes right now. I have no doubt I’ll switch to them later, but for now the budget is tight. Thanks for the info folks. Luke
Looking at the Bronze Cape Combo brings up another question: Gold-Silver-Bronze? Does this correspond to the Grades 1,2,3 I see elsewhere and is a Bronze or grade 3 going to be useable for dry flies? My understanding is that the lower the grade the less suited it is for dries, and more suited it is for wets. I plan to tie both, but I want to know that I’ll have the option for dries. Thanks again. Luke
http://www.bearsden.com/page843.html
The charts show range and “sweet spot” of each grade of Whiting/Hebert Miner. Even if those Intro capes are lower grade than the Pro, you’ll still have some very good hackle to work with.
Regards,
Scott
If you are planning on tying flies in the size 12-16 range I would say you will be fine with the combo packs. You should get plenty of feathers in that size range, maybe a little less of the size 16. Its a good way to get a couple of different colors without having to buy the whole cape of each color. Another option would be the whiting 100 packs, they are saddle feathers and are longer feathers which might be a little easier for you to work with. When you are ready to purchase some full skins I would suggest giving Denny(Conranch) a try. Good luck!
Rodney
They are all dry fly capes. The better grades will have a higher feather count. For wet flies you will want hen feathers or game bird feathers.
Thanks RC. So it’s just a matter of length, width and stiffness of the individual feathers then?
Cabella’s says that these are bronze grade capes. All of the hackles should be stiff and web free once you have stripped away the bottom portion of the feather. They may not go as small as a gold cape but few beginners tie below a twenty anyway. If you can get to a fly fishing show this spring you should go and watch a good tier or two. They can easily show you what to look for in a hackle for dry flies and wet flies. You can buy cheap (not dry fly quality) saddles for woolly buggers and wet flies without wasting these expensive feathers. That is the kind of thing you can often find good deals on at the shows. Unfortunately as things stand I don’t expect many good deals on dry fly hackle this year.
With my 10 giant thumbs, I doubt I’ll be able to tie smaller than 20’s anyway. 
I think I’ll go ahead and get the set and then start looking for cheaper ones for my wets. Any suggestions on where to find the low quality ones for wets and buggars? Are the cheap import saddles good for this? I will not be able to attend any more shows this year, as my busy time at work is approaching. (I’ll still have time to fish though!) I went to the Kentuckyanna Show last weekend, I sure wish I had raised these questions before I went… Luke
For wets I prefer hen necks (softer, webbier hackle barbs). You can buy them from the big names (Whiting, Metz) of you can get the inexpensive India Hen Necks (I’ve got a few of them in brown, dun and cream and they work great). You can also get stuff like India Hen Back, Partridge, quail for soft hackles; partridge is not cheap, though so if I were you I’d hold off on it for a while until you’ve got some flies in your boxes.
Regards,
Scott