Saddles, Necks, Capes, Collars - confusion!

I've a few questions here so feel free to pitch in with your answers:

  • Anybody like to have a go at explaining to fly tying newbees when to use saddles, necks, capes, collars etc. It can get very confusing. Are some more suited to dry fly tying as opposed to wets
  • Also, when buying your feathers it can get seriously expensive starting out, especially if you go with genetic capes. Are any of the cheaper capes you see worth looking at or are you just wasting your time? Along these lines - which brands are worth looking at?
  • Lastly, where do the Indian and Chinese capes come into the picture - are they worth consideration?

Tags: Capes, Collars, Fly Tying, Necks, Saddles

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Permalink Reply by Brian McGarvey on April 24, 2012 at 3:18pm

Genetic is the best for all flies.  Worth spending money on.  The feather quality is much better and there are a lot more useful feathers.  Only the small feathers near the top of Chinese and Indian capes are useful.

Use cock necks mostly for dry flies and sometimes for palmered wet fly hackles.

Hen necks for wet flies.

Saddles are generally for bigger wet flies and lures.  There are some very fine cock saddles which can be used for dries, but they are very very expensive.

Another thing to look out for is the stiffness of the stem.  You want the stems to be as limp as possible in order to wrap the hackle neatly.

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