"Several of the fly shops I’ve been to recently, including out west are splitting saddles & repackaging them."
This is, or at least was, a 'no-no' in a contract with Whiting. Byard was cited for this breach in protocal when he split and sent back the co-op swap hackle portions, but I talked Tom into letting him do it, as it was for a 'club' effort (VFB), not general 'on the pegs' marketing. Maybe they've changed with this new fad, but I haven't heard about it. DonO ----- Original Message ----- From: J Balmer To: vfb-mail@googlegroups.com Sent: Saturday, July 02, 2011 8:12 AM Subject: RE: [VFB] Whiting hackle- stocking up Unfortunately, living in the middle of Illinois I don’t get to fish for trout very often, so I don’t tie many dries. I have more grizzly than I’ll ever use, so I intend to dye some. I also have black & ginger capes w/ fine enough feathers that I have used for dries. Several of the fly shops I’ve been to recently, including out west are splitting saddles & repackaging them. If you find that you have an over abundance of saddle hackle, let me know, I’ll be in an acquisition mode later this summer. J ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: vfb-mail@googlegroups.com [mailto:vfb-mail@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of ashley strutt Sent: Saturday, July 02, 2011 8:58 AM To: vfb-mail@googlegroups.com Subject: [VFB] Whiting hackle- stocking up My personnel tying along with for friends I would require, Grizzly (think I need another of these) Brown Barred brown (one of my favorites) Badger Black Gray (or blue dun) For saltwater White (essential) Black Olive Chartruese plus a number in other colours for flatwing flies, not specific but when I see them. Midge saddles in Grizzly, Brown and blue dun/grey barred (still using swap pack) Ashley I also like black hen capes from Whiting (other colours mostly Indian) with Coq De Leon in a number of shades for dry fly tails. "I think the last line in his post sums it up fellas: We had better get used to nymphing. Dry flies RIP." Unless you tie commercially, I would think that a Whiting dry-fly super-saddle would last you a lifetime for fishing flies, especially if you had, say, a half-dozen colors or so in your arsenal. Because I am on the Pro Staff and am somewhat a collector of necks and saddles, I have enough for many lifetimes of recreational and show tying. Some I got simply because I liked the color or pattern, and many have never been used yet. But if I were to 'recommend' a color selection in the standard #16 - #12 size dry-fly saddles, it would be these: RC Brown or RC brown-dyed grizzly Grizzly Black White or cream or barred-cream Dun or barred dun "dun English 《color》. A somber brown color with a grayish hue. " Gray or barred gray One could tie most patterns with the above colors, but if one could get them, I would add these- a personal preference: Cree Speckled Champagne ('Flecked' to some) (my favorite for rope-dubbing peacock nymphs also) A rounded-out dozen would include these: Ginger or bar-ginger (towards gold) Fl. Chartruese Olive Fl. Yellow The first 6 would give an average tier a lifetime of flies and the others would give a lot of variety and stretch out the basic colors. The last 4 could be co-op swapped to cut cost. Of course Whiting has a lot of variety beyond the basics above, but specialty tiers could get a few capes (necks) in similar colors and have the dry-fly and some bugger or streamer hackles to boot. Some may consider some midge saddles, but a co-op wap of 6 swappers should give one a lifetime supply of midge hackles. If not, having some #1 grade necks will tie a ton of midge flies- again, in the basic 6 colors. Careful cape selection pays off. It used to take two neck hackles to tie a decent fly- now one can tie 3 to 6 flies from one #1 neck hackle. Denny Conrad has a good deal on feather variety if you were to have at least one of his whole capes This way you get dry and wet fly hackles, and a lot of body feathers for soft-hackle patterns. His most successful color is a dun. Specialty tying creates whole new needs, like saltwater or flat-wing, or streamer tying. I have dozens of capes and saddles for these, and a bunch of Coq De Leon saddles for awesome speckles. As far as price per tied fly, it's hard to beat a super-saddle, and if one is on a budget, then a 100-pak is a good 'get-by' method, and the 6 basic colors could be aquired inexpensively. So what would you use for the basic 6 dry fly saddle colors, and where would you expand from there? DonO -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VFB Mail" group. To post to this group, send email to vfb-mail@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to vfb-mail-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/vfb-mail?hl=en VFB Mail is sponsored by Line's End Inc at http://www.linesend.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VFB Mail" group. To post to this group, send email to vfb-mail@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to vfb-mail-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/vfb-mail?hl=en VFB Mail is sponsored by Line's End Inc at http://www.linesend.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VFB Mail" group. 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