[Hamish Young]

.... are dyed capes generally not as good as they used to be

Whilst I have yet to tie a fly in the new house yet (fishing den is a work in progress  ) I spent all of 5 minutes throwing carefully packing (yeah - right) my tying stuff away when I moved from my flat to the new pad. I looked through a few capes whilst I was packing, I have no less than 9 claret capes  from many sources and bar one really old one they're not the best, not by a long shot. OK, maybe bird flu and a shortage of 'chucks' is something of an issue for cape providers but it seems to me that the general quality has really dipped over the years.

I'm not after genetic capes - not much use to me with the majority of my 'sensible' loch patterns - just top quality dyed capes. Is it too much to ask Am I being needlessly picky Or has anyone else noticed a drop in quality over the years

I'm not talking about claret alone.... red, black, blue.... all seems the same to me.

Not as good as it used to be. I will now go and polish my rose tinted specs 

H 

[Peter McCallum]

I agre, and also genetics are far too stiff - dry fly capes, useless for wets. Even genetic hen capes are almost as stiff as standard cock capes.

[John Reid]

Could it be something to do with the way the birds are reared now.  Everything is faster finished which will result in much less time for the feathers to mature.

I don't know if this is the case but it may be something to do with it.  I have a few farmer friends down the road that keep their own chooks.  I mat capture one of them and rob it of a few feathers for you to have a look at Hamish and if they are any good then I am sure one can be dispatched and cured for you to dye.

[Kevin Muir]

Hi Hamish

Decent quality Chineese capes are hard to get hold of now (and expensive).

We are getting spoiled by genetic saddles with the quantity of usable ffeather and flies you can tie from each cape, devent quality feather is now great value.

I would agree that the genetic saddles have very little or no taper to the barb size and can leace you with a fly lacking the great shape you get with a non genetic hackle.

I have resorted to the Whiting Hebert saddles for most of my loch flies but still need a few capes with feathers with slightly longer barbs, for your "robust" loch flies, I doubt that the Hebert range of saddles would be of any use, too small.

I am going to try a few new capes very soon also sold by Whiting, these may just be the thing for loch style, only trying a couple of capes will confirm.

Have a look at the whiting American Rooster capes, shorter length and they may have more taper, these are mainly aimed at saolwater tying but may just fill the gap left by limited availability of Chineese capes. Approx $25.00 & $5.00 p/p.

Whiting also sell a cape called the "Euro", they say in the description that these wrap flies in the size 10, 12 and 14 range, again these seem to be very much like the "Hebert" in terms of size, I will buy a saddle to compare very soon.
Approx $40.00 to $45.00 & $7.00 p/p.

Possibly the best of the newer saddles that whiting have introduced for our style of loch flies is called the "Flat Wing" Rooster Saddle, I will find out about the size of hooks these are suitable for and let you know. Approx $28.00 & $5.00 p/p

The Flatwing and Euro sound the best, you don't get many flies from a Chineese cape even if you can find a decent supply.

Kev.