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Dedicated fly-tiers competing with fashion industry for prized feathers

 Published on April 20, 2011
Published on April 20, 2011
Don MacLean   The worlds of fashion and fishing seldom collide but recently the demand for feathers for hair styles has begun to impact fly-tiers.
Topics : England , Cape Breton , Margaree The latest craze involves adding long feathers to women’s hair. The preferred feathers are dyed grizzly saddle hackles. These feathers are also a favourite of fly-tiers so this latest demand has created a run on hackle. As a result it has become difficult to obtain, and more expensive. Hopefully, like most things in fashion, this trend will pass and we can get back to using feathers for tying flies.

Feathers serve several functions on a fly, they imitate the legs of insects fish are feeding on and, for dry flies, hackle floats your fly. The best dry fly hackle comes from the neck of fully grown roosters and is called a cape. Hens have feathers as well, and there are more hens then roosters in a flock, but hen hackle tends to be softer and more suited to tying wet flies or for throats on salmon flies than for tying dry flies.

Early fly-tiers often kept flocks of chickens as a source of fly-tying material. The best hackle came from Old English Game cocks and early attempts to develop fly-tying feathers were tied to cock fighting. Although cock fighting was banned in England in 1835 by then there was considerable interest in breeding birds for fly tying.

Also, at that time, growing fancy poultry as a hobby was very popular and poultry exhibitions were held throughout England. Breeders experimented with different crosses of hens and roosters in an attempt to develop favourite colours. This meant crossing Old English Game birds with breeds such as Blue Andalusians from Spain and Barred Rocks, an American breed. For many fly-tiers the aim was to develop good stiff long feathers in blue dun, a colour which imitates many mayfly species.

The development of modern fly-tying hackle owes its start to the work of American poultry breeders in the 1940s and 50s. One of the leading figures in this development was the late Harry Darbee. Darbee, and his wife Elsie, were commercial fly-tiers in the Catskill Mountains of New York State and, as commercial tiers, they were always searching for good quality feathers. Harry Darbee and his wife have a close connection to Cape Breton as they fished the Margaree every fall for many years and were well known, and liked, in the Margaree area. Harry Darbee kept a flock of birds and was constantly experimenting with various crosses.

Beginning in the 1970s growing interest in fly fishing fueled the demand for good quality fly-tying material. This market led breeders to combine a knowledge of genetics with modern poultry production. Companies such as Metz, Whiting and Hoffman now dominate the market but all their birds can be traced back to the work of backyard breeders. The quality of hackle that is available today is amazing. While the price of a full number one or premium grade cape can run up to $100, the quality and feather length is such that you can tie several flies with one feather and there is very little waste.

Tight Lines.

Tip of the week:

It is important to protect your valuable fly-tying materials from the bugs that like to eat it. Moth balls, the traditional method, are toxic to both bugs and fly-tiers, so many tiers use alternatives such as aromatic cedar or air-tight containers.


Cape Breton native Don MacLean is a fisheries biologist and a resident of Pictou. He writes on sportfishing for a variety of publications. You can reach him at oldtrout@seasidehighspeed.com.