Whiting Pro Grade 1/2 Capes
The ultimate in dry fly tying! If you have never used Whiting Dry Fly Hackles, you will not believe how good they are until you try them. With long supple quills and incredible barb density capable of tying down to size 26 and even smaller, Whiting Genetic Dry Fly Hackle is the connoisseur’s choice for fly tying. This product line derives it heritage from the legendary Hoffman grizzly super hackle stock and has been selectively bred since the mid 1960's specifically for fly tying.
Whiting Dry Fly Cape Features
- Extremely flexible quills. These feathers wrap wonderfully.
- Very high barb density means that you can fully hackle a fly with less turns of hackle.
- Consistent barb length over the entire feather
- Large range of sizes on each cape
Whiting Farms Grading System
Whiting Farms uses an "Olympic" grading system of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. When grading their pelts, one rule-of-thumb always stands true: the quality of the feather is always consistent. What does this mean? It means that each dry fly feather has a supple quill, void of twist, contains dense barbing and is greater than 85% web-free. If a pelt doesn’t meet this core criteria, the pelt is never sold in retail. Once the quality of the feather is determined to pass the grade (see above), several factors are observed to categorize each pelt. In summary, a few key elements quickly raise the value of a pelt from bronze, to silver to gold. Factors such as useable feather length, uniformity of feather length, barb stiffness, size range in the entire pelt, stem condition, feather quantity, consistent coloration, and more are all looked at to determine grade. In all, there are more than 25 elements that are taken into consideration when grading a pelt. The most notable difference between these grades is the quantity of flies that can be tied from a full cape or saddle.
