When I started tying my own dry flies we did not have the nice high quality domestic dry capes we have now. However, I quickly discovered that the most expensive materials I needed to tie good high-floating dry flies were crisp low-web stiff-barbule rooster necks. Even though these were Indian Capes the high grade dry fly necks were expensive. When I considered that I wanted to tie March Brown, Light Cahills, Sulphurs, Adams, Beatis and Black Ants I quickly discovered that I was going to have a great amount of money invested in all of the dry capes the tying books told me I’d need to tie all of these different flies.
As I fished I quickly discovered that my success with dry flies was dependent more on the high floating qualities of my flies than the precise color of the hackle collar of the fly.
With this in mind I purchased the best brown dry fly neck I could find. For the specific hatches I used all of the precise components the books call for on each fly—except mine all had brown hackle. I fished Light Cahills with brown hackle, Sulphurs with brown hackle, Beatis with brown hackle, even Black Ants with brown hackle. And I sure caught many large trout.
Now that we have the nice Metz rooster capes you can tie great drys in all colors at a very reasonable price.
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