The Uber Chicken

[Paul Arden]

Bloody good FP from Martyn today https://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/ps/the-uber-chicken
I very much agree with his point!

Cheers, Paul

[Boisker]

I wasn’t tying pre-genetic hackle so I guess my view is slightly warped, I’ve always used genetic; I gotta admit I don’t tie a huge amount of flies with hackle.... genetic or Indian... the only type I regularly carry is Adam’s parachute or an emerger klink style and I do fish Griffiths quite a bit, but I only lightly hackle them, perhaps because of the reasons Martyn raised.

I seem to have developed an unhealth obsession with CDC and when dry fishing CDC probably accounts for 80-90%...

[Paul Arden]

The only genetic hackles I have are grizzle. I can’t find proper barring otherwise. But I never go for the super expensive ones.

It’s funny, because of the taper of the hackle I taught myself to tie them in tip first (ie “the backwards hackle fuckup”). I’d been doing this for about 25 years before I was told that this was the wrong way! So I reversed the hackle and tied them butt first, which lead to all sorts of problems with the hackles being too long and somewhat tidier. Consequently I quickly reverted to tying them in backwards again.

Cheers, Paul

[ACW]

Having a long term veiw of this ,my first whiting must have come some time middish 70s ,wow it was great compared with the Indian ones I was using in those days .however compare that one with whats available today no where near the length or fibre count .
It scares me how much cash i have laid out for these genetics and only used a fraction of ,its good to see half capes being sold.
was at the London fly fair for a few hours yesterday and today ,some gourgeous capes ther but I resisted ,only purchases were a few hooks for Silk cut shrimps (Ahrex and redditch made old stock Partridges)
Oh did splash on a Speyco reel !The maker was there ad they are a nice team with a qualityproduct .

[flickingfeathers]

I think those old genetics from Hoffman and Metz in the late 80's and early 90s were probably the sweet spot to be honest, it's gone too far now IMHO. Dr Whiting is the main culprit, but also the near constant social media posts of overhackled stimulators.
I do like those big dry fly saddles for pike flies though.

[piffilus]

Dr Whiting-the cock Mengele?

[t.z.]

Even though it might sound hypocritical, I try to avoid genetic hackle and any fur raised in a cage. It feels weird claiming to have a minimum amount of conscious towards environmental issues like farmed salmon etc. and then use these type of materials.

From a fly tying perspective (mostly fires for trout in my case) I find that there many materials much better suited for the task. Even hares hare spun in a dubbing loop makes better hackle for me. But that's me. I god for those tiny things which catch fish, nit so much for tying competitions, neither do I strive to make every fly look exactly the same. Some say my stuff looks even worse than Pauls, just that it lasts much longer. ;-)

[Paul Arden]

I actually agree with you there Thomas. I’ve had dilemmas over exactly the same thing. Best for me is roadkill, unintentional of course! In fact I just don’t like animal (or fish) farming at all. I’m better with the indirect results of hunting. To be modern man eh?

My flies actually last quite a long time. Maybe 12 or 15 fish out of a Shipmans. It’s generally the hooks that go first (or the leader). Flies here in the jungle get a harder treatment because these fish have some interesting teeth. I might get 4 or 5 Snakehead out of a popper and only one or two Gourami from a Termite or Ant. No big deal with the Gourami - I think the most I can remember in a week is six.

A big factor for me in flytying is speed. Most of my flies take 1 min to tie - 2 minutes for more complex patterns. The only exceptions to that are poppers, muddlers, crabs (of course) and larger streamers. I enjoy tying but I don’t tie for fun.

Cheers, Paul