Hackle Porn - Darbee

[tailwater]

Many years ago I bought from Dennis Black what he called super grade grizzlies. This was long before he owned Umpqua. These were banty size capes and I would be embarrassed to say what I paid for them. I photo dyed a few and still use them today. Size 28 is no problem. I do not own a camera so cannot show them but they are something special. Also many years ago on my only visit to Darbee's shop for some reason he offered to give me eggs of his dun line of birds.

[bearbutt]

Every time Dana put up pics of his capes I get Darbee Dun Envy--go look it up, it's in the latest DSM.

I agree that Evan and Charlie have nice birds--also Scott Krosch, out in Iowa. Evan dyes some of his pelts, so you need to check carefully when buying off Etsy--but the hackle itself is really good.

Some old Hebert necks have served me well too. But this stuff is so hard to find nowadays. The 'evolved' birds, like the Darbee duns that Dave Roberts sells, are nice but the stems are too thick for my taste. Nice colors though, even those rare pink duns show up now and then. But to find them you have to go to Madison Wisconsin to pick through Dave's bins.

bb

[catskilljohn]

Great post Dana..... those Darbee capes are not easy to find these days.
I have a few, but rarely pluck a feather from them. Collins keeps me in hackle and while there is a difference in barb count and stem diameter, Charlie’s colors rival the Darbee capes, both in variety of shades and flecking.
I only own a few “new” capes from the big growers, and those I got as gifts. They are so vanilla.....every one the exact same as the other, and while a production tier or casual bug maker does well to buy those, you can’t make an “old fly” look old with them
Some obligatory photos....the first 5 are Harry’s, various shades of duns . CJ

[catskilljohn]

Newspaper print skin side, provenance is nice....I wonder if that “20” was the price.

[catskilljohn]

Let’s not overlook other hackle growers of the area too. VanPut, Kuttner, Fried, McKay.... all Catskill guys raising chickens for feathers.
I stumbled upon a bunch of Dr. Fried’s Capes after he passed away, mostly duns and a few grizzlys, and they are very nice. He skinned them out different, and all those lovely spade feathers are in tact.

[catskilljohn]

And Bob McKay, right up the street from my place in Jeffersonville had chickens too. His capes were much larger and some of the spade feathers are Skater quality.
This old hackle is so special, and getting rarer all the time....CJ

[upstatetrout]

photo uploader for website

my collection of Darbee Hackle.

Tom

[catskilljohn]

Nice Tom.....figured you’d have some . CJ

[Theroe]

CJ / Tom

Very very nice! And I agree with the previous comments, except I use my Darbee’s all the time.....
For fish catching power there is nothing better than a bivisible, skater, or catskill style dry fly tied on an old Allcocks hook with Darbee hackle. It’s like shaking the jar of crunchies for my cat ......

Dana