I fish the spring creeks of Wisconsin's Driftless Area and tie quite a lot of small wingless wets using various game bird feathers. English woodcock, starling, partridge, grouse, ducks, etc. are my go-to materials, but the search for good soft hackles is never ending. Dave knows my weaknesses and opened a bin and said something like, "What do you think of these". One touch of the cape, one fan of the feathers, and I blurted out, "What is THAT!". The bin proved to be full of jungle fowl hen capes.
The coloration is somewhat like a honey dun hen only darker and more brown. Feathers have a medium ginger stem and narrow list, a broader medium-to-dark dun second list that is finely speckled on larger feathers, and barb tips that are light brown to ginger. The feathers are remarkably soft and supple, softer than even my favorite hen capes from barnyard chickens. Useable feathers are dense on the cape and extend all the way to the tippy-top. The capes are quite small, however. Here is a jungle hen cape next to a Collins hen cape:
Small capes yield small feathers and, in proportion to feather length, the barbs are quite short. This makes them especially good for small flies. I played around for a while and was able to tie fairly handsome flies all the way down to the shortest hooks I own (a Tiemco #501 size #24)
Left to right: Daiichi 1480 #14, #16, #18, #20, TMC 501 #24
Left to right: Daiichi 1480 #14, #16, #18, #20, TMC 501 #24
Thread: Gold silk, 60 denier
Tail: Jungle fowl hen fibers
Body: Olive-brown silk dubbing
Hackle: Jungle fowl hen
The capes are farm-raised in the US and, therefore, perfectly legal according to Dave. My only negatives are (i) the stems are rather fragile and require a soft hand when tying; and (ii) they are considerably more expensive than hen capes.
P.S. I have no commercial relation to Dave Roberts. He's just a friend.
