"Darbee Duns"

Harry Darbee processing capes in 1955

A bit of history

When deciding whether to buy a dry fly cape or saddle there are a few things to first consider. First, what sizes are you planning to tie? With a good rooster cape you can tie sizes 6 to 26. Rooster saddles on the other hand have a very narrow size range, usually just two or three. The feathers are long and narrow and you can easily tie six or seven flies of the same size from just one feather.

Dry flies need good strong tails and dry fly capes have great tailing fibers along the edges of the cape. These are the feathers that would be on the throat of the rooster. They are called spade hackle and have the strongest fibers, feathers needed to protect the throat from the sharp spurs of other roosters.

		Rooster Capes
		$35Every color of dunn you can imagine and then some! duns dun variants grizzly browns badger other   grey dun dark grey light grey ashy dunn charcoal grey variant brown dun sandy dun chocolate tan dun cream dun brown splash blue dun dark blue dun light blue dun cahill dun splash dun blue dun grizzly   variant 1 variant 2 variant 3 variant 4 variant 5 variant 6 variant 7 variant 8 variant 9 variant 10 variant 11 variant 12 variant 13 variant 14 variant 15 variant 16 variant 17 variant 18   grizzly dunn grizzly light grizzly dark grizzly bleached grizzly grizzly/dunn   brown ginger cream furnace rusty dunn honey dunn   silver badger golden badger speckled badger dunn badger light dunn badger   black white dyed black olive cream ginger

		Rooster Saddles
		$75Saddle feathers on this line are not as dry as the capes. The tips are dry but the reat of the feather has web in it. They are great for bugger patterns. duns dun variants grizzly browns badger other   grey dun dark grey light grey grey splash ashy dun ashy splash brown dun sandy dun chocolate tan dun tan splash brown splash blue dun dark blue dun light blue dun cahill dun splash dun blue dun grizzly   variant 1 variant 2 variant 3 variant 4 variant 5 variant 6 variant 7 variant 8 variant 9 variant 10 variant 11 variant 12   grizzly dunn grizzly dunn grizzly variant dark dunn grizzly light grizzly dark grizzly grizzly variant bleached grizzly grizzly/brown grizzly/dunn grizzly/olive grizzly/black   brown cream dark brown ginger dyed ginger light ginger coachman brown dyed brown furnace barred ginger rusty dunn honey dunn   silver badger golden badger speckled badger dunn badger brown badger rusty badger     black beatle green black dyed black white olive dark olive light olive brassy olive olive grizzly light olive grizzly