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3. Hackle Crisis

http://www.finefeatherheads.com/ Guys you need to see this add! I read today on Gates' Au Sable Lodge web page that Hollywood and the fashion industry has been buying up all the quality hackle...Go to www.gateslodge.com (Shop Specials) and read the story.

This may be old news for all this old-fart knows but it sounds inflationary to a guy who likes to wrap hackle.

I saw Ceelo (? My sectretary told me) at the Grammy's and he was covered with pheasant tails, ostrich plume, & Schlappen...I was wishing I had a pair of snips!

Spence

Spence did you miss this:

http://www.troutnut.com/topic/2595

http://www.graygoatflyfishing.com/2011/02/09/chicks-and-chickens/

Yes.

http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-202_162-10011378.html?tag=page

I dug this up, as someone probably will every year at this time, because it is Carnival/Madi Gras time and you would just not believe the amount of quality feathers in these few photos...In Brazil & New Orleans there must be a ton of featherless birds...:)

Spence

Spence,
Jim Slattery has told me when this hair thing craze started, people were buying up hackle saddles and capes and reselling them on e-bay for twice their cost or more. He said many fly shops were clean-out before they knew about this fashion craze. It's ridiculous! You really don't need top grade dry fly hackle to put in your hair.

Mark

Yup, witnessed it first hand. It was sometime last year when I heard about the craze. My father and I went to his local fly shop for supplies, and sure enough, empty rack... Every once in a while someone finds a simple way to cash in. Who'da thunk it?

I'm depressed...

The immediate future looks dim; good thing I have those 70+ genetic saddles in the basement.....

A good friend of mine told me the other day that some time back he found this wonderful saddle in a bargin bin and bought it. It was dyed pink and he was thinking about dying it himself...Now he says he thinks he'll take it to the local beauty salon and supplement his retirement plan...:)

Tim...When the housing market went south I told my wife that it meant nothing to us unless we were ever going to move...Us guys that have been tying for some time never knew when enough was really enough and may be able to hold out until the end of this fad. My hackle stash has never looked so damn good! :)

I have to admit that the golden pheasant skirt, one of those dancers is wearing, could keep a few of us in feathers for the rest of our lives. I also thought, "hmmmm would be nice to be in Sao Paulo right about now! It's 32 and snowing out here...Nice abs..." ;)


Spence

I have commented here in the past about my wife calling me the "Nerder Birder" etc...I just read an interesting review of a book called "Feathers" in the latest issue of Cornell's Ornithological Lab's magazine, "Living Bird". The book is a serious study on the evolution of feathers on birds and it contains some interesting side notes along the lines we have been discussing here concerning feathers and the fashion industry...One such tidbit was that the most expensive cargo on the Titanic was feathers for the millinery trades...Estimated cost of that cargo of feathers in today's dollars, $3.2 million.

They also told of some tribal leader who pretty much decimated a species by demanding their feathers for some robe of his...

As they say, "there's nothing new under the sun." :)

They also discussed the Migratory Bird Act which has come up elsewhere here and according to this act one cannot disturb pretty much any bird, their nesting sites, or even pick up a feather...The only birds not on this list are game birds regulated under state hunting regs and invasives like European Starlings and House Sparrows...

I don't know how this Act conflicts, if it does, with all these folks using feathers for their Carnival costumes?

Spence

That may be true Spence if we plucked one feather at a time. But I have a feeling that the feathers would be flying.

i'm fortunate to have more pheasant feathers than i will ever use in a lifetime and access to even more!as far as starlings are concerned, i have no idea what they look like.

Guys,

Found this one on the web today...It was listed among "Ten things that women do that turn guys off..." My barber told me recently that he thinks the extension thing is on the way out...I didn't see anymore feathers on display with the female stylists in their stations...We can maybe put this one to rest. :)

Spence

Unfortunately, Spence, this is a summertime fashion craze and in a few months it will most likely be as bad as it was last year...

Geez, Tony... Spence had me feeling a little better. Now I'm depressed again.:(

No, the ladies were gobbling up feathers like crazy all winter long in 2010-2011, but the supply started to dwindle. It died late last year and although there is speculation that it will return this summer I do not think it will even come close to what is was in 2011. There are now tons of saddle feathers available and some hackle suppliers are actually holding back supply in hopes it does return. Me don't think so.

We are having our big fly fishing show this weekend. Someone told me that right after they opened the doors this morning, a well coifed female walked right over to the Keough Hackle display, bought up a bag full and walked right back out. She wasn't there because of an interest in fly fishing...So, Tony, you are probably right!

I followed April Vokey around today at the show...:)...My boyish crush was only increased when she made some rather funny remarks, at a fly tying demo, about the hackle-in-the-hair fad...She also mentioned that she heard that they are hanging them off their dogs now as well.

Maybe we could start a bird-flu rumor linked to this fad and claim that the creeping crud from this caused hair loss and big red sores on the scalp...:)

The boys were going on about April...It is easy to see how a fly fishing fellow could find himself thinking about how cool it would be to be hooked up here...She ties, fishes, and isn't too hard on the eyes...I brought them back to reality when I said..."That's all well and good boys, but could you really live with a woman who could out fish you? :) and besides, she's probably a Canucks fan!"

Spence