FLYMPH FORUM

I would be proud of a fly like this. I just read the passage in GunnarJ:s book where he says that Pete regarded the Mustad 94842 TUE as a good alternative to his preferred Veniard hooks, no longer available. He also says that Pete sometimes used TDE hooks when tying sedges to get the right profile. Is that something you can see in his fly wallets?

dd

gingerdun, Howdy;

Thanks for the response, I was wondering about the 4 B mostly,
what it signified (grading system ). perhaps I'll have to ask the
folks at Whiting Farms to find out.

hank

PS. Just sent an inquiry ... I'll pass on what I find out.

Howdy All;

Figured I'd cover the bases (so to speak), just got off the phone with Joe Fox.
He explained what the 4 B is but will send me an email later today or tomorrow
so I can cut and paste it on here. I don't want to screw-up the translation .
Stay tuned flymphers ...

hank

Howdy All;

Here's the response I received this morning from Joe Fox;

"Hanks,
I'm very sorry for the delay. My note to e-mail you quickly got buried
on my desk, but I remembered this morning.

The Whiting Farms 4B's are best described as domestic, genetic Chinese
hackle sub. The rooster products are ideal for streamer wings and hackle
bodies, but not suitable for dry fly hackle. The hen products run in
large sizes with nice webby centers, though not as large or as webby as
the Whiting American hen. They are also fairly short feathers, though
not as short as Chinese hen. For soft hackles they are just wonderful,
but you are limited to 14's and larger. For flies smaller then 14's the
Whiting Hebert fit the bill, but there is a lack of web and the barbs
are not as soft.

If you have anymore questions feel free to ask.
Take care,
Joe"

My limited experience with buying feathers prevents me from any
sort of ah-ha ( ), moment with this knowledge, but for those of you
that have explored the finer points of hen-n-cock feathers then this
should help.

hank

Both interesting and informative, Hank. Thanks for taking the time to check this out.

Good stuff, thanks Hank.

Hank, thanks for doing the research, and thanks to Joe for helping out.
There are a feathers on my skin small enough for a 16 too.
However, they are fragile, requiring a delicate and gentle touch to avoid breaking the tips while winding.

But there are many feathers that are perfect for size 14 and bigger, they are truly soft, and come in rare shades of blue dun.

Thanks for the info on this. I must resist getting some of those for a while, that is IF I can find them!

Howdy All;

Reckon it takes Wholesalers longer to respond. I'd also sent an inquiry
to Whiting Farms at the same time I'd sent the one to Joe Fox.
Here's the reply that I just received.
Dear Hank,
The 4B is actually a new product that was released this season. 4B stands
for Bigger Better Bargain Birds. I have attached a short article that was in
our last newsletter that might give you some more information on this product.
Regards,
Whiting Farms Inc.
Now, if I can figure out how to attach a 722 kb file into a 256 kb restricted
system ...
Perhaps I could send it to an ADMIN type and they could wave their magic wand
and then everyone could read it and see the pix.

hank