Quality of hackle

This is a subject I’ve been a bit hesitant to discuss but I think it’s time. It’s about the quality of hackle. 

Hackle quality for me isn’t about ‘high barb count’ or how many flies one can tie with one feather and not even the color or shade. Foremost it’s the characteristics of the hackle barbs and the stem (rachis).

I often see hackle that has barbs that’s not stiff but rather soft. Sometimes it’s just the type of bird that just doesn’t have really stiff barbs (like most grizzly hackles from the Plymouth Rock breed). 

Sometimes I run into hackle that is so greasy the barbs are sloppy and matted. Hackle with greasy barbs are in my view unusable for tying well floating dry flies.

Another characteristic is barbs not being straight but having a curve. Barbs that aren’t straight is probably a minor ‘problem’, but still an aspect that defines a high quality hackle rather than a mediocre hackle. Hackle collars for for instance traditional Catskill style dry flies, a hackle wrapped with curved barbs is just ‘not done’. Maybe the least of an issue it’s still usable on parachute hackles.

Lastly but certainly not the least important is the flexibility of the stem. Thick and stiff stems makes nice touching hackle wraps more challenging. If the stem is really stiff and thick, it is even unusable for anything else than as wings on streamers and bass bugs.

I'll end this subject with the so called 'cupping'. It's not a feature or even a 'problem' but if you just look at the structure of the feather it's basically a technical error. Mostly cupping occurs with saddle feathers. I've seen extreme cupping with several colors like ginger, grizzly and cream. So I doubt it's exclusive to a certain breed of birds.

I've got a saddle that has dozens of cupped feathers. As you can see the whole feather has bent barbs in a V-shape at the stem. If such a feather is wrapped, the sharp bend of the barbs results in a hackle collar (or wrapped parachute style) with the barbs angled depending on the direction of the feather tied in.

Are cupped hackles rubbish? I don't think so, but for certain flies I won't use them. If I have the choice I prefer just 'flat' feathers. Buying hackle on the internet makes it impossible to check all the mentioned characteristics, unless you can let the seller know exactly what you don't want.