Dirty Duster

[Rabmax]

Hello going to tie some Dirty Dusters phoned up Lathkill looking for a Pro Grade silver badger saddle with a black centre stem.Was told that that  Pro silver badger capes tend to have a more pronounced black centre than the saddles.I have seen Dirty Duster patterns tied with a few turns of black ostrich herl in the thorax with a silver badger Saddle hackle.The saddles are cheaper & will tie more flies Cape should tie to smaller fly sizes.Whats others using for there Dirty Dusters Capes Or Saddles advice welcome .Cheers 

[Rabmax]

I wanted to tie some as i read that its a slightly faster tie & just as effective as a DHE .I have read posts by Bob Wyatt that he doesn't tie these any smaller than size 16 b100s.

Rab, my take on the DD is that the hackle is solely, not primarly, there to hold the rest of the flee just subsurface.

As such, I really don't think it makes any difference as to which feather is used but only that it has enough ginked barbs to allow it to stay in the surface film.

It'll be interesting to hear others thoughts on this one though.

Cheers

Ardbeg

If the wing is solely there to hold the flee subsurface ? .What about using a silver badger saddle to tie down to about size 16s as a fast & durable tie.Then snowshoe from 16s down (but wouldn't be a DD anymore  )What sizes do others tie there DD down to. Cheers

[rabbitangler]

I seem to recall Bob saying something about hating parachutr hackles - to hard/time consuming. So the clipped hackle replaces the parachute hackle of a grey duster

[Rabmax]

Cheers Ardbeg ordered a Silver Badger Cape in the end & a Red Game Saddle.Lathkill have a lot of saddles & capes at the moment if anyone is looking .