# Whiting Hair Feathers!



## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

For real?!
http://www.oilcreekoutfitters.com/


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## steelheader007 (Apr 8, 2004)

fishinnick said:


> For real?!
> http://www.oilcreekoutfitters.com/


Its out of [email protected]#$%%&&%$#@@@ control buddy you have not seen anything go on Ebay and see how these things are selling! I'm so [email protected]$#$#$% [email protected]#[email protected]#$ I can see straight and there is no relief in site! I hope they dont sell a @$#%%%%^&^&@### thing!..lol nice shotgun shells!.. rol ... &#12371;&#12428;&#12425;&#12398;&#20154;&#12293;&#12399;&#12463;&#12472;&#12521;&#12398;&#12402;&#12428;&#12434;&#21560;&#12358;&#65281;


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## fishmerf (Mar 28, 2008)

It is outrageous. I have a good friend from back in WV that sold two older Metz saddles on ebay and made close to $800. That is crazy. A week later my teenaged daughter came home from the salon with a saddle feather in her hair. I told her I would need that when she was finished with it. It is now sitting on my tying bench awaiting its true service!


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## Andrew S (Jul 7, 2011)

If I could, I'd sell my feathers off in a heartbeat to the first hair salon that made me an offer.


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## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

steelheader007 said:


> Its out of [email protected]#$%%&&%$#@@@ control buddy you have not seen anything go on Ebay and see how these things are selling! I'm so [email protected]$#$#$% [email protected]#[email protected]#$ I can see straight and there is no relief in site! I hope they dont sell a @$#%%%%^&^&@### thing!..lol nice shotgun shells!.. rol ... &#12371;&#12428;&#12425;&#12398;&#20154;&#12293;&#12399;&#12463;&#12472;&#12521;&#12398;&#12402;&#12428;&#12434;&#21560;&#12358;&#65281;


I know its really out of control and ridiculous, but I didn't think a fly shop would be selling it to put in hair and not for flies! I might be in that area of PA this weekend or next and might stop by at the shop...


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## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

Also this past weekend I stopped at a different fly shop in PA to pick up a few things and usually he is loaded with all kinds of hackle, well this time there was only like one thing of hackle.


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## Andrew S (Jul 7, 2011)

fishinnick said:


> I know its really out of control and ridiculous, but I didn't think a fly shop would be selling it to put in hair and not for flies!



Really? Any idea how hard it is to make a living running a fly shop? And all the sudden somebody comes in and offers you something like 10 or 20 times more for your product than a fly fisherman ever has? What would YOU do?

Think of it this way - if you walked in to your local fly shop, and the guy said "Hey, we're selling our $700 Sage rods now for only $50. Interested?", would you buy the rod, then give him a $650 tip just to make things right?

I think those who are giving the fly shop owners a hard time for selling these feathers at such high prices need a serious reality check.


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## crkwader (Nov 7, 2008)

I know of a shop around here and he makes a killing on them. can I blame him? hell no, especially when you are selling items closed to a certain genre of people. why do you think so many specialty stores fail? because they dont/wont embrace ideas like this. god forbid the next person doesnt have flies to tie with. If you were a fly shop owners shoes, would you either A. sell a whole saddle to a fly fisher for $50, or B. sell 5 feathers for $20? think about it for a bit.


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

Andrew S said:


> If I could, I'd sell my feathers off in a heartbeat to the first hair salon that made me an offer.


Already have. Just dumped another half saddle on fleabay for $190. 


They are chicken feathers. Glad I bought a bunch. =)


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

If you have any Whiting or Metz grizzly saddle hackle right now it's worth 300-1000 depending on the quality. 

Do what you please with that knowledge & don't feel bad about it. Nobody buys saddle hackles as an investment (nobody used to? lol ) The reality is if someone walks in your house & says the lint in your dryer is worth $1k, you sell them the lint. 



Trends die. I'll admit this one could take off further, however, the demand will be met if that's the case by way of new suppliers. Think Chinese Chickens. lol!


Saddles won't sell for a grand for very long. Sell your saddles & buy something of real value, like a gun or uh...treasury bonds?


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## steelheader007 (Apr 8, 2004)

Andrew S said:


> Really? Any idea how hard it is to make a living running a fly shop? And all the sudden somebody comes in and offers you something like 10 or 20 times more for your product than a fly fisherman ever has? What would YOU do?
> 
> Think of it this way - if you walked in to your local fly shop, and the guy said "Hey, we're selling our $700 Sage rods now for only $50. Interested?", would you buy the rod, then give him a $650 tip just to make things right?
> 
> I think those who are giving the fly shop owners a hard time for selling these feathers at such high prices need a serious reality check.


I support local shops totally! The markup on the gear is already insane and they know it. If they want to sell all there gear to hair burners or what ever thats fine I just wont purchase it untill they come back down to the normal pricing!


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

Tom the real problem is not the angler selling what they already purchased @ retail... it's the shops ordering bulk orders & then taking them straight to Ebay.



Whiting Euro hackle is on backorder until the end of 2012!


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## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

> And all the sudden somebody comes in and offers you something like 10 or 20 times more for your product than a fly fisherman ever has? What would YOU do?


Yes, I would sell it to them, money is money no matter if its from a fisherman or someone else. I just didn't really expect shops to sell it just for that purpose but its a business and you gotta make money.



> Trends die. I'll admit this one could take off further, however, the demand will be met if that's the case by way of new suppliers. Think Chinese Chickens. lol!


So will it now say "made in China" on hackle? LOL


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

fishinnick said:


> So will it now say "made in China" on hackle? LOL



In all honesty, the shortage may last a lot longer. It "is" a genetic bird, & therefore I'd imagine you can only obtain the genetics by dealing with specific breeders, i.e. Tom Whiting. Hopefully they don't sell out. 

If demand trumps supply, they will not have a choice.


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## copperdon (Jun 3, 2011)

Yup... simple supply and demand. If I owned a fly shop and someone came in and offered me that kind of money for hackle, I'd sell, regardless of intended use. I'd wager that most here in that position would do the same thing as well.

My personal opinion is that this is a fad that will pass and fade - as to when, well, the mullet was around a lot longer than it should have been - LOL - so who knows?

In the meantime, I guess all tiers can do is to make every piece of hackle count, and consider tying some patterns that require materials other than hackle.


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## steelheader007 (Apr 8, 2004)

I know of a shop that tried to place 2 orders one with Metz and the other whith Whiting and they said no! They could not honor the 10,000 order!


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