John S. wrote on Feb 7^th, 2010 at 3:56pm:

OK ... back on track ... Cree hackle ...



Don't you think Unkle Bill's hair looks kind of like Cree?   

PhilA wrote on Feb 7^th, 2010 at 7:22pm:



Looks more like Light Barred Ginger to me.

g.c.

I've been trying to get cree hackle for 2 years now...the best I've been able to get is a Whiting Ginger grizzly hackle with some darker feathers mixed in.

The original purple haze fly pattern calls for cree hackle, or so I'm told...it's a pattern near and dear to my heart. 

FlyFishingPastor wrote on Feb 8^th, 2010 at 5:04pm:

I spoke with Jim tonight. It is amazing how many Cree and other stuff he has sold in the past few days. His Cree is going fast.

Just to be clear, I DO have interest in JimsFlyCo, but I still will not buy a Cree. 

I received several Bronze Grade capes and saddles today. The Bronze Grade "Barred Ginger" (natural) is awesome. This one is pretty close to Cree in color, except no white and I asked for black intermixed in the larger feather sizes.

Looper;

Glad it worked out for you!

Pat

Just got my Fly Shop catalog last night - they're also selling cree hackle.  Looks like Whiting had a good batch of chiggins this year...

I wonder if it's a recessive gene thing like natural dark blue dun hackle?

Hi ,
This is my first post on this board and I think this board is good and lively.
I  personally would like to thank those who have become new customers and to the old customers thanks for coming back.
As I can see from the posts that there is a lot of different opinions about Cree. Is the color (or color in general) important? When it is available it is expensive or marked up. Then again sometimes it's priced at retail prices. Why should I pay more for Cree compared to regular hackle colors?
I personally feel , based on my observations, all other things being equal i.e.: presentation, fly size and profile that color is the deal maker. Trout can be and are color selective. Now some may disagree and I can't really argue against there beliefs.
Flies tied with Cree hackle definitely have a subtle buggy ness that is unique to Cree. A perfect color for Grey Foxes, March Browns and Cahills. Even Sulphers and PMDs. Some Caddis and Stoneflies as well. But there are other ways to get this coloration on your flies. The most accurate way to imitate Cree would be mixing Dark Barred Ginger with a Grizzly hackle. Fortunately there is plenty of those hackles to go around and you won't get charged a premium to boot.
Now there have been  strong discussions about having to pay more for Cree then other colors. Let's take a look at this. Let's say that a grower like Whiting Farms produces 100,000 birds a year and only produce 100 Cree a year, that works out to be .01 % of all the birds they raise are Cree. Those are fairly accurate numbers by the way.
So you have a very scarce item.
Now let's factor in the demand, obviously there are more then 100 people in any given year that wants a Cree cape or saddle. In a supply and demand economy price is always controlled by these factors. This leaves both grower to dealer in a tough spot.  The grower knows he has a great product that is really hard to produce but gets resistance when he raises the price, unjustifiably I may add. The dealer usually has a waiting list and to complicate the matter a price willing to pay list as well. What is he to do?  He knows that if he sells it at list price he is leaving money on the table, when is the last time you turned down a bonus from your employer? If he sells it at prevailing price he gets accused of price gouging. A no win situation.
Some growers will put you on a waiting list, but to get on the waiting list you have to be a good customer. In other words you have to spend $200.00 to $300.00 to even get on the list to pay a marked up price. Is it fair? I don't think you really can fault the grower.
Let's put this in perspective and look at automobiles. Let's use the new Ford Mustang GT 500 as an example. They make somewhere between 100 to 500 of these cars a year. You show me a dealership that sells them for list price. I know a couple of years ago they were selling for $100,000 a pop. Now things may have changed but I'm sure that dealers who are fortunate to get allocated a car have a list of potential buyers and they are sold above the sticker price.
Again the good news is that you don't need to buy a Cree cape to get the Cree color. Chances are you already have the Grizzly hackle and you may already have the Dark Barred Ginger. Both are readily available.
Jim