About CDC feathers
A few words about CDC flies and CDC material in
general.
As already advertised we are the first company
in the world which has been using CDC material, since 1949.
There are a few things you should know about
CDC:
The feathers are collected around the oil
gland of the duck. It does not mean that oily aspect is the main factor
of floatability.
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The main reason these feathers float, is their
structure – in other words, the multitude of fibers and ramifications.
-
Somehow they float better when degreased…..we
use shampoo on the raw material, when we receive it from the slaughter.
-
The other aspect to be taken in consideration
is the efficiency of the feather. This comes from the fact that
the multitude of fibers (some of them floating and some penetrating
the surface), remain soft and supple and practically in permanent
movement.
-
The very small ramifications on each side
are by far more attractive than the hackle fibers and very similar
to the insect legs.
By the way, you do not need chemical substances
to improve floatability – the best you can do is to dry the CDC fly
with an AMADOU patch.
The CDC is very often too soft to provide
complete satisfaction and perfect holding.
The ideal dressing is always made with another
support, in general cock hackle or other soft hackle (partridge, grouse,
etc); sometimes synthetic fibers or deer hair can be of a certain help.
This is valid for all types of dressing:
-
Vertical : mayflies, caddis hackles
-
Horizontal : Caddis wings , CDC papchutes
-
Oblique : Comparadun CDC
Such dressing allows the fly to conserve the initial
shape and not to be transformed in a shapeless creation.
This is valid for any “”straight “’ dry fly …but
can be alternated in the case of “emergers”.
The emergers are by definition, unfinished
flies, imperfect yet creatures, sometimes insects dying in the surface
because the water surface is covered by pollution fall out
Shapeless can be the right shape, the effective
dressing.
