Where do I find good CDC?

[FollowTheBlueLines]

Alright, so I’m on my 3rd bag of CDC from the fly shop (Wapsi brand) and I’m ready to branch out. Sick of having to dump out the whole bag and sift through all the fluff/filler to find maybe 10 solid pieces of CDC.

Can anyone recommend a good supplier/brand of CDC? I realize I’ll probably have to order online and I’m okay with that.

 

[HoboWithAFlyRod]

Alright, so I’m on my 3rd bag of CDC from the fly shop (Wapsi brand) and I’m ready to branch out. Sick of having to dump out the whole bag and sift through all the fluff/filler to find maybe 10 solid pieces of CDC.

Can anyone recommend a good supplier/brand of CDC? I realize I’ll probably have to order online and I’m okay with that.

Looking on Avidmax, I see they have Wapsi CDC (cheap), Swiss Standard CDC (mid price), and Fulling Mill CDC (expensive). You could try a more expensive package and see if it has fewer dud feathers.

While we’re on the subject of CDC, what are you mostly using it for? Are you getting feathers that are suitable for a collar on a nymph but not for dry flies, or just straight trash? My last day out I caught 5 out of 7 fish on a blowtorch pattern so I see a lot of CDC purchases in my future.

 

[Nocktavius]

I’ve had good luck with Swiss and FM’s offerings.

One thing to keep in mind is that not all CDC feathers are created equal. There are (1) oval-type feathers with a good barb length taper from tip to base that lend themselves particularly well to palmering/wrapping soft hackle style on patterns like Duracells (2) triangular type that have more equal length barbs that are best stacked and tied in in multiples as winging material on larger dries, emergers and spinners, and (3) puffs which lend themselves particularly well to smaller emergers (like smoke jumpers) and dries. I’d pony up for the large FM bag and then spend some upfront time sorting the contents into their respective sub types.

 

[FollowTheBlueLines]

While we’re on the subject of CDC, what are you mostly using it for? Are you getting feathers that are suitable for a collar on a nymph but not for dry flies, or just straight trash? My last day out I caught 5 out of 7 fish on a blowtorch pattern so I see a lot of CDC purchases in my future.

I’m mostly using it for underwings on dries and collars on nymphs. But yeah the wapsi stuff is just straight trash that I can’t even use for a collar. It’s either way too webby or just looks like a down feather that came out of a pillow.

I also had a great day using hares ear blowtorches yesterday but I lost a bunch and need to restock, so that’s actually what spurred this question 🤣

 

[Wild_Trouter]

Alright, so I’m on my 3rd bag of CDC from the fly shop (Wapsi brand) and I’m ready to branch out. Sick of having to dump out the whole bag and sift through all the fluff/filler to find maybe 10 solid pieces of CDC.

Can anyone recommend a good supplier/brand of CDC? I realize I’ll probably have to order online and I’m okay with that.

I've had good luck buying CDC from these guys: https://www.ebay.com/itm/145800620162

 

[HoboWithAFlyRod]

Do you do split thread or dubbing loop for the collar on a nymph, or just wrap the feather? Mine fished fine with just wrapping the feather but I’d like to get them better looking for my own satisfaction. Then I look at tools for working with CDC and it’s hard to stomach $40 for a glorified chip clip.

 

[FollowTheBlueLines]

Do you do split thread or dubbing loop for the collar on a nymph, or just wrap the feather? Mine fished fine with just wrapping the feather but I’d like to get them better looking for my own satisfaction. Then I look at tools for working with CDC and it’s hard to stomach $40 for a glorified chip clip.

I just wrap the feather around the hook on the nymphs and then do a small band of spiky dubbing in front of it. I try not to overdress them as I’ve found too much of a CDC collar kind of blocks out the body profile once it gets wet