Original: $89.99
-65%$89.99
$31.50The Story
Metz Signature Premium Saddle Feathers deliver long, uniform dry-fly hackle with dense, buoyant barbs and fine, supple stems. Produced by Metz, these saddles are cut for consistency along the length, so you can pull multiple same-size hackles from a single feather. The result is cleaner wraps, higher-floating dries, and fewer trips back to the patch to size-match another feather.
Compared to capes, these saddles emphasize length and a narrow size band, typically ideal for mid-size dry flies. You’ll see efficient coverage for sizes in the common trout range, with minimal web near the tip for crisp, high-riding hackle and slightly more web toward the base for palmering applications. Available in staple colors like grizzly, brown, black, and various duns and gingers, the dye work stays true so mixed-hackle patterns maintain contrast.
How to Use
Choose a feather section that matches your hook using a hackle gauge or by spanning the barb length across the hook gap. For a standard dry, strip a few fibers at the tie-in point, secure the stem with firm, flat wraps, and make 3–6 turns depending on the profile you want. Keep the wraps perpendicular to the shank to avoid twisting the stem, then trap and cut the excess. For precise proportions, preen the barbs forward before each turn and apply a short, low-tension half-wrap to place them exactly where you want them.
For palmered bodies, select the mid-to-lower portion of the saddle where the fibers are a touch longer and slightly more webbed. Tie in at the rear, spiral forward with even spacing, and counter-rib with fine wire to lock everything down. Trim the underside on caddis or stonefly imitations to help them sit in the film, and leave the underside intact on attractors that need extra footprint and support in broken water.
Example Flies
Adams (traditional): Pair brown and grizzly Metz saddle hackle for a mottled footprint that reads as many mayflies at once. On a size 14–18, 4–5 tight turns of each hackle yields a tidy collar with even tips, while the long saddle length lets you tie multiple flies from one feather without hunting for a match. Keep the brown slightly behind the grizzly to present a subtle halo effect when viewed from below.
Elk Hair Caddis: Use a medium-brown saddle feather palmered through a dubbed body, then counter-rib with fine wire. After stacking and tying the elk wing, trim the hackle flush on the bottom to help the fly ride true. A Metz saddle’s mid-shank section offers just enough web for footprint without collapsing, so it stays bristly after a few fish and still skates well.
Griffith's Gnat: A sparse grizzly saddle wrapped through peacock herl creates a high-floating midge cluster in sizes 16–22. Select the higher, finer portion of the saddle for tiny hooks; the consistent barb length helps maintain a low profile without forming a bulky collar. One feather tip often covers several gnats, making batch tying fast and repeatable.
Why We Like It
The long, consistent feathers mean fewer tie-ins, cleaner silhouettes, and more flies per feather—a big time saver when you’re filling boxes for a hatch. Barb stiffness is dialed for flotation without looking spiky, and the stems wind smoothly with minimal breakage, which keeps hackle from twisting or splaying unpredictably.
Color range and dye accuracy make it easy to nail common trout palettes and mix hackles for classic patterns. The slight gradient from fine to moderately webby along the feather expands its role from crisp dry collars to durable palmered bodies, so one saddle can cover multiple styles of flies.
Comparable Materials
Whiting Dry Fly Saddles, Keough Tyer’s Dry Fly Saddles, and Collins saddles are the closest peers. Whiting typically offers extremely narrow size bands and ultra-dense barbs, which can be ideal for production tying in a single hook size; Metz often provides a slightly broader usable range along each feather, increasing versatility for mixed sizes from one patch. Keough tends to split the difference on price and density, while Collins offers classic color tones with a bit more old-school character in the barbs and stems. If you tie lots of one size, Whiting’s laser-consistency shines; if you want one saddle to comfortably cover a run of sizes and both collars and palmering, Metz strikes a practical balance.
Details & Craftsmanship
Every detail has been carefully considered to bring you the perfect product.
Details & Craftsmanship
Every detail has been carefully considered to bring you the perfect product.
Description
Metz Signature Premium Saddle Feathers deliver long, uniform dry-fly hackle with dense, buoyant barbs and fine, supple stems. Produced by Metz, these saddles are cut for consistency along the length, so you can pull multiple same-size hackles from a single feather. The result is cleaner wraps, higher-floating dries, and fewer trips back to the patch to size-match another feather.
Compared to capes, these saddles emphasize length and a narrow size band, typically ideal for mid-size dry flies. You’ll see efficient coverage for sizes in the common trout range, with minimal web near the tip for crisp, high-riding hackle and slightly more web toward the base for palmering applications. Available in staple colors like grizzly, brown, black, and various duns and gingers, the dye work stays true so mixed-hackle patterns maintain contrast.
How to Use
Choose a feather section that matches your hook using a hackle gauge or by spanning the barb length across the hook gap. For a standard dry, strip a few fibers at the tie-in point, secure the stem with firm, flat wraps, and make 3–6 turns depending on the profile you want. Keep the wraps perpendicular to the shank to avoid twisting the stem, then trap and cut the excess. For precise proportions, preen the barbs forward before each turn and apply a short, low-tension half-wrap to place them exactly where you want them.
For palmered bodies, select the mid-to-lower portion of the saddle where the fibers are a touch longer and slightly more webbed. Tie in at the rear, spiral forward with even spacing, and counter-rib with fine wire to lock everything down. Trim the underside on caddis or stonefly imitations to help them sit in the film, and leave the underside intact on attractors that need extra footprint and support in broken water.
Example Flies
Adams (traditional): Pair brown and grizzly Metz saddle hackle for a mottled footprint that reads as many mayflies at once. On a size 14–18, 4–5 tight turns of each hackle yields a tidy collar with even tips, while the long saddle length lets you tie multiple flies from one feather without hunting for a match. Keep the brown slightly behind the grizzly to present a subtle halo effect when viewed from below.
Elk Hair Caddis: Use a medium-brown saddle feather palmered through a dubbed body, then counter-rib with fine wire. After stacking and tying the elk wing, trim the hackle flush on the bottom to help the fly ride true. A Metz saddle’s mid-shank section offers just enough web for footprint without collapsing, so it stays bristly after a few fish and still skates well.
Griffith's Gnat: A sparse grizzly saddle wrapped through peacock herl creates a high-floating midge cluster in sizes 16–22. Select the higher, finer portion of the saddle for tiny hooks; the consistent barb length helps maintain a low profile without forming a bulky collar. One feather tip often covers several gnats, making batch tying fast and repeatable.
Why We Like It
The long, consistent feathers mean fewer tie-ins, cleaner silhouettes, and more flies per feather—a big time saver when you’re filling boxes for a hatch. Barb stiffness is dialed for flotation without looking spiky, and the stems wind smoothly with minimal breakage, which keeps hackle from twisting or splaying unpredictably.
Color range and dye accuracy make it easy to nail common trout palettes and mix hackles for classic patterns. The slight gradient from fine to moderately webby along the feather expands its role from crisp dry collars to durable palmered bodies, so one saddle can cover multiple styles of flies.
Comparable Materials
Whiting Dry Fly Saddles, Keough Tyer’s Dry Fly Saddles, and Collins saddles are the closest peers. Whiting typically offers extremely narrow size bands and ultra-dense barbs, which can be ideal for production tying in a single hook size; Metz often provides a slightly broader usable range along each feather, increasing versatility for mixed sizes from one patch. Keough tends to split the difference on price and density, while Collins offers classic color tones with a bit more old-school character in the barbs and stems. If you tie lots of one size, Whiting’s laser-consistency shines; if you want one saddle to comfortably cover a run of sizes and both collars and palmering, Metz strikes a practical balance.
