CDC Feathers

CDC Feathers in-stock, no sales tax - $50 orders ship free in USA.

The description "Cul de Canard" is attributed to 1950's era French tier tier Henry Bresson. In English Cul de Canard translates to "butt of the duck". However CDC Feathers surround the preen (uropygial) gland of many birds. This gland protrudes like a knob, from the back of the bird, slightly ahead of the tail. Waterfowl preen, recondition, and waterproof their feathers with oil secreted from their preen glands. As the size of the bird increases, so does the size of the feathers. While the natural oils in the feather assist in repelling water, it is the structure of the feather itself which gives it buoyancy. The fibers on the feathers trap air bubbles. Therefore CDC feathers loose their floatation when they become matted or soiled. The bubbles remain trapped within the fibers, even after they are submerged.  CDC feathers are used extensively a bundles for wing posts for parachute flies, or tied horizontal for caddis wings, or looped for emerger wings. CDC is also great when wound as hackle for both dry and wet flies. For more information on tying with CDC, check out this article in Fly Fisherman by Hans Weilenmann.

CDC (Cul De Canard)
These feathers are high quality. The packages have a mixture of all kinds of CDC plumes, but are mostly the long stemmed kind that can be wrapped as hackle or trimmed and bundled.

CDC can be applied to flies in many ways. One of the best tying books that explains how to tie with CDC is Mayflies Top to Bottom by Shane Stalcup. Below are the steps to replace hackle flotation in a mayfly dun pattern (top row) and tying a floating suspended emerger.

MP Select CDC Feathers
This is the best CDC we have ever seen.  There is a wide selection of feather types to fit all methods of tying. Feathers range to very large sizes and some have exceptionally long fibers. White color is bleached snow white.  The highly magnified picture below is intended to show you how clean and fluffy these feathers are.  Stems and barbuals are very strong and pliable. Below are three steps of tying a Simple CDC Spey fly.  This pattern is tied on a #5 Alec Jackson Spey Hook. It will give you an idea how these long CDC fibers can help you be more creative

at the vise. Used here is fluorescent red CDC over a body of fine purple dubbing.  The CDC feather is tied in at the front and palmered back and then lashed down with a strand of oval silver tinsel. An orange dyed guinea feather is wound on in front to finish the fly.

CDC Oiler Puff Feathers

These Oiler Puffs are hand selected. Great for emergers and dry flies. These short feathers lack discernible stems and are often called nipple plumes because on a live bird, they are located on the nipple of the preen gland. Tied in as wing posts, these fluffy feathers trap a lot of air. Oiler Puffs can be tied-in the conventional way, or reverse tied to capitalize on the natural built-in bubble formed by the base of the feather.  Often the bubble CDC Bubble is meant to float the fly

in the surface film. In the midge pattern shown below, the bubble is not made to float the fly. It is only large enough to bring the fly into a life like vertical position as it sinks very slowly.