Whiting Saddles The long saddle hackle is the best way to get consistent flies as the tyer can often tie up to 8 flies per feather. Saddles have a thinner stem than neck hackle. The hackle length makes them a great choice when tying parachute dry flies. Silver - Hackles are graded by the number of flies they will tie. A silver grade 1/2 saddle will tie about 500 (give or take a few dozen) flies and have a dominate hackle size of size 14 to size 18 with some hackles on either side of that. Pro Grade are a solid choice for tyers looking for a range of sizes