CDC
Also called Cul de canard
CDC is the soft feather from a duck’s preen gland area. Tiers use it for wings, collars, and bodies on dry flies and emergers because it floats and moves easily.
- Group
- Hackle & feathers
- Category
- Fly tying — materials & tools
- Level
- Intermediate
- Water
- Freshwater
Last updated
What CDC means
CDC stands for cul de canard, a French tying term for the small feathers taken from the preen gland area of a duck. The fibers are fine and webby, and their branching structure holds tiny pockets of air that help it ride high and look alive with very little material.
In freshwater tying, CDC shows up most often in small mayfly and midge dries, caddis adults, and emergers. It gets used as a wing, a parachute-style post, a collar, or wrapped as a dubbing-like body. Because the fibers are soft, CDC also breathes in slow currents and micro-drag, which helps on picky trout.
Why it matters on the water
CDC changes how a fly floats and how it looks in the film. It gives a lighter footprint than stiff hackle and keeps moving with tiny currents, which is useful during midge and mayfly situations where trout study the fly close.
It also changes how you maintain the fly. CDC tends to fish best when it is kept clean and dry, then revived with a drying agent rather than being saturated with paste or gel floatant. Knowing that saves time and keeps the fly looking right after a few fish or a few drifts.
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Read next
- Dry flyA dry fly is a floating fly meant to be fished on the surface, where you can see it and the take.
- EmergerA fly that imitates an aquatic insect in the act of emerging, partway between nymph or pupa and a dry fly. It is fished in or just under the surface film, where trout often feed.
- HackleHackle is feather fiber used on a fly, either wrapped around the hook or tied in as a collar or wing. It adds movement, buoyancy, and the outline of legs.
- MidgeA midge is a small two-winged fly; in fly fishing it often means a chironomid. Most of their larvae and pupae live in water. Midges hatch in every month on many rivers and lakes, and trout eat them year-round.