I suspect my winter fishing this year might be a bit of a hit or miss affair so will need to console myself with some evenings in front of the vice tying flies.
The “charity” box is filling up nicely and I am also filling up my “boat” fly boxes.
One thing I have been short on is decent feathers and have decided this winter to gradually add to my stocks of hackle feathers.
This has led me to be buying from one or two places I have not used before. All these recommendations are unsolicited and I have no affiliation with any of the suppliers.
Cliff Harvey Angling
I got hold of a nice Jungle Cock cape from Cliff Harvey Angling in Wales. JC can be wallet rupturingly expensive. The cape isn’t AAA standard but that sort of suits me as I wanted smaller eyes for trout flies anyway and a few splits is actually quite conventient when putting cheeks on smaller flies like Diawl Bachs. I was very happy with the speed of delivery and the price for the cape. They have images on their website of all the capes they stock and you can choose the one you want. They also stock bulk packs of Mallard bronzes which as you know can also be eye wateringly expensive at times, so I got one of them, the feathers are various lengths which is not a problem for me and well marked. I think I might dye a few too.
Cookshill Fly tying
I have also bought some nice Indian Cock Capes from Cookshill Fly tying. I have I think heard of them before and their website in fairness does not do their stock justice as it lacks pictures. However they were recommended to me by another popular blogger, Hillend Dabbler, and I took the plunge getting Red Game, White and Sunburst Yellow capes. I seen a few posts by a few others on Twitter about them and I think they must be something of an insiders secret among fly tiers. I can see why ;-).
Some nice capes in Autumnal colours from Cookshill Fly tying. First rate.
I was very impressed with the speedy delivery (36 hours ) and the quality of the capes and will be getting more as funds allow. They were £6.50 each and I will get tons of flies out of them.
Flybox
Flybox is run by well known competition angler Iain Christie in Perth. I bought some dyed peacock eyes, micro-wire, booby eyes, varnish and micro straggle from Flybox. They specialise in modern synthetic materials mainly and come out with lots of innovative items. The Peacock eyes are bleach dyed but I am finding they are very strong and you can get a couple of flies out of each stripped quill without breakages. Nice for buzzers and quilled dry flies.The chartreuse green is especially nice as it still retains the fine black edge and gives a nice ribbed effect to abdomens on buzzers and shuttlecocks. The Micro straggle too is great as an alternative body material on traditional style dabbler flies, with lots of translucency and multiple colours showing through.
Tungsten Beads Plus
I got a nice stock of tungsten beads and flashabou at very good prices through Joel at Tungsten Beads Plus. They stock a very impressive array of tungsten bead varieties, essential for Grayling bugging at keen prices. I have a lot of the varieties here.
Angling Active
Finally my local Angling shop has been the source for a variety of bits and bobs recently. I love going there and searching though their end of line and bargain bins for fly tying materials. Managed to pick up ultra fine vernile chenile in the bin, that I have been looking for, for palomino midge’s, as well as Wapsi egg yarn, in yellow and pink that was hard to get for a while, and some translucent lace type materials ideal for buzzers and nymphs. They also have a stock of saddles and nice capes just now including Metz ones.
Good end to oct for me at swanswater. Persevered with a floating line for a couple of hours cos the fish were showing to be high in the water. Threw everything at them but nothing. Then went intermediate with a yellow dancer (tail shortened) and wham.. a 9lb 14oz rainbow on the 2nd cast. That’s the first submarine I’ve caught.
Might get a troutmasters entry out of that- did you enter it? Nice one. Put up much of a fight. Wanted to get out this weekend was gonna try Allandale Tarn or Burnhouse but can’t grip the rod- somethings “gone” in my wrist/hand.