American Fly Patterns

[superscot]

I have probably annoyed enough people for today!  Time for supper!

Mike you are entitled to your opinion on this forum like any body else !And there is no backlash more than i can say for other forums

[.D.]

Most of the American standards will work well when used appropriately. I have used quite a few successfully. Just a matter of taste. Material availability can be a problem with some things, as it is indeed becoming with many traditional materials in the UK and elsewhere.

Don?t really want to raise anybody?s hackles here, but if it were up to me I would ban the massive international trade in UK materials anyway.  After all, there are only so many woodcock, waterhen, snipe, starlings, and various other things.

I have probably annoyed enough people for today!  Time for supper!

TL
MC

I don't know how big the international trade in UK materials is, but wouldn't argue ( you could safely add Golden Plover to the list too). (edit - or how much of it is a by-product of rough shooting)

I even find the internal UK fetish for "quaint" (or illegal)  materials like Heron herl, owl feathers and Water Vole fur grating. It's all well and good acquiring these things from roadkill, poisoned birds left behind by gamekeepers :biglaugh; etc., but I see little merit in promoting their continued use. It only encourages folk to covet things they really shouldn't. And there are always alternatives.


.D.

[haresear]

Are these not readily available arond rivers and lochs as discarded feathers .D.? 
I'm more than likely wrong, but if people are willing to have a wee walk picking them up and selling them is that not ok?

As you say, Heron feathers are pretty easily come by. I doubt though, if anyone selling them just happens across them...

Alex

[.D.]

 
I'm more than likely wrong, but if people are willing to have a wee walk picking them up and selling them is that not ok?


Ardbeg

I don't think it is OK to sell them. You don't see any legitimate UK flytying suppliers selling UK Heron feathers. Anyway, it's not just the herl: I believe the  hackles are  sought  for some salmon flies, and less readily gathered ( scavenging loose feathers would have been covered under "etc" in my original post).

But that's not really my point. There are loads of things that are easy enough to acquire at the side of the road after they  just happen to get bumped by a car :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink:
"is that not OK" - well, for some people maybe. It grates with me though. Hence my earlier post.


Cheers,

.D.

[Traditionalist]

You are quite right of course. Something of a dilemma on my website as well. I give the original materials in many cases, mainly for historical accuracy, but there are plenty of readily available substitutes. A number of  birds and animals have become extinct, at least in Britain, during my lifetime, and a whole host of them before that, and of course elsewhere.

Unfortunately, people still seem to think there is something magical about some materials, and that they will catch more fish if they use them. This is nonsense of course. The reasons for using most of them in the first place was because they were readily available and plentiful.

Personally, I have nothing at all against the use of road-kill or various birds and animals shot etc for other purposes, but the heavy trade in "original" materials puts pressure on the resources.

TL
MC

[Highlander]

I do not see any heavy trade in feathers, in fact I would have thought that it isw very light. OK there has been an upsurge in "Soft Hackle/Flymph" in the USA but in the overall picture it is still a niche market.

there are only so many woodcock, waterhen, snipe, starlings, and various other things.

Starlings endangered..........I think not. Go into any large town in the UK & Starlings are there in their thousands.
Other that a few specialist companies world wide selling UK based feathers I do not think there is too much of a problem here. Jay for example is classed as vermin in the UK & are readily shot by gamekeepers.
The percentage that reach fly tiers is insignificant. Woodcock too for that matter are hardly thin on the ground here. Now having said that, birds & wild life should be protected & rightly so & as you say substitutes are readily available. But to ban a few suppliers that supply worldwide is not really an answer
to my mind. Still every one to their opinion.
Tight lines

[.D.]

Well, common thought they may be I think declines in Starling numbers are pretty well known. Speaking of species in decline perhaps Red Grouse might be a better example.

Anyway, I didn't hijack this thread  (sorry)  to discuss individual species :lol: .

It just seems a little funny to me that you can kill the occasional trout,post a picture of it on some of these forums/ fora and be knocked from pillar-to- post for doing so. Then you can post a picture of a fly tied with anything that looks nice :?. (and "Lord" knows where the peccary bristles etc. come from!).

Doesn't add up to sense.


.D.

[Traditionalist]

Both jays and magpies are very common here, ( as far as I am aware nobody shoots them). I have picked up a half dozen jays or so per year from the roads around here. I have not yet found a dead magpie on the road. the jays are often struck because of their habit of flying low across the road. Usually they hit the windscreen, and are killed outright, but not "damaged" to any great extent. I don?t know why the magpies are not struck more often, probably because of the different flying habits.

There were often jays magpies and squirrels in my garden, but not usually at the same time. Still quite a few red squirrels here. I picked up two dead from the road this year, and saw another one which was unfortunately completely squashed. Greys are however slowly making inroads.

Millions of moles here, they are protected under law, and are a severe nuisance to farmers and others.

TL
MC