The most notable fly tying products found in the industry today can be easy or difficult to come by, dependent on where you're walking the streets. The US has many great offerings, like Bozeman Fly Goods Bug Collars, Hedrons Big Fly Musky Fiber Blends and Enrico Puglisis Foxy Brushes and on and on. That being said, there are many items that are hard to find on the US side of the Big Pond.
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| Chironomid- Bozeman Fly Goods Bug Collars |
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| Hedrons Pink Bastard- Big Fly Fiber Blend |
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| Hise's Bugs Bunny- EP Foxy Brushes 1.5" & 3" |
Some of my favorite products come from the other side of the Pond. Is it because they were/are hard to find or is it because they're great products? Probably the latter. There are a multitude of products that I enjoy using on a frequent basis. To begin with, one of the only truly tack free UV resins available is from Deer Creek in the United Kingdom. Diamond Fine (thin version), dries TOTALLY TACK FREE, NON-YELLOWING and SOLID all the way through, in seconds. No need to coat the finished fly with other agents, like Sally Hansens or rubbing alcohol.
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| Deer Creek UV Resins |
Stripped Peacock Quills from Polish Quills are the finest quill bodies on the market today. Not only do you not have to strip your own peacock quills but you dont have to worry about messy dyes. They take the pain and inconsistency out of stripping and dyeing. These are little works of art that are superb for making abdomens on dries, larva and nymphs. Check out the abdomen on Markus Hoffman's unbelievable mosquito. The image above Markus' shows the masterful combination of Ludkin Reel Wings and Polish Stripped Quills. All Reel Wings are made using a unique manufacturing method. The process gives a super realistic, etched surface finish. The material used to manufacture these wings is extremely thin. This keeps the wings supple as not to hinder casting accuracy nor twist the leader. Reel wings may be left natural or can be colored to suit using ink washes or graphic marker pens.
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| Ricky Bassetts Reel Wing Quill Body Dun |
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Markus Hoffmans Quill Bodied Mosquito
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Virtual Nymph Nymph Skin is another superb product from the United Kingdom. It is wonderful to work with and has qualities that so many other comparable materials dont have, including rubber bands. It wont degrade in your fly box like rubber typically does. Nymph Skin will allow you to tie the most realistic abdomens. You can also use it for wing cases and other applications
. Virtual Nymph Nymph Skin is used by Bill Logan, Steve Thornton, Oliver Edwards, Markus Hoffman and many of the worlds best known fly tyers.
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| Markus Hoffmans Ryacophilia Caddis Larva |
Lastly, there is tons of CDC (Cul de Canard) on the market and it covers the full spectrum from good quality to bad. The best Ive worked with is the Trout Line CDC from Romania. What makes these feathers so good? These CDC feathers come from all different types of ducks who happily eat grass and swim all day in lakes within small local Bio duck farms. This is one reason why Trout Line provides the best quality feathers. The other is they are all hand selected and hand dyed using the cold dye dyeing process (as to not destroy the beautiful structure of the CDC feathers). CDC feathers, known also as Cul de Canard, are collected around the oil (preen) gland of the duck (wild or domestic bird ). It does not mean that oily aspect is the main factor of floatability. One reason these feathers float so well is their special structure; the multitude of fibers and fiber density.
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| Trout Line Cul de Canard |
That's my story and Im sticking to it. 