Item #1: There is a new book in the "Angling Monograph" series published by Coch-Y-Bonddu Books called "NOTES ON THE USE OF NATURAL DYES FOR DYEING DUBBING MATERIALS. BY BRIAN BURNETT." Haven't seen it yet but the books in the series are quite interesting. Item#2: I have one of O...

Hackles pliers go far back in fly tying history. I can't recall the first references to them in the literature but I am certain that they were in common use at least by the mid 19th century if not a lot earlier. James Ogden in his "Ogden on Fly Tying," 1879, clearly shows two pairs of plie...

The first reference to eyed fly hooks appears in Hewett Wheatley's "The Rod and Line," 1849. Wheatley describes using hooks with a tiny eye at their extremity for dressing artificial beetles and other flies, which he pictures on the color plate opposite page 74. Wheatley doesn't say whethe...

I just checked out the You Tube video and have to say I was a little dumbstruck when the presenter pulled out and discarded the long guard hairs! These are just what you want as they are are the most waterproof and translucent material on the foot. When I would high-grade the feet for my own use I w...

Greenwell, so you think the fur on the hare's foot is waterproof, not water resistant? Meaning, impervious to water absorption? Yes, the stuff absorbs very little, if any, water. Otherwise the rabbits would have wet, cold feet. My friend Galen Mercer still uses snowshoe foot fur as an aid to flotat...

I don't think that washing and cleaning should hurt the material too badly as there is little oil in the foot fur. The fur is quite solid and waterproof so it should be fine. We used to dye the feet with no noticeable reduction in flotation.

Being from Upstate New York, in my formative days I became quite a connoisseur of snowshoe rabbit fur. Bill Phillips, the actual inventor of the "Usual", which we always called the "Philip's Usual" was still around at that time and his fly became a go to fly for many of us, wheth...

The English Red Squirrel supplies the traditional fur as stipulated in B&RT. The introduced North American Grey Squirrel is displacing the native animal and is making the Red squirrel a rarity. The pictured skin looks like a NA Red Fox Squirrel.

The results of dying materials in picric acid produce wonderful shades of olive as shown by the pictured fly. Unfortunately, picric acid is dangerous to work with, almost impossible to acquire and I believe, illegal to possess. I have gotten very similar results by using a strong solution of turmeri...

Rob Smith used Partridge Model L3AS hooks for the models in his book. However, the flies in the Deluxe edition of The North Country fly are on what appear to be Daiichi 1480's. I believe this because I just sent him a few hundred as he is having some difficulties getting them in the UK. I will ask h...