I was asked by Wayne Luallen to write an article for the Salmon Flyer. As a novice, I am afraid this will probably be old hat to many of the readers of this publication. But, it will at least chronicle the struggle I have had in getting started within the last couple of years.

When first starting, I purchased many of the basics from catalog sources such as Marriott's, Hunter's, Blue Ribbon Anglers, Angler's Workshop, English Angling Trappings, Orvis, Cabelas and others. This got me some silk, tinsels, hooks, dubbings, thread, cement, hackles and a some of the feathers I felt I needed. But, it quickly brought up this quandary; would substitute feathers suffice or were original feathers necessary? After looking at photographs in modern reference books on the subject and looking at the work of modern pros at work, I concluded that there is no substituting for a number of things. And no reason to substitute for a number of others. And in one case, a substitute seems more appropriate than the original. I will discuss a few of these.

I began using Angora as a substitute for seal. It is easy to work with and comes in myriad colors. However, it just doesn't quite have the same texture and sheen as seal. At the moment, seal seems quite available in the range of colors needed for classic flies and is not particularly expensive. I purchased some from Gayland Hachey and English Angling Trappings (who is not a regular supplier of this item but obtained that which he sent from an estate). I believe John Shewey is also now selling dyed seal on a regular basis as well. I would recommend acquiring and using seal where called for. I would also recommend using it for pig's wool. My mother recently sent some pig's wool she got for me from my home town university's Swine Research Unit. I'm not sure how anyone ever made that work. But if you want to try it, let me know....

From commercial catalogs I obtained use feathers died in all the needed colors. These work fine for flies with wings of less than two inches. When I began, I tied on the 1/0 returned eye hooks and the goose was adequate. But I discovered after getting some swan feathers (they were in I believe still are available from anglers workshop) that the goose seems more coarse and is not quite is easy to tied down a swan. But, the swan feathers I have been able to obtain rarely have a fiber length greater than 2 1/2 inches. So you still must use it for fairly small flies. It was Paul Ptalis who said to me that I should be looking for a dyed white turkey tails. Getting those was a revelation. I now had wing fibers easily up to four inches. That will put a wing on a pretty big hook! I should say that as I continued progress in my time I discovered a couple of things about larger flies.

The first is they show better in a frame. The second is they are somewhat easier to tie! But back to the matter of dyed feathers for wings; swan is most commonly called for in the classic patterns, yet turkey has the length needed for larger flies. I found sources for dyed turkey from Gayland Hachey, John Shewey, Paul Phillipone (Donegal, which is online now), and I have heard Angler's Workshop has a supply of very nice feathers which they imported from across the Atlantic. But turkey has a couple of problems. It is also fairly coarse compared to swan and in this country, where the birds are raised for food rather than feathers, the vast majority of feathers are stressmarked, broken and so on. On many of the feathers I have purchased I am lucky to get an inch or two of useful fibers from a feather. But wait, there is one more solution. The white feathers from the Great (florican) Bustard are perfect. Their texture is as good or better than swan and the fiber length can easily be 4 1/2". I won't even mention how I came by those ... But this brings up an interesting reversal. This seems to be a case where I think a substitute (turkey)is more practical and useful than the most commonly called for item (swan). There is one other substitute that is highly favored by at least some tyers and that is the tail supports from blue India peacocks. Judy Lehmberg introduced me to that idea. I wish I could say I really like that option because in my neighborhood I have a marauding band of about 100 peacocks that are the result of one of my neighbors deciding (in the 50's) that a pair of peacocks would be a nice addition to his orchards. His widow now says "if they are on your property, do what you want with them". So another of my neighbors enjoys omelettes in the Spring and roasted peacock for Thanksgiving. I just pick up the feathers (so far). But the tail supports lack a number of attributes that make for good dyed substitutes for swan. First they are dark grey, so you can not really use them for light colors. Second, they are fairly coarse fibers. Third, the longest fibers I have found are about 2 3/4". The dark grey problem can be avoided by using white peacock. I purchased a set of these from Chuck Moxley. I believe he is still selling them.

This brings me to Cotinga or "Blue Chatterer". Kingfishers have some very pretty blue feathers that look very much like some of the Cotinga varieties. And they are oh so much less expensive. You can't really use Kingfisher as a sub for, say, C. maynana, but then I don't think I've ever seen a particular variety of Cotinga specified in a classic work with pattern descriptions. What I do is use Kingfisher for most flat tail veilings and Cotinga for cheeks. The Kingfisher is widely available. Cotingas are not so widely available. I was able to purchase a perfect old museum mount C. cayana, which did me no good from a tying standpoint, because I am unwilling to take feathers from it. I have it on display in a glass bell jar now. Fortunately, I was able to purchase a damaged and partially dismembered museum mount from another tyer that was reducing his collection which I now use. I can only say that this is the only way I know to get these feathers. I currently know the whereabouts of one other whole bird.

With Toucan and Red Ruffed Fruit Crow, I can't see a decent substitute for presentation flies. Nothing else, either natural or manipulated, has the colors and texture of these two feathers. I have seen tyers go to extremes to try and make a replica of the Crow and frankly, I just don't think they look good. For me, I will either use a completely different feather, such as Red Bishop, for practice or I will use the Crow for presentation. The Bishop doesn't look a bit like Crow, but it is very pretty.

There are a number of other red feathers from various Loris, parrots, etc. that are also beautiful feathers. These can be acquired from Kate Davidson at Siskiyou Aviary and other sources. At the moment, the real item, Pyroderus scutatus scutatus, can be purchased from Paul Smookler. He has them listed on his web site. Loose feathers are $500.00 per 100. Crow is another feather that I was able to obtain from an estate and from an experienced tyer that had enough that he could spare some. I also fell nto the trap of purchasing a perfect museum mount of a whole bird. It's in the bell jar with the Cotinga.

Toucan would seem to be simpler to get a substitute for as it is just a yellow feather. Yeah, it's just yellow, but nothing else is quite shaped like a Toucan feather. I have tried using various small yellow feathers from Loris and parrots and even small Golden pheasant crest feathers. I must say, just use Toucan. The problem with that is finding it. I believe Kate Davidson has a source for some molted feathers. I was able to find some from more experienced tyers that could spare a few, some from estates, and a whole breast from a tyer that was reducing his inventory. At least when you find them they aren't nearly as expensive as Crow. Around a buck or two a feather should get you some at the moment. Matt Crompton may have some to sell now.

I don't see much need to discuss substitutes for speckled bustard. The first reason is Kori Bustard feathers seem to be readily available as molts from a number of sources. Vern Jeremica recently sent some to me as did Phil Castleman. I have gotten them from others as well on an irregular basis, but both Vern and Phil have them pretty routinely, I gather. The second reason is my standard reason for the other feathers--nothing else looks like speckled bustard. Even one of my dedicated substitute buddies uses Kori. It has an added advantage if you can arrange your wing with the Kori on top of making the tie-down much easier.

I hope this has been helpful. If you have an interest in discussing any of this, correcting my errors, or getting information on contacting any sources by all means email me. If you don't like my opinion, YOU get to write the next article for this August publication! I promise I'll read it. Or to paraphrase Monty Python's disclaimer on one of their albums; Please direct all complaints about this article to British Airways, Greenwich.