Welcome to FeathersMc.com, a site dedicated to Salmon Flies and their materials

Welcome to FeathersMc. It is my retirement hobby and a place dedicated to the materials for and tying Atlantic Salmon flies. I have expanded to include Classic Rangeley Style Trolling Streamers as well as other “Classic” style things. My original greeting indicated the site was still under construction and would probably always be. That is true. I don’t update as often as I used to but that is a result of the expanding materials selection that I have to obtain, sort, dye and package so you can tie these flies. Not to mention the ever increasing demand for my products keeps me busy as well.

The picture appearing to the left are flies tied by some of my friends and should be different whenever you refresh your browser. I am always open to adding your fly pictures to my site as long as they have something to do with “Classic or Impressionistic” Salmon Flies. I used to add new information at the bottom of this page but to make it more convenient for returning friends I will put updates here.

April 2012 To say an update is in order is definitely an understatement. In spite of what it may look like we have been very busy at FeathersMc preparing and shipping products as always but most of our web work is in the construction of a new and hopefully much improved website. We had hoped to have switched by now but like most things in life there are some technical glitches to work through in order to make the switch seamless. We’ll keep you posted when necessary. The single most compelling reason I haven’t been keeping up with my typing is I have added a new hobby. On my return from the International Fly Tying Symposium last November I succumbed to a life long desire to have an aquarium. Now I have 3…  More on that later.

As you will see Classic Atlantic Salmon Flies are still our main objective but I’ve been working on a number of things for fishing flies as time permits. Some things are in short supply and high demand and will from time to time not be available. This is usually indicated by the lack of the quantity, size color and or price. Usually the items are back in stock soon but in the case of the pretty little birds, I doubt we will see much improvement in that. I just can’t remove them (thus another reason for a new website) and until the ridiculous ban or restrictions on importation of feathers due to the (IMHO) non-existent Avian Flu threat we won’t have access to much. If you have any questions please contact John@FeathersMc.com

KORI BUSTARD UPDATE

On a much brighter note our Kori Bustard program has improved exponentially. We have put a great deal of our time and resources into the program and it is working wonderfully. I continue to receive feathers from a number of zoos but we scored an amazing collection of large feathers when it was determined the 12 years worth of molted feathers (from the largest flock in the US) collected for a feather molt study were no longer needed. Two huge boxes of mostly large feathers (the ones we covet) arrived a couple of weeks ago. Terry has been sorting and pairing almost constantly since then. We have been putting nice pairs or double sided singles in with almost every domestic order we know is for salmon fly tying. As I mentioned the feathers are mostly large and require a large box to mail them. This presents a small problem now that the USPS has changed their rate system to charge by box size and destination. I am unable to change the postage amount in the shopping cart (another reason for the new site) and it is costing me a small fortune to give away free feathers. I have been forced to charge extra see Kori Bustard Postage Upgrade on the menu on left.

 

July 2011 some of you may have thought I’d permanently gone on vacation. In fact just as I was typing this sentence my friend “Catskill John” called to see if I was still alive. In truth I have been quite busy with any number of projects and not all of them involve the site. Fishing (I am retired, remember) is paramount on my agenda as are my yard and flower gardens throughout the spring and summer months.  I have been busy in the material area as well. At the moment I am most excited about the new FLY DISPLAY BOXES and the DISPLAYS WITH BASES. It is a great way to mount and display Classic Salmon or Streamer Flies. Most of my staple items are in stock but my Dyed White Turkey is virtually non-existent at the moment. The unusually cold winter in the Pacific Northwest prevented the tails from developing properly. They looked like pencils with rose buds at the tip. I do have very nice Blue Jay Sub on Giant Guinea that’s new, as are Mottled Peacock Wing Rooster Breast Patches and Am-Gold Tails (and Crests) are in stock and the Funky Feathers have some new options. I’m sure there are other new goodies but I can’t remember them now.
I’ve sent Kori Bustard feather assortments to the last of the(very patient, thank you) Kori Club Members. If you are in need of any Kori please let me know. The money we raised has been put to good use, in the purchase of digital recording equipment used to monitor the birds in order to assist in their successful breeding program. We win, the program and birds win and the US Post Office makes a lot of money. What could be better?
If you’ve tried to buy something lately and ran into a notification my SSL Certificate had expired, it all stems from my lack of understanding the IT world. I now have 3 valid certs with three different companies, finally one with the company that my server is with. I believe it is fixed. All these responsibilities are mine now, I’m an idiot but I’m learning. Thanks for bearing with me.
As always, feel free to contact me John@FeathersMc.com or 248-432-1568 if you have any questions or are in need of something you can’t find on the site.      
 
March 2011 IF YOU ARE VISITING FOR THE FIRST TIME AND ARE LOOKING FOR FREE KORI BUSTARD, IT IS NECESSARY TO READ THE LATEST UPDATE IN THE KORI BUSTARD SECTION FOUND ON THE MENU ON THE LEFT. The information in Fly Tyer Magazine is out of date. F.O.N.Z. is no longer the recipient, Zoo Atlanta is now the bearer of the KORI SSP account and any checks or donations to FONZ will benefit the Pandas not the program as it was intended.

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The materials I have for sale are listed under Feathers, Body Materials and Tools & Miscellaneous on the menu to the left. That is where you will find the best selection of quality materials for tying Salmon Flies available anywhere and at very reasonable prices. I also try and give as much information as to material relationship to hook size as I can. If there is something you are looking for and I don't list it or indicate I'm temporarily out of stock on something (there will be no shopping cart available) please contact me at John@Feathersmc.com

I also feel the need to apologize for my inability to keep up with email correspondence. I spend most of my time working on materials or packing orders. I try to do the best I can in writing back but sometimes I don't even see some. I get a tremendous amount of spam and my 2 filters sort out the vast majority, but from time to time, get rid of some they shouldn't. My biggest problem is that I never learned to type. I am painfully slow and it takes me a half an hour to respond to a simple question. The best method I have for communicating is the telephone. If you have a question relative to fly tying or materials feel free to call 248-432-1568. This is a home based operation so I am usually around. I am in the Eastern Time Zone. Please don't call before 10 AM or after 10 PM. I have a Vonage line that allows me to call most places in Europe and North America free. If it costs you too much to call me you can drop me an email John@FeathersMc.com with your question and include your phone number (including country code for European or UK) and I'll try and call you back.   If you are calling to sell me something other than feathers, you are not going to believe how rude I can be. 

There are several Slide Shows available in the MATERIALS SHOWCASE section to the left. There are 2 pages of titles and they each have number a pictures in them and will take a little while to load. If you have a cable or DSL modem it will take a few seconds or so but a telephone modem download could be several minutes. Whether it will be worth the wait or not is entirely up to you.

The pictures were for the most part supplied by Wayne Luallen. Not only was Wayne “The Johnny Appleseed of Salmon Fly Tying” [spreading the gospel far and wide so to speak] he was the lightening rod for many Salmon Fly Tyers work during the 1980’s and 90’s in the US. This occurred pre-internet and before digital cameras [we remember them as “The Old Days”. As a result his collection of Salmon Fly pictures (color prints) is second to none and he has shared it with us. My wife, Linneya, is in the process of scanning all the old pictures and creating an album for each tyer. Each show will start and move automatically but there are controls at the bottom of the screen that enable you to jump around or stop on one to examine it closely. If you simply move the cursor onto the picture a small dropdown box appears giving any information that had been written on the back of the photo such as the size, pattern and year tied.

The pictures in Exotic Materials Test Slideshow were for the most part taken by me over the last several years. Some of the things remain in my possession while others have simply stopped here briefly while on their way to someone else. Some of the pictures were taken by friends of things in their collections. They were sized for the old slideshow format and have been enlarged slightly by the new system. I will be revamping it entirely in the near future.

EDUCATION on the menu contains Links as well as articles. Articles were written by my friends or myself. Hopefully they are of interest to the Salmon tyer or those inclined do it yourself. I've broken them down in to two categories  How To  and Information. There are several articles called Flies In Stages where Friends have photographed flies in the various stages of construction.

The FRIENDS section continues to grow and offers an interesting array of People and either the things they sell, their own web sites or pictures of their Salmon Flies for you to see.

KORI BUSTARD offers some exceptional pictures of the birds and directs you to very interesting information about them. There is a pilot program in the works to allow any U.S. fly tyer FREE KORI BUSTARD simply by requesting it.