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Fly Tying

Semperfli Lever Vise – True Rotary

Jan 5th, 2012
by Andy.
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Semperfli Lever Vise - A true Rotary Vice

Semperfli Lever Rotary Vice We wanted a fly vice that was quicker to use at shows and exhibitions and there is no doubt that lever vices are in-vogue and far easier to use. With a simple flick of the lever our hook is in the vice. The Semperfli team worked with their manufacturer to develop this super lever vice with solid metal knobs and a rapid lever to clamp the hooks. As a true rotary the fly tying vise allows us to rotate our flies and work top and bottom as required. hardened stainless steel vice head suitable for large to micro hooks size 24! Vice height extender Gallows C Clamp Heavy Desk Pedestal Material clamp Waste bag with attachment Leatherette storage bag Check the Semperfli Lever Vise here

New Essential Fishing Sunglasses Released – 6 Pairs of Interchangeable Lenses for Every Light Condition

Jan 4th, 2012
by Andy.
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New Essential Fly - Fishing Sunglasses With 6 Pairs of Interchangeable Lenses

New Fishing Sunglasses Released For 2012 Sun glasses are essential for fishermen, both for keeping out the sun, helping focus on a fly, seeing the trout / salmon take and most importantly to protect eyes from flying hooks! With 6 pairs of interchangeable lenses these are ideal for any light conditions from very low light to extremely bright sunlight. With lightweight plastic frame these are extremely comfortable and offer flexibility for your fly fishing and beyond. Our sun-glass come with: Polarized lenses Comfortable to wear Light weight and high strength impact resistance Great for fly fishing kite surfing, cycling, driving, shooting, hunting, paintball, etc. UV 400 protection 6 pairs of lenses in different colors With the different colour lenses which simply click in and out you can rapidly adjust your sunglasses to the light conditions, even if you have been fishing in bright sunlight and need polarised glasses in the early evening these are for you, simply swap the lenses to the required shades for the light conditions of early evening. With UV 400 protection, protecting your eyes against all uv up to 400nm these are ideal for the fly fisherman. Check the fly fishing sunglasses here

Semperfli Yorkshire Grub Hooks Released

Dec 27th, 2011
by Andy.
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Semperfli Swimming Nymph Hook

Semperfli Swimming Nymph Hooks Released We tie flies using pretty standard nymph hooks, however one look at the real nymphs in action shows that they are highly mobile and their shapes are not always straight like the traditional nymph and grub hooks we use. This is why the Swimming Nymph hooks and the Yorkshire Grub hooks have been developed, to help you imitate nature and some of the real invertebrates that are in our waters. Try these for bloodworm imitations when fishing on the bottom of lakes and reservoirs or for Rhyacophilla when fishing for trout & grayling on wild, natural rivers. For a stunning Rhyacophilla simply use Semperfli Straggle String SF7250FL which is that stunning apple green colour of the Rhyac and hold tight! The Swimming Nymph hook allows you to tie more natural flies with deadly results.

Semperfli Weighted Czech Nymphing Hooks Released

Dec 23rd, 2011
by Andy.
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Czech Nymphing Weighted Hooks

Semperfli Weighted Czech Nymph Hooks Released When Czech nymphing quite often a heavily weighted fly is essential to hold bottom and allow the perfect presentation of the full team of czech nymphs. The Semperfli Size 8 weighted Czech Nymph hook is the tool for the job. Pre-weighted at 1.3gm (0.04oz) with a shrimp shaped body this is the perfect lead fly in your czech nymphing team.With its weighted body tying a czech nymph is very simple and you can match a natural shrimp or infected shrimp very easily using Semperfli Straggle String which with its’ uv flecks gives that leg like appearance to make a stunning shrimp imitation. The Weighted Czech Nymph hook allows you to tie more natural flies with deadly results. They come in a pack of 10 hooks per pack check them our here czech nymphing hooks

Fly Fishing Toolbar Released

Dec 19th, 2011
by Andy.
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Fly Fishing TOolbar Makes Finding Fly Fishing Items Simple & Quick

Thanks to Si we have a great new toolbar that you can install into your browser. This will keep you informed of news articles as they appear and allow you to search our site directly from your toolbar whatever site you are on. This is still secure but a really handy tool. For example you could be on any website and suddenly think, “I need some trout dry flies simply type this in your toolbar and The Essential Fly site will respond with matches for your requests. This is a simple plug-in to your browser works on Internet Explorer and Firefox and will make it easy to find what you need. Well done Si. Fly fishing browser toolbar Install

Sandy Dickson Tying The Foam Arsed Blob or FAB

Dec 18th, 2011
by Andy.
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Love them or hate them blobs are an essential piece of the reservoir and lake fly fishermans armoury. This is a simple fly to tie as demonstrated by Sandy Dickson of The Essential Fly. This simple fly is tied using Umpqua U501 Egg Fly Hooks Semperfli Blob Chenille Semperfli Booby eyes Semperfli Nano Silk

Strongest Fly Tying Silk In The World? Watch this amazing video

Dec 16th, 2011
by Andy.
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Nano Silk - Possibly the worlds strongest 12/0 fly tying silk

We are always looking at fly tying threads, we compare all the threads that come out with Semperfli’s Nano Silk which is by far our favorite thread, stunningly thin at just 12/0 but incredibly strong. Sandy Dickson and myself tested it when it was first made and we were amazed at the results, Yes we beleive it to be the strongest fly tying silk in the workd, we tried proving it by snapping a size 8 hook in the vice using this stunning 12/0 thread. We love Semperfli Nano Silk, a 12/0 incredibly thin fly tying silk which is virtually unbreakable, so we decided to do a little experiment. We got size 8 hooks in standard wire guage from a quality hook manufacturer, we twisted some Nano Silk around the hook , spun it then pulled. Even Sandy was surprised at the results, we managed to break the hook 3 times on the trot and had great fun proving that Semperfli Nano is amongst the strongest fly tying silks in the world. We love it for extra small dry flies as there is no build up from this stunningly thin 12/0 silk and for large Pike flies pull it tighter [...]

Umpqua Fly Tying Hooks Available In The UK

Oct 15th, 2011
by Andy.
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Umpqua Fly Tying Hooks Range

We are delighted to be one of the first of many retailers selling the Umpqua hook range in the UK. When we first saw the Umpqua hooks, with their range or dry fly hooks, nymph hooks, streamer hooks and saltwater hooks we were very impressed with the quality and strength. Stunning high grade carbon steel, chemically sharpened hooks with great micro barbs for easy penetration that can be flattened if you prefer barbless hooks. 50 top quality trout hooks at just £4.75 for 50 hooks! Better value than Fulling Mill, or any other manufacturer of hooks in the UK. However we then started to discover more about the Umpqua hook range that delighted us. To be honest at The Essential Fly we expected nothing less from Umpqua Feather Merchants, as one of the top companies in the fly fishing industry world-wide. However it was when we got our stock that we really started to appreciate the qualities put in by Umpqua Feather Merchants, we were used to the plastic boxed hooks from some fly hook  manufacturers, We  don’t know how often over the years we have spilled the hooks upon opening the annoying plastic box. We have used the plastic [...]

Great customer story and feedback!

Oct 12th, 2011
by Ann Kitchener.
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Thanks to a customer who shared his story with us today…. “I generally tie most of my flies and had a fairly dim view of a lot of shop bought flies. They are generally bulky and quite poorly finished. Having suggested flies as a gift to my father in law this Christmas, I was happy to see that they were extremely well tied and actually caught fish. Needless to say, I ‘borrowed’ one… possibly two! We bought from you by the way.” He bought a range of flies from www.theessentialfly.com and we are very glad to have him and his father-in-law as customers!

Time for Fly Tying!

Oct 10th, 2011
by Ann Kitchener.
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According to the newspapers, the UK is about to be hit by Hurricane Katia! Bascially by Monday, we could be facing 70mph winds and 50 ft high waves! So that obviously means fly fishing is off the agenda sadly but remaining ever optimistic its a perfect time to batton down the hatches and get the tying vice out!  Get tying those flies, trying new fly tying materials and design some fab new flies for when the weather is better! Happy tying!

River in Flood

Sep 8th, 2011
by Ann Kitchener.
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Well we had hoped to do some kick sampling yesterday.  There we were, all kitted up and with our kick sampling tools ready and our photographer Si with us too for those ace photos we were going to take!  We were hoping to get pictures of the local entomology for our studies and for sharing with our customers.  That way we all know whats out there currently for our fly tying. So we headed off to the river Wharfe in Tadcaster North Yorkshire.  This is a beautiful river, really picturesque with a weir and viaduct over it -worthy of many lovely photos. Even the company dog Tess was excited about this trip! We knew it had rained a bit recently, but in all honesty it wasn’t that bad. But when we got to the river we were amazed!  To say it was in flood is a bit of an understatement.  It was at least 6 ft up – the weir was not visible at all apart from some ‘waves’ where the weir should have been.  It was almost covering the trees too! So, the trip we were all looking forward to had to be cancelled so we simply headed off [...]

Truly International

Jul 19th, 2011
by Ann Kitchener.
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We are delighted to have customers from all around the world.  For us at The Essential Fly, it feels like we travel the world every day!  Just a quick look around the site to see who is on just now showed customers actively on the site now from, UK, Ireland, Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, The Netherlands, America, Canada, Sweden, Finland and Denmark!  Wow that was a quick worldwide tour. These customers buy flies from us, but also accessories and tackle. Our fly tying materials seem pretty popular too! Its really not a problem for us to ship internationally.  However we are delighted too to receive emails/calls from anglers around the world with their news/stories/photographs and experiences – we can all learn so much and of course dream for a moment that we were there too….. Happy fishing everyone From all of us at www.theessentialfly.com

10% Discount On Fly Fishing Flies

Jul 5th, 2011
by Andy.
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There is an Independence sale running from Monday 4th July to midnight Thursday 7th July where you can get 10% discount with a minimum spend of £15 on fly fishing flies at www.theessentialfly.com. This is on all trout flies, salmon flies, grayling flies, saltwater flies and pike flies.

Trout Flies – The Trout Fly Historical Backgrounder

Jun 13th, 2011
by Andy.
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What is a Trout Fly? An artificial trout fly or trout lure is a type of fishing lure, usually used in the sport of fly fishing (although flies they may also be used in other forms of angling for example carp anglers use carp flies with standard coarse fishing rods). It can be said artificial trout flies are the bait which fly fishers present to their target species of fish like trout while fly fishing in much the same manner a course fisherman uses maggots or bread (although of course fly fishing is much more of a gentlemanly sport (oops! that has stirred things!). Artificial trout flies are constructed by a technique of fly tying, in which fly tying furs, fly tying feathers, fly tying silks ranging from traditional silks like Pearsalls tying silks to modern virtually unbreakable silks like Semperfli Nano Silk or fly tying thread or any of very many other synthethic fly tying materials or natural fly tying materials are tied onto a hook. Artificial trout flies may be constructed to represent all manner of prey to include aquatic and terrestrial insects, crustaceans, worms, baitfish, vegetation, flesh, spawn, small reptiles, amphibians  etc. Effective artificial trout fly patterns [...]

Cape Grading With Grizzle Necks / Grizzly Necks For Dry Flies

Jun 12th, 2011
by Andy.
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Grizzle Grade 1 Neck

So what is the big deal over grizzly necks or grizzle necks for fly tying? Grizzle necks have superb banding makes superb hackles for dry flies. There are Chinese capes and Indian capes HOWEVER these are not generally considered as dry fly hackles in the professional fly tying market. Grizzle capes and grizzle saddles are graded by their ability to tie small dry flies. The greater the number of tiny dry flies a grizzle neck will produce, generally the higher the price. The most desirable characteristics of a grizzle neck include correct colours, soft fine stalk, short barb length for very small dry flies, high barb count and requires fewer turns of the hackle to produce superb dense hackling. Ignoring colour as you can purchase grizzle saddles dyed in many colours, dyed grizzle necks range in colour from pink to olive, yellow to orange. So really the first question to ask is “what flies will I be tying in what quantity and what sizes?”. The production fly tyer will have a different answer to the average home tyer. Typical experience of fly tyers in general is that small dry flies sizes below #20 are very rarely produced in and the [...]

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