The rookie asks another question

[mkmury]

The rookie here to ask another question. I am seeing more flies with plover hackle and like the way they look but I've never heard of it or seen it outside of this site. I'm just wondering where these birds are from and where do you get the feathers? I live in northern NJ and haven't seen them in the fly shops I go to or any catalogs I have. I love visiting new fly shops because you never know what you'll find so i'm more than willing to travel a couple of hours to find it.

[letumgo]

Golden plover skins can be hard to find. I have never seen one in any of the local shops. I bought mine from a gentleman in Ireland who was selling them on E-bay (sorry I don't remember his screen name). You may be able to pick one up from Jim Slattery (http://www.jimsflyco.com). I would suggest giving him a call (Phone: 406-646-7258). Jim carries a number of materials for classic soft hackle flies, but I don't think everything is listed on his website.

If he doesn't have one, then you may want to try the following two sites:

Great Feathers (http://greatfeathers.com)
Cookshill Fly Tying Materials (http://www.cookshill-flytying.co.uk/gsr.htm)

[DNicolson]

Golden Plover is superb soft hackle, it is not something
to be found easily. The above sites are worth a try, here is
another in Scotland, not a cheap skin, but hundreds of hackles.
30.00 GBP = 46.3095 USD
http://www.fishingmegastore.com/golden-plover_568.html

[hankaye]

The more ya know about your quarry ...


http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Amer ... ifehistory

[DNicolson]

That is a good idea Hankaye, the european Plover is
a different bird, but not much -
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdgui ... index.aspx

[tie2fish]

As mentioned previously, European plover is difficult to find most of the time. Cookshill is the only commercial supplier to
the U.S. market that I am aware of, and they cannot fill all the orders they receive. As was also mentioned, the skins are quite expensive; the one I was lucky enough to locate over a year ago (at Great Feathers) retailed for $50.00 U.S.

[mkmury]

Thank you for all your help gentlemen, things like this are what make fly tying so interesting and rewarding.

[hankaye]

Donald,
Got to puttering around on some more websites. Checked out the one you posted, very nice if not a bit spendy. The Plover that they show in the photo is a Hen. I determined this by checking the following;

http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/1020/o ... lover.aspx

Here they show the Cock and Cock juvenile as well as the Hen.

Are the Hen feathers better than those of the Cock birds? These birds seem to be plentiful enough in numbers.
Reckon they just don't get hunted (trapped/rasied), as much as some others.

[DNicolson]

Hankaye,
I have no idea if there is a significant
difference between the cock and the hen.
They do not appear (from a fly dressing point of view)
very different.
Although the numbers in the wild are quite large,
as far as I know, the only use for them is by spider
tyers. Not a big market, which is probably why the
skins are expensive.
They are probably quite edible, our ancesters would
eat anything they could.
The wood-pigeon (columba palumbus)
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdgui ... index.aspx
is shot all over the UK and are eaten by many, in posh
restaurants, and are often available at game dealers.
They are a plague on vegetable plots and farms.
Unfortunately, although the colour looks good, the
hackles are very poor, Skues in his list of birds, condemns
all pigeon hackles as not worth the bother.
I have not found many recipes, a couple only, using them.
All those canny Scotsmen and tight fisted Yorkshiremen
would not have ignored them without good reason.
(That last remark should get a response. LOL)

[flyfishwithme]

Ho ho Donald, good one.