Speaker – Steve Cooper from Cookshill Fly Tying

Thursday 17th Oct 2013

Speaker Evening Report

Steve Cooper, the owner of Cookshill Fly Tying, was the speaker for the first of the 2013 Winter meetings. Steve explained that he founded his business on the principle that the vast majority of fly tying materials available are of an inferior quality that does not suit the needs of the discerning fly dresser. Steve’s aim is to provide a range of mainly natural materials of the highest quality at a price that is sensible.

Steve explained that, unlike synthetic materials, natural materials come in a vast range of qualities and said what to look for in a range of different materials. He demonstrated the extremes to be found with examples of exceptional and rare quality and the average and relatively poor quality is that is often sold by other dealers. Steve also spoke about the folklore behind the origins and uses of natural materials and why some are in such short supply.

Steve rounded the evening off by encouraging us to source our own materials from “road kills”, local shoots etc. He demonstrated that this was not nearly as difficult as some of us may have thought by skinning two partridge and then showing how to dry and store the skins.

This talk certainly got us off to the right start for the coming winter trying season, and gave us a much better understanding of the materials we use and what we should be looking for to improve our techniques and our flies.

Steve had a variety of materials available for purchase on the night.

Steve is also the organiser of the British Fly Fair International and reminded us that the next show will be on 8th & 9th February 2014.

You can visit his website at www.cookshill-flytying.co.uk

Photos