Condor herl, Pit Viper skin: Unique kebari set donated by JP

[Paul G]

This collection of 12 flies won't be on sale from us, but JP has tied up and donated a set of really unusual and authentic Japanese kebari to the 2015 Wild Trout Trust Auction.

Click to get PDF explanatory guide and photos here

[dbl]

Quite exquisite and very strikingly marked. I can only envy JP's tying skills. The natural iridescence of (what I assume is) the snake skin in the second photo, rather puts mylar in its place.

What a wonderful prize!

I am also curious about the zenmai (flowering fern) dressing sometimes used on tenkara flies. Has anyone tried to use native European ferns for this purpose? My Best Streams seems to suggest this could be done. A bit safer to harvest than snake skin...

[dbl]

On the topic of zenmai, Jason Klass has just posted a discussion, with pictures, on his blog, TenkaraTalk, of this vegetable dubbing.