Looking for suggestions on where to get quality peacock eyes for stripped-herl bodies. What I’m finding at flyshops has been somewhat lacking; pretty much the same stuff I’ve seen at (insert the name of your favorite) craft store.
Thanks in advance,
Scott
Scott,
The quality of what I’ve come across, out there, is severely lacking. I switched to these in Natural and use markers for different colors:
That’s how dumb I am, what do the lower class eyes lack - are the quills too narrow? That has been the only problem I notice with the stripped herl I bought long ago.
Haven’t seen their herl lately, but the materials from Feather-Craft are usually excellent. www.feather-craft.com.
Chuck
PT - thanks for the link; looks like a quality product
Chuck - although it’s been a while since I’ve bought anything from FC, I’ve always found their stuff to be good quality
herefishy - I’ve still got one or two older (80’s vintage) peacock sticks with a few herl left on them and they’re, for lack of a better term, “juicier”; wider quill, fuller barbs
Regards,
Scott
Scott,
At one time, Spirit River used to offer the stripped peacock quills (left, below)…I got a bunch of them. The Polish Quills are mo’ betta’ :
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](http://s305.photobucket.com/user/planettrout/media/DRY FLY FLOTANTS/StrippedPeacockQuills_zpsbe2403ed.jpg.html)
PT/TB 
Agree with the praise for both the polish quills and performanceflies.com.
Joe
Has anyone tried to track down someone that raises Peacocks? One of the lakes I fish has at least one Peacock nearby; I can hear the bloody thing calling while I’m fishing. I think I know where the house is that has it…
A friend of mine in Montana has a peacock. He gave me a pretty nice supply of tail feathers last summer, but had cut out the eye’s which was really what I wanted. I think his wife may have been selling the eyes to a jewelry shop. Later last summer, he gave me some of the eyes, but they were on the small side. I think he said the bird was shedding tail feathers near the end of the summer, but I could be wrong in that. I’ll have to see if I can get some larger eyes from him next summer.
I know a farmer or 2 in PA that have peacocks around their farms. I bet that an ad on Craigslist, or similar, seeking locally raised peacock feathers might get a reply.
I am always on the search of good eyes. I have been told that the bird needs to be more than two years old. I did buy some premium eyes for Dette Trout Flies last year. Joe hand sorts them and the are very good. I keep them just for Catskill style dry flies. He also has Polish quills that are fantastic…
