Buying feathers and other natural products online

[jimmy_knight]

I'm keen to get into tying my own flies and I should be getting my vice soon. Still trying to get my head around all of the jargon as there's so much to take in to begin with.

Found a few starters kits for saltwater flies to get me going but what's the story with customs?
Will buck tail, peacock herl etc. make it through or is it like the airport where they'd prefer you arrived with bombs and drugs than an apple and some ciggies in your suitcase.

[Hirdy]

Will buck tail, peacock herl etc. make it through ....

Probably not. I've never tried it, but that's the type of stuff that does get siezed. It's not worth the risk to our local environment and farmers anyway.

Just drop into FlyWorld in Bayswater or Tackle World in Myaree to start off, then expand your tying material selection from places like Spotlight. Seeing what you're buying before you fork out the cash is good anyway ...

Cheers,
Graeme

[jimmy_knight]

I suspected as much but didn't even think about customs dramas until the checkout. Easy to get carried away when you start adding shiny new gear to the shopping cart. Just wanted to pad out an order a bit.

Certainly don't wan't to be bringing in anything that can survive being dyed nuclear green. Anyway will go see Chris.

[troy]

Nothing against on line purchases, but for natural products you really need to feel and smell the capes or bucktails. There is some crap on the market that is a complete waste of money, no matte how cheap they are.

Chris generally only stocks quality feathers and fur and he can probably give you a run down on what to feel and smell for, or google it before yougo

[Sam de Beer]

Hi Jimmy,
When I relocated from Canada to Australia I had a container full of stuff. Everything was unpacked and inspected by Quarantine. I got notified that there were some materials that would not be allowed into Australia. So I went to the office where I was summoned to. They had a plastic bag with some fly tying materials from our container in it.

But what was funny (or peculiar) was that they included dyed and treated hackles and peacock herl, but allowed raw moose hide, caribou skin and deer skin to go through. They included a patch of fake fur in the bag of non-desirables and they excluded patches of raw seal and polar bear skin and hair.

I had to pay them, at first $700 to have it treated in, of all places, Canberra, but that was dropped to $170 for treatment in Perth. I subsequently found out on the Border Patrol program on TV that it should have been nothing more than $70 for the treatment. By the way, that treatment put the pox on me because I have not had a really successful fishing day in Australia after that.

Thus, it seems to me that it all depends on who you get to inspect your stuff on that particular day and with which foot that person got out of bed that morning.

My daughter often sends me homemade herb tea from Germany through the mail and, although the parcels have been opened every time, the tea has made it through every time. Go figure!!

However, I would agree with Graeme – support the local guys and get the local stuff that work on local flies in the local waters on local fish.

Regards

Sam

[Gael Bataille]

Sam,
The issue with bringing feathers into Australia is avian flu and it can be transmitted from capes and feather with blood quills

[Sam de Beer]

I know. And I can understand why they check all the wooden things for woodborers and raw hides for other nasties. I am 100% behind the Quarantine thinking. What tickled me during the whole episode was the inconsistency of it all - there was no method in their madness, not even in the pricing of it.

Sam

[Rudolph]

I left all my capes behind, but included Marabou and a few quills.

There is no consistency and the rules are not clear. I included a copy of the AQIS rules with the bag and it never got checked.