Welcome to the Links & More page, this page contains links to other web sites I like and some design drawings by James Harper who owned the William Brown business in the early 1900's just to make it a bit more interesting. Please let me know of other web sites that are of a similar topic that I have not yet included. (All links checked and updated 4th Feb 2014)

Chris Sandford is a great guy, I used to spend sometime with him when I lived in England, he is one of the UKs most knowledgeable experts in vintage fishing tackle and is a mean fly tyer. His web site has a series of videos called "Stuff" which I really enjoy, based around tying a trout fly, but with lots of talk about vintage tackle and fly-tying equipment, if you have sometime I highly recommend you have a look at it.

A new site resource for identifying old tackle, will be interested to see how this develops  

I'm often (honestly!) asked to tie flies for people, I don't have time to tie many for myself let alone anyone else, but if you want to buy good quality (at a decent price) I would suggest you either get in contact with Philip Gelndining (see the Clunie fly story here) or get in touch with Sean here (who also sells his fine flies in the Post Office in Kincardine O'Neil - a village on the Dee) - I do take my hat off to these guys, how they can produce such a quality product for such a low price I don't know...

The Spey pages, salmon fishing with an American angle, the link will take you to the fly forum http://www.speypages.com/speyclave/forumdisplay.php?f=95

The Salmon Forum is a good place with a UK flavour, this link will take you to the classic salmon fly forum http://www.salmonfishingforum.com/forums/forum56.html

A new site to try - dedicated to the classic salmon fly http://www.classicflytying.net

One of the best suppliers of fly-tying material, if you don't already use them you should give them a go, very nice Stoat Tail ! http://www.cookshill-flytying.co.uk/

Dean Smith has recently set up a web site that explores the little items of a bygone age, tins, bottles, gadgets, flytying vices etc. Very interesting vices - you don't often get to see collections like this. http://www.tackletreasures.com/

If you are ever in the South West of Ireland may I strongly suggest you contact Dominic to arrange fishing - I know from experience that he will sort you out and guide you to the fish! http://www.fishingwithdom.com 

Interesting new site of random fishing photos - worth a look http://oldfishingphotos.com

Bob Frandsen supplies me with pictures of his very fine classic salmon flies, it's always great to get a email from him with his most recent masterpiece, he enjoys the more obscure patterns, which just happens to fit well with this site! He ties allsorts of flies as you can seen on his website http://bobfly.webs.com/

Ally Gowan inventor and tier of modern day classic flies including the Allys Shrimp and Cascade, get yours from the right place! http://www.letsflyfish.com/

Dr. Todds blog - an American take on the history of fishing, with some very odd ball stuff and ebay reviews http://fishinghistory.blogspot.com/

Have you been caught by the river yet, I have and you should be too http://caughtbytheriver.net/

Another interesting blog site that appeals to me is from Richard Donkin http://www.richarddonkin.com

The Classic rod forum - not just rods some very interesting debates on classic fly reels, lots on Mr Dingley at the moment - I think this site has helped push the prices of Digley's trout reels up http://classicflyrodforum.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=72

If you are into the river Dee you'll probably already know http://www.fishpal.com/Scotland/Dee/index.asp?dom=Dee you may not know this one on the Don and local fisheries http://www.fishingthefly.co.uk/ worth having a look at the forum.

I've know Tam Gair for many years, an expert on the tackle of Malloch, but I have also had some good Scottish reels from him http://www.vintage-fishing-tackle-uk.com/

Aaron Day is another dealer in vintage tackle - it's a nice site http://www.vintagefishingtackle.co.uk/

If fly boxes are your thing click here http://www.richardwheatleymuseum.org/ 

The best forum for classic flies by a country mile is http://www.classicflytying.com/index.php?s=b3217c8896b1de25defae8ed96be63b5&showforum=5 

A great magazine if you are interested in classic tackle, books etc. is http://www.classictitles.com/ which reminds me I need to renew my subscription (just done it for another 2 years)!

Stefan Dumas has a nice history of vintage tackle site - http://www.antiquetackleobserver.com/ I'm hoping that this will grow over time as Stefan is very much an expert on his subject.

If you need to get good material for your classic flies here are two sites that I use, the first is in the USA http://www.feathersmc.com/ the second in the UK http://www.cookshill-flytying.co.uk/ there are others but these two are probably the only two you need to know for 90% of the materials required and they are good blokes (which counts)

If you fancy a bit of Clyde style trout flishing - you need to know these sites: http://www.trout-salmon-fishing.com/book-flies.htm and http://www.thehighlanderway.com/clyde_style_flies.html

Want to get very traditional and use a vintage silk line? http://www.overmywaders.com/index.php?cleaningsilk have a dig around this site as there are some good fly plates.

If wild Brownies get you going (does it for me) have a look here: http://www.wild-fishing-scotland.co.uk/smf/index.php

WB Head for natural bait

WB 1901 Phantom

WB Pearl Phantom

Above WB Paragon (I like this one)

Above WB Natural Bait Spinner resting on the William Brown catalogue, below the 1897catalogue - this was James Harpers own copy!