I am familiar with US company Umpqua Feather Merchants for tying materials, capes and the like, and, needless to say, their scope is larger than that but in the UK. We haven’t seen a lot of their range – that will be changing, The Essential Fly has teamed up with Umpqua and is making more Umpqua products available in the UK.

U-Series hooks are nicely finished, sharp points, fine barbs and well finished eyes – just what you want from a hook, really. More than that the hook shapes are familiar so these fit easily into my tying. For examples I've picked out a down-eyed light wire (U001), a heavy sproat-bend (U101), a straight eyed curved shank (U201) and a heavier curved hook (U202). In my tying, in the same order, those are for dries including stillwater dries (e.g. Hoppers and the like), lures and wets, Klinkhåmers and some nymph patterns, buzzers and small weighted nymphs. In a handful of sizes those four hook types satisfy the vast majority of my fresh-water tying needs.