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Post 07 May 2019, 07:31 • #1 
Sport
Joined: 11/13/17
Posts: 34
Location: WI
So I leave in couple weeks to spend most of the summer working in Germany, near Munich. I'm hoping to bring some tying materials to pass the time at night (can't go to the biergartens every night!) and wondering if anyone knows if it's OK to travel with things like feathers, deer hair, etc. Anyone have any experience doing this, either successfully or unsuccessfully? Any and all advice would be appreciated. Thanks!


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Post 18 May 2019, 06:15 • #2 
Sport
Joined: 06/27/14
Posts: 73
Location: US-NY
I see you are not getting a lot of answers to your question, so I will relay my not so direct experience.

I was in London on business a few months back, and did get to Farlows, hoping to buy a Hardy Reel with favorable exchange rates. While I didn't find a reel that suited my fancy, I did purchase 2 pairs of Blue Jay wings, and a pair of Woodcock wings.

I was a bit worried about bringing them back to the US, but in the end, I put them in my checked baggage, and they arrived home with no issue at all.


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Post 19 May 2019, 04:59 • #3 
Master Guide
Joined: 09/29/09
Posts: 906
Location: US-MI
One must proceed with caution on international travel with tying materials. Numerous laws in play. Start with a check on CITES and then proceed to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A quick call to one of the premium father suppliers in the U.S. may save some time, especially ones that deal with Atlantic Salmon flies as those talented people often create patterns that call for exotic materials or substitutes. Fratherfolio.com is a source I found but cannot attest to the accuracy of the information on the page.

In short, if you keep it simple you should be fine. Trying up patterns with materials available from established U.S. dealers is one way to have a modest amount of comfort that it is legal to possess those materials in the U.S. If you purchase materials in Europe to bring home they may not have the same regulations. The Blue Jay noted above I do not believe is available commercially in the U.S. as it falls under the songbird grouping. Another general rule for most materials in the U.S. is if you can hunt it legally, then you can tie with it. So ring neck pheasant, grouse, woodcock, deer hair, most bear hair (except polar), squirrel etc. should be ok to possess in the U.S. Migratory birds such as waterfowl the law starts to get more complicated and you should proceed with caution. As for bringing materials to Germany I suggest calling a German fly shop and see if they can point you in the right direction for their laws.


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Post 19 May 2019, 07:11 • #4 
Guide
Joined: 08/19/16
Posts: 314
Location: Brazil
Taking synthetic materials and fly-tying tools in your checked baggage should pose no problem at all.


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Post 19 May 2019, 07:48 • #5 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/20/07
Posts: 8920
Location: US-ME
I think PampasPete has the answer unless you want to check all the regs as described above. Years ago I had an armchair environmentalist acquaintance who traveled all over the world fly fishing. I never saw him catch a fish around his home waters, but if lead split shot were illegal, he'd have his binoculars checking if somebody with a spinning rod across the lake was using it. Before any of his big trips, he'd ask me to shoot some pine squirrels because in whatever places he was going, they wanted the tails for hairwing wets and streamers. So I would give him a little baggiefull. He didn't mind a woodchuck tail or two, a few mallard flank feathers, maybe some stray guinea hen feathers thrown in. I never checked why such things were "unavailable" or "hard to get" in the country or countries where he was going. I didn't ask because I think I knew why. Close as I got, once I asked why he didn't get them from Canada, where he had lots of friends and relatives, or just mail them if he wasn't going down under that year. As the State Nuisance Camp animal, the little squirrels were no loss right around his place, though. And one year I asked him if he brought back any jungle cock. "It's hard to get here," I said. Well I got a couple Fenwick rods and tubes out of it years later after he crossed the River for good. I'm not sure which one. I should look in the rod bags and tubes to see if there are any feathers and squirrel tail fibers in there. If he were around today, I could tell him there are good synthetic substitutes for pine squirrel tail, but there aren't.


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Post 19 May 2019, 23:03 • #6 
Guide
Joined: 04/26/19
Posts: 179
Location: L'Étoile du Nord
I asked this question when I fished Sweden last summer, and my contact that owns a fly tying shop in the Stockholm area said I would be just fine and I was. I did check my bag as special baggage fishing equipment and had two spey rods, waders, reels all my stuff.

Customs recognized the bag as fly fishing equipment, and actually even though they ransacked my bag they repacked all my fishing equipment with the utmost care, better than I did, the rest was a disaster.

I had flies with JC and other materials. He did say that flies were confiscated in Norway but that was not typical.


I believe flies and materials can be ordered from Europe if you want to pay shipping.


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Post 20 May 2019, 08:25 • #7 
Sport
Joined: 11/13/17
Posts: 34
Location: WI
Thanks for all the advice. I'm not worried about CITES, since we're talking nothing more exotic than (chicken) hackles, deer hair, and pheasant tail, but I understand that it gets tricky for other reasons. As far as I can tell, the thing would be if they are worried about pests/disease being transported. I'll see if I can find a local resource with more info or experience, and if not, just bring synthetics and order few things from a European shop while there.


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Post 20 May 2019, 12:23 • #8 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 11/06/17
Posts: 2498
Location: South of Joplin
Me not being able to use Blue Jay or Seal fur in thew USA has nothing to do CITES either and neither animal is particularly exotic nor endangered. Countries make laws about animals for lots of reasons, some times for no real reason.


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Post 20 May 2019, 15:53 • #9 
Guide
Joined: 04/26/19
Posts: 179
Location: L'Étoile du Nord
goshockey wrote:
Thanks for all the advice. I'm not worried about CITES, since we're talking nothing more exotic than (chicken) hackles, deer hair, and pheasant tail, but I understand that it gets tricky for other reasons. As far as I can tell, the thing would be if they are worried about pests/disease being transported. I'll see if I can find a local resource with more info or experience, and if not, just bring synthetics and order few things from a European shop while there.


I had much more exotic and expensive materials and flies than that, You'll be fine.

Have a great trip! I want to see some German brown trout pics.


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Post 21 May 2019, 07:34 • #10 
Sport
Joined: 11/13/17
Posts: 34
Location: WI
Thanks! I'm still trying to figure out the relatively strict and opaque (at least to non-German speakers) German fishing license rules, so they may have to be Austrian brown trout, but I'm hopeful that I'll have some from both countries to share!


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Post 10 Jun 2019, 02:13 • #11 
Sport
Joined: 11/13/17
Posts: 34
Location: WI
Just to update this in case others are wondering for the future. I did indeed pack some basic feathers and furs with me. When I got to Germany I went into the line to declare them. The agent asked what I was declaring, seemed confused that I had even bothered and didn’t even ask to see what I had. So, much ado about nothing I guess!


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Post 10 Jun 2019, 05:07 • #12 
Master Guide
Joined: 08/23/10
Posts: 469
Location: San Antonio, TX
And the Zoll agent next to him might have expressed a concern over it--just never know. Glad it worked out for you. Now, hopefully, you'll get to wet a line.


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Post 10 Jun 2019, 18:21 • #13 
Guide
Joined: 04/26/19
Posts: 179
Location: L'Étoile du Nord
How many fish?


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