I was tying flies tonight and as I looked through some pattern recipes I thought of a pattern that I learned From Michael McAuliffe. Michael had taught a fly-tying class at Ramsey Outdoor when I worked there. It is a Bob Jacklin streamer pattern called the “South Branch creek Chub”. This fly was designed to fish the South Branch of the Raritan river. This was the river I considered my home water when I lived in New Jersey. This fly was a killer on the Ammonoosuc River here in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. I had the two that I tied in class. I found three more that a non-fly fishing co-worker had given to me many years ago.

So I look up the recipe for the pattern and it calls for barred teal with black and white Monga tail underwing. Where the heck can I find that?
I search normal fly-tying outlets and none listed Monga tail. I do a google search and find that Monga tail is from an animal called a Ring Tail Cat. I raccoon-like animal found in the southwest US and Mexico. I get a few hits of tails for sale. One on eBay is listed as out of stock and then another on Etsy, but that is for key chains at a high price, and only two are left. At this point Im a little discouraged. I walk away thinking that I will have to substitute Monga with a black and white bucktail. The bucktail is not nearly as soft as the Monga, but it will have to do.
I decided to buy the key chains. They stated that they are in short supply. They are terribly overpriced, but I’m going to bite the bullet before I can not get any. I sit down at the computer and enter the exact same search. Bam! I hit the motherload. The first listing is for a page that sells nothing but animal pelts. They appear to have an unlimited supply at a reasonable price. I should have a good supply of “South Branch Creek Chubs tied up for springtime.