Richard here. I want to talk to you about something a bit unusual for a fly fishing email, especially on a Saturday - a metal.

But first, I'm hoping you can help me help ...

As I mentioned in a previous email, I am now a trustee of the fabulous Reel Recovery UK charity - we provide weekend fly-fishing retreats to help men with cancer in their recovery process. Experienced fly anglers give them individual tuition and trained facilitators hold group conversations within a safe, supportive environment to explore their personal experiences of cancer with others who share their stories.

Reel Recovery retreats are entirely free to all participants

As all of our activities are 100% self-funded, I'm hoping you can help with our Charity Fundraising Auction, by donating an auction lot for our online fundraising auction taking place in October this year.

Lots can be anything fly-fishing related, in the widest sense, such as:

• Days on the water either guided or not.

• Fly Fishing Gear

• Fly Tying Gear

• Fishing or Country Clothing

• Instruction

• Art; or

• Accommodation

Anything with a guide price of over £80.

If you can donate a lot, please contact sue@reelrecoveryuk.org with details.

Tennants Auctioneers, one of the country’s premier auction houses, are generously staging the online auction for us and ALL funds raised from the auction will go directly into our UK retreat program – please help us to help more men with cancer.

Now, back to that metal I was talking about ...

Since early 2025, tungsten prices have gone properly mad. Export controls out of China (who supply the vast majority of the world's tungsten) have squeezed the market really hard. The raw materials that end up as the bead on our favourite nymphs has, by some measures, gone up by over 600% in a bit over a year and it's not settling down either - most forecasts reckon it'll stay elevated well into next year.

Why does that matter to you?

Because nearly every weighted nymph we sell - the Micro Tungsten Nymphs, virtually all our Grayling flies, the Peacock Herl patterns, all of them - start life as a tiny tungsten bead. It's what gets your nymph down to the fish fast, and there's no cheap substitute that does the job as well.

Here's the honest bit - the beads currently in our flies were bought in before this all kicked off, so what you see in-stock on the website today is still priced the same as it was last year. We haven't touched a thing.

But we've just received the invoices for our Autumn/Winter patterns (I needed a sit down) it's going to cost us a lot more than last time.

We've not put any of our tungsten pattern prices up yet; but, once we receive them the prices will have to rise.

Please Note: Just as an example one of our most famous competitors are now selling their Red-Neck Pheasant Tail Nymphs for ... wait for it ... £3.15 each.

I can't tell you exactly when our prices will rise (it will either be late-August or early-September - depending on when they arrive with us), and I can't promise I'll be able to hold today's prices once they arrive.

I'd rather let you know now than pretend it isn't coming.

But this does present you with an opportunity ...

Stock Up While Our Old Pricing Still Holds

If you're due a restock of your nymph box, now's a sensible time to do it - before our next tungsten nymph delivery forces our hand.

To make it easy for you, I've put a page together on our website which lists all of the tungsten flies we have in stock.

*** Go on, clear us out of tungsten ***

As ever, thanks for sticking with us.

Tight lines,