The Essential Fly Reviews

4.8 Rating 2,256 Reviews

97 %

of reviewers recommend The Essential Fly

4.8

Based on 2,256 reviews

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Postal Service
Average Delivery Time	Within 5 Days
On-time Delivery	Greater than 90%
Accurate And Undamaged Orders	98%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Under An Hour
Customer Service	4.9 out of 5

About The Essential Fly:

Specialists in Fly Fishing with salmon, trout flies, and flies for lots of other species. We sell Fly Fishing Tackle and gear and a huge range of Fly Tying Materials and Tools - The Essential Fly is a leading supplier of gear for fly fishermen, rainbow & brown trout flies, salmon flies and flies for every species from our massive selection. Fly tying materials and tools to satisfy every fly tyers needs. With tackle from Greys to Wychwood, from fly rods to waders, luggage and all of the accessories you will need.

We have won awards for customer service and believe in value and quality. Check our reviews from thousands of customers all around the world. Having delivered to over 50 countries from homes to fishing lodges for that last minute requirement.

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The Essential Fly 5 star review on 16th February 2025

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Sort by: Most Recent Most Recent Highest Rated Filter: None None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“Terrible service and every time I try to provide feedback, unsurprisingly the email just bounces back.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 month ago

Hello! We are so sorry to see your message. Our emails are monitored every day so we are not sure why your emails are bouncing back? We are customerservices@theessentialfly.com or we are available on the phone Monday to Friday office hours 01757 333003 if ever you need any assistance. From your review here we cannot see precisely any details about an order or query but we are more than happy to help you. Perhaps you ordered special order items? Please do let us know more details and we will attend to this asap for you. With very best wishes Team TEF

Posted 1 month ago

“Although the quality of the fly tying seems to be good. They didn’t have all the flys that I had chosen and therefore had to refund me. It also took a long time for the package to be dispatched.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 month ago

Hi and thank you very much for your recent order and review. We carry massive stocks of flies and other fly fishing/tying goods. However for some items, we bring them in specially for customers and we can see that one of the items you ordered (Calendonian flies Green Peter Sedge) was a special order. Unfortunately on this occasion, the distributor did not have them in hence us refunding them we are sorry. This caused the delay for which we apologise. We do hope that your remaining flies are ones that will bring you much success and pleasure! Best wishes Team TEF

Posted 1 month ago

“Great flies ready if I go to Scotland,”

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Posted 1 month ago

“Ordered a few things from Essential Fly all arrived in good time and a pleasure to buy things from and use good quality gear”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 month ago

“Excellent flys”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 month ago

“Bonnie flies.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 month ago

“Quick and reliable everything the product is always top notck”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 month ago

“Good service, fast delivery.”

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Posted 1 month ago

“To be honest I'm a greatly disappointed in the response to a question I sent to customer services and had to ask a number of times regarding a damaged product. Admittedly I dropped the Renomed tweezers I had for literally 24 hours and the tip warped straight away, so I asked if it was possible to exchange, of which I would have contributed, but after 2 emails after over a week I finally got a reply but it was a flat no couldn't help! Definitely room for improvement and not what we would expect from quality service sorry.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 month ago

Hello Mr Guerin We thank you for shopping with us recently. We feel your disappointment and frustration in dropping and damaging such lovely tweezers when you had only had them for 24 hours. We too would be so upset if that happened to our precious tying tools. We want to address your concern further please. As you know, these particular tweezers were a special order for you, and not a product we have stocked in our store. While we sympathize with your situation, unfortunately, our policy doesn't cover accidental damage. We are not liable for the damage caused after the item was received we are sorry, after you unfortunately dropped the tweezers. Whilst we cannot in the circumstances guarantee a solutuion for your tweezers, if you would like to discuss this further with us, please do let us know. With best wishes Team TEF

Posted 1 month ago

“All good, quality flies, prompt delivery and bagged a few fish too..”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 month ago

“The materials ordered were out of stock and eventually arrived 3 weeks later. It was made clear that they were out and would be delivered when new stock came in. The impression I had from the website was that stock arrived weekly, so the wait was much longer than anticipated. While this is not The Essental Fly's problem, I would have appreciated being informed that there would be an extended wait and if possible an ETA. Outside of this, the materials are exaclty as advertised and I am very happy with them.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 month ago

“Flies are very good quality and priced fairly. Delivery is very poor, ordered 14th April and received 6th May. All flies ordered were showing in stock on the online shop and shipping was £3.95 Royal Mail, hence only 3 stars. Ordered well in advance if you have a trip arranged, I'll probably stick to my local shop in future.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 month ago

Hello Mr McKenna and thank you for your recent order. We are very sorry to read that you were not happy with the delivery time on your order. We would like to take this opportunity to discuss this please. The flies you ordered were not all in stock at the time, some were special order items. This is shown against each fly and also in the check out. This meant that we brought them in especially for you that incurred a slight delay. We are always available on the phone or via email if you would ever like to check stock availability. We would of course be happy to run through with you the flies that are immediately available for a prompt dispatch and make any suggestions for alternatives if appropriate. Please do make a note of our number 01757 333003 or use customerservices@theessentialfly.com. If you are planning a special event, we totally understand the importance of this and would welcome an opportunity to discuss your requirements with you to make sure you have your flies in plenty of time. We do hope we will get an opportunity to help you with your flies again in the future With very best wishes Team TEF

Posted 1 month ago

“Great selection of stuff , easy to work with always letting you know about your order”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 month ago

“Haven't had the chance to use these Mayfly imitations, but they came in good time and look great Can't wait to get out on the river and use them.”

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Posted 1 month ago

“Essential Fly have a great range of products, however delivery is so slow that I only ever use when I can’t get something elsewhere.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 month ago

We are sorry to hear you feel our delivery is slow. We do our best for our customers and to offer great customer care. As you have sumbitted your feedback anonymously we cannot look into your specific order unfortunatley. We would be very happy to have a chat with you at your convenience. In the spirit of openness, we carry massive stocks and do our best to deliver as quickly as possible - usually same or next day. However if someone has ordered a special order item (as shown on the site and at the check out) we do bring in these items specially for customer so there is a planned timeline for this to happen. All of this is shown on the site and in the check out as mentioned. Feel free to get in touch if we can help you in any way. Thank you Team TEF

Posted 1 month ago

“Good looking flies - postage was a bit expensive and a bit slow”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 months ago

“I'm disappointed, l got notice about my order will be one week, after one mouth nothing even we are sorry or something like that, when l wrote my message to them, that's some kind of jokes or what? I waited next two weeks and l didn't get everything what I ordered, shame! l can't recommend.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 months ago

Hello - thank you for your order in March and we are sorry to read your comments here. We would like to respond please. We can see that your order was dispatched with a few days of you placing it (it was placed when we were closed over the weekend). There were 2 items in your order that were special order as shown on the site at the time and as confirmed in the check out. We rely on the suppliers to get these to us as quickly as they can, as explained in our ordering process. Sadly sometimes there can be delays and we genuinely do all we can to hurry these along but we are beholden to the supplier. As soon as these came in we dispatched them to you immediately and we can see from the tracking and proof of delivery that they were successfully delivered to you. We hope you are enjoying your materials and we hope to be able to help you with your fly tying materials again in the future. Best wishes Team TEF

Posted 2 months ago

“very goood”

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Posted 2 months ago

“Great fly thing tools and good service. I've made a few purchases and will no doubt be back.👍”

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Posted 2 months ago

“Great product and excellent delivery time”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 months ago

The Essential Fly is rated 4.8 based on 2,256 reviews