I'll add another wingless wet that is very effective as a caddis pupa when American Grannoms (Mother's Day caddis) are on the wing ... a Starling & Herl: https://i.imgur.com/OntseJ5.jpg Dave Hughes popularized the Starling & Herl beginning in what I think was his very first book (American Fl...

The history of the Tup's Indispensable is very well chronicled, largely by G.E.M. Skues. The following is from a brief history that I wrote almost 10 years ago, but nothing has changed... The Tup's Indispensable was designed by R.S. Austin, a merchant and fly tyer of Tiverton, England. Austin develo...

redietz wrote:Norris was tying on larger hooks, though.

That's true, but Norris wrote a lengthy passage on sizing the hackle relative to the hook. From his book: "In choosing your feathers, the length of the fibres should be in proportion to the size of the hook, or rather the length of its shank."

In Mary Orvis Marbury's book "Favorite Flies and Their History" the hackles are never that long. The artist also tried to show the hackle is wrapped completely around the hook in the colored plates in Marbury's book. I do realize that her book contains only American patterns but they were...

John, Those hook sizes above are Roman Numeral "1". Here are the conversions between the old (Reddich) scale and new (Pennell) scale: https://i.imgur.com/aSfD9uM.jpg Yes ... by today's standards, hackle barbs in the 1800s were very long relative to the hook shank, especially on spiders. Th...

A world away to the south, Skues simply called it, with slight variation, the Pheasant Tail. Nothing soft about it. From Silk, Fur and Feather : Pheasant Tail Hook: 00, 0, or 1 round bend, down-turned eye Tying Silk: Hot orange Whisks: Honey-dun cock from shoulder hackle, three fibres Body: Three or...

Many thanks for the input. It seems quite reasonable that the "faux ribs" are indeed representations of shading between adjacent wraps. The hackles of Pritt's flies are highly stylized, so why not stylize the silk bodies? It makes sense. In general, flies with the faux ribs are those that ...

Several months ago, I landed a sizeable 'fish' and have some questions about my 'catch'. In a lesser traveled, somewhat out-of-the-way corner of the Internet, I bought the following for about the price of a mainstream fly line: https://i.imgur.com/0MwLhJD.jpg It's a first edition copy of Yorkshire T...

I'll add one other tip for care and maintenance of ferrules on bamboo rods. Fishing in the slightly alkaline, mineral rich water of limestone spring creeks, causes a build up on the ferrules that progressively makes the ferrule fit tighter and tighter over time. I'm unsure what the material is (oxid...

Scott, Your Forked-Tail Nymph tied with ostrich is indeed handsome. A very beautiful tie! On most Forked-Tail Nymphs tied today, the white biot wings curve toward the body, but you've tied them as the Don and Dick Olsen original -- curving away from the body. Nice. I've never read a description of h...