Be careful with the Turle (Turtle) knot when using either monofilament or fluorocarbon.....it is highly prone to slipping. This knot was developed by a Major Turle, a contemporary of Halford and an early dry fly pioneer, to attach flies to gut points, we would call them tippets today. Gut is much le...

Carl, it's great to see your Greenwell's Glory and Devil's Crooks here. IMHO, they deserve a place on the Forum as they are a solid part of the North Country Tradition, just as winged wets are a part of the Leisenring-Hidy story. Bravo for posting them and high praise for the fine job of dressing! I...

OH, I wish someone would have told me about short casts upstream in the mid-70's. The first time I tried wets upstream I was doing normal cast distances and discovering one had a hit was kinda by intuition. I didn't know or feel I had a strike, just that something was not right. Zen, I've shared yo...

Greenwell wrote:
I find the hooks interesting too, they look like Sproats with a bit of an offset. Perhaps Allcock 6812 T.D.E.?

I meant to say "Some look like Sproats, etc."

Lance, thank you for posting these, seeing original flies gives us a foundation upon which to base our own interpretations. In profile, these flies look much more nymph-like than the North Country Spiders. While some Spiders sported a bit of fur or herl behind the hackle, it wasn't as pronounced as ...

For wet fly (and dry fly) hackle, why not patronize our own Jim Slattery at Jims Fly Co.? He has what may be the best selection of necks in the US and being a wet fly tier of remarkable skill and experience he can help you choose exactly what you want. http://www.jimsflyco.com

I often degrease my tippet, but mostly when fishing dries and PT's as I don't find that it makes much difference when fishing wets. This is the standard formula that has been around for years and I'm a firm believer in it's efficacy. To about a 1/4 cup of Fuller's Earth, add enough Ivory Liquid dish...

Something to consider and the technique I use most of the time is to put the mend into the cast before the line touches the water. This can be achieved via a reach cast or by putting a curve into the cast. One of the advantages to mending before the line is on the water is that your fly/flies begin ...

In Famous Flies and Their Originators , Donald Overfield states the hackle for the Greenwell's Glory is Coch-y-Bonddhu, as do Conrad Voss-Bark, A. Courtney Williams, Francis Francis, E.M. Todd, and others. Woolley, Taverner, Lawrie, and Bernard call for Furnace. The overlooked writer Pat Castle spec...

A bit about Spade End hooks. These were bait hooks and the leader was "snelled" to the shank. You can Google the snell knot to see how to do this. The small flattened end kept the snell from pulling off the shank. Snelling was easier than whipping the leader to the hook shank and could be ...