Mustad Catalog of Flies

Moderators: William Anderson, letumgo

User avatar
Old Hat
Posts: 4204
Joined: Sat Nov 14, 2009 12:24 am
Location: Where Deet is a Cologne
Contact:

Re: Mustad Catalog of Flies

Post by Old Hat » Thu Nov 12, 2020 7:42 am

Interesting. I remember, several years ago, reading an article about tying hooks together in this fashion to form these type of streamers.
I hate it when I think I'm buying organic vegetables, and when I get home I discover they are just regular donuts.
http://www.oldhatflytying.com
bearbutt
Posts: 152
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2018 8:15 pm

Re: Mustad Catalog of Flies

Post by bearbutt » Thu Nov 12, 2020 10:07 am

Carl, if you could find a link to the article, it would be appreciated.

Looking closely at the four Silver Bait Fluers, three of them have different hook designs--one is TUE, two have a longer second hook. I originally thought these were a standard pattern, but now I am wondering if they were home-made, home-brazed?

bb
Greenwell
Posts: 346
Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2011 9:05 pm

Re: Mustad Catalog of Flies

Post by Greenwell » Fri Nov 13, 2020 10:32 pm

Oddly enough, these are called "worm hooks" but weren't used for bait fishing, instead they were used to dress a pattern called the "Worm Fly". In Veniard's A Further Guide to Fly Dressing, 1964, the dressing is given on page 134 with this description: "This is another pattern which has come very much to the fore with the advent of reservoir fishing, and is another of the flies mentioned in Col. Esmond Drury's list of patterns. it is best described as two "Red Tag" flies in tandem." The bottom fly in the photo is exactly such a pattern.

John Roberts says the fly goes back to the 1870's and attributes it to William Black.

Hardy illustrated the Worm Fly in their 1911 catalog and also sold a fly called the "Ythan" dressed on the same style double hook. The Ythan is a river in North-Eastern Scotland. Hardy sold "Fly Minnows" on these hooks at least as early as 1906.

Neither Williams nor Lawrie list the Worm Fly in any of their many books, which I find strange as between the two of them they didn't seem to miss very many fly patterns.

In his book Founding Flies, Mike Valla shows a tiny double hook wet fly in the same style dressed by John Alden Knight.

I have a number of these hooks in my collection, some going back at least to the early 20th century, and I remember them being offered by Veniard's well into the 1970's.
Post Reply