FLYMPH FORUM

Because of the Depression, Pete Hidy dropped out of Wittenberg College after his sophomore year. When the bank foreclosed on their houses in Springfield, Ohio, Pete, his grandparents, his mother and father, and two younger brothers, all moved to Doylestown, Pennsylvania. They found refuge in the little farm belonging to his affluent uncle, Ross Stover. Stover was an unorthodox Lutheran minister in Philadelphia, who was the first to fill a football stadium for an Easter sunrise service. Doylestown had been a quiet getaway for Stover and his wife Emma, and unexpectedly, the refuge for her parents and her sister's family during hard times. Doylestown was a quiet village, so, not surprisingly, Noll's became a hangout for Pete. That is where he got his first tying lessons—after only knowing bait fishing on the Ohio streams of his childhood. Having Pete living right in Doylestown was a godsend for Leisenring, making it much easier to obtain supplies from Nolls, without any postage costs.

When I was stationed at Wright-Patterson AFB; I took a class in sociology at Wittenberg College. The one thing I remember from the class is the concept of idiosyncrasy credits. Since then, it has helped me play my cards right.

wsbailey wrote: ↑Tue Mar 17, 2020 10:53 am When I was stationed at Wright-Patterson AFB; I took a class in sociology at Wittenberg College. The one thing I remember from the class is the concept of idiosyncrasy credits. Since then, it has helped me play my cards right.

Giving a choice between scarlet and claret is strange to me, essentially red-orange or brown-red, not even close to same color in my eyes. Claret and maroon are much closer, I can see subbing one for the other.

Lance,
Your "bit of history" about your father is quite interesting and I found it a fascinating read! Thank you for posting it! The choice Big Jim made about the color of the silk for the Iron Blue is equally interesting! Did he prefer one color over another out of what he observed or out of some tradition that said to use only this or that color of silk? I think that sometimes tradition has more of a grip on us than we want to admit! That is the way it is with me!
Always on the lookout for interesting stuff like this,
Doug

An Iron Blue is one of my go-to flies when BWOs are on the wing, and I have a couple of questions about crimson vs. claret vs. maroon Pearsall's silk.

No.15-Maroon was renamed at some point to No.15-Dark Claret. And, the color changed from a slightly reddish brown to a more strongly reddish brown (but darker than No.14-Claret). Does anyone know when did this renaming occur? It seems to be sometime around the switch from wooden to plastic spools based on a few spools that I have.

Similarly, when did the newer No.191-Claret first appear on the market? It is more reddish than the older No.14-Claret but not as reddish as No.13-Crimson (again, based on my spools). Seems like a new name instead of "Claret (new)" would have been in order.

Pearsall's certainly liked claret-y colors. As do I. As do trout!

Phil

wsbailey wrote: ↑Wed Mar 18, 2020 9:12 pm http://softhacklepatternbook.blogspot.c ... -dark.html

Really interesting! Thanks for posting this link.