Paul, Thank you for that interesting bit of history! I have heard of "the bent-hackle fly," but had not put it into historical context. And I would agree with you that Gary improved the design by adding the foam overbody. Great stuff, Paul.
Regards, Monte Paul Marriner wrote: > Monte, just for information, the Mess was built on principals > established at least a century ago by French fly-tiers. This type of fly > was almost never seen in North American patterns until the Mess but was > introduced by Datus Proper in What the Trout Said (1982). He called it > "the bent-hackle fly." The principal is the use of a very wide soft > hackle tied in at the front (one or two turns at most) so that the > concave side is forward (Proper showed it tied the other way). Often > this front hackle is backed up with a much shorter stiff cock hackle. > The Assassine by Jean-Paul Pequegnot (circa 1964) is one one of the > later examples. Gary improved the design (at least I believe he did) > with the foam overbody. The reason for this design was for fishing, you > guessed it, the difficult Green Drake hatch on French chalkstreams. > A small quote from Proper, > "Angling literature is full of references to the fickle behavior of > trout with regard to Greendrakes. Many of the traditional paterns > featured soft hackles of French partridge, mallard breast, or some > similar feather." Unfortunately Proper didn't really understand how the > fly floated, but that's a discussion for another day. > Cheers, > Paul > -- > Paul Marriner > Outdoor Writing & Photography. Member OWAA & OWC. Author of Atlantic > Salmon, Ausable River Journal, Miramichi River Journal, and Modern > Atlantic Salmon Flies.
