Pete
I'm curious.....where are you getting your references to "spey hooks"? I've
only seen modern hooks labeled "spey" hooks. I've been trying to find
references to the old spey hooks and as far as I can tell the patterns were
tied on long shanked salmon irons. I have been able to find one reference
to old dee hooks.
You may remember in May I went up to Michigan and stopped to visit Ron
Reinhold to try to identify some old hooks I purchased from Ron Alcott.
Several of the hooks came from Megan Boyd in Scotland and the others came
from various fly shops in Scotland. They are all old and supposed to be
vintage spey hooks. One of the hooks is an exact match to the reference I
have for vintage dee hooks (Rare & Unusual book) but I can't find anything
on spey hooks. Two of them are possibly original Blacker hooks.
Identifying some of these hooks even for an experienced hook maker/collector
is very difficult, part of the reason being that many of the Ghillies made
their own hooks. Some of the hooks in the collection I have more closely
resemble very long shanked streamer hooks (these are definitely production
hooks but I'm not sure who the maker is). They range in size all the way up
to 10/0 with shanks over 5" - 6" long and are black. They don't look
anything like the Alec Jackson Spey hooks you see today.
I haven't had any more time to spend on identifying these hooks but I came
to the conclusion that they tied the spey patterns on salmon irons.
Do you have any references to hook templates of old "spey hooks"? I have
the Rare and Unusual books, Chris Mann's books, Sheweys book, and Veverka's
book along with a few old salmon fly books. I would appreciate any
references you can send my way.
Thanks,
Deb
