Jim No you're not muddying the water. I sent pictures of the hooks to John Shewey before I went to see Ron Reinhold. From what I gathered from his emails he has come to the same conclusions. They were tied on what was available at the time or you had to make your own. I haven't found yet any production "spey hooks" from that time and he wasn't familiar with any but there were long shanked salmon irons both heavy and fine. We seem to have a new Dutch friend on the list that isn't posting yet. It's too bad because he seems to have some very good information. The hooks he is showing me are hand forged and match the vintage Dee hook I have. I can't yet identify the maker of the Dee I have but it matches the one in Schmookler's book. He hasn't said where the pattern for the hook is from or if it's the makers own hook. The bend on these is very different from the Alec Jackson spey hooks. It's a much nicer more elegant bend. Deb
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jim Collins Sent: Sunday, August 21, 2005 10:07 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [VFB] Spey Flies??? FWIW, if you happened to catch the article on Dee flies in the summer 2004 issue of "Fly Tyer," the author John Shewey says: "Dee flies were traditionally dressed on long-shank salmon irons with Limerick bends. These were blind-eye hooks, and ..." I am not an old-hook aficionado so I'm not sure how that plays out with your current discussion. My apologies if it just muddies the water. By they way, I found this a very good article. The explanations of the two methods for mounting the wings Dee-style were very interesting. Jim Collins ------------ Fishing is not a matter of life or death. It's much more important than that!
