Mel, I've read that book and have some Grant flies somewhere in my stuff. The weave he used was great, but I also liked how he used the feathers under the clear tail wrap for color patterns.
DonO ----- Original Message ----- From: "mel hocken" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, September 30, 2006 7:42 AM Subject: Re: [VFB] Questions > DonO > Check out George Grant's book on weaving hair hackles. If memory serves me > correctly he has a fly called a headlight that has a deer hair collar. > Mel > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "DonO" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Saturday, September 30, 2006 6:15 AM > Subject: Re: [VFB] Questions > > > > Wow, Paul, that was great! Perfect reading for my morning espresso. > > > > I have always had the suspicion that hair spinning came as an offshoot of > > hair-wing tying. What happens when you tie hollow hairs on as wings? The > > bases flare out. Trim them off and there's a hair wing left. Don't trim > > them and you have a muddler collar and head. Tie on lots of them, and > > trim > > them all, and one has a mouse. If the first trimmed hair was the body of > > an > > irresistible, them maybe it was the offshoot of using hair for the tail, > > and > > them trimming the butts for the body rather than cutting them off. > > > > I have an old magazine about the invent of the muddler pattern. The > > article > > gives the credit to a man named Don Gappen. The photo of his fly bore > > little resemblence to the trimmed, dense-headed muddlers of today. It > > looked like a feather-wing with a hair-wing added, left untrimmed. > > > > I would also like to know who claims responsibility for the humpy. I have > > sure caught a lot of fish on that fly, when not much else worked. I think > > someone from Jackson Hole WY is claiming the double-humpy, another > > fish-catcher. I claim the 'quintessential humpy'- five humpies on a 10X > > hook. :o) > > > > I remember experimenting many years ago with deer-hair 'hackle' collars. > > Flies looked great, but they didn't hold up like chicken feather hackles. > > > > DonO > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Paul Marriner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: <[email protected]> > > Sent: Saturday, September 30, 2006 6:40 AM > > Subject: [VFB] Questions > > > > > >> "First" always means "first to write, or be written, about." I don't > >> believe fly fishing has had much of an oral history except perhaps in > >> middle Europe where it is believed that fly fishing existed long before > >> its appearance in western Europe. > >> > >> first dry fly - likely the Macedonians as they tied a feather on a hook > >> to imitate a natural fly being taken on the surface. "Dry" flies have > >> been around "forever" so the usual historical question is "who began > >> tying flies intended to be CAST UPSTREAM and floated to a feeding fish?" > >> It's the problem of "casting a (FLOATING) line" as opposed to say > >> "dapping" that moves the debate to "modern" times. There are quotations > >> from 18th century works that suggest this method but imagine how hard it > >> would be to fish a short line tied onto the end of your rod. > >> > >> first hair wing - records exist of Native Americans using strips of fur > >> lashed to hooks. These might be also be considered the first streamers. > >> I have a record of an Indian Streamer in a circa 1840 book. It was > >> created by a Mi'kmaq living in the Shubenacadie area of Nova Scotia. The > >> first hairwings are often credited to guests at the Trude ranch (circa > >> 1910), but this is very unlikely, even if you don't like the strips as > >> wings. I'll check later, but I believe I found mention of a hairwing > >> (hair cut and attached as a clump) fly in Marbury. > >> > >> spin deer hair - apparently a much later development, likely the early > >> '30's. Almost certainly a North American innovation; Marbury (1890) > >> shows no flies of this type, nor do any of my salmon fly books prior to > >> the '40's. Schwiebert states Darbee but Messenger (Irresistible) also > >> laid claim. My best info would suggest Darbee's Bastard series circa > >> 1934, BUT, he (Darbee) suggests that these are an amalgam of bass and > >> trout flies, therefore, it suggests that hair-spinning for bass flies > >> preceded his patterns. If anyone has other references I'd be very > >> interested. > >> > >> wind a hackle collar - ancient likely, but certainly medieval. > >> > >> cheers > >> Paul > >> > >> DonO wrote: > >> Who tied the first 'dry fly' ?- intentionally to stay afloat. > >> Who tied the first hair-wing flies? > >> Who tied the first streamer fly? > >> Who was the first to spin deer hair? > >> Who was the first to wind a hackle collar? > >> > >> > >> -- > >> Paul Marriner > >> Outdoor Writing & Photography. Owner: Gale's End Press. Member: OWAA & > >> OWC. Author of: A Compendium of Canadian Fly Patterns (co-author), > >> Stillwater Fly Fishing: Tools & Tactics, How to Choose & Use Fly-tying > >> Thread, Modern Atlantic Salmon Flies, Miramichi River Journal, Ausable > >> River Journal, and Atlantic Salmon. > >> > >> > >> -- > >> No virus found in this incoming message. > >> Checked by AVG Free Edition. > >> Version: 7.1.407 / Virus Database: 268.12.10/459 - Release Date: > >> 9/29/2006 > >> > >> > > > > > > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.407 / Virus Database: 268.12.10/459 - Release Date: 9/29/2006 > >
