The Answer Is….
The correct/acceptable answer for challenge #20 is: the Snootli. At first glance, this is an odd-looking fly; it seems to be tied backward to fly design convention, and it is. Having the hook eye positioned in the middle, instead of at the front, affords a fulcrum for...
As a Tribute to Roderick Haig-Brown
It has been 50 years since the untimely passing of Roderick Haig-Brown, in 1976. In 1998, Canada Post issued a collection of fly-fishing theme-based postage stamps. Two of those stamps exemplified fly patterns originated by Roderick Haig-Brown; his Steelhead Bee and...
PP II Challenge #20
Hook – Mustad 9671. Size 10 through 14. Debarbed and sharpened. Thread – Black, 6/0 Uni Thread. Snoot – Red Fox squirrel or Eastern Grey squirrel tail hair, tips forward. Body – Hair from snoot, bound down along hook shank. Tail – Butt ends of body hair. Palmer Hackle...
The Answer Is….
The correct/acceptable answer for challenge #19 is: the Intruder. Three amigos, Jerry French, Scott Howell and Ed Ward collaborated to invent this fly pattern in the early 1990s. Ed Ward said, “I started tying these flies because I could not buy what I wanted.” That...
PP II Challenge #19
Front Hook or Shank – Mustad 94007 size 1/0 or eyed shank. Thread – Complimentary colour or black, 6/0 Uni Thread. Attachment Loop – Fine wire, monofilament line or Spider-Wire™ braid. Stinger Hook – Gamakatsu Octopus. Size 2 or 4. Underbody Collar – Thick fur or...
The Answer Is….
The correct/acceptable answer for challenge #18 is: the Booby. A somewhat comical name for a comical looking fly. But it does catch fish. Thrown out on a sinking line, then let sit static on the bottom, those buoyant foam spheres cause this fly to rise up and hover in...
The Gold of Old
Pairs of us intermittently shuffled in through big wooden, spring-hinged double-doors. Out of the snow and into a warm, inviting, dimly lit beerhall on this Saturday in mid-February. Those doors banged shut behind us. Two by two we entered, like the animals we were,...
PP II Challenge #18
Hook - Mustad C49s. Size 6 or 8. Debarbed. Thread – 6/0 Uni Thread to complement overall colour scheme. Tail – Pearlescent Crystal flash™. Body – Crystal chenille™, various colour combinations, usually two-toned. Eyes – Closed cell foam dowel fashioned into two round...
The Answer Is….
The correct/acceptable answer for challenge #17 is: the Coho Blue. Developed by a self-professed reluctant fly tier, Roderick Haig-Brown in the 1930s, because he could not buy what he wanted. His contemporary, Brigadier General Noel Money ret’d. reported to Haig-Brown...