Light Cahill

Along the years the hackle used for the popular Catskill dry fly called the Light Cahill went more cream coloured but I think it looks nicer with a ginger hackle as it was tied in the early days.

Mike Valla says:

"Jay, for years the hackle shade you selected was the shade used for Light Cahills---in the Catskills. Overtime, the hackle shade changed to almost a cream....so different and not at all what we traditionally used. The late Ralphy Graves and I often discussed and point out this fact."

Light Cahill tied by Elsie Darbee:

Another Light Cahill tied by Elsie Darbee:

Flies tied by Rube Cross, in the middle a Light Cahill

Able Mable

Did some tying together with my little man.

I tied a few Alien Bugs and an Able Mable, Ed van Put's signature fly using the materials Ed recently gave me.

Royal Humpy

 

Jack Dennis' signature fly the Royal Humpy:

"It was 1968 when I decided to marry the Humpy and the Royal Wulff at the urging of then Penn state professor Joe Humphrey and his college fellow wrestler Charlie Ridinour they had difficulty seeing the grey hackle Humpy on the Gros Ventre river in Jackson Hole. That August I tied some up and Joe caught the first fish on the new Royal Humpy and the name came from Charlie who guided for me."

Humpy takes off

Three Humpy's ready to take off to a place far far away 🚀

And a comment by Jack Dennis

Coffin Fly

This Coffin Fly (Eastern green drake spinner) is a serious big bug 😳

Here is one tied by Winnie Dette.

The real thing

Grizzly hackle - a very underrated shade

Martin Joergensen wrote this elaborate article about the grizzly hackle. All you need to know about the grizzly hackle and more.

Hungry GTs

We all probably have seen this footage from the BBC Blue Planet II. It's still impressive and scary at the same time. Now book a trip at Alphonse in the Seychelles at around $15K a week and experience that big GT on a fly 😎

TMG (Teal, macaw & ginger)

This is the TMG (Teal, Macaw & Ginger), a Catskill style dry fly I came up.

Wings: Teal flank feathers bunched & split

Body: Macaw quill

Tail: ginger hackle fibers

Hackle collar: Metz ginger hackle

Hook: vintage Mustad 94840 size 12

Update:
Here is the Improved TMG

Unknown vintage capes

Recently acquired a few no name used vintage capes like this nice ginger cape. Still enough hackles for a size 12 Light Cahill. Love the glassy gingery shine and the straight & stiff barbules!

Update:
Mike Valla sent some interesting info about the hackle color used for the Light Cahill:

"Jay, for years the hackle shade you selected was the shade used for Light Cahills---in the Catskills. Overtime, the hackle shade changed to almost a cream....so different and not at all what we traditionally used. The late Ralphy Graves and I often discussed and point out this fact.

.....

Metz hackle was that shade. It was a big deal when Metz produced "the perfect ginger," as they called it in full page late 1970's Fly Fisherman magazine advertisments----sometime in the 80's a lighter hackle was used."

Thanks Mike!

Also check out page 92 and 153 in Mike's book 'Tying Catskill style Dry Flies' about the hackle color.

Flies tied by Rube Cross, in the middle a Light Cahill

Penn prints

I love history that has a link to fly fishing. These Penn prints are reprints of old 16th, 17th and 18th Century maps of famous cartographers printed in the 1960s. Some interesting insights from then, like California shown as an island. Also the Korean Peninsula (Willem Blaeu, ca. 1642) is shown as an island*.

Then there is this map by the famous Dutch cartographer Nicolaes Visscher of the eastern USA as seen in the 17th century.

A large part of the Eastern coast was a Dutch colony then called Nieuw Nederlandt (New Netherlands) or in Latin ‘Nova Belgica’. Back in those days The Netherlands was called 'Low Lands' which also included parts of current Belgium.

The area now known as the Catskills is particularly interesting. The map also shows the Catskill area as the Dutch settlement ‘t landt van Kats Kill’ which can be translated as ‘Kats Kill county’ with a creek called ‘Kats Kill’. The word ‘kill’ is an old Dutch word voor creek. I think ‘Kats’ refers to a Dutch family name. We also see Long Island (written in Dutch).

If you have some spare cash you can buy an original Nicolaes Visscher map...

* In a later map (1658) by Nicolaes Visscher shows Korea as a peninsula.

Alien Bugs should be outlawed...

Craig Mathews' reaction about the Alien Bug tells the story... 😁

 

How to use bear spray

I've seen a black bear in Montana only once while I was fishing a mountain lake in a float tube. 

Knowing how to use a bear spray when one encounters a bear is maybe common knowledge for inhabitants of the Rocky mountain states, but for a tourist mostly not.

Fishing small streams with dry flies

The Floating Fly is a series of articles in one format about fishing with dry flies by various fishermen (not persé fly fishing authors 😉) under supervision of Christopher Rownes. The number of authors has been growing rapidly.

Check my story on fishing small streams with dry flies here.

André Puyans again

From Mike Valla's book 'The Founding Flies'. We've never corresponded nor met but surely we would have had a great time talking about the Humpy 🤓!

Checkout the rare Humpy tied by Puyans I recently acquired.

March Brown dun floating

Was watching a video by the Jensens and saw this close up of a March Brown dun on the water. Look how the dun floats with the abdomen angled up pushed by its the legs. This really comes close how the classic Catskill dries floats on the water.

Adams with Darbee hen wings

Adams with wings from a vintage Darbee grizzly hen cape giving the wings a more broader & rounder profile. Vintage Mustad 94840 size 12 hook, musk rat dubbing, grizzly Collins & Dark Ginger Sideling Hill Hackle cape.

Podcast with Cameron Mortenson of The Fiberglass Manifesto

There have been several podcasts with Cameron, but this one is the most elaborate (and longest) one so far. Cameron started his blog The Fiberglass Manifesto in July 2008, mine in September 2005. I think we are one of the oldest, if not the oldest, running blogs on fly fishing?

Listen to Cameron's story here.

Tom Dorsey of Thomas and Thomas

A short but very striking clip about why Tom Dorsey (together with his brother in law Thomas Maxwell) of Thomas & Thomas started to build bamboo rods Again, legends of fly fishing like Tom Dorsey have stories to tell and should be interviewed/recorded before it's too late!

How Tom Morgan Rodsmiths got started

Here's a great interview with Gerri Carlson, Tom Morgan's widow, about how Tom and her got into the business of rod making with Tom Morgan Rodsmiths. She also tells a few funny stories as well.

It's a pity we don't have videos with Tom like this... People should start recording interviews/talks with legends like Jack Dennis, Mike Lawson, Rene Harrop before it's too late!

I just noticed the face mask during the interview Joel (one of the two owners of company) had on. It's a crazy time now....

André Puyans

Here is a rare Humpy tied by the late fly fisherman & fly tier André Puyans (1935 - 2005).

André was a renowned fly fisherman and fly tier who used to own a fly shop in California and spent his later years running a fly fishing school at the Henry’s Fork. The book in the background is 'The art of the Trout Fly' by Judith Dunham. André Puyans was the originator of tying the Humpy by tying the wings first.

Update March 2, 2026:

Jack Dennis dug out this video (partly on my request) of Andre Puyans tying a Humpy.

Really interesting how Puyans tied his Humpy!

Update Feb 5, 2026:

Here is a rare video Andy tying a Goddard Caddis

Delaware Adams

Mary Dette turned 90(!) yesterday.

Tied a few Delaware Adams on a vintage Allcock W175 size 12 to celebrate.

Created by the legendary Catskill fly tier, Walt Dette, of Roscoe New York. According to Eric Leiser’s book, The Dettes, Walt created the Delaware Adams for Art Lee to fish on the Delaware river. The Delaware Adams, as the story goes, is a cross between two famous classic dry flies: the Adams and the Henryville Special.

Emerging mayfly

Emerging mayfly

Clip off the tails and you can use it as an emerging caddis

Hook: TMC 212Y size 13

Tails: peccary

Body: golden olive dyed peacock quill

Thorax: olive squirrel dubbing

Wings: short tipped deer hair