Ryan Keane's Humpy painting

Here is a work in progress by the very talented American artist called Ryan Keane who made a painting of one of my Humpy. I think Ryan's artwork has a nice mix of impressionistic and realistic look. Quite unique. Ryan sent me some pictures of the progress of the painting. The painting is 9 x 12 inches.

Ryan is very easy to work with and his pace of work is really impressive. Fully recommended! 

Thanks Ryan!

My other Humpy paintings by:

Gavin Erwin

Cindy Day

Marcel Terblanche

Darwin Atkin

The Dutch Fly Fairs during the late 1980's and early 1990's were important events for a young fly fisherman like me. It was my first opportunity to meet, watch and learn from famous deer hair fly tiers like Dave Whitlock, Chris Helm and Al Beatty. Early 1990's I also got in touch with Joe Messinger Jr and a few years ago I got reconnected with Bud Heintz after losing contact for more than 25 years.

One tier I met during those Fly Fairs and oddly didn't keep in touch was Darwin Atkin. Not a lot is written about his fly tying. Darwin Atkin was way ahead of his time with his cricket made of foam and deer hair. He passed away as recent as 2014.

A few weeks ago I acquired a unique piece of fly tying memorabilia. Darwin Atkin's most appraised flies marvellously framed (by himself). His crickets and matuka sculpins are absolutely fabulous.

'The Art of the Trout fly' has been one of the most influential books for me as a fly tier. This book triggered my fly tying as no other book has done. Rather than just slashing feathers and fur on a hook, the insights of carefully and meticulously tying a fly with the right proportions and finish.

Page 108 is devoted to Darwin Atkin and his Black & Tan Field Cricket

Tying for a new generation

Gave a tying demo at the tackle shop Traditional Hengelsport Utrecht today.
Tied some Catskill dries, Humpies and a deer hair mouse. It was over in a blink of an eye.

Almost at the end of the day there was this little guy with his dad. Tied an Alien Bug (hopper pattern) for him and he stood there for an hour afterwards. Maybe we got a new fly fishing friend here?

Diving frog step-by-step

I've been inspired by Larry Dahlberg and Dave Whitlock since the early 1990's.
Look here to read about my search for the origins of the Dahlberg diver.

Belly hair, deer strips in several colors. To get a nice natural mottling effect use colors that doesn't contrast too much

Set up a clean foundation of thread. I still use Danville Flymaster Plus.
You can get them anywhere, strong, very affordable & available in many colors

Use stiff, wide and webby hackles for the tail (legs). Often called 'bass hackle'

Add some rubber legs for some movement and joy 😀

Stack white belly hair

Foundation for the collar

Second stack for the collar

Third stack

Pull gently yet deliberately

Secure (whip finish or half hitch, a drop of super glue helps to make your stacks stronger) the steps after every
completed stack to make sure your fly doesn't explode if an accident (thread breakage) happens 😀
Make sure the upper and lower stacks are cleanly separated.

Another first of the upper stack

One of the last stacks of deer hair

All stacking deer hair done!

Don't crowd the eye!
Make sure you have enough room behind the eye to tie off

Yup, belly side looks okay 😀

First cut for the belly. Don't cut it right away to the hook shank.
Use the first cuts to check the balance of the sack being even on top.
Make sure you cut the belly to have enough hooking gap

Head of the diver. Again cut in stages for more control

I need a bath! Where's the tub? 😀

 

Add some rubber legs on the head for some tantalising action 😀

Big mess

Scissors given to me by my late friend Chris Helm

The No hackle

Wow, love this piece of history from Mike Lawson on the No-hackle.

Take a look at the picture with a natural next to the no hackle. The similarity is striking!

 

Mike shows how to tie the No hackle:

Two older video's from Jack Dennis' collection from the 1980's:

1) From Jack Dennis' video "Tying Western Dry Flies with Mike Lawson"

2) From Mike Lawson's video "Tying Flies for Spring Creeks"

Read Mike's story on the No hackle here.

These No Hackles actually fish better when the wings are all split and chewed up!😄

Mike tells why this is. By the way, watch the whole video from the start about the Henry's Fork.

 

 

Ps.
Can't believe I didn't take a picture of us two together when I visited his shop last August... 😵

Cree

Tied a Humpy yesterday evening using the new Hebert Miner Gold Cree saddle I just acquired.
Barb count is very good and the dark colors are amazing.

A more durable loop on silk fly line

I should fish with silk fly lines more often. Maybe I'm just too lazy 😀
Silk line doesn't come with a loop, so to attach a leader you either need to use a needle knot or make a loop (fold the tip of the fly line and secure the loop using tying thread). Here my friend Hiro from Japan shows how to make a more durable loop on a silk fly line using a braided loop connector.

Chris Barclay - the grip artist

Okay okay, I'll admit. I'm a grip junkie... 😁

I've known Chris Barclay for about six years now. He started his own rod building company late 2013 and he has been building quality custom fiberglass rods ever since. My first rod from Chris was the 723, his first rod model built from a proprietary blank.

Chris is building me a new 70p, arguably the last blank from his acclaimed and retired fiberglass parabolic rod series known to mankind. I requested a torpedo shaped ventilated grip. A little shorter than most would order. I just love how the grip turned out!

For me the most important part of the rod is the grip. I have very specific thoughts about proportions of a grip. Maybe it's because in fly tying proportion is the single most important detail on a well tied fly. Fortunately Chris understands my pickiness on grips 😀

About ventilated grips:
The ventilated grip was pioneered in the 1940's by South Bend Rod Company and Paul Young Rod Company. Rods from both companies had distinctive parabolic action and the segmented (ventilated) grip allowed the rod to flex all the way to the reel seat.

Update Jan 25, 2019:
Rod is finished! Looking mighty handsome.

How the brown trout made New Zealand famous

Big trophy brown trouts are the hallmarks of the New Zealand experience. Especially in the south island these trouts are all fly fishermen talk about. But how on earth did this invasive trout become the nation's number one targeted fish? There's an interesting story about how the brown trout was imported to New Zealand.

The American Museum of Fly Fishing

Did you know that the American Museum of Fly Fishing has all of its past quarterly magazine on line to be viewed for free? All issues starting from 1970 till the most recent issue! Amazing resource of information.

If you love reading about history of fly fishing you're gonna love it!

Check them out here.

Humpy

Dave Whitlock

Dave Whitlock has been an inspiration for me for more than 30 years. I got many of his books, read many of his articles but listening to his voice and watching him tie his flies is just magical!

I think I tied this Matuka Sculpin somewhere around 1992.

I got inspired by the sculpin (page 61) tied by Dave Whitlock in the book 'The Art of the Trout fly'.

Dave Whitlock's Red Fox Squirrel nymph and Matuka Sculpin (page 61)

I met Dave his lovely wife Emily at the Dutch Fly Fair, May 1994. I still remember meeting them during the dinner on the eve before the fair. Both Dave and I were attending the fair as fly tier. Dave tied for me his Red Fox Squirrel nymph during my break from the tying bench. Why didn't we have iPhones with cameras back then?.. 😥

Dave Whitlock about the Red Fox Squirrel (from Mike Valla's book 'The Founding Flies'):

Per Brandin

Per Brandin is considered the top bamboo rod maker in the world. His rods fetch the highest prices on the market. That's probably because he doesn't take any orders for more than a decennia as his order book is filled far beyond his retirement.

Here is a nice article about what makes Per the top builder.

Winston Stalker

This legendary series of fiberglass rods was introduced in 1974 by Winston, just after Tom Morgan bought Winston in 1973. The Stalker is one of the rods in the 'rods of fame' frame in the museum at the Winston factory I visited a few weeks ago.

Not much has been written about this rod series. I have no idea how many Stalkers were built & sold over the years and how many are still used today. Here's an amazing and very elaborate article by Tom Morgan on what he did after requiring Winston in the 1973 to improve the quality of fiberglass rods sold by Winston.

A few quotes by Tom Morgan along the years about the Stalker:

"... Before buying Winston in 1973, I had enjoyed fishing light line #3 and #4 bamboo rods. I thought that similar fiberglass rods would be popular, so I designed the Winston fiberglass Stalker Rods to add to Winston's already great line of fiberglass rods that were custom-made by the J. K. Fisher Co."

"... because of the delicate touch and "feel" they provide along with their fish playing attributes, I've always been a fan of fiberglass rods for fishing in the short to medium distances where most trout are caught."

Mistakenly labelled as 'Stalber' 😁

"... The Stalker Series of glass rods completes a longtime goal of ours, to provide fishermen with a glass rod that has delicacy and lightness of our Leetle Fellers. They have been designed to fish spring creeks where the utmost precision is needed in presenting small flies on light leaders.

The rods are supple enough to play large fish on light leaders with a minimum of loss. They are not designed to be all-around trout rods to cover all situations. Since their introduction, they have become our most popular glass rods. Once you use one of these rods, it will soon become a favorite."

"... unfortunately, the J.K. Fisher Rod Co. who made our fiberglass blanks quit making them in the early '80s and I was forced to quit offering them. I was extremely unhappy with this circumstance even though the regular angler was buying mostly graphite rods. I still think that fiberglass fly rods have an important place in an angler's repertoire of rods."

Update Jan 5, 2022:

This very unique letter from 1974 Tom Morgan wrote to Harry Darbee was sent to me by Harry Darbee's daughter, Mrs. Judie Darbee Vinciguerra Smith. In this letter Morgan writes about the new Stalker fiberglass rod series he just introduced.

I also found this Winston ad in Fly Fisherman magazine 1975 spring issue

A nice short video of Julie Arnold of Headhunters fly shop in Craig, Montana fishing a Winston Stalker: