The Secrecy Of The American Dry Fly And A New Angle At Soft Hackles

"In January we begin to think about fly fishing and to look forward hopefully to the season which is not very far away.  We wish to be as keen as mustard when the trout streams are open to us at last.  The spirit of the boy lies dormant in many of us  and only needs to be released by just going fishing." - Theodore Gordon

Theodore Gordon is one of the Saints of American Fly fishing but he was, like some others, reticent to give up the secrets of the fly tying trade. It was said that if a friend knocked at the door for a visit Gordon would stop tying, stow away the tools and then not bring up tying in any following discussion. That never stopped him from picking the brains of Eric Halfords or G.E.M. Skues, two predominant English fly fishers of the day, for patterns, tying techniques, materials etc. Gordon himself taught only one other person to tie flies.

Rube Cross, another great Catskill fly tier, had the same secret streak about him.  He was approached by Walt Dette, a future famous tier who as only 20 years old at the time and offered fifty dollars (a lot of $$ at that time circa 1930) for fly tying lessons. Cross turned him down! Dette reconstructed Cross's flies and started his own trade that lasted 50 years

Why were  Gordon and Cross so reluctant to share secrets?

It has been said that Gordon had a bit of family money behind him but his main source of income was his fly trade. Cross cobbled together an income beyond flies by working on town roads, being a nightclub bouncer and publishing a book or two on fly fishing. They were not men of means by any means and protected their work as if they were in a guild. They guarded their fly recipes and tying techniques but that was soon to change and for the better.

First, remember that I said that Gordon taught only one person to tie flies. That person was Roy Steenrod and after Gordon died he passed on Gordon's secrets to everyone who was interested.  We tie today because of him. BTW, he also invented the Hendrickson fly and taught us how to tie it!!

One more Note - not all believed in the secret powers of certain patterns but felt that presentation of the fly was paramount and the high priest of that cult was George M.L. LaBranche.  His book, The Dry Fly And Fast Water, is a classic and a favorite of mine but the following observation by an associate of LaBranche gives us a glimpse into his ideas about fly patterns: "I wish you could see them! I never saw so many rotten flies in my life.  You know the stuff - Mill's Best, and a bunch of English flies. Of all the miserable soft hackle, lathered on in bunches! It is no wonder that he became such a magnificent caster.  If he hadn't learned to put those flies down so carefully they would not have floated". (from Catskill Rivers by Austin M. Francis)

Even with "rotten flies" LaBranche caught a lot of trout.

Here's a different angle to a soft hackle>

1. A body of orange floss or copper wire

2. A few turns or partridge

3. A few turns of peacock for the head

I think that the peacock would work just as well as  it has for Ricks Caddis Emerger on the Deerfield decades ago and for Lenny below the Duck Pond on the Swift.


Think Spring

Ken