North Country Greenwell's Glory

[letumgo]

Carl - It is great seeing your "trout crack" spider again. Addictive!

[Stendalen]

Carl,
Thanks for the commentary on hooks. You are the first person to tell me about the Owner Mosquito bait hook, and its suitability for spiders (or worms). If they catch wind of this crossover to fly tying, who knows? Maybe they'll change their marketing strategy?

No problem. Don't give it too much wait though.

The bicolor spider I posted recently was on the owner mosquito hook

Bicolor Spider.jpg

Great hook profile. Thanks for the tip. Looks ,a bit like the Grip I use a lot.

M

[Greenwell]

Carl, it's great to see your Greenwell's Glory and Devil's Crooks here. IMHO, they deserve a place on the Forum as they are a solid part of the North Country Tradition, just as winged wets are a part of the Leisenring-Hidy story. Bravo for posting them and high praise for the fine job of dressing!

I looked up the Devil's Crook pattern in Bucknall's 'Bright Stream of Memory' and found this:

"The patterns given above are from a selection from an unpublished manuscript discovered by The Gazette's contributor, 'Brown Owl', writing on 6 December 1902. The original author was one Stephen Braithwaite of Knaresborough, and the patterns were in a series of letters to his friends, in the eighteen-forties and eighteen-fifties. The names of the flies are Braithwaite's. He did not give hook sizes, but as I relate these artificials to their natural counterparts, this is no problem. There is no reason that these flies should not kill as well as the traditional patterns inherited from Pritt and Edmonds and Lee."

The other patterns Bucknall mentions are as follows:

Dark Blow or Spring Blow
Legs: hackled with lead colored feather from jackdaw's breast.
Body: dark colored silk dubbed with water rat's fur.
(Similar to our Waterhen Bloa, also probable copy of the Large Dark Olive.)

Light Watchet
Legs: from the feather from the inside of a snipe's wing.
Body: ash colored silk.
(An alternative to the customery Snipe & Yellow for hatches of medium and pale olives.)

Perpetual Fly
Legs: hackled with a soft dun speckled feather that grows down the rump and thighs of a hen pheasant.
Body: straw colored silk dubbed with fox colored fur.
The inventor claims this to be his best point fly. It resembles the March Brown, False March Brown and August Dun.)

Other than Mike Harding's book, who relies on Bucknall for the pattern, I can't find any reference to a Devil's Crook fly. I'll keep looking when I have time but who knows when that will be.........

Geoffrey Bucknall's Bright Stream of Memory: The Golden Years of the Fishing Gazette is a wonderful read, as are his other books, especially To Meet the First March Brown and Fly Fishing Tactics for Brown Trout. Much information about spiders and related subjects.

Let's see more of these little winged gems on the Forum, they are both fun to tie and effective on the river.

(The hook discussion is great too and I'd love to jump in if I had the time to do it justice.)

[daringduffer]

I like this hook.
http://www.troutline.ro/carlige-de-musca-d9626-bl.html

Previously it was said to be Daiichi 9626 but is now called Maruto D9626. I have for years suspected that Maruto Dohitomo are the manufacturers of Daiichi/Kamasan hooks. I might be mistaken but I think not.

I heard that early production Partridge Spider hooks, L3AS, in sizes below 16 were prone to straightening. The design is based on the famous Captain Hamilton hooks.

dd

[Kelly L.]

Dang, I am gonna have to add to that list TO TIE...thanks for the history, and info!

[daringduffer]

"Greenwell"

Geoffrey Bucknall's Bright Stream of Memory: The Golden Years of the Fishing Gazette is a wonderful read, as are his other books, especially To Meet the First March Brown and Fly Fishing Tactics for Brown Trout. Much information about spiders and related subjects.

Let's see more of these little winged gems on the Forum, they are both fun to tie and effective on the river.

(The hook discussion is great too and I'd love to jump in if I had the time to do it justice.)

I agree about "The Bright Stream of Memory"! Were I to be British I would call it a lovely book. I have not yet read the other two you mentioned.
Please jump in regarding hooks. You can treat it as a project where you offer your opinions little by little. No need to cover it all in one post. I always enjoy strong opinions when they are explained. I also enjoy strong opinions when they are put forward in a polite manner, even if I don't agree. Maybe especially when I don't agree.

dd

[Old Hat]

I am loving the discussion here.

I have had some conversation through email with Greenwell's on these little winged patterns since posting this. Discussion on the patterns themselves but especially the hooks. For him, I am posting a couple pictures of Greenwell's Glory's that John tied. You will see how beautiful these little winged wets can be. Here they are and his description.

"The Clyde Style is tied on an older Partridge G3A Sproat. Even though the Sproat bend isn't "proper" for a Clyde dressing, I think it looks great in this application.

The other fly is on a size 18 double. As I'm sure you know, there is a tradition of tying trout wets on small, "wee", double hooks and through quite a bit of experience fishing them over the years I have to say I really like them. Talking with others who have fished wee doubles, we agree that there is something about they way the fly swims that can't be duplicated with a single hook.

The concept of the tiny double was put forward by E.M. Todd in his book. Skues picked this up and used doubles to help sink his early Chalk Stream wets. This is described in 'Minor Tactics'."

[daringduffer]

Absolutely beautiful flies. I bet Kelly will go through the roof when she sees that "wee double hook". The "keel effect" should be responsible for how it swims.

dd

[Kelly L.]

OH MY GOSH...these flies are MAGNIFICENT! (I am really digging those hooks too, DD was right!!!) Thank you for showing off these beauties!!

[Ruard]

Here is a piece of the book of Tod about doubles:

Last upon my list, are the deadly little double-hooked midge-flies, so well tied by Messrs. Forrest & Sons, of Kelso and London, and also by Messrs. Turnbull & Co., of 60, Princes Street, Edinburgh. Two round-bend hooks (" Hutchinson's," size 00) are simply tied together, side by side, in the ordinary process of dressing the fly itself. When the fly is about to be used, the two hooks must be opened out, by means of the finger or thumb nails, till they are at an angle slightly greater than that of an ordinary salmon fly, when dressed on double, " brazed" hooks. There is absolutely no question of the value of these tiny " doubles," when used with judgment and skill. My friend, Mr. R. B. Marston, editor of the Fishing Gazette^ acting on hints given by me in some wet-fly articles in his valuable paper, could a tale unfold regarding their value amongst abnormally shy trout. Alas, his modesty will probably keep him silent. While I was resident in England, where I have spent nearly thirty years of my life, one way and another, Mr. John Forrest, fishing-tackle maker, of 24, Thomas Street, Grosvenor Square, London, W., in writing to me, once remarked that he was beginning to sell these " doubles " very well, even in the south. But, he added, that English customers had expressed the wish that they could be also had, as eyed hooks. Now, such tiny delicate hooks brazed together, would prove in actual practice, a complete failure, for reasons too many to explain in extenso. His letter set me thinking, and I sent him up a very simple little invention to meet the needs of these eyed-fly fishermen. It consists of one eyed hook whipped to an ordinary " blind " hook of the same size, and Mr. Forrest took to it at once. When finished, the flies look, what they really are ; quite a little success. Above all things, these small " doubles " must be movable, else, when one of the hooks gets fixed in the upper jaw and the other hook in the lower jaw, they would frequently snap. As they are held together, however, only by the silk thread, there is a great deal of "give and take;" and this saves the situation. I seldom find them break.