Tying by hand, recipes, tips?

[codye]

Hello all. Let me first introduce myself as I am new... my name is Cody and I am an avid fly fisherman from central Pennsylvania, USA. I was pointed to this forum in response to a question I asked on another forum - this is where my question stems from....

I am the adviser of the fly fishing club at the college I work at, and there is a medieval fair occurring this weekend. Our club will be present with a booth (along many other clubs) and we want to try and tie flies to mimic the earliest and first flies ever tied. I'm looking for suggestions and tips on two aspects... one, what recipes or patterns to do.. and two, what technique to use. If my research is correct the earliest writings of fly fishing are indeed around the 1400s.. this sound right? We'd like to mimic flies of the 1400 and 1500s. So.. the only tools we should are scissors, or something to cut? Our hands are our vises I gather. No bobbins either, right? I gathered a few clues from the other post about tying by hang.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated!!! Thanks so much!!

- Cody

[Soft-hackle]

Cody,
Some of those flies Mike posted (Berners) might just be what you are looking for. These are very early fly patterns. Funny, but they remind me of some of today's hackle-less dries.

Mark

PS-John McDonald knew his stuff.