Walbrans' Flies

[flyfishwithme]

Recently I was shown part of Francis Walbran's fly fishing legacy here in Yorkshire.

Walbran was one of the great fly fishermen who made up the North Country Fly Fishing School and a close friend of Pritt. He perished while fishing for Grayling in the Ure (Yore) River in North Yorkshire, February 15th 1909.

This collection of memorabilia is very interesting and I can make the following observations:

Flies: All of his patterns were tied especially for him and some of them were still in their original packets from early last century.
Hooks: These appeared to by much smaller than what we typically tie on here in Yorkshire. The standard is generally a 16, these were 18's and very fine wire.

Thread: I know we all want to use Pearsall's for spider patterns but the thread on these flies was quite different. It looked as though it was pure silk thread and very fine. The colours were different also. It could have been that the colour had faded but the silk gave the flies a translucent effect. Interestingly enough, Pearsall's own dye lots varied between dyings in those days with obvious differences between spools of the same colour. I have two yellow spools dating back to the 1890's and they are obviously different.

Hackles: Now here is the most interesting piece. If we were to review the tyings today we would say that they are way over hackled. These flies all had 3-4 turns of hackle (it is considered today that a true Yorkshire spider should have no more than 2 1/2 urns). Indeed I have a fly from the Swarbrick period and it is over hackled when compared to today's tyings.

So things change over time and probaby influenced by those that wrote about the Northern Tradition at the turn of the last century placing their own personal views down as law.

Personally I have move a little away from the tradition. While I still tie and use flies tied in the traditional manner, more and more I am finding that the old patterns tied more like those that Stewart used are more effective, especially when fishing them upstream. Uni Thread is replacing Pearsall's and the use of wax has been discarded. Hooks are now very fine and smaller: I use a Partridge Flashpoint SLD (barbless) in size 18 for most of my spider patterns.

Thoughts, observations?

[Johnno]

I have a number of flies that are quite possibly tied by Walbran and appear identical to some illustrated in a NZ fly book that are tied by him in 1899. ("New Zealand Fishing Flies" Robert Bragg) The flies were sourced from R K Bragg so maybe. Who now knows?

I had them and the pics of the flies from the book posted on the old forum. I'll dig out those pics and re-post if you like...

[Stephen]

Johnno, I would appreciate seeing them if you get an opportunity.

Thanks

[flyfishwithme]

Fantastic guys,
I am one who likes to see original patterns replicated and and change noted as a variation. It will be great to see them.