FLYMPH FORUM

In a previous thread, Stefan (daringduffer) offered up a recipe for an old English pattern named the Howorth's All Black. I have been encouraged by Ray (letumgo) Tucker to post a version I tied up, so here it is:

Hook: Daiichi 1710, Size #14
Thread: Uni-Thread 8/0, black
Hackle: Black hen saddle
Tag: Two wraps of a single strand of silver Lurex
Abdomen: Black silk
Thorax: Black ostrich her

Bill - I like your interpretation better. Beautifully done.

This is the first I have heard of a "Howorth's All Black". Showing my ignorance. Lovely fly though. Must be the time of year, but it looks like it would work great as Little Winter Stone.
You do good work Bill.

Deadly looking fly. That ostrich herl, and the hackle, will make incredible movement. Black is almost always a good color here. Another goody there Bill. Thanks for sharing this! I had to look up lurex, I didn't even know what that was.

Very neat fly Bill. I just ordered the book about Howarth. Strange that a few people make it Howorth???

Greeting

Spot on once again Bill! You are a master indeed. This is exactly how I interpret the sketch from the book. Howorth's All Black was a dry fly initially, or rather, his black dry flies were so successful that he wanted to offer something similar in the dropper position. There is a plate in the book with colour photo of the flies where the All Black is tied with the ostrich herl in front of the hen hackle. The illustration (sketch) where the fly is presented clearly has a small thorax (text says "small thorax of about four turns") behind the hackle.

I wonder if the fly would be as attractive to wild trout as to their stocked relatives. I don't know whether the practise of stocking was common in Scotland and am only speculating.

Ruard - his name is Harold Howorth.

dd

daringduffer wrote:
Ruard - his name is Harold Howorth.

dd

Thank You DD, confusing, Ray could you rename this topic to: Howorth's All Black??


greeting

Ruard - Done!

DUBBN wrote:This is the first I have heard of a "Howorth's All Black". Showing my ignorance. Lovely fly though. Must be the time of year, but it looks like it would work great as Little Winter Stone.
You do good work Bill.

Wayne,
I think Harold Howorth wasn't very well known. Maybe Donald can tell us. The book about him might be a tribute from a loving friend and is by no means a must-have. The foreword is written by R.B. Broughton, who is more well-known.http://www.fishandfly.co.uk/bookrevs/grayling2.html

dd

Fly Tying with Harold Howorth is one of many minor British fly dressing books that seem to belong to a sub-genre peculiar to the UK. I've been collecting these lesser known titles for years and whenever I think I've exhausted the pool, another pops up. Fortunately, they are usually quite inexpensive but some of the more obscure titles are getting harder to find and pricy. Years ago I described these as "cute little books" to Judith Bowman, friend, book seller, and authority on fishing literature. She got a good laugh but used the term herself in some of her catalogs!

Many of these were regional in scope, vanity books, often of low to mid quality in binding and paper, and printed in small numbers, although a number went into more than one printing or edition.

Some of my favorites are the Howorth book, Practical Fly Tying by T.R. Henn, The Art of Fly Dressing by Bill Tagg, Fly Dressing by Bill Davies, Dressing Flies for Trout and Salmon by H.H. Eeles (Great name!), A Handbook of Fly-Tying by Denis H. Ardley, The Flytier's Craft by Mike Shanks, Fly Tying: Principles and Practice by Major Sir Gerald Burrard, Fly-Dressing by J. Bernard, Rough Stream Trout Flies by S.D. (Taff) Price, Descriptive Angling by Pat Castle (a personal favorite) and many, many more too numerous to mention.

Two of the hardest to find of any books I've looked for were both authored by Robert Sharp. Let's Fish the Clyde and Let's Fish Again are almost legendarily scarce even they were published in 1973 and 1985 respectively. The first was a vanity publication and is a fairly attractive little book, but the latter was published posthumously by Sharp's wife and is about the quality of a paperback novel!

While few of these books have endured or have much hope or reason to be republished, every one has had at least some little tidbit of information that I was happy to have learned.