Red Clock

[Soft-hackle]

Hi Joe,
That puzzled me, as well. Don't know why red, but yet the body is yellow, but then I figured the term "red" had more to do with the color of the hackle than the body. The pheasant hackle I used has a rather golden orange color. The dressing also said a red cock hackle could be used.

Roy Christie explained to me that the term "clock" was used in connection with beetles or certain bugs. Initially, I thought the name was a misprint, thinking it might very well mean "red cock" . However I'm beginning to think the term "clock" is an early version of "cloak". In that instance, the name would make even more sense.

Mark

[flyfishwithme]

I have a copy of a Swarbrick manuscript which is dated 1817 (12 years later than that which Leslie used in his book). I cannot vouch for authenticity as it is in the hands of a friend of the late Vincent Marinaro who was kind enough to provide me with a copy of the notes.
In it, Swarbrick talks of two Clock flies:
"No 9 This Flie Resembles a Little Gray Clock it is a Hackle Flie Taken from a partridge Back Drab Collourd Silk Harled at the Head with Peacock Harl. Now it is abought the 12 of April Look for the Swallows Coming and in a fue Days after you must take particular Notice if a Dark Day and you will see N0.10"
"No 12 This Flie Resembles a Clock the Feather is Taken from a pheasant neck cut the Black Ends of the beast Feathers is upon the Top of the Neck a cock pheasant Oringe Silk Harld at the Head with a peacock Feather"
We need to recognise that John Swarbrick was largely illiterate and used little in the way of punctuation.
Now I think this is very interesting and supports Mike's interpretation of the hackle that was used. But what about the trimming?

[Ruard]

Hi Mark,

Leslee Magee writes on blz 80-81 that the Red Clock is a beetle and the first mention is in a list of Turton.
The hackle for a Red Clock (Pritt writes Wings): "Hackled with a golden feather from a Cock Pheasant's neck, or from a small red cock's feather.

A ringneck Pheasant does not have a Golden feather, I think it is a feather of the neck of a Gold Pheasant (Chrysolophus pictus) but I am not sure if they were allready imported from China???.


Greeting

[Soft-hackle]

Hi Ruard,
I have three ring neck skins sitting in front of me, and they all have golden colored feathers about the back, running up to and slightly on the "neck" of the bird. I've posted two photos that show their location. While not high up on the neck, they are in the neck area. I would suspect that either pheasant feather would work.

Mark

RingNeckedPheasantKK4.jpg

Pheasant2.jpg

More-- The English Ring-neck pheasant, was actually a cross between a black pheasant-the earliest pheasant brought to England-and a Ring-necked pheasant from China-which followed soon after. I would say that the Golden Pheasant had a much more limited distribution and was much more rare in England than the English Ring-neck, which was more common and readily available. So, I'm thinking when they spoke of a cock pheasant, they were referring to a ring-neck.

[Ruard]

You are right Mark, thank you!!!

I have found the list of Turton and his Red Clock is an other fly, more like a Cochy Bondhu.

60. WINGED. Red Clock Fly. In July and
August : made with dark orange silk : wing, red
partridge's tail feather ; legs, blue starling ; body,
large peacock's and black ostrich's feathers mixed.
On some days, a red freckled partridge's tail feather
must be used for wings.


Greeting

[Niklas Dahlin]

Thanks Ruard and Mark for getting in to it... This is what a forum is about. Quality posts by both of you mates... Hey Mark, if you don´t know what to do with tose golden feathers, you know were to send them

Later
Nik

[skunkaroo]

The knowledge present on this forum continues to amaze me. Well done everyone.

Aaron

[William Anderson]

Me too, This is a fantastic thread.

[Soft-hackle]

Hi Mike,
Great insight, as usual. There one thing I must take issue with, however, and that is the accuracy of color illustrations in early printed works. Printing, especially in color, requires color correction. It has gotten easier with the introduction of the computer. Prior to this, color plates had to be photographed or engraved, somehow, with each color having its own plate. They had to be technically adjusted with great care paying attention to the original illustration. It's not an easy task. I'm not sure if they had the high tech ability to do this when Pritt's work was first published. I'm not saying the illustrations are wrong, but that they could be off color.

Now, I have actually seen some of the original paintings from Dr. Burke's illustrations for Ray Bergman's TROUT. It was originally published in 1938. Now, I've seen a first edition copy, and later copies, which get progressively worse with regards to the plates. None, however, can match the color and vibrancy of the original plates. Color printing falls short of the artist's brush.

So the possibility exists they are not quite accurate, and as they are reproduced again and again in other works, the chance grows even more that the colors are off.

Mark

[Soft-hackle]

Hi Mike,
Getting correct color is one reason why color systems were invented or formulated. One of the earliest was from Munsell, where three different dimensions of color were noted: Hue, Value and Chroma(intensity or saturation) Now, artists can purchase certain paints that list this on the label, and artists can converse using this notation system and know exactly what color is being used or discussed. Other systems have been developed for printers and graphic artists like the Pantone system so that colors, when specified by the artist in the system, will be exact to their specs when printed.

Things have progressed immensely with color correction. I also believe that well known fly fisher and tier, Gary Borger, had/has developed a color system for insects and fly tiers. Whether this really useful or not, I don't know.

I've studied color for many years, being an artist, doing extensive work on it while in college. One thing I know for sure, we all see color differently. When I say BLUE, we all think of a certain color, however, my blue will not be the same as yours. Now if I were more specific and said Cerulean Blue, we'd get closer to the same color. If I said Blue giving the specific hue, value and chroma, we'd be exact.

Mark