Post by petecollin on Jan 2, 2010 10:14:26 GMT -5
Hello All,
I was wondering how many of you have collections of flies tied by well known fishermen? Years ago I began approaching well known tiers (usually by mail) and asked to trade flies. I would send them photos of the best full-dressed salmon flies I could manage and offer one of them for anything they could send me. Turns out I had pretty decent luck with it. Fly fishing celebrities are a whole lot more approachable than, say, Russel Crowe.
To start with local guys, I have examples from the work of Nick P, Charlie, Brian Slovinsky, Al Himmel, Rick Kustich and John Miller. Moving toward Rochester, I have lots of Mark Stothards, Jay Pecks and Carl Colemans. Dave Paris, the man who taught me how to tie atlantic slamon flies, used to live in Rochester. He was chums with Paul Schmookler and appeared in his first book. I have a few of Dave's flies. Fred Brand appeared in Schmookler's second book, and I got a bunch of his flies framed up. Some of them were fished with. Fred actually fishes with flies tied with indian crow, chatterer, vuturine guinea fowl and other extremely expensive materials. I've done it only a couple of times just to say that I did. The fish didn't care.
I bought an Art Flick variant from Art Flick Jr. who, suprisingly, did not fish. Mary Dette still sells flies in Roscoe, so I got a few of them. I even got a couple of Poul Jorgensen's speys before he died. Looking back, they were relatively reasonably priced and I wish I got one of his realistic stonefly nymphs. Another late tier that I was lucky to approach was Fran Betters. I use Ausable Wulffs all the time, so it is nice to have an original.
I met Tom Pero on the lower Genesee once, struck up a conversation, and traded flies. He gave me a tiny little black wet that he said was his favorite atlantic salmon fly. I forget the name.
I have a complete set of Ed Schenk's most popular flies. Those were nice to get because I remember watching him on TV with Joe Humphries when I was in high school.
The crowning glory of my collection is the 4 flies I got from John Gierach. his were the ones I was most excited about getting, and the biggest suprise. On a whim, I sent him a letter with some fly photos. I didn't know his address; I just mailed it to the small town in Colorado where he lived. Knowing that small town mailmen know everybody, I figured it would probably get there. Within a week of sending it off, I got a reply on John's very cool stationary, written longhand. He agreed to the trade. Before I was even done tying his fly, He sent me 4 very beautifully tied flies - two big drakes and two realistic nymphs. Also a business card, which was just as cool as the flies! I took extra care with his salmon fly, to show my appreciation.
I have one fly that is supposed to have been tied by A.K. Best, but I have no provenance. It was given to me by a friend who mail-ordered a bunch. I also have a Teeny nymph that I am not sure if it was tied by Jim Teeny himself. Teeny showed up at my friend's lodge with a batch of flies to sell, but who knows if he is on the production end?
I have a few that got away. I wrote Jimmy Carter proposing a trade, but got no reply. I actually thought i had a good chance with him - he seems like a nice guy. I simply addressed it "Jimmy Carter - Plains, GA" so who knows if it got to him?
I emailed Gary LaFontaine after he was already sick with ALS. He was known to trade flies and materials with "fans". I use his patterns all the time. The first really technical fly fishing book I read was given to me when I was in 6th grade - Gary's "Challenge of the Trout". At the time I didn't understand half of what he was writing about, but knew I wanted to learn. From all accounts, Gary was a good guy.
Dick Talleur came to give a slide show at a TU banquet a few years ago, and I approached him for a trade. I had a couple of examples of my own work on hand, framed flies I donated to TU. When he looked at my stuff, he said,"I think we can do something here." I was excited about this, because it was his book that I learned to tie from. To this day I consider it a top notch how-to, because it is so comprehensive, discussing tools, materials, and technique. It does not merely show you how to do specific patterns, but each chapter is a pattern showing a useful and essential tying procedure. Anyway, we email-tagged for a while but I never got my fly.
I guess I am thinking about this because a friend commissioned me to build him a frame for his fly collection. Do any of you out there have flies tied by well-known fishermen?
Pete Collin
www.pcforestry.com
I was wondering how many of you have collections of flies tied by well known fishermen? Years ago I began approaching well known tiers (usually by mail) and asked to trade flies. I would send them photos of the best full-dressed salmon flies I could manage and offer one of them for anything they could send me. Turns out I had pretty decent luck with it. Fly fishing celebrities are a whole lot more approachable than, say, Russel Crowe.
To start with local guys, I have examples from the work of Nick P, Charlie, Brian Slovinsky, Al Himmel, Rick Kustich and John Miller. Moving toward Rochester, I have lots of Mark Stothards, Jay Pecks and Carl Colemans. Dave Paris, the man who taught me how to tie atlantic slamon flies, used to live in Rochester. He was chums with Paul Schmookler and appeared in his first book. I have a few of Dave's flies. Fred Brand appeared in Schmookler's second book, and I got a bunch of his flies framed up. Some of them were fished with. Fred actually fishes with flies tied with indian crow, chatterer, vuturine guinea fowl and other extremely expensive materials. I've done it only a couple of times just to say that I did. The fish didn't care.
I bought an Art Flick variant from Art Flick Jr. who, suprisingly, did not fish. Mary Dette still sells flies in Roscoe, so I got a few of them. I even got a couple of Poul Jorgensen's speys before he died. Looking back, they were relatively reasonably priced and I wish I got one of his realistic stonefly nymphs. Another late tier that I was lucky to approach was Fran Betters. I use Ausable Wulffs all the time, so it is nice to have an original.
I met Tom Pero on the lower Genesee once, struck up a conversation, and traded flies. He gave me a tiny little black wet that he said was his favorite atlantic salmon fly. I forget the name.
I have a complete set of Ed Schenk's most popular flies. Those were nice to get because I remember watching him on TV with Joe Humphries when I was in high school.
The crowning glory of my collection is the 4 flies I got from John Gierach. his were the ones I was most excited about getting, and the biggest suprise. On a whim, I sent him a letter with some fly photos. I didn't know his address; I just mailed it to the small town in Colorado where he lived. Knowing that small town mailmen know everybody, I figured it would probably get there. Within a week of sending it off, I got a reply on John's very cool stationary, written longhand. He agreed to the trade. Before I was even done tying his fly, He sent me 4 very beautifully tied flies - two big drakes and two realistic nymphs. Also a business card, which was just as cool as the flies! I took extra care with his salmon fly, to show my appreciation.
I have one fly that is supposed to have been tied by A.K. Best, but I have no provenance. It was given to me by a friend who mail-ordered a bunch. I also have a Teeny nymph that I am not sure if it was tied by Jim Teeny himself. Teeny showed up at my friend's lodge with a batch of flies to sell, but who knows if he is on the production end?
I have a few that got away. I wrote Jimmy Carter proposing a trade, but got no reply. I actually thought i had a good chance with him - he seems like a nice guy. I simply addressed it "Jimmy Carter - Plains, GA" so who knows if it got to him?
I emailed Gary LaFontaine after he was already sick with ALS. He was known to trade flies and materials with "fans". I use his patterns all the time. The first really technical fly fishing book I read was given to me when I was in 6th grade - Gary's "Challenge of the Trout". At the time I didn't understand half of what he was writing about, but knew I wanted to learn. From all accounts, Gary was a good guy.
Dick Talleur came to give a slide show at a TU banquet a few years ago, and I approached him for a trade. I had a couple of examples of my own work on hand, framed flies I donated to TU. When he looked at my stuff, he said,"I think we can do something here." I was excited about this, because it was his book that I learned to tie from. To this day I consider it a top notch how-to, because it is so comprehensive, discussing tools, materials, and technique. It does not merely show you how to do specific patterns, but each chapter is a pattern showing a useful and essential tying procedure. Anyway, we email-tagged for a while but I never got my fly.
I guess I am thinking about this because a friend commissioned me to build him a frame for his fly collection. Do any of you out there have flies tied by well-known fishermen?
Pete Collin
www.pcforestry.com