Tying 6 Classic Fly Patterns From Illustrations
Words and images from Partridge Ambassador Fred Klein
Partridge of Redditch Ambassador Fred Klein explores six classic fly patterns from Charles F. Orvis’s historic Fishing with the Fly.
Silver Doctor Kennedy Harlequin Mitchell Inver Green Blue Doctor
Tying the Classic Flies
Resurrecting Painted Flies
The Art of the fly has been presented in literature through oil paintings for many hundereds of years. They leap off the pages adorned in bright silk, shiny tinsel and feathers in all the colours of the rainbow.
The Photographed Fly
The photographed fly would not appear in low resolution until well after World War II, which leaves the classical anglers fly to be interpreted through the brush of artists. The endless volumes written in the British Isles as well as American works over the centuries documented and explained fly dressings throughout the ages. A glance into the gly wallets of our angling foregathers would reveal hackles and wet flies imitating the natural insect world and the irresistable attractor wet fly tied on larg hooks of ancient bends to be cast on the swing.
Charles Orvis and his daughter Mary Orvis Marbury published the first major works of literature on the American fly, and hired a book illustrator out of New York for the arduous task. Painting plates with over 420 flies popular in the late 1800’s, many of which remain common patterns to this day.
Classic Fly Patterns from Plate B 1892
An example of the first plate of salmon flies from Mary Orvis Marbury’s monumental work, taken from oil paintings.
The Silver Doctor
The Mitchell
The Harlequin
The Kennedy
The Inver Green
The Blue Doctor
The charms of fly-fishing have been sung in song and story from time
immemorial by the poetically giften devotees of the gentle art.
The fly-fisher is a lover of Nature, pure and simple, and has a true and just
appreciation of her poetic side, though he may lack the artist’s skill to
limn her beauties, or the poet’s genius to describe them.
Fly-fishing is, indeed, the poetry of angling.
Dr. James Henshall 1880
Fred Klein
Partridge of Redditch Ambassador
Fred is a fly-fishing historian, author and speaker. Professional fly tyer and fisher of early traditional flies and tackle.
"My journey in the pursuit of trout with the fly began over 40 years ago with a new fly rod and instructions to cast and drift a fly. What a gift it was. The woods and waters of Pennsylvania, the Appalachian Mountains and beyond have brought a life of admiration for the wildernessm forestsm wildlife and a thirst for what lies beyond the next bend in the stream and over the mountain".
Every day I find myself involved in fly fishing, trapping and hunting.
My endeavor is to pass on the techniques of traditional fly angling and dressings to the generations to come.
For tutorials, articles, video and classic fly galleries visit:
More Posts from Fred:
The Art and History of Fly Tying
In his most recent blog post, Pro-Team member Fred Klein discusses the Art and History of fly tying and lends his insights into tying historic fishing flies.My journey in pursuit of trout with the fly began 45 yearsago with a new fly rod and instructions to cast and...
The Tomah Jo, the Favorite Fly of a Maine Indian Guide – By Fred Klein
Tomah Joseph, an Algonquin Indian from the Grand Lake Stream area in Maine was a fly fishing and hunting guide in the 1800’s as well as an elder of the Passamaquoddy Indian Tribe. He was written about in Charles Stevens book Fly Fishing in Maine Lakes- Camp Life in...
Classic Fly Tying and Fishing For Brown Trout
Beginnings Traditional wet flies and streamers have been the mainstay for trout fishermen since the early days of fly fishing. Many of the classic fly patterns were colorful, flashy attractors, while others were tied to emulate insects and minnows, a trout’s natural...