The Beaverkill

After having read Valla's book on Catskill-style dries I could not resist tying some of those beauties.
Here's one: the Beaverkill, with stacked duck quill wing, silk body and Whiting High&Dry hackle, tied on a Daiichi 1180 #12.
They sure are fun to tie!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

Anyone here into Catskill dries as well?

Best,
Mart

Martin,

Very elegant flies; thanks for the pics.

Regards,
Scott

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by martinwestbeek

After having read Valla's book on Catskill-style dries I could not resist tying some of those beauties.

---

I have Catskill Dries and Founding Flies, and await Tying the Founding Flies.

I went on a jag after the first book; Catskills are so beautiful. However, I was very disappointed with the actual fishing results. It always seemed to be 50-50 whether they floated properly or were on their sides.

We've gone over this topic a couple of times here.

Great looking fly!
Ernie

Very nicely tied Martin. I think they would float better If the hackle was shorter, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hook gape. Also I would tie the wing shorter, about shank length. Thanks for posting. Hope to see more from you. Regards, Oldster

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by oldster

Very nicely tied Martin. I think they would float better If the hackle was shorter, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hook gape. Also I would tie the wing shorter, about shank length. Thanks for posting. Hope to see more from you. Regards, Oldster

---

Martin's proportions appear to be in line with Valla's. Valla, in turn, learned to tie from the Dette's.
I have some flies from the Detter fly shop now managed by Joe Fox, the great grandson (I think) of the Dette's. The proportions are in line with Martin's and Valla's.

@Oldster: thanks for the kudos. I do tie most of my flies in the proportions you mention but I wanted to follow the Dette/Valla examples. The Catskill flies I
I'm tying are for a fly plate. If you want to see more of my flies you can see some of them on my website, http://www.flylab.nl/ or my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/martin.westbeek/media_set?set=a.660859820628773.1073741829.1000011 42824266&type=3
@Steven: thanks for the tip - will check out the Dettes flyshop!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by oldster

Very nicely tied Martin. I think they would float better If the hackle was shorter, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hook gape. Also I would tie the wing shorter, about shank length. Thanks for posting. Hope to see more from you. Regards, Oldster

---

The traditional length of hackle in old-school Catskill flies is twice the hook gape.

Thanks to all for correcting me on some traditional Catskill fly dimensions. My first dry fly was a light Cahill tied by Art Flick's directions.
No offense was intended to Martin and to his credit he didn't take any. Thanks Martin!