Fly Restoration

I enjoy seeing old fishing gear and especially stuff that I used yrs ago. My friend Gary donated a couple boxes of old lures and flies to me and I had fun recollecting using some of the stuff. What I am going to attempt is 'box' framing some of the tackle so I can hang it on my wall.
ONE fly got my attention and that was a streamer with a woven body (yellow/white) and matching hackle. The fly is old but the woven body is in fine shape. All I have to do is replace the hackle.
There is only one fly I ever customized and that was a Royal Coachman streamer I bought at Diamond Lake, 30 yrs ago. The RCS had polar bear for the wing, but the fly was tied terrible. I separated the polar bear hair and installed it on my own RCS. I was picky back then too!
I would like to ask, is any one out there ever restored old flies for mounting or any other reason????
Thanks,
Doug

Hi Doug,

We've done some of that kind of work and my only comment would be, "Be certain restoring the fly is what you really want to do." It can change the value (if there is any).

An alternative is to mount the fly "as is" dating it then tie a duplicate and complete it so it look like "you think" the original was supposed to look. Place an engraved plaque in the mount explaing the two flies including the date. Good luck. Take care & ...

Tight Lines - Al Beatty
www.btsflyfishing.com

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Originally Posted by Al Beatty

Hi Doug,

We've done some of that kind of work and my only comment would be, "Be certain restoring the fly is what you really want to do." It can change the value (if there is any).

An alternative is to mount the fly "as is" dating it then tie a duplicate and complete it so it look like "you think" the original was supposed to look. Place an engraved plaque in the mount explaing the two flies including the date. Good luck. Take care & ...

Tight Lines - Al Beatty
http://www.btsflyfishing.com

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Al,
Thanks for the interesting angle on this subject. Being the person I am, it would probably be very frustrating tracking down info on a old fly and THAT info would have to be included in a side by side comparison or I wouldn't be happy. I have never mounted flies for historic reasons. I have learned through the yrs that whatever flies I mount (for myself) have to personally please ME since most people look at framed flies with their mouth open and ask questions like 'What R These?" :lol:
Al, if you know of a link pertaining to Antique Flies or their Restoration, I would be grateful to get it.
Thank You Sir!
Doug