Q: Pritt's "Winter Brown" and "Little Winter

[JeffHamm]

Hi,

I was reading "The Soft Hackled Fly Addict" last night and noticed something. And, I admit right now, I'm being far too pedantic, but I'll ask anyway!

Here are the two patterns in question:

3: Winter Brown
Hook: 1
Body: orange - not too bright
Hackle: feather from inside of a Woodcock's wing
Head: Peacock Hurl
As the season progresses, the wings of the natural get lighter and it is often dressed as number 4 below.

4: Little Winter Brown
Hook: 2
Body: orange - not too bright
Hackle: feather from outside of a Woodcock's wing
Head: Peacock Hurl

What struck me as odd at first is that the hook sizes seem wrong. Not the 1 and 2, because Pritt's flies were using the "new scale", which never became popular, so we still use the "old scale". A 1 and 2 would today be called a 14 and 13 (did they make odd number sized hooks? I've never seen them). Anyway, what I thought "odd" was that the "little winter brown" is tied on the larger hook!

The next thing I found odd is that the feathers from the "inside" of a Woodcock's wing are lighter than the feathers from the "outside" of a Woodcock's wing. Inside are dusty off white while outside are a rich reddish brown.

It seems to me that the patterns for the Winter Brown and the Little Winter Brown are mixed around.

Obviously it doesn't really matter, but then I got to wondering, is this how Pritt originally described them (original "mix up") or did it get mistranscribed into the new book?

- Jeff

[softhackler]

this is out of Pritt's North Country Flies book.
hook 2 is for the WB, and hook 1 is for the LWB.
which feathers to use are as you have it.

btw, Tiemco makes odd # hooks in sizes 9 thru 19, in black. they are Model 102Y

[JeffHamm]

Hi,

Thanks softhackler! I don't have Pritt's book so I couldn't check.

Of course, what will probably happen is I'll get home, check Nemes' book and find I've misread the hooks and which one of the naturals is supposed to have the lighter wings.

- Jeff

[JeffHamm]

Hi,
Go figure. I checked Nemes book at home, and the hook sizes are correct (the LWB is hook 1 and the WB is 2). My brain must have had a hard time switching to "bigger number means bigger hook". No wonder that "new scale" never caught on! I'm still confused by the use of a darker feather when the natural has the lighter wings though. I'll stick to that!

- Jeff