I believe George Grant was the last of the great woven hacklers. Thought I would post pics of my fly plate from him:
The Late, Great George F. Grant - Last of Great Woven Hacklers
I believe George Grant was the last of the great woven hacklers. Thought I would post pics of my fly plate from him:
I used all of my flat mono on flat butt leaders. I might still have 15' left which I cherish. Wish Cortland still made the stuff. It was a great leader concept given to us by Swisher and Richards. George and Franz Potts tied some pretty looking flies, but in my time, times were a changin'.
Currently, Sue Armstrong from our area is keeping the style alive. I think she met with George before he died.She does a great job representing his legacy.
"As far down the river as he could see, the trout were rising, making circles on the surface of the water, as though it were starting to rain."- E.H., The Big Two Hearted River
Question: Couldn't you get a similar effect to flat mono with clear Scudback material?
Originally Posted by hairwing
Here are some other examples up close.
Gig ,
I bet you could. There is stuff available to tie the mono bodies in the fly shops though. The tyers are using vinyl rib. George's flies are really great to look at but for me they would be too complicated a process for my tastes. I'll leave this pattern for others to tie.
George patented the fly in 1939. A rare thing to do! Here's a copy if your interested: http://www.google.com/patents?id=IL5...page&q&f=false
Now if could only find a copy of his book for $10 bucks...........
"As far down the river as he could see, the trout were rising, making circles on the surface of the water, as though it were starting to rain."- E.H., The Big Two Hearted River
That's an interesting patent. I've heard it said that George used a three strand loom. But not by those drawings--which clearly illustrate a two-strand loom.
Pott used a two strand loom as well. And Pott patented his flies in 1931, seven years prior to Grant's application:
http://montana-riverboats.com/index....Patent-Diagram
Pott's patent diagram doesn't show how many weaving strands are used. But Pott did use a two-strand loom. So this does bring up an interesting nit-pick question. If George Grant also got a patent for woven hair hackles, also using a two-strand loom, something about Grant's technique had to be different. Else the patent was issued in error. Perhaps it was the knotting procedure.
Last edited by pittendrigh; 07-26-2011 at 04:35 PM.
I have all his books. Will look to see what he said. I do know he always gave Franz great respect and acknowledgement for initiating the idea of woven hackle. His was probably considered a.bit different. Perhaps more tier friendly?
Last edited by Byron haugh; 07-26-2011 at 06:12 PM.
Todd Collins of Butte, MT specializes in George Grant memorabilia and instruction in tying
woven hair flies. Ph. 406-782-2464, email: collinsfam@in-tch.com. (this is from a business card
I got from Todd at a fly tying event several years ago)
Sweets
I had never heard of this tyer before. Now I am definitely a fan. His flies are supreme.
I'm a George Grant collector. I only have two of his flies (which I bought directly from George, back in the late 1970s).
But I do think I have everything he ever published, including a few extra-rare audio tapes he recorded way back when.
Great guy. Great flies. But there are still some very good practitioners--both here in Montana and at least one I know of in Utah.
Lots of tiers have noticed Randy Flynn's good work at the weekly fly and other such places.
Matt Watrous of Utah does amazingly good work too: http://montana-riverboats.com/index....g/Matt-Watrous
Tom McIntyer of Ennis Montana (now gone) http://montana-riverboats.com/index....g/Tom-McIntyre did good work too. Tom was a fisherman, fly tier and card dealer not well-known outside Ennis. But he too was a hell of hackle weaver in his time.
Last edited by pittendrigh; 07-24-2011 at 12:48 AM.
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