.... Pumpkin and Sage Grouse ....



.... tied by Tom Harman ....



.... of Dillon MT at the Grizzly Hackle in Missoula today.

Had the rare opportunity to watch Tom tie this George Grant style fly during the annual Grizzly Hackle / Simms turkey sandwich day festivities.

Tom was a personal friend of George for many, many years and learned to tie this style of fly from George. I've seen a George Grant style fly tied only one other time, about five years ago, by Barney Kohler of Idaho Falls. These are not overly complicated flies to tie, but do take a lot of patience, and a bit of skill to do the woven ( elk mane ) hackle.

Tom was kind enough to present this fly to me at the end of the demonstration. Tomorrow, I'm going to present it to some trouts. Stay tuned for pix of the best part of a century of fly tying history stuck in the jaw of a modern day wild trout.

John