I'm worried...seems the muddler may be on the edge of extinction.


The way I see things Al McClane was the one who put the fly on the map. I'm pretty sure when Al died if you searched the white satin in his coffin you were going to ***** your finger on the hook point of a muddler. Seems Al had a hard time selling his enthusiasm for the fly to the fly shops of the day, Darbee, Bailey and others would kinda shrug their shoulders when Al threw the muddler on the table for inspection. He took them fishing, man on man, and convinced his fishing partners the fly was something special, not by his fishing prowess, but letting his buddies realize how good the pattern was for themselves. Al fished the muddler as more of an insect imitation than a sculpin or baitfish. He targeted bass and trout in lakes and slow moving water with great success.





A few years back I visited a local fly shop. There is a fly bin on the way out of the shop with discounted flies.I stopped to take a look and pinched an absolutely beautiful # 4 Muddler tied with the mottled oak and all...what's the deal with these I asked the shop man. He said: "people just don't buy 'em anymore". They were 50 cents a piece!


Today I visited Dan Baileys online shop. You know what...I couldn't buy a Muddler..wow! What stopped me from tying the muddler was the cost of the mottled oak turkey feather for the wing and I'll bet the same happened for the shops.