Catskills Fly Fishing Museum

[martinwestbeek]

Well, *that* was a surprise: Tommy Zacoi, the curator of the Catskills Fly Fishing Museum, asked me to send in some of my flies for the Master Fly Collection of the museum. Quite an honor! So on their way to the USA are these guys: Wally Wing Royal Wulff, Paraloop Peccary Emerger and Coq de Leon Hen Caddis.

WWRWulffsm.jpgPPEmergersm.jpgCdLHenemergersm.jpg

[Cliff955]

Congratulations Mart, a well deserved honon indeed!

Cliff

[martinwestbeek]

Thank you, Cliff!

[Steven]

Looking at those pictures, I'd say it's not a surprise at all. Really beautiful flies.

Congrats!

[John Rhoades]

I agree with what Steven just said. Very, very nice.

John

[Alberto]

Martin,

A well deserved honor indeed and a beautiful set of flies. On the Wulff, I like how you reinforced the body with the gold wire. I have started doing the same on bigger sizes of that pattern. What hackle combination did you use for the pattern? One of them looks like a grizzly dyed brown/dark ginger.

Regards,

Alberto

[martinwestbeek]

Thanks, gents, I felt truly honored to be asked!
@Alberto: the wire is silver wire, the thinnest non-tarnishing wire I could find. As for the hackle: I normally use Whiting rooster saddle, dyed Coachman brown for this pattern but ran out of the right size of that color. So I used Grizzly dyed dark brown instead - so one color. The pic has a reddish cast over it though.

[dave potts]

Certainly museum quality.

They have not contacted me yet. I kind of suspect they ain't going to either. LOL

[Alberto]

Martin,

I like the looks of the variegated hackle better. In my flies, where I can, I prefer to use dyed grizzly or a variant over a solid color. In my eyes, nature is not uniform and the variegation adds to deception.

Alberto

[martinwestbeek]

Same here, Alberto. I have some speckled badger rooster capes (that's the hackle I used for the Paraloop Peccary Emerger) and dark barred ginger and other dyed grizzle hackle that I prefer over solid colors, especially for emergers. In Tying Emergers Leeson notes that emergers are not a type of fly but a stage in the life of a fly in which the bug struggles to free itself, and that's why grizzle or variegated hackles are preferred: they suggest movement and life.