I believe George Grant was the last of the great woven hacklers. Thought I would post pics of my fly plate from him:
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
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.
Should any of you find yourself traveling on I-90 thru Butte, DO NOT miss stopping at the Butte-Silver Bow Chamber of Commerce off of Montana St. They have an incredible display of George's fly plates. I would estimate there are at least 40 plates on display. Also included are plates from other tiers including Bill Blackstone and Don Martinez. Plan on 2 hours, minimum; probably more.
The above mentioned plates are similar to what Byron shared with us to start this thread.
Here're some more: http://montana-riverboats.com/index....g/George-Grant
And here's another weaving tutorial: http://montana-riverboats.com/index....arkFreedmanVid
Last edited by pittendrigh; 07-24-2011 at 11:20 AM.
Here are some great photos of George's flies. there are a few other fellows
that are continuing his art.
http://web.mac.com/robertdotson/iWeb...e%20Grant.html
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