FlyFishing Stamps Issued-- Canada Post

[DBenner]

Yes, the new stamps are VERY nice. I strolled across the street from my office last Friday and got three sets, a sheet, the book of stamps and first day covers......

Dwight

[jking]

Hans,
I tried to call Rob Solo today, but he is not at home. I will try to contact him again to get details on the PEI fly.

I did find a reference to the Prince Edward fly in Mary Orvis Marbury's Favorite Flies and Their Histories (1892) and I suspect it is the same fly. There is no pattern, but the illustration appears to be nearly identical. A reference is made there by Francis Green who received it from "the Old Fisherman" in Charlottetown PEI.

If I can connect with Rob Solo I will send along his information on the fly.

John

[Mike A]

John,

Yes, Ms. Marbury's book is where I had found it listed as the Prince Edward. I looked up the pattern in J. Edson Leonard's book Flies because it contains all the patterns for the flies in her book and found it listed in the Fancy Lake Flies section with the following pattern:

Prince Edward
Wing: Scarlet spoon wing
Hackle: Brown
Body: Yellow floss, gold rib
Tail: Scarlet, blunt and full

It's entirely possible that Mr. Leonard constructed the pattern based solely on the drawing in the previous book, but there's no way to know for sure.

But I'm sure Hans has these books and could easily have found it himself. It still doesn't bring us to the original reference. Anyone have it or access to it? Anyone?

[jking]

I got an email from Rob Solo yesterday who said that Paul Schmookler's books "Forgotten Flies" and "Rare and Unusual" reference the fly. Rob said that he substitutes dyed red hen saddle for the scarlet ibis.

The only difference I can see between the Prince Edward and the PEI fly is that the hackle in the Prince Edward appears to be left as a collar and pulled down as a throat on the PEI.

Mike, thanks for the reference to Edson Leoonard, I'll look for that book now.

John

[Hans Weilenmann]

Hi John,

Thanks for the followup. I guess I will have to excercise my arms and lift the Forgotten Flies once back in the Low Countries. (Presently in the UK for a couple days of work.)

Cheers,
Hans W


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=== You have a friend in Low Places ===
http://www.danica.com/flytier

[borealis]

FWIW, Canada Post also issued a set of 6 fly stamps in 1998. [url=http://www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/020117/020117030412_e.html:fb699]http://www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/020117/020117030412_e.html[/url:fb699] . If you click on a fly there is a bit of a blurb along with a larger image, which is also clickable.

Though I hadn't started fly fishing at the time, I bought a booklet of 12 when they came out just because I thought they were mysterious and beautiful. I truly regret having to use half of them during a bit of a financial crunch a number of years back.

Mine are up at [url=http://tinypic.com/1qri50:fb699]http://tinypic.com/1qri50[/url:fb699] and [url=http://tinypic.com/1qrfqr:fb699]http://tinypic.com/1qrfqr[/url:fb699] . Sorry for the poor picture quality, it's late, probably no one is interested, I'm in the middle of moving, etc, etc...

Ian