I've always been curious as to where/how things are
invented. Here is how the Weedless Fly came about.
"The first weedless fly is credited to Willard A. Schaeffer,
of Rock Island, Illinois. Necessity, always the mother of
invention, resulted in the designing of the weedless fly
to be used particularly in fishing for bass in the sloughs
and bayous of the Illinois River and among the many
obstructions that territory possessed, and particularly
for skittering the fly over the top of moss.
The tying of the fly was the feature. Just ahead of
the body of the fly and around the shank of the hook a
number of coarse horse hairs were so arranged that they
projected over the barb of of hook. This horse hair
acted as a weed guard.
In 1912, Mr. Schaeffer was secretary-treasurer of the
Illinois Rod and Gun Club near Astoria, which club
house and preserve were asserted to be the finest in
the State."
Credits: Text from Fly Patterns and Their Origins,
By Harold Hinsdill Smedley.
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