The Imbrie is one of the wet flies presented in Ray Bergman's
Trout. I've done the version shown in that book,
but the fly predates Trout considerably, and a
somewhat different version is shown in Mary Orvis Marbury's
Favorite Flies and Their Histories. Here is what
she says about the fly:
"The Imbrie was named after and introduced by Mr. Charles F. Imbrie,
or the firm of Abbey & Imbrie, fishing-tackle dealers, of New York
city. The fly won and has held popularity ever since its first
appearance."
You might remember a fly named the Abbey, one named after the
other owner of the same company. Abbey and Imbrie took over
the business from a previous owner. Details concerning the
Abbey can be found here:
features/oldflies/part101.php
Ray Bergman's version of this fly leaves off the golden pheasant
crest tail and jungle cock eye shoulders of the original. There
is also a third version with a golden pheasant tippet tail and
white floss body, one that I discovered in J. Edson Leonard's
Flies. The Bergman version appealed to me with its
simple elegance, and I chose to do that one. The fact that I was
out of jungle cock had absolutely nothing to do with my choice.
Honest.
Here are all three recipes:
Ray Bergman
Tag: Black chenille
Ribbing: Gold tinsel
Body: Yellow floss
Hackle: Brown
Wing: Slate
Mary Orvis Marbury
Tip: Gold tinsel
Tag: Black chenille
Tail: Golden pheasant crest
Ribbing: Gold tinsel
Body: Yellow floss
Hackle: Brown
Wing: Slate
Shoulder: Jungle cock eye
J. Edson Leonard Imbrie No. 2 (#1 is the same as Mary Orvis Marbury's)
Tip: Gold tinsel
Tail: Golden pheasant tippet
Ribbing: Gold tinsel
Body: White floss
Hackle: Lt. red
Wing: Slate
Shoulder: Jungle cock eye
Credits: Trout by Ray Bergman; Flies
by J. Edson Leonard; Favorite Flies and Their Histories
by Mary Orvis Marbury. ~ EA
About Eric:
I started fly fishing as a teen in and around my hometown
of Plattsburgh, New York, primarily on the Saranac River.
I started tying flies almost immediately and spent hours
with library books written by Ray Bergman, Art Lee, and
A. J. McClane. Almost from the beginning I liked tying
just as much as I liked fishing and spent considerable
time at the vise creating hideous monstrosities that
somehow caught fish anyway. Then one day I came upon a
group of flies that had been put out at a local drug store
that had been tied by Francis Betters of Wilmington, N.Y.
My life changed that day and so did my flies, dramatically.
Even though I never met Fran back then, I've always
considered him to be one of my biggest influences.
I had a career in music for twenty years or so and didn't
fish much, though I did fish at times. The band I was with
had its fifteen seconds of fame when we were asked to be in
John Mellencamp's movie "Falling From Grace." I am the
keyboard player on the right in the country club scene in
the middle of the movie. Don't blink. It's on HBO all the
time. We got to meet big Hollywood stars and record in John's
studio. It was a blast.
So how did I wind up contributing to the Just Old Flies
column on FAOL? I'm not sure, it was something that I simply
wanted very badly to do, and they let me. Many of the old flies
take me back to the Adirondacs and my youth, and I guess I get
to relive some of it through the column. I've spent many happy
hours fishing and tying over the years, and tying these flies
brings back memories of great days on the water, and intense
hours spent looking at the flies in the fly plates in the old
books and trying to get my flies to look like them. And now,
here I am, still doing that to this day. ~ EA
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