I found this fly with the charming name in Trout by Ray Bergman
and right away noticed that Bergman credits the fly to his
friend and illustrator Dr. Burke. As you may know, Dr.
Burke did individual paintings of all 433 wet flies shown
in the book, as well as all the dry flies, streamers, etc.
It is due to the meticulous work of this artist that we have
a visual record today of so many flies that might have otherwise
been lost to history.
Many of the old fly tying books had illustrations rather than
photos, as the photos of the day were limited to black and white.
Dr. Burke does an amazing job of rendering the exact materials
used in the flies, to the point that after familiarizing yourself
with the style, you can identify all the materials used in a fly
simply by looking at his illustrations. The only materials not
done exactly are the tinsels, the shiny gold and silver not translating
to the medium he was using very well. The flies are shown in exact proportion,
with even little details like palmered hackle sticking up through
the wings shown clearly.
Unhappily, Dr. Burke's fly did not stand the test of
time. It is not found in J. Edson Leonard's
Flies, nor does it appear to surface anywhere else that I can find.
The fly named for him, Dr. Burke, shown below, also disappears over time,
but his legacy lives on through the marvelous illustrations in Trout.
Here are the recipes for both the Telephone Box and Dr. Burke, should
you want to try your hand.
Telephone Box:
Tail: Golden pheasant tippet
Tag: Peacock herl
Ribbing: Black thread
Body: Orange floss
Hackle: Brown hen
Wing: Brown turkey
Dr. Burke:
Tail: Peacock sword
Ribbing: Silver tinsel
Body: Flat silver tinsel
Hackle: Yellow hen
Wing: White
Credits: Trout by Ray Bergman
~ EA
About Eric:
Eric lives in Delaware, Ohio and fishes for brown trout in the Mad River, a beautiful spring creek. More of his flies
are on display here:
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