Welcome to Just Old Flies

Welcome to 'just old flies,' a section of methods and flies that used-to-be. These flies were tied with the only materials available. Long before the advent of 'modern' tying materials, they were created and improved upon at a far slower pace than today's modern counterparts; limited by materials available and the tiers imagination.

Once long gone, there existed a 'fraternity' of anglers who felt an obligation to use only the 'standard' patterns of the day. We hope to bring a bit of nostalgia to these pages and to you. And sometimes what you find here will not always be about fishing. Perhaps you will enjoy them. Perhaps you will fish the flies. Perhaps?

Yellow Sally

Yellow Sally
By Larry Bordas, Pennsylvania

Each year around the first few weeks in May, the yellow stone fly makes it's appearance on the bushy, rocky streams of northern Pennsylvania. For generations the Yellow Sally fly has been used to copy the yellow stonefly, but I don't think the fly has received the credit it deserves.

One example could be found in Mary Orvis Marbury's book Favorite Flies and Their Histories. While several correspondents mention the Yellow Sally as one of their favorites, the author fails to list the Yellow Sally in the color plates or index. Her book does list a Yellow May, but while these flies are very similar they are two separate flies.

I could point to several books, one of which is J. Edson Leonard's Flies that have separate listings for the Yellow Sally and Yellow May. Regardless which is correct, this all-yellow fly is a real fish catcher and I have found that it seems to have a special appeal to Brook trout.

Yellow Sally

    Tail: Yellow

    Rib: Gold tinsel

    Body: Yellow floss

    Hackle: Yellow

    Wing: Yellow quill

Credits: Favorite Flies and Their Histories by Mary Orvis Marbury; Flies by J. Edson Leonard; The Book of Trout Flies by Preston J. Jennings ~ LB

About Larry:

Larry My mother always said that I got my love of the outdoors from my grandfather and it was this love of the outdoor life and to be near the great hunting and fishing that led me to relocate to Lycoming County of northern Pennsylvania. While I have been a fisherman since I was six, I have only been fly fishing and tying for the past 15 years and consider myself at best only an average fly tier and fisherman. I started teaching myself fly fishing and to tie flies by reading books and talking to other fly fishermen and as I learned about the nuts and bolts of fly fishing, such as casting, drag and matching the hatch, I slowly developed an appreciation of the history and great tradition of the sport. While learning about the history and tying these old wet flies has given me hours of enjoyment, my real enjoyment and memories comes from fishing with and sharing with others information about these historic flies. ~ LB

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