According to Fly Patterns and Their Origins, "This
interesting anecdote is related on no less authority than that of John Woodruff . . . ,
a fellow member of the Anglers' Club of New York.
It seems a man named York, who had sold to Mr. Hewitt a small portion
of the famous angler's holdings on the Neversink, had a daughter, Vera,
who tied and sold flies to the fishermen thereabouts. One day she saw
Mr. Hewitt hang up in the bushes and lose his fly. After he had left and
she found it, she tied some after this salvaged pattern, so she told Johnny [Woodruff],
when one rainy evening, when she showed up at the cabin of the Fly Fishers
Club of Brooklyn and asked him to buy a dozen. According to John,
"they were bum flies - soft hackles, sloppy tied," but the girl was soaking
wet and Johnny bought them out of kindness, with no thought they were
any good.
The next day was the Angler's Club annual outing and fishing contest. About
mid-afternoon, Woodruff galloped - according to Walter Dette, Roscoe
fly tied - into his shop, incoherent with excitment, demanding that Walter
instantly drop everything and tie him a supply of these patterns. They were
the only things the fish were taking and he wanted some better ones for the
evening rise, to win the competition.
When this story was told to Mr. Hewitt, he admited he had originated the
pattern."
This fly is one of the many flies created by Edward R. Hewitt, and
is considered a standard Catskill pattern. ~ LadyFisher
Information from Fly Patterns and Their
Origins, published by Westshore Publications.
Photo from Forgotten Flies. We appreciate use permission!
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