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If I had to pick the one person who had the biggest impact on my style of tying,
it would have to be Franz Pott. His woven body flies were and are the basis
of many of my own patterns. The swept and/or hair hackle designs can be
seen in many of my personal creations like the SHWAPF and EZ Nymph
and many others.
In the late 1930's, a wig maker named Franz Pott patented a method
of weaving hair into a string of hair hackle. Knowing that even with a
patent his methods wouldn't be totally safe, he was very secretive about
his work. It didn't take long before others were devising methods to weave
hair hackles, but none could exactly match the weave of the master.
Another person who earned fame as a weaver of hair
hackle was George Grant. George was not a wig maker
by trade, but I'm guessing the techniques and tools
of that trade were part of the techniques he used
weaving hair hackles. In fact, I'll bet both Pott
and Grant adapted some of the techniques used in wig
making into their personal methods of weaving hackles,
but obviously their methods and backgrounds were different.
To add to the confusion in my brain, another gentleman from my home state
of Montana named Pete Sanchez developed a style of knotting hair that
produced a hackle similar to those of Pott and Grant. His flies were sold
all over the state when I was young, and most people just called them Potts
Flies thinking they were the originals that started the whole hair weaving craze.
As a youngster, I was privileged to watch an old man weaving hair hackles
for his business. At the time I was told he was Franz Pott, but after thinking
hard about it I have a doubt or two about the validity of that claim. The old
man lived in Missoula, Montana and tied in an old garage he had converted
into a fly factory. After hearing how secretive Franz was, I'm guessing I was
fooled by someone who thought it would be an easy way to make a young
kid happy. All I can tell you about the man is that he was old, impatient and
crabby; but he took the time to show me the Pott's body-weave and two
methods of weaving hair hackle. One was a simple knotted hackle used
by Sanchez and the other was a woven creation that used a wig maker's
tool (hair hook) to weave hair between three strands of thread.
Although I can't be certain I ever really met Franz Pott or that the weave I
refer to as the Pott's weave is really the original weave, I'll refer to that weave
here as the Pott's weave as I have all my fly-tying life. Even if it isn't the
original method, it is effective and easier to perform than the other two
methods of weaving.
This is an especially long segment that will likely take several reviews of each
part before you feel confident you have it right. If it helps, print the steps out
for review at the tying bench. I'll be showing you all three methods of weaving
hair hackles and two body weaves all in one segment. You choose the styles
of hair weaving you prefer, but it's also a skill builder to learn all of the styles.
One last thing; to my good friend Dan Rupert (Ol' Rupe), this bug's for you.
Call it a reward for all that hard work you have done trying to learn hair
hackle weaves.
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