The Half Stone is a very old fly, but the oldest info at a rather
cursory check is Halford’s dry fly (1885) -
Note he had no tail, which is odd for a dry.
Next is Roger Woolley (1932), who was tying to order.
He listed the Half Stone twice -
1st as a dry dun with a tail
2nd as a West Country wet without.
Leisenring (1941) gave it a hen hackle but no tail.
He did call it the Half Stone Nymph.
Courtney Williams (1948) gives it with a tail and a cock hackle.
Lawrie in ‘English & Welsh Trout Flies’ 1967, gives no tail.
in 'Modern Trout Flies ’ 1972, he gives a tail.
John Roberts in his Dictionary (1986) gives it a tail.
So, basically, the modern convention seems to be,
as a dry with cock hackle and tail.
As a wet both options. tail no tail, cock or hen hackle.
Actually only Leisenring used a hen hackle.
Also colour hackle, blue dun or honey dun, whatever
you fancy.
Wet without a tail is quite a good caddis pupa.
It is a very underrated and easily dressed fly.
One of the interesting features of the Halh Stone is the yellow
silk body. It is a clue to the antiquity of the fly.
In the 17th, 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, probably the most commonly available silk was yellow buttonhole twist.
Just before the second world war, Leisenring noted in his book, that buttonhole twist was commonly available in rural stores in the USA.
In Tod’s book ‘Wet Fly Fishing’. Mark Aitken gave yellow silk for nine of his eleven Tweed flies. The Greenwell’s Glory ( a traditional Tweed Fly hijacked by Greenwell) is typical.
One fly from the West of England and the other from the river Tweed. The yellow silk was the one pinched from the wife of the working men who were the majority of the fly fishers before
the coming of the railways in the 1840s made cheap and fast access to the rivers available to townies.
Got me on another rant there.
Like Jeff, I really enjoy the history behind these wonderful old flies. The fact that they are still very effective makes me wonder why people keep reinventing the wheel. Maybe it’s to make use of the newest and greatest material available. Thanks for the rant, also interesting.
I also really enjoy reading your posts. Please keep them coming! Your site is also a very nice get away to a time when it wasn’t all work and no play. I just had to post this pic since you started with Halford. I bought a collection of tying stuff from over your way a while back and the guy was really a Halford fan. I obviously can’t confirm if the hackle actually once belonged to him or not, but it’s from around the time before he died to 1945. The hooks look just like the ones in some of his books!