I’ve been looking through Frans website and really trying to get a good look at some of his flies. But the pics on his site are not to good. I’ve heard he has a unique style, messy, fishy looking?
Ide really like it if someone could post a pic of flies tied by Mr Betters.
Also Ide like to know more about the deer hair he personally selects for his Haystack series.
Thanks for any info or help
Doug
I could be very wrong but I thought Hans was here in the US a while back doing just that…
harry mason
[url=http://www.troutflies.com:ddade]http://www.troutflies.com[/url:ddade]
Harry,
You may remember my visit with the aim of photographing the Dettes archive, not to do with Fran Betters.
Having said that, Frand and I did have contact not too long ago and I was promised a set of his flies to photograph and add to Flytier’s Page. None have arrived in the mail just yet, but we live in hope… 
Cheers,
Hans W
=== You have a friend in Low Places ===
http://www.danica.com/flytier
Hi paflyfisher16,
He used to use Florida Key deer for his Haystacks way back, but now uses regular Coastal deer hair that’s good for Haystacks or Comparaduns.
Fly Tyer magazine did a profile on him back in the Autumn issue of 2003. They had very good pic’s of his Haystack, Usual, and his Ausable Wulff. Here’s a link to some of his other pattern pic’s that didn’t make that article.
[url=http://www.flyfishingmagazines.com/ft_feature_033.shtml#profile:cbef0]http://www.flyfishingmagazines.com/ft_feature_033.shtml#profile[/url:cbef0]
Regards,
Mark
I thought Fran Betters’ claims to fame were the Haystack and the Usual tied with Snowshoe hare foot hair.
Ray,
You are correct for the Usual and snowshoe rabit, but the Haystack features deer hair wing and tail.
Cheers,
Hans W
Mark
Did he change the type of deer hair because The Florida Key Deer is endangered or because of the quality?
Harold
Here’s a couple of pics of a Haystack that I bought right out of Fran Better’s vise in 1986:
paflyfisher16-
Back in 1986 Fran Betters came out with a book called “Fran Betters’ Fly Fishing-Fly Tying and Pattern Guide”. It includes lots of photos of his patterns and how to tie them. All the info is right there in his book. I don’t believe it is still in print but you can still find it. Do a search in abebooks.com and you will find it for sale.
True enough Hans…must have been a senior moment or at least that’s my story 
harry mason
[url=http://www.troutflies.com:19d72]http://www.troutflies.com[/url:19d72]
Hi Harold,
He changed it because their endangered / protected now. It’s all in his book, that I still think is available, at least through his shop/internet site anyway. He goes into quite a bit of detail about the type of hair and location on the deer where he gets it from in that chapter too. I think that a lot of suppliers now have a really good handle on the type of hair that makes good Haystack or Comparadun wings. I just ordered some that Hareline Dubbing supplies for the heck of it just to see how it was. Both the dyed dun and natural color work really well.
Regards,
Mark
I got one through an ebay auction about 2 years ago for $5. Even better than the cost was it was signed.
Fran is known for his own flies these days, but I remember his standard Catskill flies well and they were far from messy. They were the most compact, clean looking flies you can imagine, with very stiff hackle. They were a dream to fish. I looked at a couple of his Royal Wulffs when I was up there last summer, and they were just gorgeous. His calf tail wings are very wispy and ephemeral. A friend of mine has two of his Ausable Wulffs, and they look nothing at all like what you see in shops these days passing for wulffs. He still ties a wonderful fly. You can order a selection of his own flies from the shop quite reasonably. I don’t know if he’s tying the Hendricksons and Cahills anymore, those are the ones that blew my mind as a teen.
Eric
Not to beat this thread to death, but he can still really crank out tons of fly’s. The last time that I was in his shop a couple of years ago, he was tieing copper beadhead “Picket Finns”. I didn’t see any Usuals in his fly boxes and he said he’d tie up some for me while I waited. He just instantly switched gears and tied three each in size 12 and 14 in a matter of minutes. I bought two fist fulls of some of his just dyed orange Austrailian possum that had just dried. He told me that between tied fly’s and what he sells, that he goes through about 16 pounds of it a year! I keep all of the flies tied by him in film containers in the cubby holes on my tying bench just to use as models. There’s a lot of fly’s that he ties that he’s not famous for, but he has that will catch just tons of fish.
Regards,
Mark