The Late, Great George F. Grant - Last of Great Woven Hacklers

All about flies Fly Tying
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I believe George Grant was the last of the great woven hacklers. Thought I would post pics of my fly plate from him:

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I used all of my flat mono on flat butt leaders. I might still have 15’ left which I cherish. Wish Cortland still made the stuff. It was a great leader concept given to us by Swisher and Richards. George and Franz Potts tied some pretty looking flies, but in my time, times were a changin’.

Currently, Sue Armstrong from our area is keeping the style alive. I think she met with George before he died.She does a great job representing his legacy.

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I’m a George Grant collector. I only have two of his flies (which I bought directly from George, back in the late 1970s).
But I do think I have everything he ever published, including a few extra-rare audio tapes he recorded way back when.
Great guy. Great flies. But there are still some very good practitioners–both here in Montana and at least one I know of in Utah.
Lots of tiers have noticed Randy Flynn’s good work at the weekly fly and other such places.

Matt Watrous of Utah does amazingly good work too: http://montana-riverboats.com/index.php?fpage=Fly-Tying/Matt-Watrous

Tom McIntyer of Ennis Montana (now gone) http://montana-riverboats.com/index.php?fpage=Fly-Tying/Tom-McIntyre did good work too. Tom was a fisherman, fly tier and card dealer not well-known outside Ennis. But he too was a hell of hackle weaver in his time.

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Should any of you find yourself traveling on I-90 thru Butte, DO NOT miss stopping at the Butte-Silver Bow Chamber of Commerce off of Montana St. They have an incredible display of George’s fly plates. I would estimate there are at least 40 plates on display. Also included are plates from other tiers including Bill Blackstone and Don Martinez. Plan on 2 hours, minimum; probably more.

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The above mentioned plates are similar to what Byron shared with us to start this thread.

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Here’re some more: http://montana-riverboats.com/index.php?fpage=Fly-Tying/George-Grant

And here’s another weaving tutorial: http://montana-riverboats.com/index.php?fpage=Fly-Tying/Franz-Pott/MarkFreedmanVid

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Here are some great photos of George’s flies. there are a few other fellows
that are continuing his art.

http://web.mac.com/robertdotson/iWeb/Fly%20Collection/George%20Grant.html

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Question: Couldn’t you get a similar effect to flat mono with clear Scudback material?

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Here are some other examples up close.

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Gig ,

I bet you could. There is stuff available to tie the mono bodies in the fly shops though. The tyers are using vinyl rib. George’s flies are really great to look at but for me they would be too complicated a process for my tastes. I’ll leave this pattern for others to tie.

George patented the fly in 1939. A rare thing to do! Here’s a copy if your interested: http://www.google.com/patents?id=IL5yAAAAEBAJ&printsec=drawing&zoom=4#v=onepage&q&f=false

Now if could only find a copy of his book for $10 bucks…:wink:

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That’s an interesting patent. I’ve heard it said that George used a three strand loom. But not by those drawings–which clearly illustrate a two-strand loom.

Pott used a two strand loom as well. And Pott patented his flies in 1931, seven years prior to Grant’s application:
http://montana-riverboats.com/index.php?fpage=Fly-Tying/Franz-Pott/Patent-Diagram

Pott’s patent diagram doesn’t show how many weaving strands are used. But Pott did use a two-strand loom. So this does bring up an interesting nit-pick question. If George Grant also got a patent for woven hair hackles, also using a two-strand loom, something about Grant’s technique had to be different. Else the patent was issued in error. Perhaps it was the knotting procedure.

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I have all his books. Will look to see what he said. I do know he always gave Franz great respect and acknowledgement for initiating the idea of woven hackle. His was probably considered a.bit different. Perhaps more tier friendly?

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Todd Collins of Butte, MT specializes in George Grant memorabilia and instruction in tying
woven hair flies. Ph. 406-782-2464, email: collinsfam@in-tch.com. (this is from a business card
I got from Todd at a fly tying event several years ago)
Sweets

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I had never heard of this tyer before. Now I am definitely a fan. His flies are supreme.

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I had the privilege of watching George Grant tie his flies at an FFF
Conclave in Sun Valley in the 70’s. He was a master.
SweetS