Donald, In addition to the recipes and fine photos of your dressings, I appreciate the history lessons as well. Thanks for the suggested reading. I’m finding it very interesting.
Donald, your site and latest work is very interesting, and I’m looking forward to the pictures of flies you’re tying. Didn’t know there was such a thing as professional fly fisherman back in those days. It sounds very appealling… until I realize I would starve to death.
A question for you, I noticed some of the hook sizes (00 and 1) for some of the wets. How would they correspond to modern sizes? 16 or so?
Thanks,
Mark
PS I like the idea of stewarts 4flies = all you need approach. Certainly makes life easier. He sounds like a character.
peregrines,
Have a look at the Hook page on the site, it shows the equivalents in sizes.
I think we all would be toiling to catch enough to survive on.
Interestingly, David Webster (1826-1904) who mainly worked the Clyde for his living, used about eight flies on his cast,
but John Younger (1785-1860), James Baillie (1819 - 1861)and Mark Aitken (1802 - 1865?) preferred two or three.
Younger, Baillie and Aitken did a lot of their fishing before the coming of the railways and there was not the angling pressure from the cities that came in the second half of the century. So maybe there were more unsophisticated fish. Webster worked in the second half of the century and his book shows a map of southern Scotland with raiways stations and the fishing beats within walking distance.
W. C. Stewart who was not a professional angler, he was an Edinburgh tea merchant,
was only 24 (1857) when his book was published, he was only 39 (1872) when he died.
I can only 2nd REE’s view. Donald’s site is a great place to find information on wet flies. I like the historical side of things as well as it compliments the patterns. Also, he ties a mean fly!