I think they were Andean or at least sold as such. In Silk, Fur and Feathers he says Andean and from the pinion and tail feathers. A biot will do the job as a sub. Thanks!

I think so too!

Thank you. Yes Paul Gaskell refinished a greenheart wood rod and rigged it with a vintage reel and silk line that are fairly close to what Cutcliffe would have fished with. He has been making blog posts referencing this project on his site Fishing Discoveries. You can sign up for emails.

Wow! What was the article? Author/tyer? I would love to see it.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Great question and I should really have covered that! The idea behind them is to help gauge the size of the rope you make. So for example if you want ropes for size 14 hooks you make the rope X notches long. For a size 12 more etc. So if you pay attention to that and learn your measurements then you can waste less. They can also help you set your taper…so you plot to decrease the fur applied within X notches. I have to say I am not great at doing this and using them in such a detailed way. It is key to understand that Leisenring is a product of the Great Depression and so a long lasting fly and efficient use of materials was important.

@@flyanorak OK. Thanks for that explanation.

My pleasure!

Thank you sir!

I started with them in the summer - July up to present - and they worked but I think in the heart of the hatch season they would be great in our part of the country.

I would love to! It is indeed scarce and expensive. I keep my eyes open though ;). If you have it and it sheds some added light let us know!

That is awesome!

Give it a whirl. With a search online you can find sellers of smaller amounts of yarn...you don't need skeins. Wool of course has water holding properties which give the fly weight. There are other yarn materials you can try depending on what your goal is...experiment and see what works for you.

I was thinking to do it. I have read Reid's book and Lawrie and tied some now. I have not fished them much AND while those are nice books they don't give me enough confidence to say I know what I am doing or representing them correctly...so if and when I do it they will come with a real caveat that this is super amateur!

That one is an old Mustad Kirby bend with an offset and extra long. There are a few different ones with that bend on eBay.

I am probably too old to change. Turn the sound off and enjoy.

Many thanks!

Thank you! Cheers!

So not sure if in origin design that was the purpose but Skues and later Taverner felt it worked well for bulging fish feeding on emergers and so for sure got creative juices flowing. From experience, these patterns can ride hook bend down with the hackle slowing the decent through the film. So almost Klinkhammer like with less floating power.

This pattern and those like it seem (more research on my part needs to happen) to be a key part in the evolution and thinking of developing patterns to imitate emergers. This pattern influenced Austin (Tups creator), Halford, Skues and Leisenring beyond Taverner. My Taverner book is from 1939 but I see in his writing in the 20’s the same comments. Austin is an interesting character because he was in the military but on retirement settled on the Exe in Devonshire and combines those traditions with others in England. Austin was older than Skues but influential in Skues’ ideas and tying developments/improvements for mostly dries but more as well.

I think no one has proven an advantage to an up eye hook. There was a belief it led to better hook ups and so was in fashion for a time. I am sure there are those today that have their beliefs either way. Leisenring and Hidy used both so I would say up to you on what you believe or prefer. I chose it for more a “traditional” look nothing more. Light wire (dry fly hooks) vs heavier wire for wet/nymph is perhaps more important of a decision depending on where in the water column you want to fish. Of course there are other methods to sink a fly deeper when using a light wire so perhaps that is the most versatile style. Experiment and find what works best for you and where you fish.

@@stevetrybalski3082 thank you. Hope all is well!

Danke!

Thanks for watching!

Thank you! Cheers!

LOL! It is fun to look back at these older videos and see how far I have come...obviously more room still to improve! I was just at a friends recently looking over his collection of flies tied by legends from 1800-1950s zone and while many are astonishingly impressive...many are also not macro photography, FB, KZbin, IG "worthy" by current standards. As many of the old authors suggested...fly shop flies and I'd argue social media flies are intended to catch anglers.

@flyanorak I agree. They are pretty, works of art by skilled craftsmen. But I was a fisherman first. My first fish a trophy, in the eyes of a 10 year old, yellow perch that curved around the little 🪣 bucket filled with water. I set out with a 3 foot twig, kite string, and a safety pin baited with a piece of beef fat. Inspired from watching Our Gang Comedy on the B&W TV. Luckily for me a neighbor in the next cabin stopped me and tied some mono to my stick along with a real hook. This happened in the Adirondacks on the Fulton Chain of Lakes. Tying flys and fishing them came much later, but still part of my fishing enjoyment. Thanks for expanding my education and journey.

Thanks!

Give it a go. The first wraps of hackle through the thorax are done in a spiral so NOT touching turns. At the end before tying off you do a couple touching turns. That is what I am trying to explain by using the word palmer. Sorry if that was confusing - hopefully the visual clarifies things.

Thank you kindly

Awesome! Thank you!

Thanks! Cutcliffe specifically mentioned preferring the Kirby bend so I had to get some! 😂

Perhaps! The box does not say anything. The ones I have are silver in color so not bronzed. 🤷‍♂️

Thanks for the tip! Some say Pine squirrel too 🤷‍♂️. Having never seen or used the original fur I cannot comment. I just hope hard to source materials don’t hold people back from using these patterns.

Get that sign up! :)

@@flyanorak :)

Great comment! Thanks for sharing. A tenkara angler shared with me this same method years ago - apologies to that person I cannot recall your name - and I have done that before it works great. My one suggestion for that method is to leave the cut parts longer than you think and the collar part fuller as you can always remove later but cannot add back! Thanks again!

Thank you! Cheers!

Many thanks!

Glad you are enjoying it! I am having some fun too! I have one more coming then off to something else...but what?

Thanks!

Thanks! Just to be transparent, I am not qualified to give lessons and I am not an expert...just sharing my personal journey as a "hobbyist" reading a book about French fly patterns I like. It could be full of errors! :) Have fun out there!