"Shave the Whales"...

In the 1960's tobacco was still ubiquitous and the pipe was the standard ornament of the fly fisherman. Sure, some of the fly tiers of those days would have ashtrays overflowing with half-smoked cigarettes and a few would light noxious cigars, but the pipe was definitely king for the outdoorsman. "If you can keep your

Ed Koch

Dave Whitlock

The aromatic smoke provided a setting for an art far removed from the fly tying of today. Then, we used silk thread - Nylon stretched too much - and we waxed our own thread. Bobbins were available, but they were large red plastic ovoids weighing enough to snap the finer silk, or constructed of bent brass tubing which never held tension properly and cut thread mercilessly. Most of us used a length of thread cut from the spool and one or two clothespins, sometimes weighted, to hold it taut while tying. If we were tying at our own table we might have a pair of buttons nailed to the table, around which we could wrap the thread between operations. Still, we usually threw a half-hitch on the fly after each bit of material was secured... the thread frequently frayed from rough hands and snapped, so intermittent knotting was good security.

Our tinsel was metal, sometimes sharp enough to cut through the tying thread. It rusted quickly, even during use for those tiers with acidic hands. We used a lot of raffia in those days, you don't see that much anymore. Another obsolete body material was kapok fiber, great for life preservers and dry fly bodies.

Hooks were usually Mustad and of such variable quality that most of the older tiers would test-bend each hook before tying. The barbs were huge, but crushing them was likely to result in snapping the hook. Commercial hook quality was so low overall that Charles Brooks was still able to write in the 1970's about his technique for making dry fly hooks from piano wire. There was, however, a wide variety of hooks. For example, the barbless hook with a bump in place of the barb was somewhat popular, and the parachute fly could only be tied on a special hook with a metal post one third of the length back from the eye - no-one had thought of tying "posts" onto a plain hook.

Our use of natural materials was far different than today. Had anyone determined that a "Spottley Upright Dry" could only be properly tied with the hair of newborn right whales, whales from Pole to Pole would be in danger of a shaving. When we used Marabou, it might have been from the Marabou Stork, not a domestic turkey. An entire Blue Chatterer skin was only 77 cents. Cassowary Hackle (from the emu-like bird of New Guinea) was 3 feathers for 12 cents. The price of Condor quills shot up to $2.25 per quill when their import was blocked. Fortunately, Florican Bustard quills were still only 12 cents apiece.

Hairs and furs were abundant. Herter's carried sixteen different varieties of squirrel tails and four varieties of fox tails. Full skins of Sacred African Monkey, Black African Monkey, Silver Monkey, and African Golden Monkey (all trade names) could be had for as little as 95 cents. Seal fur was preferred dubbing and readily available. Polar bear, Musk ox, and anteaters all contributed to our tying boxes, albeit unwillingly.

For all the opportunities that pillaging the natural world provided, we couldn't get decent hackle. Indian gamecock was our usual source of hackle, and those feathers were short and webby at best. The length of each barb varied tremendously down the length of the quill, the barbs were sparce, and the webbing seldom permitted a usable hackle of more than an inch.

So, what is my fly tier's heaven - the natural materials of fifty years ago with the hooks and hackles of today. Oh, and a pipe smoke that is both healthy and serves as a weight loss drug.