Trout Lures
Trout Lures – Dry Flies – A Short History of My Top 5
The history of trout lures is long and exciting and there have been some wonderful creations made over the years. In this article I will discuss the history of 5 of my personnel favourites:
Parachute Adams
Leonard Hallady created the first Adams dry fly in 1922. It was named in honour of his good friend Judge Charles F Adams who was also an enthusiastic angler who loved trout fishing. It was created to lure the newly introduced brown trout on the Boardman River in northern lower Michigan. Since then it has spread right around the world and is a firm favourite.
It was first tied to look like a caddisfly with its wings buzzing and the smoke of mixed browns and grizzly hackle does a first class job of that. Its mayfly shape adds to its effectiveness and leads to it being a first rate searching fly on any kind of water.
Because of the Adams' success, there have been many variations on the original, including an Adam's Irresistible, Adam's midge, Adams Thorax, Golden Adams, Swedish Adams, Down Wing Adams, Poly Adams, Lady Adams, Teal Wing Adams, Blue-wing Adams, Western Adams, and more.
Royal Wulff
The Royal Wulff can trace its history back to the Royal Caochman. It was originally a wet fly from Great Britain (called the British Coachman), but was adapted to be a dry fly in the United States by Theodore Gordon. In 1876 John Hailey who was a professional fly dresser added the red silk band to create the distinctive ‘royal’ appearance. His dry fly ahs lead to a whole range of varieties including hairwings and streamers.
It is a misconception that Lee Wulff created the Royal Wulff. It was in-fact first tied by Reuben Cross who was asked by Q L Quackenbush to produce a more robust version of the fanwinged Royal Coachman. He found the wings of the original to fragile. Cross used Impela tail which was ideal for the task. He finished product looked very similar to the Gray and White Wulff, which was originally created by Lee Wulff and this is how the Royal Wulff eventually got its name.
It is most suitable to be used as a searching fly in rough water with its approximation to the shape of a mayfly dun.
Humpy
The origin of the Humpy fly is a debatable matter. Some argue that it is devised from an amalgamation of Jack Horner’s Deer Hair pattern and the easy to tie Tom Thumb. Others attribute is to 1940’s Montana guide and tier Keith Kenyon. Leonard Allan has also been credited with its design as he was tying in selling Humpy’s in the late 1940’s.
It floats particularly well in tough water due to its construction from deer or elk hair. The Humpy is a suggestive fly which looks like a beetle or grasshopper.
Hendrickson
The Hendrickson was created by Roy Steenrod of Liberty, New York and we will leave the story of its birth to him:
'One day in 1916, while we were fishing the Beaverkill below the junction pool at Roscoe, a hatch of flies came on. We had never seen the fish rise so freely for any fly as they did for this hatch. I caught one of the flies and put it into my fly box, and after lunch that day at Ferdon's I tied some patterns of the fly as nearly as I could. We took fish with fly day in and day out, and for years it proved to be a killer and is so today. One day, while sitting on the bank of the stream perhaps two years after I had tied the first patterns, the matter was brought up as to which I would call or name the fly. Looking at A.E., the best friend a person could ever wish to have, I said, 'the fly is the Hendrickson.' I saw at once that A.E. was pleased.’
Elk Wing Caddis
The Elk Wing Caddis is rather a ‘Johnny Come Lately’ when compared to the veterans discussed above. It was created by Al Troth and first care to public prominence in 1978 when it was featured in ‘The Fly Tier Quarterly’. Its popularity is due to its resemblance to an abundance of caddisflies.
