Fly Tying Kits: A Retrospective

Recently for the weekly
Field & Stream vintage tackle contest, a gentleman submitted a neat 1960s Fly Tying Kit. These all-in-one kits were offered by many companies, so I thought I would give a little retrospective history of these kits. They were originally offered in the 1920s and by the 1950s were common, with a dozen or more companies offering their particular models.


Many of these kits were used by Boy Scout troops. In fact, they became so popular that the Boy Scouts themselves began to sell an official fly tying kit. This one dates from the 1950s.


Not surprisingly, Worth of Steven's Point, Wisconsin offered a large kit -- they were manufacturers of much of the tackle hardware used in the industry.



H.J. Noll was a world-class supplier of fly tying materials out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from the 1920s onward. It offered numerous kits over the years, including these two.


Perhaps the most commonly found fly tying kit are those of Tack-L-Tyers of Evanston, Illinois. From the 1930s onward, this was among the best selling kits for the next four decades. This particular model, with the pictorial box, was used for 20 or more years.


Hank Roberts was a fly tier who started a company in Boulder, Colorado. By the 1950s, he was known for his modestly priced tied flies; he offered fly tying kits as well. Eventually Arbogast purchased Hank Roberts.


The Wapsi Fly Company was founded in Mountain Home, Arkansas, by Lacey Gee in 1945. Named after the Wapsipinicon River near his home in Iowa, and it grew into the largest wholesaler of fly-tying materials in the world. They offered innumerable kits such as this.


Ned Grey founded Sierra Tackle in Montrose, California after World War II. It grew into a large distributor of fly tying materials. The Ned Grey kits were popular in the 1960s.


Kits are still being sold today, such as this Raymond Rumpf fly tying kit.


This Regal kits (I believe) was manufactured overseas.


Even big trade houses, like Abercrombie & Fitch and L.L. Bean, offered fly tying kits.

One of the largest kit sellers was Herter's of Waseca, Minnesota. It was from Herter's that I got all my fly tying materials as a kid, and as I've written about before, ended up with so much of their excess stock after they went out of business I still have massive cases of it in my basement.

It's a great gift for kids of any age, and I hope some of you will consider tracking one day and gifting it to a child in your life!

-- Dr. Todd

Voices from the Past: Death of a Fly Tying Expert (1887)

Voices from the Past: Death of a Fly Tying Expert (1887)

We know the names of so few professional fly tiers in the Victorian era, that when we can match a name to a firm it is a kind of small miracle. I ran across the following obituary entitled "Death of a Fly-Tying Expert" in The New York Times dated 02 June 1887. It details in brief the life of Michael Morrison, who we can now add to the list of expert tiers from the dawn of the professional fly tying era.

Death of a Fly Tying Expert

Michael Morrison, a man known to hundreds of anglers and employed by Abbey & Imbrie, of Vesey-Street, was found dead in bed yesterday morning of heart disease. Mr. Morrison was nearly 70 years old, and for the last 25 years he was engaged in tying salmon flies, his skill in the arty being regarded as greater than that of anybody else in the country. "Mike" Morrison, as everybody called him, knew all about the habits and tastes of a salmon, his knowledge having been gained in Ireland, where he was born, and in Scotland. His flies were so wonderfully attractive to the fish that anglers were always glad to get possession of them, and he had many applications from enthusiastic fishermen who desired to sit at his feet and learn his art. He leaves a widow and family.

Keep in mind he was important enough to warrant a fairly lengthy obituary in The Times. I would love to see some of Morrison's work, as it sounds like it would be spectacular. If you happen across any Abbey & Imbrie salmon flies--or pre-1875 Andrew Clerk & Co. counterparts--you may very well be holding an example from the hands of Mike Morrison.

-- Dr. Todd

Thursday Review: Classic Fly Tying Web Site

Thursday Review: The Classic Fly Tying Web Site

Lately I have been getting interested in the history of fly patterns and fly tying (you may have noticed a few historical pieces on the subject in the Voices from the Past feature). A relatively new web site that should be of broad interest to fishing historians, anglers, and collectors alike is the Classic Fly Tying board.


One of the things I like about this site is that it does not have an overwhelming number of forums; it has four--one on Classic Streamer & Wet Fly Patterns, a Classic & Artistic Salmon Fly Tying forum, one for trading and swapping, and a Lodge where you can chat about anything at all.

The Classic & Artistic Fly Tying shows off the skills of these tiers very well, and some of them are incredibly original and offer up new patterns. My interests, however, tend more towards the Classic Streamer & Wet Fly Patterns. I posted earlier this year for information on a Dr. Fowler fly--named after the great Alonzo H. Fowler, rod and reel maker from Ithaca, New York--and got an absolutely great reception. Two gentlemen undertook to tie the Fowler fly for me so I could use it in my new book Forgotten Fly Rods: Overlooked and Underappreciated American Fishing Rod Makers.


The Fowler Fly as envisioned by expert tier Royce Stearns
There is much that can be learned for any angler or collector--information about tackle icons like Ray Bergman, for example, abound. As an aside, you'll often see the acronym "M.O.M." or just MOM. This is short for Mary Orvis Marbury, who put together the first extent fly tying pattern book that serves as a seminal source for us even today.

So wade in, dig around, and before you know it, you may even break out that old Herter's vice and start tying off a few patterns of your own.

-- Dr. Todd

Voices from the Past: A Disabled Fly Tier

I ran across this article from The Ironwood Daily Globe dated 16 April 1948 and found it both inspirational and interesting. Of course, women have been involved in fly tying since the days of Dame Juliana, but this one had a neat twist--disabled since 14, Faith Fitzpatrick went on to become an established tackle maker out of her wheelchair. Here it the short text that accompanied the article:

ONE GIRL FACTORY

Faith Fitzpatrick's "one girl trout fly tying factory" in Millersburg, Mich., is busy these April days turning out Royal Coachman, Gray Fox, RB Blue Fox, Squirrel Tails and other trout flies—both wet and dry. Faith, 33, operates her fly tying factory from a wheelchair. She had suffered a crushed spine beneath a switch engine in a gravel pit accident when she was 14 and her legs have been paralyzed ever since.



-- Dr. Todd

Voices from the Past: Indian Feather Merchant

If you ever thought outsourcing was just the scourge of the 21st century, guess again. Here is an article run in the 02 June 1971 Tri-City Herald describing how one American fly tier--Dennis Black--contracted with an Indian feather merchant to tie flies. It heralded a move that eventually saw most of the large-scale fly tying companies move overseas.

A feather merchant from India is in the United States, learning from a Roseburg businessman how to tempt and deceive.

Joga Rao sits daily in a cramped back room, learning the intricate art of tying flies — tiny lures resembling insects that tempt and deceive fish.

But what is an Indian feather merchant doing in the Umpqua Valley community of Roseburg and why does he want to learn to tie flies?

Dennis Black, who makes and sells nearly 200,000 flies a year in his factory-shop, traveled last summer to India and purchased some feathers — an intregal part of flies.

There he met Rao.

After a lengthy discussion of the fly tying business and some planning, Rao decided to spend four months in Roseburg, learning the business so he could establish his own fly tying factory.

It is the first visit to the United States by the 36-year-old Rao since he received his master's degree in business administration from the University of Cincinnati.

Although Rao has a degree in chemistry and "could probably have started making chemicals for a chemical company," he went into the feather business with his father. He describes it as "a profitable business, a good business."

Rao and his father sell mostly peacock and rooster feathers and most of the business is exporting them to fly tying shops around the world.

Peacock feathers are plentiful in India where it is the national bird, protected by the government. The peacock sheds its tail feathers, providing the source of most of Rao's material.

By producing flies, Rao will be making use of his own raw materials instead of exporting most of them.

And fly tying is also a profitable business. Black says his flies bring about 65 cents each on the retail market.

Rao, after only a month's practice, can turn out an expertly tied fly in just three minutes.

Rao says he will establish his factory in Katmandu, the capital of neighboring Nepal, because of India's restrictive import laws. He will need to import steel hooks from Norway and pieces of muskrat, beaver and raccoon fur from other countries.

With an anticipated annual production of 600,000 flies, Rao plans to export most of them to the United States where sportsmen are "more interested in sport fishing than anyone else in the world," Rao says.

Black will handle the marketing details in this country.

Rao says he expects the first flies from his factory to be ready next January.

-- Dr. Todd