mlwebb 0 Report post Posted March 5, 2011 Interesting note and original flies, thanks for posting. Michael Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jeremy Parker 0 Report post Posted March 5, 2011 Mvendon I agree with most of your information here except the part about other materials?? I took lessons from Mr Betters many yrs ago. The other material he liked to use if it was not a rabbits foot was actually groundhog! There is two shades of underfur on a ground hog both light brown and very dark brown! The key to this pattern was the natural oils within the fur! The original inspirasion for this fly came from one of his other patterns the hay stack !! Blessings Jeremy Hi Jeremy, Instead of trying to convince you or anyone else here, I took a picture of the note that he sent back to me so you can read it for yourself. I included some Usuals tied by him as well. You'll notice one that has a gray body. I bought that one from him back in the late '90's with a bunch of other patterns. The other Usuals he tied for me while I was in his old shop in October of 2003. He was tying the pattern with the bead on it. He called them Bead head Picket Finns. He didn't have any Usuals in his bins, and he asked me what pattern I was looking for. I told him I wanted about a half dozen Usuals and the size didn't matter since I use them for models anyway. He finished the Picket Finn he was tying, and just grabbed stuff for his Usuals and cranked 6 of them out in a matter of minutes. I've always been a big fan of him since that's the very first fly shop I ever went to when I started fly fishing. It's a shame he's not with us any more. I keep all of his patterns in the same film containers that he put them in. Sorry about the hijack, but I never stretch the truth or BS about anything I reply to on any of these forums, and never have. Regards, Mark Yes people do variations with there patterns to fit in with the times!! I don't feel hijacked what so ever when I tied this pattern with Fran back in the early eighties we tied it with the materials that I listed only!! And to quote his book "Substitute material for the rabbit's foot hair: The golden underfur from the woodchuck is also ideal to use" "If you desire to make a dark usual, use the base fur next to the woodchuck's body" I guess I offended you and that is not what I ment to do, Sorry!!! With Fran gone I'm looking at this with a historical point of view and don't want to loose the history of the pattern as we see happen so many time!!! Yes Fran was also one of my mentors too! Blessings, Jeremy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freddyg 0 Report post Posted March 8, 2011 I like the fly just the way it is tied. I can't figure how to do the body with the short fibers. could you help with an explanation. thanks fred Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mlwebb 0 Report post Posted March 8, 2011 Well, I'll tell you what I did, and then those who knew Fran can chime in with any suggestions. I got the body hair from the side of the heel of the foot, looking for shorter and finer hairs then the toe area, and then just lightly dubbed it on using the split thread technique and a little wax - I am guessing Fran probably just touch dubbed them. Michael Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
