Tying by the book

[niveker 0]

 NIce, thanks for those links Flytire.    

I'm assuming that's your tie?  The pattern exactly as descibed near the end of the first video.  

EDIT: Nevermind, just read your last sentence.  

Edited August 23, 2023 by niveker

[flytire 0]

yup, thats what i said at the end of the recipe

[cphubert 0]

Nice post Norm, I had never seen the grandson's videos before. I had seen a few pictures of the original pattern, never tied one myself, nor have I ever used wool yarn for the body one seems to forget that 100 years ago things where much simpler and the idea was to catch dinner not tie a presentation. Thank you for this post and your time to search the history.

3 hours ago, flytire said:

yup, thats what i said at the end of the recipe

 

[Gene L 0]

Thanks to all who responded to the evolution of the Adams.  Bob Jacklin ties the Adams spent, like the original and like the grandson does.  I like to be able to use golden pheasant for the tail.

[gadabout 0]

I generally stick to the established pattern.  If I don’t have the materials on hand for a particular fly, then there are plenty of other flies I can tie until I get them.  Too much substitution causes fly patterns to evolve away from their original design.  This just causes confusion.  If you change materials on a fly, give it a different name.

[niveker 0]

10 hours ago, gadabout said:

Too much substitution causes fly patterns to evolve away from their original design.  This just causes confusion.  If you change materials on a fly, give it a different name.

I mostly agree with you.  But its always been my opinion, especially when it comes to some of the older patterns, that material substitutions were common (and expected), if for no other reason than the vast number of material we have to choose from today were not available to tyers back in the day.  They tied with what they could get their hands on.  

Taking the Adams again, for example.  If I tie the body with gray kapok dubbing and use a Cree hackle, should it have a different name?  Does using those materials even warrant the 'variant' disclaimer?  IMO, it doesn't.  But on a site like this, devoted predominantly to tying flies, I appreciate when the substitutions are mentioned in the recipes.    

[Sandan 0]

8 hours ago, niveker said:

I mostly agree with you.  But its always been my opinion, especially when it comes to some of the older patterns, that material substitutions were common (and expected), if for no other reason than the vast number of material we have to choose from today were not available to tyers back in the day.  They tied with what they could get their hands on.  

Taking the Adams again, for example.  If I tie the body with gray kapok dubbing and use a Cree hackle, should it have a different name?  Does using those materials even warrant the 'variant' disclaimer?  IMO, it doesn't.  But on a site like this, devoted predominantly to tying flies, I appreciate when the substitutions are mentioned in the recipes.    

Ditto

[Poopdeck 0]

Recipes/patterns are simply a guideline.  I only care if something I tie catches fish not if some fly tier somewhere thinks I tied a fly correctly according to how someone else tied it. The actual material or if I tied it with an exact hook gap length hackle does not cause me to lose sleep. It’s all just guidelines.

[Gene L 0]

I agree with niveker,  The Adams of today is significantly different from an early Adams and the change has been so gradual that it's escaped notice.  Additionally, near enough to the original pattern or material is near enough for me.  I suppose on this Fly tying  board where tying among some seems to trump fishability, there is more taste for style over practicability.