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"The History of Fly-fishing In Fifty Flies" by Ian Whitelaw

30 something pages in and I'm enjoying it all. Lots of illustrations, book is moving along nicely.

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Got to get it! Thanks for sharing!

kickingback wrote:Got to get it! Thanks for sharing!

The book is full of interesting people that pushed boundaries and often went against conventional wisdom. James Ogden was one such character. He gets a lot of credit for developing or at least improving the dry fly. In one spectacular mid 19th century show down, a sort of horse versus the locomotive moment for fly fishing, Ogden was challenged by a local group of anglers on a chalk stream in England that he couldn't catch a trout on any fly. let alone a dry fly, during the major hatch of mayflies that was occurring. It was considered impossible to use an artificial fly to catch a fish when the natural bait was super abundant. He picked out a rising trout, made his cast upstream, and immediately got the take as the fly hit the water. He did this several more times in quick succession to the astonishment of the audience of naysayers. One commentator said that he feared for every trout in the river and only when Ogden fell in the chilly waters did the slaughter end.

That was the beginning of the end of the use of natural bait in the trout streams of England.

I’ll have to check it out. I LOVE old fishing books. Most of our “new” and “cutting edge”’ideas and techniques have been around a LOONNNG time under different names.


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I thought I had this book but apparently I don't. I guess I need to order one.

Just got back from a jaunt to College Station with mrs. Cuervo. We hit a used book store as is our wont and I scored this for $3.00

Published in ‘81 and has some old classic patterns like Bob Good’s caddis. I’m a happy guy today.


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Nice find!

That woolly worm Cuervo tied (I’m interested in the hook size, too, my guess is a 6 ) has its origins in England in the 17th Century and the original tier remains anonymous. This is according to the “The History of Fly Fishing in Fifty Flies”. It was called a Palmer-Worm and was made to mimic woolly caterpillars then called “Palmer worms” after the pilgrims returning from Holy Land then known as ”Palmers” for their habit of returning with palm leaves. What the woolly worms and the pilgrims or palmers had in common was a habit of traveling in groups and devouring everything in their paths.

The original recipe had deep red mohair for a body, brown red cock’s hackle wrapped forward ( now called palmered hackle) red silk thread and black silk for the head. Gold wire could be added as an optional rib. Hooks then were hand made from bent and tempered needles and the barbs were hand cut. There were no eyes on hooks then. The line was horsehair whipped to the hook or wire if it was Pike you were after.

“Palmer” from the palm fronds...I honestly had NO idea that’s where the noun and verb (to Palmer a hackle) comes from! Linguistic evolution is FASCINATING!! Awesome find and post, Karst!


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Karstopo, thanks for the recommendation. My copy just arrived and I can already see it will be one of my favorite books.

Cliff