a dry fly called the Dutchman

[Eperous]

Sunday I received a call from Dave Brandt of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild. Dave's purpose was to "catch up" and inquire about a Catskill dry fly called the Dutchman. It was reported to have been created by a tyer who lived in Walden, New York whose last name was Taylor. His full name might have been Frank Taylor.

The pattern calls for a ginger tail, ginger hackle, peacock herl body, and white calf tail wing. And, this dry might have been used to imitate caddis.

Does anyone know anything about this patter and/or Taylor?

Thanks in advance.

Ed

[Joe Fox]

A bunch. I think I know a member of the family who created the pattern. Somewhere around here I have a copy he gave me about the pattern. I will post it later, please remind me if I forget.

Joe

[Eperous]

A bunch. I think I know a member of the family who created the pattern. Somewhere around here I have a copy he gave me about the pattern. I will post it later, please remind me if I forget.

Joe

Thanks Joe... I will remember you, Brandt asked me to research it, and perhaps do a future column on it for the CFTG's Gazette if I was able to dig something up... by the way, watch for my next column in the January Gazette... you might be surprised, I hope I do this piece justice...

Ed

[Eperous]

Joe... I received an email from Ed Van Put on this pattern... with all the research he's done over the years, I though he might be a good source of info also... there is a Dutchman pictured in Art Lee's book, Fishing Dry Flies for Trout... page two of Lee's color plates, the pattern--- similar, but not not identical--- is on page 131.. the originator of this fly, also created another that Brandt told me about--- and Ed Van Put mentioned also... and lived in Walden, NY...

I think I can report back to Commander Brandt...

Ed

[Eperous]

The Dutchman...

Dutchman, #12 Mustad 94840.JPG (104.34 KiB) Viewed 1962 times

The March issue of the Gazette, the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild newsletter, will report on this, AND another somewhat noted Catskill dry fly, both tied by barbers from the Village of Walden...

Ed

[Allan]

It's always interesting about the origins of the 'who, what, when, where and why' a fly pattern was "CREATED"! If you had just photo'd that fly with no explanation and asked the 5 'W' questions, some might say that the 'who', 'when', 'where' was back in the early fly tying days in merry ole England. The 'what' was a plain old coachman. But what I find most interesting is the 'why'. For all that is known, perhaps the tier just didn't have the darker brown(coachman) hackle so he used what he had. Additionally, maybe the tier did not know how, didn't like to tie duck quill wings, didn't have white duck quills, or didn't think the quill wings would hold up. Maybe the tier only had some bucktail or whatever material was used for the wing. Actually, maybe the tier was just tying a 'Coachman' with the materials available to him at the time! Unless there's someone who happens to be a historical psychic, we'll never know. I wonder, if I tied a Hendrickson dry fly with the usual body and wings but I used dun hackle 2 shades lighter then typical, would it still be a Hendrickson?
No answers please. I get the idea.

Allan

[Eperous]

It's always interesting about the origins of the 'who, what, when, where and why' a fly pattern was "CREATED"! If you had just photo'd that fly with no explanation and asked the 5 'W' questions, some might say that the 'who', 'when', 'where' was back in the early fly tying days in merry ole England. The 'what' was a plain old coachman. But what I find most interesting is the 'why'. For all that is known, perhaps the tier just didn't have the darker brown(coachman) hackle so he used what he had. Additionally, maybe the tier did not know how, didn't like to tie duck quill wings, didn't have white duck quills, or didn't think the quill wings would hold up. Maybe the tier only had some bucktail or whatever material was used for the wing. Actually, maybe the tier was just tying a 'Coachman' with the materials available to him at the time! Unless there's someone who happens to be a historical psychic, we'll never know. I wonder, if I tied a Hendrickson dry fly with the usual body and wings but I used dun hackle 2 shades lighter then typical, would it still be a Hendrickson?
No answers please. I get the idea.

Yikes Allan, I was trying to plug the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild, which I thought you're a member of....

Ed

[Allan]

Hi,

I have fished the Catskill rivers, most notably the Neversink, since my boyhood in the 1950s! I am a member of the Guild and have been one since about 1998. To my own disappointment, I don't get to the meetings as I did several years ago. Nor for that matter do I get down to fish the Catskills either. However, I still take great pride in my membership and especially the great work put into the excellent publication, the Gazette. I actually look forward to getting and reading every issue. I love the history of flies, especially Catskill Style and Catskill Patterns. So what did I say that in any way detracts from these comments?

It was written in one of the posts above that, "about a Catskill dry fly called the Dutchman. It was reported to have been created by a tyer who lived in Walden, New York whose last name was Taylor. His full name might have been Frank Taylor.

The pattern calls for a ginger tail, ginger hackle, peacock herl body, and white calf tail wing. And, this dry might have been used to imitate caddis." I've got to say that I stand by what I wrote and I'll even add that the fly pictured looks nothing like any 'typical' caddis that I see being fished.

Allan

[Eperous]

It was written in one of the posts above that, "about a Catskill dry fly called the Dutchman. It was reported to have been created by a tyer who lived in Walden, New York whose last name was Taylor. His full name might have been Frank Taylor.

The pattern calls for a ginger tail, ginger hackle, peacock herl body, and white calf tail wing. And, this dry might have been used to imitate caddis." I've got to say that I stand by what I wrote and I'll even add that the fly pictured looks nothing like any 'typical' caddis that I see being fished.

The first post on 12/22/14--- which you quote above--- was a question seeking information about a fly pattern brought to the attention of the Guild, which I was asked to look into... the 12/22 post contains the limited the information known about the dry fly at that time... Since then, research was done, information found, and confirmed by a couple sources with an end result being reported upon in the March issue of the Gazette, which Bud has my input for...

[Allan]

It was written in one of the posts above that, "about a Catskill dry fly called the Dutchman. It was reported to have been created by a tyer who lived in Walden, New York whose last name was Taylor. His full name might have been Frank Taylor.

The pattern calls for a ginger tail, ginger hackle, peacock herl body, and white calf tail wing. And, this dry might have been used to imitate caddis." I've got to say that I stand by what I wrote and I'll even add that the fly pictured looks nothing like any 'typical' caddis that I see being fished.

The first post on 12/22/14--- which you quote above--- was a question seeking information about a fly pattern brought to the attention of the Guild, which I was asked to look into... the 12/22 post contains the limited the information known about the dry fly at that time... Since then, research was done, information found, and confirmed by a couple sources with an end result being reported upon in the March issue of the Gazette, which Bud has my input for...

...... and, which I cannot wait to read