FLYMPHS and other soft-hackled flies

          This word (flymph) was coined by Vernon (Pete to his friends) S. Hidy in 1963 to describe a soft-hackled fly just about to reach the surface and transform into a mayfly or caddis (sedge). He became friends with an excellent fly fisher, Gunnar Johnson, here in Sweden and they were using letters to communicate. Finally in 1982 mr Johnson visited mr Hidy who was living in Boise, Idaho, at the time. Unfortunately Mr Hidy was quite ill at the time so they didn't fish together but they exchanged ideas about fly fishing and as it seems a lot about "The Flymph". Mr Hidy wanted Mr Johnson to publish a book about the subject since he himself couldn't because of his illness. It was published 1989.

My copy of the book

          Unfortunately Mr Hidy had passed away when it was published but he had read most of the material and also contributed with an introduction to a very special "book" namely "The Leisenring Color & Materials Book".

 

          Here at the right of the photo is the introduction of Vernon "Pete" S Hidy and to the left the first color charts of Leisenrings book.

          Here some feathers and hackles of various birds can be seen on the right page. On the other there are some dubbing brushes made with a dubbing block using Pearsalls Gossamer silk and some kind of fur. Everything written down so that James (or big Jim) Leisenring could have them with him and make comparisons with real insects and make his flies more like the actual insect. In my next post I'll get more into the benefits and lessons the authors wanted to underline with this book. So until the next post ...

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