Decided to try my hand at some oldschool stuff.

[gfen]

I like feather wings, its a damned shame I can't make them worth a damn. I spent last night making monstrosities of marabou, just masses of the stuff into articulated streamers because I thought I was going to hike into a spot along the Lehigh and Fishidiot's smallie thread had me thinking, but I didn't.

So, I figured I'd try to redeem myself to whatever Muse is in charge of fly tying today, and then I'd go out and actually fish them and hopefully charm a fish with their timeless design.

Clockwise from top left:
Dr. Burke: From Bergman's Trout.
Tippet and Silver. This was a wet fly I saw in Helen Shaw's Wet Flies for Fish and Fishermen. I think golden pheasant tippet is my favourite feather, and I thought this might make a nice streamer so I just tied it on a 6x hook.
Black Ghost: Another classic, also in Trout (go figure).
Tippet and Silver: This is the proper wet version as pictured in her book.

I fished the Tippet and Silver and Dr. Burke streamers, but no fish was interested in them.

No sense of history, these fish... Whatcha get for a brain the size of a pea.

 

[Alpabuck]

Neat looking flies for sure! You need a cane rod a cat gut leader and some brookies then you'd really have some history!

 

[gfen]

I'd teach myself to furl a horsehair leader if knew someone with a herd of Lipizzaner stallions to keep me in tail hairs.

 

[Fishidiot]

Classic streamers are beautiful and I really enjoy tying 'em...although mostly for decorative purposes. I usually don't fish with 'em. Some years ago, I tied up a Black Ghost with double side, authentic jungle **** eyes and fished it in Yellow Breeches. It had a long feather wing and actually looked very natural and enticing in the water. The trout loved it and I got lotsa hits but many short strikes. These days, from time to time, I'll tie on something like this and find they catch fish just fine. Feather wing streamers do tend to be fragile and they get all chewed up and frayed pretty quick.

 

[Van_Cleaver]

I just tied a couple of Professors, though I haven't fished any for a couple years, it's a great old time pattern. A friend shot a male Wood Duck, and I was able to pluck a nice supply of beautifully marked flank feathers. Think I'll tie up some Dark Cahills and Hendricksens while I'm at it. Sometime the wisest fish will turn into a sucker for a swung wet fly, especially when it's the first time it's ever been presented to them.

 

[gfen]

I've been talking with a friend of mine who's assured me I get the second woodduck's plumage he takes next year (the first is to be mounted), and a steady supply of urine stained fox hair from his trapping friends.

Beyond that, I've got another coworker out of state who's sending me a bag of macaw primaries in red, blue, yellow and green.

Sometimes, these things and more are all around you, you just don't realize it.

I've caught fish on featherwings tied with marabou, but I wanted to really try out some of the real classics. No one uses them, and I et a certain pleasure from throwing flies tied with materials no one uses lightly.

Of course, the day I hang 'em up in the rocks will kill me, but whatever.

 

[RLeep2]

One of my most cherished fishing possessions is a 13 fly shadow box of Carrie Stevens Maine streamers tied by Don Bastian. I bid on it and bought it at the auction at the 1987 Annual Meeting of PATU in Williamsport. Its just beautiful and has all these exotic Stevens patterns like the General MacArthur, Allie's Favorite, Green Beauty and others.

Of course, when I bid on it, I was so snorkled I could have been buying a mule for all I knew..

For a while after I brought it home, I called it the "Ethanol Miracle" when people would ask about it.

But I'm glad I got it and its been hanging on the office wall at home here ever since. Don's really an artist and a great guy.