Alder Fly

This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Alder Fly.

Alder Fly | www.johnkreft.com

This fly is an old English fly pattern that is hundreds of years old. In fact, some quick Internet research suggests it may have been developed around 1496 when it was included in Dame Juliana Berners first fly fishing book Fysshe and Fysshynge.

I wonder if there is a similar fly in one of my Antique Fly Wallets. Other old fly wallets can be found at Antique Fly Wallets Revisited. I’ll have to check.

I have to be honest. I’ve never fished this fly. Found it and if I were to fish if, I’d do so during a caddis hatch.

I think it would catch fish!

Similar Posts

  • Lunn’s Particular

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Lunn’s Particular. William J. Lunn was the river keeper for the Houghton Club’s fifteen mile stretch of the river Test in England from 1887 through 1931, a total of 45 years.  Lunn is credited with the first representation of the Rusty Spinner. The fly design incorporates a key component…

  • Gordon Fancy Atlantic Salmon Fly

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Gordon Fancy Atlantic Salmon fly. This is one of five Atlantic Salmon flies my friend Jim Fisher purchased during his 1986 fishing trip on the river Spey in Strathspey, Scotland and the last TBT post of these Atlantic Salmon flies. You might have seen the other flies…

  • Silver Admiral Steelhead Fly

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Silver Admiral steelhead fly. I tied this pin recently for my wife as she left to lead a Casting for Recovery retreat. I thought it appropriate to highlight this Polly Rosborough fly as the first TBT fly in October to bring recognition to breast cancer awareness month….

  • Bailey’s Light Cahill

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Bailey’s Light Cahill. This fly pictured above was from a collection of flies tied by Dan Bailey. I was fortunate to be able to photograph a total of nine Bailey flies, a Grey Hackle, Dark Cahill, Black Gnat, Black Bivisible, Blonde Wulff, Fan Wing Royal Coachman, Mosquito, Ginger Quill and this Light Cahill. I’ve featured…

  • Barr’s Meat Whistle TBT

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Barr’s Meat Whistle TBT. I tied this fly recently for a customer and thought it a good candidate for my TBT post. John Barr started developing the Meat Whistle in 2002. He spent two years tweaking the fly and fishing it alongside his normal spinning rod jig. It…

  • Preparing for October Caddis

    It might be a little early to begin talking about and preparing for October Caddis, but while fishing last week, we happened to see a large number of caddis cases … big caddis cases … attached to a rock partially submerged in the water. It looked as though someone had collected all of them and…

2 Comments

  1. Hi John,

    The Alder Fly tied as a wet fly and also as a streamer has long been a favorite. Al’s largest river trout (in his life) was taken on an Alder Fly wet-style pattern from the Clark Fork River in north Idaho in 1988. We like to tie the streamer version with a brown or white calf tail wing. Take care & …
    Tight Lines – (Gretchen &) Al Beatty

    Reply

    1. Thanks for the comment Al!

      Your comment is EXACTLY why I enjoy posting older flies. It seems to strike chords/memories in fly fishers and I’m the recipient of their stories! I really enjoy them.

      Thanks again.

      John

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *