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

  • Stalcup’s Emergent Cripple Dun

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Stalcup’s Emergent Cripple Dun. I decided it was time to feature another Shane Stalcup fly. I first learned of Stalcup’s flies in his book Mayflies “Top to Bottom” (2002). I thought it was interesting looking at the materials he used to create close imitations to the real insects. It was…

  • Matts Fur

    Here is a Matts Fur fly I tied and fished in the 1970’s. Found it in Kaufmann’s Tying Nymphs book which was my bible in those days.  It still works! Use it for a Golden Stone nymph imitation.

  • Juan’s Condor Nymph

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Juan’s Condor Nymph. OK, it might not be a true Throw Back Fly, bit it fits my theme of our recent trip to Argentina. Juan Carlos Carrera was one of our guides from SET Fly Fishing during our stay at Estancia Chochoy Mallin in NW Argentina. He pulled…

  • Purple Serendipity

    This week’s post presents Serendipity fly variations, including my favorite, the $3 Dip. If you are a regular here at RiverKeeper Flies, you have seen pictures of the $3 Dip as well as a few pics of the fly in a fish or two.  Last week at our fly club’s Winter Fly Tying class, one of…

  • Ray Bergman Irish Turkey

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Ray Bergman Irish Turkey. I haven’t posted a Ray Bergman wet fly in awhile. I returned from our fly fishing road trip to Montana last week and needed to get back to fly tying, so I thought a quick wet fly would be nice to tie. The…

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 *