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

  • Dolly Llama Streamer Pattern

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Dolly Llama Streamer. There is quite an interesting story about the origin of the Dolly Llama Streamer. I use the Internet quite a bit when researching fly patterns to feature as a Throw Back Thursday Fly here on RiverKeeper Flies. The Dolly Llama is no exception. I…

  • The Rose

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is The Rose. The Rose is a fly from the collection of Mary Orvis Marbury. I’ll call it a “variant” as I didn’t have the original materials to tie the fly. I used a Golden Pheasant body feather for the hackle and added black ostrich herl at the head…

  • Bergman’s Yankee

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Ray Bergman’s Yankee. It’s been a while since I featured a classic Ray Bergman fly. The Yankee is a very simple soft hackle fly that is listed on Plate No.9, page 234 of Bergman’s Trout (1940 – fourth printing). As I’ve mentioned many times, I enjoy highlighting a Bergman…

  • Birds Nest

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Birds Nest, another one of Cal Bird’s inventions. The history for the Birds Nest is a little mixed up for me. I found three versions: So you pick which one you’d like to believe. Regardless, it was and still is a great pattern for multiple bugs if used…

  • Diving Damsel

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Diving Damsel nymph. I learned about the Diving Damsel nymph from a customer who contacted me to tie up a few custom flies. He had saved an article from the March/April 1997 edition of American Angler magazine. The article title was Designs on Damsels by John Shewey….

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 *