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

  • Chartreuse Humpy

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Chartreuse Humpy. I’ve featured the Humpy as a TBT fly back in April 2015. But I chose this fly to highlight the importance of what fly tyers call “variant”.  A “variant” gives the fly tyer the ability to change something on the original. Many times the change is as…

  • San Juan Worm

    San Juan Worm. Yup, a worm is this week’s Throw Back Thursday fly from the archives. Developed in the 1970’s by Jim Aubrey for the San Juan River in New Mexico, it’s accounted for many fish and worked so well, the “San Juan Shuffle” is outlawed on some rivers. The “Shuffle” is a technique where…

  • John Shewey’s Spawning Purple Steelhead Fly

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is John Shewey’s Spawning Purple Steelhead fly. I recently finished tying an order of a half dozen Shewey’s Spawning Purple steelhead flies. Shewey created this fly in the mid-1980’s and tells the story of creating this variant of Dave McNeese’s Spawning Purple. McNeese’s version utilized a tail of orange-dyed…

  • Bergman’s Ibis and White

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Ray Bergman’s Ibis and White. Bergman’s Ibis and White is a wet fly listed in his book entitled Trout (1940 – fourth printing) on page 64, Plate No. 4. As I’ve mentioned many times, I enjoy highlighting a Bergman wet fly because it forces me to sit down and tie…

  • LaFontaine Flex Damsel

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the LaFontaine Flex Damsel. The LaFontaine Flex Damsel represents the egg-laying phase of the adult. It’s that time of year when we begin to see a few damsel flies emerge. To learn more about these insects, be sure to read my Damsel Flies post. For complete tying instructions…

  • Mike Jacobs’ Blonde Goddess

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Mike Jacobs’ Blonde Goddess. I learned about this fly from a customer asking if I could tie the fly for him. He planned to fish for rainbow trout in the 14 to 24 inch range on a local river and thought this fly might work. Jacobs originally tied…

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 *