This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Dette Caddis.
The Dette Caddis is another fly I found in Eric Leiser’s book about Walt and Winnie Dette and their daughter Mary Dette Clark and their impact on classic Catskill flies. The book is entitled The Dettes – A Catskill Legend (1992).
On the instruction page about how to tie the fly, it states:
“After having seen numerous caddis imitations cross their threshold, for the last fifteen years the Dettes have been touting one of their own design.”
By my calculation, if I subtract 15 years from the copyright of 1992, the Dette Caddis was created around 1977.
Here is the materials:
Hook:
Egg sac:
Body:
Wing:
Hackle:
Mustad 94840, size 12 – 18
Olive chenille, medium
Muskrat
Hungarian Partridge
Brown and dun
The Dettes were always willing to share their tying instructions and Leiser’s book is a wealth of information.
Half the book is an excellent read about the Dette’s role in creating and continuing the Catskill fly influence. The other half provides details about fly patterns and the techniques Walt and Winnie used to create their flies.
Other flies included in the technique section include the Light Hendrickson, the Delaware Adams, the Coffin Fly, a Fan-Wing Coachman, the Gray Fox Variant, the Conover, the Spotter Midge, and the Dette Beetle.
The Dettes sold their flies from home in Roscoe, NY. I believe their house and vises were at the epicenter of fly tying and were known as “the world’s leading dry-fly-tying experts.”
Here is a link to the Dette Fly Shop along with a little more information about them from their website:
Established in 1928, Dette Trout Flies is the oldest family run fly shop in the world, now in our 93nd year. Our mission has always been, and always will be, to supply the fly fishing community with the finest products and service. Every fly we sell is either tied in house or by a handful of select domestic tiers.
In Spring 2018 to commemorate 90 years in business we have opened a larger location in Livingston Manor with the goal to provide a welcoming space to display our ever growing selection of flies, fly tying materials, and fly fishing gear. Our inventory is solely comprised only of products that meet our demand for high quality standards. The Roscoe store is closed.
Enjoy…go fish!
