This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Shakey Beeley soft hackle.
The Shakey Beeley is another wonderful fly pattern from Blue Ribbon Flies in West Yellowstone, MT. And this specific fly was purchased there a few years ago for a pattern for me to use. It’s one of THE flies used when fishing for fall-run Brown and Rainbow trout on the Madison River in Yellowstone National Park.
This fly pattern can be found in Fly Patterns of Yellowstone – Volume 2 (2008) by Craig Mathews and John Juracek. It’s listed as Shakey Beeley, but I believe the current spelling is Shakey Bealy. Either way, it’s an effective fly.
The story as told in their book goes like this…
Many years ago they came upon a fly fisher named Mr. Whitman from Missouri who had been fishing a specific spot since the late 1940’s. He showed them the fly and explained how he fished it. He was standing in Beeley’s Run on the Madison. A separate story is Shakey Beeley was a Yellowstone National Park Ranger in the 1940’s. Shakey was his nickname because his hands shook with excitement as he landed big fish! (For more of the story, pick up a copy of Fly Patterns of Yellowstone – Volume 2 from Blue Ribbon Flies.)
In any event, the story was relayed to their well-known guide Nick Nicklas who developed this version of the Shakey Beeley.
Perhaps I should try another fly fishing road trip next week! I better check the calendar.
Enjoy…go fish!
