This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Steelhead Bee TBT, a fly tied by Roderick Haig-Brown (1908 – 1976).
I found this fly on a display at the International Federation of Fly Fishers Museum in Livingston, MT. It’s is one of several flies in a display entitled Roderick Haig-Brown His Tackle & His Flies.
I took this picture of the Steelhead Bee through the glass display in a dark room and I think it turned out quite well. It was one of several flies in the collection.
Be sure to check out my other Throw Back Thursday Fly posts of Haig-Brown flies, the Silver Lady, Silver Brown, and the Golden Girl.
Roderick Haig-Brown was born in England and spent his early years there, moving to Seattle, Washington to live with an uncle when 17 and worked in logging camps. He went to British Columbia when his US visa expired and worked as a logger, commercial fisherman, and guide. Haig-Brown returned to London in 1931, but soon returned to British Columbia where he later married his wife Ann and both of them settled into their home on the Campbell River on Vancouver Island. He lived on the Campbell River for the remainder of his life.
Haig-Brown was a prolific writer, publishing 23 books along with numerous articles and essays. His first book Silver: The Life of an Atlantic Salmon was published in 1931. Other favorite titles include Return to the River (1941), A River Never Sleeps (1946), Fisherman’s Spring (1951), Fisherman’s Winter (1954), Fisherman’s Summer (1959), and Fisherman’s Fall (1964).
Enjoy…go fish!
