This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Troutsman Hex.
I stayed at Slide Inn on the Madison River recently during our 2017 fly fishing road trip. One afternoon, I went to the shop and talked with Kelly about my Throw Back Thursday Fly feature and asked him if I could take pictures of a few of his flies. He graciously agreed and began telling me stories about his flies.
Originally I was after a few of his streamer fly patterns like the Zoo Cougar and T & A Leech, but he went into the back room and pulled out this used Hex for me as well.
I’m grateful he did!
If you look closely at the fly, notice the deer hair extending out the back of the fly. He believes this little trick adds to the fly’s flotation ability. In fact, I’ll be including another fly as a TBT that has the same feature.
Kelly developed this fly in the early 1970’s for the Manistee River in Michigan where his first fly shop, the Troutsman fly shop was located. He told me he purchased the Slide Inn on the Madison River in 2001 and moved to Montana in 2002.
The Troutsman Hex was produced by McKenzie Fly in the 1980’s before it was commonplace to include the developers name on the fly.
Galloup is the author of Cripples and Spinners (2001) and co-author of Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout (2004) with Bob Linsenman.
And here is a version Kelly called a Cripple or Spinner.
Enjoy…go fish!
