Fly tying materials 50 years ago?

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

At the Tower of Sports on Howe Avenue I was allowed to manage the fishing department.

Every week I ordered more fly tying materials because that is what was selling.

The general fishing tackle kept shrinking week by week.

We became the best place to go for fly tying materials.

We bought prepackaged materials from old companies like "Hackle House", "Hashes Herl & Hackle", "Buz's",

Don Fraser in Rough and Ready.

Much of what you buy today did not even exist.


Just found this today in my stash.........

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[JasonB]

You could probably sell that “vintage” chenille for a lot more than 25 Cents nowadays. I’m surprised you haven’t used it all up in all the years, it looks like good stuff.

[mike borba]

I was sorting through my packages of dry fly dubbing last night and came across a bag of rust colored Fly-rite dubbing. It still has the $.50 sticker on it. Must be 40 years old.

[DLJeff]

A trip down memory lane. It's cool when you find stuff like that - conjures up old memories of the first fly you tied and the first fish you caught on that fly. Herter's was my original source back in the early 70's. I still have my Herter's vice, hackle pliers, a Herter's catalog or two, some small stiff paper envelopes of hooks with a Herter's label on the outside, probably some other stuff buried in there.

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[Jay Murakoshi]

I was going through some of my antique stuff last week. I ran across some materials from Hackle and Tackle, Herter's, The Hackle House and even some package India rooster necks from Buz's fly shop. I use to drive from Monterey once or sometimes twice a month to visit Buz's and buy a ton of materials. Eventually I started tying up some of Buz's fly and trade for materials. Two nights ago I ran across some thing a few people would like to have. It's a 1961 Sports Afield Fishing Annual. It's amazing what you run across when you start digging into some of your old stuff. It even has that "old crusty" smell. I know somewhere in my "tucked away" stuff, I have an old Herter's catalog. I have a few photo's of some of my items but don't know how to post photo's on this site.

[Jay Murakoshi]

I just posted a photo of the magazine on my FB page.

[DLJeff]

And just think how fortunate we were. The people who tied flies before there were suppliers like Herter's and Hackle & Tackle. They had to find their own materials. They schmoozed chicken farmers, deer and duck hunters, picked up and skinned road kill. Finding a true grade A dry fly neck was probably a pretty rare occurrence back then.

[Zepher]

I’m a bit older than I appear. Field and Stream is June 1941. It’s got Babe Ruth endorsements for cars in the ads. Seems I’m unable to load my old chenilles. Will try again. Been lurkin for about a year. Thanks for the welcome

[John H]

Nice Field and Stream cover and welcome to the board.

Totally off topic but.....Speaking of Babe Ruth, my grandfather saw him play. August 24, 1919 in Detroit. It was a Sunday and the seats were sold out so they had standing room only on the warning track. They used to sell standing room on the warning track. I went to a spring training game in 1984 and stood on the warning track. Ty Cobb was playing for Detroit. Babe Ruth hit two home runs and the Red Sox won. I have the article from the Detroit paper.

[Zepher]

Slow but got it

[Darian]

My first attempt at fly tying was using a Ned Grey (spelling?) kit my dad gave me when I was 12 (1952). Wish I would've kept the vise. to compare with modern vises. I still have some materials from Hash's Here & Hackle....

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

And just think how fortunate we were. The people who tied flies before there were suppliers like Herter's and Hackle & Tackle. They had to find their own materials. They schmoozed chicken farmers, deer and duck hunters, picked up and skinned road kill. Finding a true grade A dry fly neck was probably a pretty rare occurrence back then.

Yes, Eric Leiser had a book on getting your own materials, many years ago.

We sold many of them....."Fly-Tying Materials" by Eric Leiser

https://www.amazon.com/Fly-Tying-Materials-Eric-Leiser/dp/0832903337

They seem to be cheap.......used.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

There was no factory blended dubbings in 1970s.

We sold patches of all kinds of natural fur.

We also sold small electric coffee bean grinders to blend dubbing in.

Som were starting to put synthetic materials in their natural dubbing.

I guess before that people put fur they trimming off the hide into a Mason gar with water.

Then they shook it up to blend it?

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

There were no commercial genetic hackle farms in the 1970s.

We got rooster necks from China and India.

I would buy 100 India dry fly necks from Creative Sports in Walnut Creek, CA.

Hal Janssen should be how to grade them which was a great help.

First you separate them buy colors: white, brown, coachman brown, ginger, light brown, cocabandi, badger.

I would look at the hackle barb lengths/size, check stiffness against my upper lip and look at hackle stem length.

10 out of the 100 might sell for $5.00, some went for $3.00 and the lowest ones went for $1.00

I think we dyed hackle black and blue dun as there were not too many naturals.


I had an old gas stove at my home and in the evenings I would dye necks and saddles in my boxer shorts.

We heated the water, decreased the hackle, used Rit and Vineyard dyes.



When I thought the hackle was dyed well enough we used vinegar to set the colors.

I think all this is in Eric Leiser's book, Fly-Tying Materials.

[DLJeff]

I had an old gas stove at my home and in the evenings I would dye necks and saddles in my boxer shorts.

Wouldn't an old pan or coffee can work better? Yuk, yuk, I still got it. You're absolutely right Bill, sourcing and dying your own was the only way to get tying materials for many of us. I used to have skins pinned out, salted and drying on my garage floor all the time. Pine squirrels, fox squirrels, a woodchuck, half an elk hide... the neighborhood kids all thought I was Daniel Boone.

[Syd Chai]

About 15 years ago, I inherited all the fly tying material from a colleague of my father. They were about the same age. He was the one who got me into fly fishing back in the 70's. He was into tying back in the 60's

I still have a lot of those materials. Nymo thread; seal, beaver, and polar bear patches.
The chenille was very different back then.