Ted Fay Flies....

I received an e-mail note asking about the high stick nymph method and flies used by Ted Fay and discussed under another topic as high sticking.... In answering the question, I re-read the materials I've accumulated on this subject over the years, bringing back some great memories.... 8) 8) 8)


For those unfamiliar with the method/flies, the original 6 patterns of what has become known as Ted Fay Flies was, apparently, Ted Towendolly. His flies caught the eye of Ted Fay who made them famous while guiding the upper Sacramento, McCloud and Trinity Rivers. Ted added the next 3 patterns, himself.... A friend/guide who worked for Ted Fay was Joe Kimsey who added 4 patterns to the list of 13 flies for "high sticking". The method for which these flies were designed was described under the other topic area....

I first used the method during the mid '70s in both the Upper Sacramento and McCloud Rivers during the fall.... Being much more confident in my wading abilities, then, I would routinely wade to near the depth of my armpits and make an upstream cast (sort of a flop), hold the rod up and guide the flies around rocks into the deepest holes I could find. Had many double hook-ups and some very nice fish..... Afterwards, we would camp out at Castle Crags, cook up a planked steak over the camp fire, fry up some potatoes/onions and make a pot of strong coffee..... MMM, MMM 8) 8) Dessert was Brandy in the coffee.... After the light from the fire went down, we could shine a flashlight out into a big field adjacent to the campsite and watch the glowing eyes of deer feeding in the deep grass.... :D :D :D

If you're interested in any of the flies/method, one of the articles was written by Chip O'Brien for California Fly Fisher (the December 1996 issue). In the article, Chip describes the method and lists the patterns in addition to some history. Of course, there're other publications and books containing this info as well. All good reading.... 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

The Larry Green was my favorite ....

Black marabou butt (short) , copper wire back half of body , peacock front , black hackle -

It's my favorite opening day Pit river fly ....

David

Ya know,.... I got to thinkin' about it and there is one pattern (created by Ted Fay, I think :? :? ) that wasn't mentioned in the article. The Carpet Bagger. I have a half dozen of the originals left in my collection.

As I recall, when the motel was remodeled, there was some wool carpet sections left over that had a gold/orange/black mixture of colored fibres in it. When inidividual strands were removed from the backing, part of the backing (rubber) stuck to them. This was wound on to form the body with the rubber matched up on top of the hook. Black hackle fibres for the tail and black neck hackle in front. This one was heavily weighted, as well.

Wonder what happened to that pattern :?: :?: I've been visiting Joe Kimsey at the ISE shows for some time and he never has them available.... :? :? Maybe they just ran out of the body material.... 8) 8)

Darian.... It is hard for me not to join in on this subject.... I still have a couple of flys that were tied by Towendolly.... I met him at my grandparents house when I was about 14 years old.. I will never forget when he opened his box of flys. It was one of those fold out tool box type of boxes from the railroad shop. It was overflowing with Gunny sack flys, brown bombers and black bombers....I will always remember that.... Frank

When I worked at the Tower of Sports in the early '70s Ted Towndolly came in looking for Grizzly capes to tie his flies. I think he was a native American. I did not know anything about his flies then or Ted Fay. He told me he developed those Bombers, not Ted Fay. He brought in a 3 pound coffee can 2/3 full of black spentwing Bombers that weighed a 'ton'.

I never met Ted Fay but once I saw a guy on the Pit River who could have been him. He was short line wet fly fishing and was catching lots of fish. This was in the '70s and I don't know when Ted Fay quit fishing or when he died?

I was up in Dunsmuir staying in some friend's cabin in Shasta Retreat, Bob and Emma Patterson from West Sacramento. I was working at West Capitol Rod and Gun in West Sac at the time.

It was in the late '60s or early '70s and I met a guy who was fishing that short line upstream wet fly method. We were at the park in downtown Dunsmuir. He said he was up there on vacation 10 years before and had seen Ted Fay fishing up the river catching trout like crazy. He ran along the river and asked how he did it. Ted Fay told him to come by his shop and he would teach him how. He did and became another short line fly fisher.

He took me out and gave me a lesson up at Catera Loop the next day. It was August and not a very good time to be there. He was inbetween jobs he said or he would not have come this time of year. He fished a dark colored fly line with a loop whipped on the end. He had painted the thread with white fingernail polish so he had an indicator of sorts. He did catch an 18 inch wild Rainbow Trout and it did jump a lot and then ran downstream. It was very exciting and that is how I got my start.

Bill, Ted Fay died in 1984.

OK guys,.... Here's the list of flies developed by who (according to Chip O'Brien's article):

Ted Towendolly:
Black Bomber, Brown Bomber, Black Spent Wing, Brown Spent Wing, Peacock and Burlap.

Ted Fay:
Caddis Larvae, Cro Fly (actually developed by Frank Crosetti), Maggie and Carpet Bagger(Not sure if Ted Fay developed this one or Joe Kimsey :? Either way, it looks a lot like an attempt to make an October Caddis Larvae :?: )

Joe Kimsey:
Larry, Mary, Leah and Emu.

The distinctive/original style that these flies are tied in caught my eye the first time I saw them and have fascinated me ever since.... 8) 8)

Good to see this topic bring back some memories for all.... :D :D :D

I met Ted Fay around 1975 or 76. I stopped by a small fly shop in a garage I think. There was this neat guy who talked about these heavy flies and the fast water streams in the area. Very nice man, he got me even more excited about fly fishing than I already was.

I also met Ed Haas in 78, visited him at his place by the river, Forks of the Salmon??
Ed tied very nice steelhead and salmon flies, a truely intelligent man.

and of course talked with Larry Green at the San Mateo show.

Won't forget those 3 guys.

Bob Scheidt