To continue on from where I left off in January on dressing Blacker's Number 3 Spirit Fly, I had just completed explaining the tail of the fly. While, it would be appropriate to continue with the body of the fly I need to digress slightly before continuing on.

John Betts sent me a very good letter after the January issue discussing the dressing of Blacker patterns and those from that time period that I feel need to share with you. I really appreciate John taking the time to send me his thoughts on this topic.

I discussed the wing of the Spirit Fly as being "married:" John pointed out, that most of the modem salmon fly tiers seem to dress their flies invariably with married wings. John points out that, "The term "married" does not come into the vocabulary, ih book form at least, until the late 1800s, nearly a half century after Blacker's death ...I think you'll find that there was no marrying, except by accident, in Blacker's time."

After reading John's letter and going back and reviewing some of the works from that era, I feel I fell into the same trap that most of us do when dressing these patterns, we complicate the patterns and the result is something hardly traditional. Blacker himself calls the wing a "mixture." And his flies and those of others from that period were mixed wings that were for the most part tied in one's fingers. Also, creating a mixed wing was for good tiers, a careful and precise operation. Looking back through the plates in Blacker's book, I can see that it was not just a matter of tying in a bunch of different fibers to the hook.

John also brought up another interesting point in his letter, about Blacker and other commercial tiers in that era that is worth sharing. "Blacker was an accomplished tier, and in all likelihood able to do what he said he could. He was also in the tackle business and intricate flies sold better than drab ones. Complex flies did two things 1) upped the ante for competition, and 2) looked terrific in the case."

Thanks John for keeping me straight.

Because I am out of room for this issue, I will need to continue this in the October issue. That will give me sometime to go back and research a few more books, Tavener, Francis Francis, and a few others to keep from getting too modem and losing the traditional approach, that is, perhaps the true hallmark of these flies.