Thanks for the great job you are doing. Recently I had occasion to look back at Volume 1, Number 1, Winter 1988 (Then "The Group"). Boy! How far we have come - thanks for your contribution.

Wayne Luallen in his letter to the Editor (Volume 5, Number 1) correctly notes that many of us, myself included, have not "come through" with the articles we promised to write. Therein lies my reason for looking back at old issues of "The Salmon Flyer" - my failure to "come through"! I promise to do better in the future. First, however, let's clean up some old business from Volume 1, Number 1. In that issue Bob Graham, our first Editor, published the enclosed challenge which I wish to place before our readers once again.

Come on guys! Five years is too long, make an old man happy, I can't afford to wait another five years to see some of those early dry flies!

Probably the first salmon caught was caught on a dry fly, yet those who dress classic Atlantic salmon flies devote their energies to the production of wet flies. The earliest accounts of fly fishing for salmon support the proposition that dry flies were used for salmon before wet flies.

In 1659 Barker wrote in Barker's Delight of salmon rising, like a trout, to a fly. Venables in The Experienced Angler of 1662 discussed angling "upon or above the water" with artificial flies and named the salmon first in his list of five fish that "freely rise at the fly." The strongest evidence is found in Frank's Northern Memoirs of 1694 ("writ in the year 1658") where one can read, "The next thing that falls under the angler's consideration, is the bait or charm for the royal race of salmon; which I reduce under two classes of general, viz. the fly for frolick, to flourish and sport on the surface of the streams..."

How about a few of those early dry flies from some of you salmon fly dressers?

Dear Editor,

After reading the first letter to the editor ("Some thoughts on Salmon Fly Tying - The Salmon Flyer, October, 1992), I came up with an idea for the next issue of the Salmon Flyer. I hope it sounds good to you and that you can use it in the future.

Some thoughts on Salmon Fly Tying Part 2, The Challenge.

The letter to the editor, "Some thoughts on Salmon Fly Tying", was not only interesting as per sharing reflections and thoughts about the Salmon Fly tyer's world but it also reassured me to know that at least one other tyer doesn't take himself too seriously - no offense is by any means meant to his or her tying skills. Thank you very much, Mr. or Mrs. Anonymous, for a nice article.

From this article an idea came to mind that really excites me, the outcome of which is, of course, our mutual passion: a Salmon Fly.

We talk a lot about technique, methods, creativity and authenticity. I recently tied a pattern for the annual banquet of a local fly fishing group as a donation to help raise cash for the club. This pattern is not listed anywhere, it being my own creation. I would like to present it to the readership of this flyer and would like as many of you who might wish to do so to tie it as YOU SEE IT, utilizing your own special approach.

The dressing is by no means written in stone and you are free to change some materials, add or delete to suit your own taste.

This is not meant to be a contest to see who can tie the best fly but simply a way of seeing how many different interpretations can result. I would then like you to send your fly to the editor who, if he is willing, will photograph them all and publish the result in an upcoming Flyer. This way we can all see an interesting mix of talent, creativity, technique and, above all, FRIENDSHIP!

Hopefully, everyone can benefit from the outcome.

Michel Fontan

Tag: Oval gold tinsel and blue silk.
Tail: A topping and jungle cock.
Butt: Black Ostrich.
Body: in two sections: No. 1 - golden yellow silk ribbed with silver tinsel and veiled above and below with kingfisher and butted with black herl; No. 2 - scarlet silk ribbed with gold tinsel.
Hackle: Claret.
Throat: Guinea.
Wings: Golden pheasant tail, yellow, orange, scarlet and blue swan, Bustard, Argus and toppings over all.
Shoulder: jungle cock.
Sides: Kingfisher.
Cheeks: Indian Crow.
Horns: Blue and yellow Macaw.
Head: Black.

Editor's Note: Let's set a deadline for me to receive flies at July 1. Then, depending on how many I receive, I will photograph them and publish the result in the October issue. If I don't get more than five (5) flies, it probably won't be worth doing. All flies will be returned to the tyers but please enclose return postage with your submissions! Otherwise I could go broke if I end up having to pay postage for 60 flies or so! I think this is a great idea so come on! Send them in!

Dear Editor:

This letter is greatly overdue. In all the years I've been receiving "The Salmon Flyer", I've never made an editorial contribution. The last issue motivated me to write this letter.

The last two issues were superb ... I've been in publishing for several decades, so I can speak with some authority. The content is sadly short in substance, totally due to the lack of contributions from "The Group". Perhaps the reasons I have not made a move in that direction might shed some light for others, and bring in that much needed flow of new ideas and sharing.

I began my addiction in Chicago just after Poul [Jorgensen] published his modern classic [The Salmon Fly - its character and style]. Hard to believe, but there were not ST (salmon tyers) to be found who could give me first hand instruction in that major population center. A great tyer and a member/teacher in our FFF club, Bill Heckel, suggested I contact Bill Hunter. That led to three visits to New Hampshire, some fine instruction from Bill, a load of great material and several friendships (Is it just me, or does it seem that successful surgeons always seem to be involved in expensive hobbies?).

My work allowed me to travel extensively, so I was able to move freely from coast to coast, meeting the major figures in the materials business. My collection grew, as did my search for my own style. I spent two Christmas holidays with Jack and Carol Mickevitz in Valley Forge and honed my skills in dyeing and being able to recognize quality materials from junk. Dave Inks let me into his warehouse with a free hand to select feathers from all over the world. Two prominent factors in the wholesale feather business in Chicago and New York gave me a free hand to select a feather here, a plume there, a skin or two. I visited the better known feather breeders and still count them as my friends. I still searched for my style.

While back in Chicago, I involved several fellow tyers into joining me In ST on a regular basis. Predictably, we began aggressively collecting materials. We even had turkey hunters from all over send us raw wings from their kills. Try opening one of those boxes without a clothespin on your nose! I began corresponding with fellow ST even before The Group was formed and began exchanging audio tapes with Bill, Wayne and anyone else nuts enough to join in. I still listen to Bill's tapes today just because he is so intense and sharing and the content is still relevant. We brought in ST (Wayne and Gene, to name just two) to our FFF meetings and further influenced and recruited new devotees. I was being viewed as something of an authority on the subject, but still searched for that illusive personal style. (I no longer live in the Windy City, but note with great pride that the ST still thrives there and the list of devotees grows each year.)

Then I began exchanging (or more properly, collecting because I never photograph my flies) color photos of ties from my growing list of fellows. Most were brilliant, some good and two were ordinary. But each tyer was proud of their work and shared it with me. I acquired the original slides from the last photo shoot done of Megan Boyd's flies for GREY'S JOURNAL. That led me to begin collecting flies that I admired. The Colonel donated several, Sarge gave me a Silver Gray and I received two more from a friend who had bought a dozen from the late Jim Deren. Then two from Megan. All at once the light went on over my head and I finally had my style!

More than a hundred years ago, these flies were tied to catch fish-nothing more. Not to collect or frame. Of course there was the pride and desire to go one better than the other tyers, to see who could use the most exotic materials ... but always to catch fish. Somewhere along the way, we changed that original purpose and started tying to tie ... started seeing who could produce the most perfect, the most precise, the most authentic. Jim Deren and Megan Boyd never forgot the purpose and their ties always were made to catch fish.

At first glance, Deren's flies look like junk, but a closer inspection reveals all the materials, each wrap and the overall proportion is right on. Certainly the British Crown could have selected several other "modern" tyers who produce more precise, more perfect patterns to bestow the Royal Warrent upon. But Megan Boyd was given that honor because she produced salmon flies the old fashioned way, with the old fashioned materials. Old silk, wax, hooks and cements. She was deemed a national treasure because she continued the ancient craft of fly tying, as it had been done for over a century. All correctly tied to the patterns, but with a certain SLOPPY ELEGANCE that was necessary to tie commercially. She couldn't take two weeks to tie a single fly, rather twenty minutes was her norm.

It became clear to me that what I was seeking was this same casual style ... correct in pattern to every detail, but not so perfect that it looked like a painting. What had been disturbing me for years was this obsession with using modern materials to make more precise ties. Modern cements, waxes, ultra strong thin nylon and the like make a mockery out of the skill required to manipulate feathers, flosses and tinsels. Of course we can do things today that Kelson could not. The trick may be to do the same things, with the same tools and materials. Let's see hands for all the guys that want to whip up a Jock Scott without a vise, following the directions in Pryce-Tannatt!

There is a great paragraph in A.K. Best's book on commercial tying in which he makes a case for his new techniques. He contends that the old styles of tying were based on using old style materials-feathers, threads, cements, etc. New materials must require new techniques Perhaps we are wrongfully combining the old with the new and deluding ourselves into believing we are improving on the old masters. I prefer to think that we are simply doing the patterns differently ... not better but differently.

The modern "authorities" are showing us how to remove curl or set on a teal feather, rather than master how to apply it as it was done in the past. Here is an easier way to apply a mallard roof, a way to restructure a crest feather, a clear epoxy to hold a feather in place, a new wax to dub seal more easily ... the list is endless. The result is a "more perfect tie." Another way to state it would be a "more modern tie."

I'm-not talking about substitute materials here. We all have our own ideas on that subject. I am now totally comfortable with my own CASUAL or SLOPPY ELEGANT style for my ST. I still seek a better understanding of how to manipulate feathers and make more economical use of modern threads, but I seek to tie in a style something short of perfect ... proportional, but not perfect. I seek to produce a tie that looks like a fishing fly and not a photograph. I still demand

balance in my materials and position of elements, but not perfection. My style is not rigid, but is forever subtly modifying as I discover and learn new techniques.

At first my butts were too full and my body tinsels too heavy. I seek a more delicate look now to my style. My head shape has undergone several modifications over the past several years. But the studied looseness to my style has remained. I tie to please myself, not to copy a perfect model. Like Bill Chinn, I have yet to tie the fly that totally pleases me. I have done several hundred that are close, or were close at the time they were tied. I strongly suspect that once I achieve that one fly with everything just as I want it tied, the thrill may be gone. I have too much invested for that to happen just yet.

As to the cost of the Salmon Flyer, don't try to keep the expenses down, rather than improve and expand our publication. We all owe it to ourselves to support and contribute to our unique journal. Thanks, Mike, for moving us forward.