Fountains of Youth – Classic trout flies that have withstood the test of time … flies that remain “forever young”
by Rusty Dunn
The Pyramids of Giza. The Colosseum of Rome. The Taj Mahal of India. All are among the world’s great cultural monuments. They are landmarks of human achievement. If you’d like to visit a landmark of fly fishing achievement, just walk in the door at 209 West Park Street, Livingston, Montana and look around. You’ll be in Dan Bailey’s Fly Shop, where the “Wall of Fame” is an awe-inspiring monument to the culture of western trout fishing. The wall chroncles prosperous times in the mid-20th century when it was OK – even encouraged – to whack a four pound trout solely for the purpose of public admiration. Dan Bailey’s Wall of Fame is a shrine to western fly fishing, a required stop on pilgrimages to trout country, and a vivid reminder of “the good old days”.
Dan Bailey (1904-1982) lived and worked in New York City before becoming a fly fishing luminary. He was an avid fly tyer and angler who explored famous trout rivers of the East in the 1930s. He and his wife Helen honeymooned in the Yellowstone area in 1936 and were astonished by Montana’s angling riches. Two years later, the Bailey’s quit their New York jobs and moved to Livingston, where they opened a small shop in the Albemarle Hotel selling flies tied by Dan and tackle to go with them. The first mail-order catalog appeared in 1941. The shop survived the lean years of WWII but expanded during the post-war boom in outdoor recreation. Prominent national magazines popularized Montana fly fishing, and Bailey’s fly business increased rapidly. The fly shop moved in the 1950s to its current location, where dozens of local fly tyers cranked out the needed inventory. By the mid-1970s, Bailey’s shop produced over 750,000 flies per year. He was the largest fly manufacturer in the country and commented, “I didn’t intend for the business to get this big. I just wanted to go fishing.”
Bailey renewed in his Livingston fly shop a tradition that had begun in New York, where he and friends traced the outlines of notably large trout on the wallpaper of a family fishing cabin. The tracings became a historical record of good times, great fish, and cherished friends. Bailey transplanted the tradition to Montana and set four pounds as the minimal size for a sufficiently braggable trout. The first Montana wall fish was a 4 lb. 8 oz. brown caught by Gil Meloche on August 5th, 1938 on Armstrong Spring Creek. Wall fish accumulated steadily over time and, for each, Bailey recorded the angler’s name, an ink outline on paper of the actual fish, its measured weight, the river, the date, and the fly used. That information was then painted on individual, life-sized, wood plaques that now adorn the fly shop walls. The plaques read like a Who’s Who of American fly fishing. The practice was discontinued in the 1980s when catch-and-release became popular, topping out at 364 plaques collected over 40+ years.
The greatest number of wall fish (42%) were caught on streamers, and one of the most successful streamers on the wall is a Marabou Muddler, which was designed by Bailey to imitate river minnows. He described his own contributions to fly tying as mainly being the modification of existing fly patterns for big western rivers. The Marabou Muddler is a perfect example. Don Gapen tied the original Muddler Minnow in the 1950s for large brook trout in Canada. Bailey changed the body material, replaced the wing of turkey feather with soft marabou, and trimmed the spun deer hair to form a prominent head. The result was a Muddler variation that found worldwide success with both cold and warm water species of fish.
Many a western trout punched its ticket to immortality on Dan Bailey’s Wall of Fame with a Marabou Muddler. Try one on your next pilgrimage to the Holy Land. You won’t find immortality, but you may feel a sense of cultural achievement just like the ancients.
Copyright 2020, Rusty Dunn
Marabou Muddler
The wing of a Marabou Muddler can be tied in any color, but Dan Bailey preferred white.
| Hook: |
3XL or 4XL streamer, #4 – #10 |
| Thread: |
White or gray flat nylon, size A |
| Tail: |
Bright red bucktail or hackle fibers |
| Body: |
Gold or silver tinsel chenille |
| Wing: |
White marabou, tied full; length ~1.5 times the hook |
| Overwing |
Peacock herl, ~6 strands |
| Collar: |
The tips of natural deer body hair, spun, flared, and surrounding the body |
| Head: |
Deer hair spun tightly and trimmed to shape |
Marabou Muddler
Leave a Comment
Last Updated: February 5, 2020 by Drew Kasel
by Rusty Dunn
The Pyramids of Giza. The Colosseum of Rome. The Taj Mahal of India. All are among the world’s great cultural monuments. They are landmarks of human achievement. If you’d like to visit a landmark of fly fishing achievement, just walk in the door at 209 West Park Street, Livingston, Montana and look around. You’ll be in Dan Bailey’s Fly Shop, where the “Wall of Fame” is an awe-inspiring monument to the culture of western trout fishing. The wall chroncles prosperous times in the mid-20th century when it was OK – even encouraged – to whack a four pound trout solely for the purpose of public admiration. Dan Bailey’s Wall of Fame is a shrine to western fly fishing, a required stop on pilgrimages to trout country, and a vivid reminder of “the good old days”.
Dan Bailey (1904-1982) lived and worked in New York City before becoming a fly fishing luminary. He was an avid fly tyer and angler who explored famous trout rivers of the East in the 1930s. He and his wife Helen honeymooned in the Yellowstone area in 1936 and were astonished by Montana’s angling riches. Two years later, the Bailey’s quit their New York jobs and moved to Livingston, where they opened a small shop in the Albemarle Hotel selling flies tied by Dan and tackle to go with them. The first mail-order catalog appeared in 1941. The shop survived the lean years of WWII but expanded during the post-war boom in outdoor recreation. Prominent national magazines popularized Montana fly fishing, and Bailey’s fly business increased rapidly. The fly shop moved in the 1950s to its current location, where dozens of local fly tyers cranked out the needed inventory. By the mid-1970s, Bailey’s shop produced over 750,000 flies per year. He was the largest fly manufacturer in the country and commented, “I didn’t intend for the business to get this big. I just wanted to go fishing.”
Bailey renewed in his Livingston fly shop a tradition that had begun in New York, where he and friends traced the outlines of notably large trout on the wallpaper of a family fishing cabin. The tracings became a historical record of good times, great fish, and cherished friends. Bailey transplanted the tradition to Montana and set four pounds as the minimal size for a sufficiently braggable trout. The first Montana wall fish was a 4 lb. 8 oz. brown caught by Gil Meloche on August 5th, 1938 on Armstrong Spring Creek. Wall fish accumulated steadily over time and, for each, Bailey recorded the angler’s name, an ink outline on paper of the actual fish, its measured weight, the river, the date, and the fly used. That information was then painted on individual, life-sized, wood plaques that now adorn the fly shop walls. The plaques read like a Who’s Who of American fly fishing. The practice was discontinued in the 1980s when catch-and-release became popular, topping out at 364 plaques collected over 40+ years.
The greatest number of wall fish (42%) were caught on streamers, and one of the most successful streamers on the wall is a Marabou Muddler, which was designed by Bailey to imitate river minnows. He described his own contributions to fly tying as mainly being the modification of existing fly patterns for big western rivers. The Marabou Muddler is a perfect example. Don Gapen tied the original Muddler Minnow in the 1950s for large brook trout in Canada. Bailey changed the body material, replaced the wing of turkey feather with soft marabou, and trimmed the spun deer hair to form a prominent head. The result was a Muddler variation that found worldwide success with both cold and warm water species of fish.
Many a western trout punched its ticket to immortality on Dan Bailey’s Wall of Fame with a Marabou Muddler. Try one on your next pilgrimage to the Holy Land. You won’t find immortality, but you may feel a sense of cultural achievement just like the ancients.
Copyright 2020, Rusty Dunn
Marabou Muddler
The wing of a Marabou Muddler can be tied in any color, but Dan Bailey preferred white.
Share this:
Category: Fly Tying, Rusty Dunn Fountains of Youth
Recent Posts
Categories