Fountains of Youth – Classic trout flies that have withstood the test of time … flies that remain “forever young”
by Rusty Dunn
Some things turn out better when done in pairs. Lewis & Clark, Lennon & McCartney, Romeo & Juliet, Fred & Ginger, Batman & Robin, etc. The list is long. But where would each of these celebrities be without a creative partner? Probably a lot less famous. Fly fishing is inherently a solitary endeavor, and this is reflected in book authorship.
Groundbreaking angling books written by pairs of authors are rare. Among the few examples are The Compleat Angler (1676) by Walton & Cotton, Brook and River Trouting (1916) by Edmonds & Lee, Selective Trout (1971) by Swisher & Richards, and The Art of Tying the Wet Fly and Fishing the Flymph (1971) by Leisenring and Hidy.
“Big Jim” Leisenring was a self-taught fly angler from Allentown, PA whose knowledge of insects, their imitation, and trout behavior was legendary. Leisenring’s 1941 book The Art of Tying the Wet Fly described his unique methods of tying wingless wet flies with spun fur bodies. Unfortunately, the book had little impact, for it was published amid the turmoil of World War II. A later expanded edition in 1971 was coauthored with Vernon “Pete” Hidy (The Art of Tying the Wet Fly and Fishing the Flymph) and is a landmark in American angling history. The book resulted from a chance encounter between Pete Hidy and Jim Leisenring along Pennsylvania’s Brodhead Creek in the mid-1930s. This fortunate meeting led to a remarkable friendship and professional collaboration. Leisenring was an expert veteran; Hidy an inquisitive but dedicated and serious student of fly fishing. Leisenring admired and respected Hidy, whom he mentored both on fly tying and on effective presentation. Hidy excelled under Leisenring’s tutelage and, in time, became an outstanding and creative angler and fly tyer in his own right.
Pete Hidy was responsible for bringing The Art of Tying the Wet Fly to print. Hidy repeatedly urged Leisenring to write a book about his unique methods of fly tying and presentation. The Leisenring Lift, for example, was known only to Jim’s friends. But Leisenring was an inexperienced and reluctant author. He resisted Hidy’s persuasion for years, reluctantly agreeing when Hidy volunteered to edit the book. Leisenring wrote passages in longhand, which Hidy typed, organized, illustrated, and edited into final manuscript form. The title page includes “As told to V.S. HIDY” in recognition of his important contributions. Interest in Leisenring’s methods and patterns grew over time, and the highly acclaimed 1971 edition was coauthored with Hidy (The Art of Tying the Wet Fly and Fishing the Flymph) and published 20 years after Leisenring’s death. Leisenring’s text is unchanged in the 1971 edition, to which Hidy added a section on how to fish wingless wets. The 1971 edition revitalized American interest in wingless wet flies at a time when wet fly fishing was in decline due to increased popularity of dry flies.
Pete Hidy believed in 1971 that a new term (“flymph”) was needed to describe flies that imitate the untidy tranition of aquatic nymphs to winged aerial adults at or near the stream surface. The term is a merger of the words “fly” and “nymph”. A flymph is not a fly, because it has no wings. It is not a nymph, because it is tied on an unweighted hook and fished near the surface. As described by Hidy, a flymph is…
“a wingless artificial fly with a soft, translucent body of fur or wool which blends with the undercolor of the tying silk when wet, utilizing soft hackle fibers easily activated by the currents to give the effect of an insect alive in the water, and strategically cast diagonally upstream or across for the trout to take just below or within a few inches of the surface film.”
The term “flymph” never caught on, and today we typically call such flies soft-hackled emergers. Regardless of the terminology, Leisenring’s & Hidy’s flies and methods of presentation are modern day classics. They are similar to those of the British North Country style, but adapted and modified for streams of differing character and insects of differing species. We should all be grateful to Jim Leisenring for his genius and to Pete Hidy’s preservation of that genius for posterity.
Copyright 2021, Rusty Dunn
Honey Dun Flymph
The Honey Dun Flymph was one of Pete Hidy’s favorite flies. Others include a Partridge & Hare’s Ear Flymph, a Blue Dun Flymph, and an Iron Blue Wingless (a pattern of G.E.M. Skues).
| Hook: |
Light wire wet fly, #12 – #16 |
| Thread: |
Pearsall’s Gossamer silk, color ash (#10) |
| Body: |
Fur of a hare’s poll spun between two strands of waxed tying silk |
| Ribbing: |
Fine gold wire |
| Hackle: |
Honey dun hen, two turns |
Honey Dun Flymph
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Posted: April 8, 2021 by Drew Kasel
by Rusty Dunn
Some things turn out better when done in pairs. Lewis & Clark, Lennon & McCartney, Romeo & Juliet, Fred & Ginger, Batman & Robin, etc. The list is long. But where would each of these celebrities be without a creative partner? Probably a lot less famous. Fly fishing is inherently a solitary endeavor, and this is reflected in book authorship.
Groundbreaking angling books written by pairs of authors are rare. Among the few examples are The Compleat Angler (1676) by Walton & Cotton, Brook and River Trouting (1916) by Edmonds & Lee, Selective Trout (1971) by Swisher & Richards, and The Art of Tying the Wet Fly and Fishing the Flymph (1971) by Leisenring and Hidy.
“Big Jim” Leisenring was a self-taught fly angler from Allentown, PA whose knowledge of insects, their imitation, and trout behavior was legendary. Leisenring’s 1941 book The Art of Tying the Wet Fly described his unique methods of tying wingless wet flies with spun fur bodies. Unfortunately, the book had little impact, for it was published amid the turmoil of World War II. A later expanded edition in 1971 was coauthored with Vernon “Pete” Hidy (The Art of Tying the Wet Fly and Fishing the Flymph) and is a landmark in American angling history. The book resulted from a chance encounter between Pete Hidy and Jim Leisenring along Pennsylvania’s Brodhead Creek in the mid-1930s. This fortunate meeting led to a remarkable friendship and professional collaboration. Leisenring was an expert veteran; Hidy an inquisitive but dedicated and serious student of fly fishing. Leisenring admired and respected Hidy, whom he mentored both on fly tying and on effective presentation. Hidy excelled under Leisenring’s tutelage and, in time, became an outstanding and creative angler and fly tyer in his own right.
Pete Hidy was responsible for bringing The Art of Tying the Wet Fly to print. Hidy repeatedly urged Leisenring to write a book about his unique methods of fly tying and presentation. The Leisenring Lift, for example, was known only to Jim’s friends. But Leisenring was an inexperienced and reluctant author. He resisted Hidy’s persuasion for years, reluctantly agreeing when Hidy volunteered to edit the book. Leisenring wrote passages in longhand, which Hidy typed, organized, illustrated, and edited into final manuscript form. The title page includes “As told to V.S. HIDY” in recognition of his important contributions. Interest in Leisenring’s methods and patterns grew over time, and the highly acclaimed 1971 edition was coauthored with Hidy (The Art of Tying the Wet Fly and Fishing the Flymph) and published 20 years after Leisenring’s death. Leisenring’s text is unchanged in the 1971 edition, to which Hidy added a section on how to fish wingless wets. The 1971 edition revitalized American interest in wingless wet flies at a time when wet fly fishing was in decline due to increased popularity of dry flies.
Pete Hidy believed in 1971 that a new term (“flymph”) was needed to describe flies that imitate the untidy tranition of aquatic nymphs to winged aerial adults at or near the stream surface. The term is a merger of the words “fly” and “nymph”. A flymph is not a fly, because it has no wings. It is not a nymph, because it is tied on an unweighted hook and fished near the surface. As described by Hidy, a flymph is…
“a wingless artificial fly with a soft, translucent body of fur or wool which blends with the undercolor of the tying silk when wet, utilizing soft hackle fibers easily activated by the currents to give the effect of an insect alive in the water, and strategically cast diagonally upstream or across for the trout to take just below or within a few inches of the surface film.”
The term “flymph” never caught on, and today we typically call such flies soft-hackled emergers. Regardless of the terminology, Leisenring’s & Hidy’s flies and methods of presentation are modern day classics. They are similar to those of the British North Country style, but adapted and modified for streams of differing character and insects of differing species. We should all be grateful to Jim Leisenring for his genius and to Pete Hidy’s preservation of that genius for posterity.
Copyright 2021, Rusty Dunn
Honey Dun Flymph
The Honey Dun Flymph was one of Pete Hidy’s favorite flies. Others include a Partridge & Hare’s Ear Flymph, a Blue Dun Flymph, and an Iron Blue Wingless (a pattern of G.E.M. Skues).
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