Great video Kelly ! Thanks for taking me back to those days. I started in the 60’s also in the mountains of Pa. Learned from the older guys back then who a few were still using the silk lines! Hares ears, cow dung, and picket pin were my main flies growing up on those streams.

A no bling thing!👍 the way we used to tie flies in the 80’s. Thanks for taking us back Kelly and the reminder sometimes old school can out fish new.

Nice fly Kelly. Sometimes old school is the best school. Most of the fish alive today will have never seen that fly.

I'm not sure if it is the tying or the story telling making him a national treasure; calling out buddies for their shortcomings, fighting the encroaching darkness of the sterile euro nymphs, expert tying of producing flies. Kelly is every fly fisherman's video companion.

I still think the bigger wet flies worked because the heavy wire made them go deeper. There was no weighing the flies and the bigger wire just weighed more. I still use size 8 "anchor" flies to get the flies down deeper and then cast upstream and fish them in one seam. Then I let them go to a likely spot down stream and just stop the fly line and let the flies rise. Works so well on obvious prime spots. I use an intermediate line (All the old silk lines were intermediate in my thinking) and use size 12-14 the most now, but I still tie size 6 and 8 as "anchor" wet flies. I find that when the water is warmed than 58 I find wet flies are super effective. I also always nymph with a wet fly on a dropper and those wets are still my most productive. Especially the All Fur Wets during early spring.

Being tying and fishing wet flys since 1967….still catch lots of trout with em to this day! Roadkill and hunting has provided me with lots of different fur and feathers over the years! Where people feed ducks is a usually great place to get an almost endless supply of useful feathers for free! Almost never get skunked using wet flys on the dropper and a minnow style fly on the point! Only happened maybe twice in the past 30 years! You can’t go wrong with wetsuits, IME!

Hi from Rolla MO 🎣🤠 Dave Hughes. Back in the day... These were the best things going. Come forward to now and I tye one of these put it on a fly stand and pass it around the tying table and it's gone from the stand when it gets back to me. Which is fine with me it's a good little game. Show & steal. These are old guys I'm the youngest at the table. We all have fun.

I’m so glad I was taught to tie in the old school (pre-internet and you tube) because (A) I was taught proportions and how to follow a recipe (B) you learned to tie an original pattern well before you start messing around with substitution. It’s great that this craft is now more accessible and it’s also great that teachers like you are adding some balance to all of the tying videos all over the internet.

Thanks for going back "old school" . That fly you tied brought back memories of the old days. We caught lots of fish on flies that didn't amount to much more than a mottled tail and hackle, a muskrat or herl body, and a wing (usually a clump-style, in my case). My duck wings didn't look too good to begin with and turned to total crap after a fish or two. I finally gave up on them about 50 years ago.

That book is Joe Brook's Trout, and my copy is dated 1971. One of the wets in that book is The Coachman, which I tied a lot back in the day. These days, Mallard Wings are hard to come by.

@mattspangler6386

3 ай бұрын

The book Kelly is using as a reference is titled "Trout Fishing", by the late Joe Brooks; your 1971 copy is likely a 1st edition. "Trout" is the title of the older classic by Ray Bergman, 1st edition circa 1938, but revised and updated several times thereafter up through the late 1960s. It is also a great reference source for classic fly patterns.

Traditional wet flies are still popular in parts of the UK and still catch plenty of Trout and Grayling throughout the season. A collar I have used is 3 or 4 Magpie Herls at the head just gives the fly that bit extra.

This is a great video about a great fly pattern that everyone should carry. It will always work, and it almost always represents something that is in the water when you are fishing. Learning to tie quill wings makes you a better tyer even if you don't use them going forward. Great stuff here.

I was always told to start tying wet flies and Catskill style dries. It really set a good foundation for a life time of fly tying.

I enjoy tying and fishing traditional flies, thanks for sharing this classic tie !!

Thoroughly enjoyed this tie and the intro on the history of wets. My fishing buddy and I had great success on swinging wets last fall. Everyone should have a few in their box.

Confidence fly, elegant, imposing. Thanks Kelly. I have these in my wet box, but not with that cool fur collar.

Nice. Brings back memories. Tying pennels, blae and blacks, butcher family , teal family etc. My first wet , winged flies only had beard hackles. Full hackles came later, for me. Thanks for the video

Couldn't agree more and Thank You for the trip in the way-back machine..... the Carey Special #6, similar to the pattern shown on the Granstrom's Wet Fly page is still my favorite fly to tie and my best producer for smallmouth bass. Take Care and keep digging !!!

Enjoyed your video on old school wets they worked years ago and still do. Tks kelly 😊

Kelly, you are so on point with the content you share. Thanks

This is another Great lesson. Thanks Kelly

Cool fly, great to hear the history in your area.🤙🙂🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Great video, as always! I really enjoy watching while im working or tying. Always helps make work a little more bearable. I usually end up not tying what I sat down to tie, though, because I ended up with too many ideas, haha . Looking forward to your next video!

I don’t always strip the fluff off but instead wind the fluff on the hackle in front of the fibres to achieve a similar effect as Jack Gartside’s Sparrow aftershaft on some of my wets! Thanks Jack!

Thank you for all the information and the tying demonstration. It looks great & makes sense. I may try & tie it sometime.

Many thanks for this. I love the addition of the fur head, which to my eyes is similar to the herl head on the 'Spanish Needle' flies (Robert Smith has a great set of videos on the history and tying of those). As well as tying on a heavy hook I also tie on a dry fly hook, which, especially when fished upstream gets the fly to hold within or just under the surface film. As with dries, it's worth to try and 'match the hatch' with at least one fly on your cast. Hence size and colours should match what you'd expect on the river.

It’s unreal the amount of trout that I’m catching on realistic style wet flies. It’s a fly pattern that the fish aren’t used to seeing. Thanks!!

@jamesgowans9338

3 ай бұрын

A buggy soft hackle is an absolute killer during the lead up to a caddis hatch. Also a great trailer fly or searching fly. It’s my go to if there’s not bugs visible on the water.

@user-te6dk5zi6u

3 ай бұрын

My go-to when the water temps get above 50(caddis). Even if I’m tight lining I still use it on the dropper.

@arthururban8340

3 ай бұрын

@@user-te6dk5zi6uhow far off bend do you tie it off as dropper?

Kelly Holden it down at the Slide, don’t know bout you but I take comfort in that…

Listening to Kelly talk about flies always reminds me of the scene in Jeremiah Johnson where Redford says “what if they see our feet?” and will geer says “elk don’t know how many feet a horse has.” So many other tiers are stressing over a leg placement or something; Kelly’s just like “don’t think the trout are counting legs...”

Thanks Mr. Kelly

“The worse your neck is. the better your fly is” boy that says volumes about the hackle industry.

I fish winged wets for all kinds of fish. Light chail, leadwing coachman, and lastly a teal blue and silver( u.k wet). These are my favorites

A classic. Nice and buggy just the way I like em.

I like it. Keep it simple

Wings “ first fish they will go away “😊 I would be so happy if I could get just one fish out of every fly I tie

Old skool!

Thank you!

Never bothered to use matched feathers for wings, I just stroke em out at a right angle twice as wide as I want the final wing to be and fold em in half, line em up into position against each other and pinch wrap em on … never stopped the trout from hitting! There are many ways to tie flys and rules are made to be broken!! I never took a lesson and had to figure a lot of stuff out my own way!

Give the people a wet fly fishing vid!

Speaking of old school flies I was wondering if you have tied and fished flat wing flies, like the Wood special and the John Stayner Ducktail fly.

Wow what a cool fly! love the basics. Now that looks like a bug, i am going to tie few of those, < J

Tell us more about that book of flies!

@TheEzzieboy

3 ай бұрын

🤠Dood

☕️☕️thanks, keeping it real😉

Red Tag as anything. Palmer,soft etc. would catch 70% of the bites even as the 3'rd fly - they move in and wait for the eat,

@christiannilsson4071

3 ай бұрын

Sidenote this brings me back to 82 when my Dad first taught me to tie a fly - Thanks.

Great looking fly! Do you have more info on the book you referenced?

@TheEzzieboy

3 ай бұрын

🤠Dood.

Good video Kelly -- what is the book title that you like so much for old school flies? Thanks, Mike

@mattspangler6386

3 ай бұрын

The book Kelly is using for a reference is "Trout Fishing" by the late Joe Brooks. First edition was circa 1971, but there were several later editions up through the mid-1980s. Used copies are pretty available and it is well worth picking up.

Is the South Slide open?

What book do you refer to at beginning of show? Thanks!

So, ya’all just gonna ignore that Mr. Galloup has been tying so hard so long that he’s now excreting fly tying wax from his index finger?

What was the book? Selective trout?

@TheSlideinn

3 ай бұрын

Trout Fishing by Joe Brooks

16:23 I’ve come to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter what I like, but what the fish like. They might like a picky body in one water and don’t in another. Let the fish tell you. Right?

I know how to fish nymphs, dries, streamers, but wet flies confuse me.

Wets not wetsuits….darn autocorrect!

This vid and one previous got me thinking more than I should. Something bad usually happens when I do. Would you start a conversation about the crap we’re putting on flies and at the end of our fly line? I’ve got a few years on you, but we have a similar background in some respects. When you and I started, it was silk thread and floss, metal tinsels, fur and feather. I look at flies today and think, why not use a molded bait? Look under the bank in the down current side of an oxbo and you can fill a barrel with mono and other junk. The next generation deserves better. Maybe if you and the real representatives of this avocation (or vocation, as it were) could nudge some people and industry a little. Biodegradable leader and tippet, tying materials? Don’t seem that far fetched.

Woodcock and grouse are two completely different birds and look nothing alike. Just saying 👍

@kellygalloup6073

3 ай бұрын

Bert, yes I know. I grew up in Michigan and shot lots of both. What I was referring to was European tires often refer to a type of grouse as woodcock but they do not mean the Eastern woodcock we hunt. KG

@Ayrshirechap

3 ай бұрын

The woodcock and the grouse davie mcphail refers to is a totally different bird with completely different plumage. The statement you made is totally misleading to inexperienced tyers.. That's fact Kelly.