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Spey & Dee Fly Library

6K views 26 replies 7 participants last post by  JDJones 
#1 ·
#3 ·
Dee flies

are tied with the wings laid back and flat so that they will cause the fly to plane in the current. They were originally tied on long straight shank hooks rather than the curved shank "Alec Jackson" style hooks.

Now if someone can tell me what a "Raich" (spelling) fly is?
 
#4 ·
Click on the the down arrow on the left side for the complete library and tying instructions, etc.

John, when your done with salt water flies you come over do the old scottish spey and dee atlantic salmon flys pictured in this catalog. My goal is to do a wall fly display box of these some day.

The John Shewey book Spey Flies and Dee flies - Their History and Construction will give you all you will ever need to know.
$ 30 paperback.

What I dislike about these flies is that they are too beautiful to fish.

Malcolm can elaborate on the history further, I would just be quoting from the book.

PM Out
 
#5 · (Edited)
Thanks for the info... there is a life time of projects here... Whe will I be able to retire and really crank this stuff out?... My Feather brain has been submitted to "flyfishing in Saltwaters" and the photo's were professionally done by Jay Horton..so I will believe it when I see it...in the two page spread uner "flytyer bench".. I will then submit the Flounder and then Crab Apple.. the editor wanted those as well... now, I will seriously look at the Carrie Stevens fly and do them in the FB style... don't know if they will fish so I will have to get test runs from you guys eventually. Also.. both Juro and I have to do a write up in Bob Veverka's new book on Inovative flies focusing on Cape Cod. I think his new book will be doing the fishing areas and the flys that are used there... you might be interested to know that I have time for that write up since he is finishing a book right now, he tells me , on Innovative spey flies. ( You know my own book is percolating right now in my head... but I need to creat more original flys... I am raking my brain right now ..it's hard since I want them realistic...but they have to fish too.)
 
#7 ·
You got that!... always "push the envelope" so to speak.. do things different. Umpqua representatives told me I had till May 31 to submit any flies I wanted and they were interested. They look at new flies once a year. Food for thought.
 
#8 ·
"Reeach" or "Riach"

Hello JDJones,

The "Reeach" series of old Spey flies probably dates to the very early 1800's. A.E. Knox lists five "Reeachs" (from memory) in Autumns On The Spey (1872). We do not know exactly how old the "Reeach" series of flies really is: Knox called them "old Spey flies," and that was in 1872!

Kelson seems to have changed the spelling of "Reeach" to the more modern "Riach." Either that, or he just spelled it incorrectly. According to James Leighton Hardy, "riach" is an old Scottish word that means 'drab' or 'dun.' That certainly describes the "Reeach" series of flies in Autumns On The Spey.

The most recent issue of Paul Schmookler's Art of Angling Journal (Issue #4) has a complete rendering of all sixteen old Spey flies listed in Knox's Autumns On The Spey. It is only the second time that I have seen all sixteen Knox flies in print.

Flat wings and tiny heads,

TB
 
#9 ·
Reeach Flies

Thanks for the explanation. Not having quite enough Scottish blood runnning thru my viens to have much knowlege of old Scottish words, I would have associated Reeach or Riach with Roach. Maybe a little more single malt would fix that?:devil:

Ah, the down button on the left side of the screen. Much better.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Be careful how you consider retirement...

Hal - sitting on your duff, constantly tying flies, is NOT good therapy during retirement.... You will soon think it is a chore, and treat it as such. You MUST do a variety of things... tie some flies (for ENJOYMENT, not as work), fish (and, in my case, hunt, too), take care of your grandkids, go camping, take some vacations (that don't interfere with your sports), etc. I usually write a magazine article on a monthly basis, just to keep my hand in - but now it is on something I enjoy, not something for an obscure scientific journal. Takes me about a day's total time, with a little extra time for doing research/testing and pictures. But if I had to do it every day, I soon would be bored. And I can skip a month when I don't feel like writing. Another thing about it is I have to be well-read to keep up to date, so I do a lot of reading.

Be careful! My spouse has a part-time job. If she didn't, we would probably be divorced or kill each other by now. Yeah, we take vacations together, do many things together, and have a much better relationship now that we aren't in each other's hair constantly. That can be a MAJOR problem.

Retirement is a time for FUN. But everyone adapts to it differently. If you get into a rut, you get bored, feel useless, feel sorry for yourself, and before you know it, life is OVER. So enjoy it, but don't key in on one thing.

BobK
;)
 
#13 ·
Hal-

Dee Flies fish very well in the colder water of late fall through spring. They have what Alec Jackson calls the illusion of bulk, while not being bulky. And they can be tied on any good quality limerick bend 6x to 8x streamer hook in large sizes. The loop eye limerick streamer hooks tie a very nice Dee Fly.

Also, the Alec Jackson Blind Eye Spey Hook and the Partridge Blind Eye Barleet Hook tie very nice Dee Flies. Tie the blind eye hooks with 20 ro 25 pound test braided mono loop as the eye. Provided the mono loop is tied over 1/3rd or more of the hook, it will not pull off, and it provides for great fly action when you tie your tippet to the braided mono loop.

The Gold Riach is a good fly to use in the fall for steelhead here in the northwest when the river temps start to drop in mid to late October.

There are even double wing versions of most Dee Flies. These were and are tied when one does not have feathers of sufficient length to tie either the wing or the mobile body hackle.

Two of my favorite Dee Flies are the Akroyd and the Avon.
 
G
#14 ·
Been hanging out at TSS, eh supervisor?

You should be tying those flys now not when you retire, you may not be able to fish them.

I can tie 50 nice speys for $70($1.20 each), thats using good materials, if I buy in larger numbers it probably goes down to a $1.00 each. Not too bad a price...
 
#15 ·
If you get the chance, check out Topher Browne's excellent article on the 16 true Spey flies in Art of Angling Magazine, Vol 1 Issue 2. All flies were tied by Topher with the exception of the Syd Glasso patterns also appear in the beautiful color photos.

Man do we have some exceptional tyers on board!
 
#16 ·
My Spey flies look nothing like those by purpose. They are going to end up in a log jam or tree anyway so ones that beautiful are not practical for me. If I could tie them that nice I could never fish them effectively, not taking the needed deep drift risks to reach the fish.

See you have been at TSS also.

Who is the Supervisor ?

PM Out
 
G
#19 ·
It is not hard to track someone down, if the system logs your IP like TSS does. Thats why I would never post there, along with the stupid infighting amongest user's.

Hopefully they will not find this fortress of solitude.
 
#23 ·
Yup!

My lights never went out (except a few times for a minute at a time). Had my youngest daughter, her husband, and their kids here for a few days, as their power was gone. Lights were on for one block north of me - but that was it! The rest of the power was off from there to Lake O. (about 10+ miles north), and spotty south of here. STILL a lot of people without electricity - probably until this weekend.

I had my kerosene heater filled, and my (camping) propane lantern and propane stove ready to go. I just MAY pick up a generator after the rush dies down - maybe this fall when the prices come back to normal, and they are gathering dust in the stores. Surprising how many people don't think of emergencies until they happen. BTW, also make sure you have a CO monitor handy when running these things - a surprising number of people have died during this time by using an UNVENTED generator - kerosene and propane can do the same thing! Make sure you know what you are doing!

My daughter's power was off for almost three days, but fortunately, my other daughter's power was OK, otherwise we would have had problems sleeping like sardines in a can!

Looked like a war zone out there, with trees down everywhere, and wires hanging all over the place.

To add insult to injury, it snowed 4+ inches last night, and flurries all day today. Weird weather!

Hopefully, it will warm up permanently this weekend!

I hope to give you a report on fishing, once the streams go down after this latest input.

BobK

PS - Hal, will keep you informed on my trip to the B'kill - maybe you would be interested in joining ??? I will warn you - I will be camping, will be eating canned chili, drinking some snakebite medicine, (even have a jar of snakes in case I can't find any) and I snore! But it IS a chance to sit around a fire, cuss, not shave, not wash every five minutes, loudly release gas, tell raunchy jokes, and also get some excellent dry fly fishing on "hallowed" water!
 
#24 ·
Bobk

Camping on the B'kill, I'm envious. Are you going in early June thats the time as I remember for the Hendricksons and Red Quills hatch ?

Did I ever tell you about the afternoon I picked off about 8 nice 13-15 inch browns during a henny hatch. Working upstream through this long pool picked off each one that was rising in their different feeding stations.

One of those memorable trout fishing days when the hatch was on you had the right fly and everything went right.

Released them all of course.

Don't worry I can handle hard core camping, you don't think I am a winny poo do you.

LOL

PM Out
 
#26 ·
Ensure the room is quiet where your PC is located, find a nice comfortable chair, have your favorite beverage ready, click on the above link, and sit back and enjoy the piano concerto and beautiful spey flies.

Beautiful touch !

The music was just added in the last couple of days.

PM Out
 
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