The May
10th SOFT meeting will feature the tying skills of Ed Morphis. He will
demonstrate a few of Alec Jackson’s “Spade” series. This is how Ed describes
the demo.
I keep
trying to improve my tying, and I find that, having my own style of tying gets
in the way of doing so. Therefore, I decided to follow chosen “experts,” tying exactly
as they do. It is difficult to do this, as it is easier to follow my
own way of doing a process, but if I want to end up with the exact product as
theirs, it is essential to use their processes.
This is
what I did with Alec Jackson’s videos of how to tie the Spades. Alec is famous for his style of tying (as
well as the style of his hooks), especially for his variations of the Spade
pattern. This line of variations is his favorite for fishing steelhead in
different seasons and conditions. (It seems not to be as popular in Southern
Oregon, but I think it is probably because we haven’t given it a good try.
Again, probably because it is not very colorful.) There is the Costal Spade,
Inland Spade, Fancy Spade, Claret Guinea Spade, Woolly Spade, and Dry Spade. I
will demonstrate his style of the Coastal, Inland, and Fancy. There will be a
handout for everyone with pictures and recipes.
Alec has
this to say; "Bob Arnold's Spade is, in my opinion, the perfect fly for
Greased Line Fishing for steelhead. First it is a three-dimensional fly and
thus easily seen by fish regardless of the relative positions of fly and fish.
Second it has a very strong silhouette because it is predominantly dark in
color. Third, because of the materials used in its construction, it is easy to
fine tune the amount of material applied to the hook.”
Ed has
also agreed to share some of his ideas on how to be a better demonstration
tier. It shapes up to be a very educational evening, so pencil it in on your
busy social calendar.
Last month we voted to have a delicious BBQ for our June meeting. All food and
beverages will be provided except deserts. We will ask our members to bring
something special and sweet. That could mean your wife or girlfriend/husband or
boyfriend, OR a pie cake or cookies. In order to make sure we have enough food
for everybody, I will need a RSVP for those attending. The date is June 14th.
Lets have a big crowd.
