Fountains of Youth – Classic trout flies that have withstood the test of time … flies that remain “forever young”

by Rusty Dunn

Fly tying owes much to Charles Cotton, who in 1676 authored ‘Part II’ of Isaac Wal­ton’s classic The Compleat Angler. Prior to Cotton, descriptions of artificial flies and how to tie them were sketchy at best. Cotton gave detailed in­struc­tions concerning insects, their imitation, tying materials, methods of construction, and the best months for each fly’s use. His flies were remarkably modern in appearance, being small, sparsely dressed, and neat. Cotton’s metic­ulous ap­proach and precise descriptions began the rich literature of fly-tying that we enjoy today.

No material was more important to Cotton than his bag of fur dubbings. He wrote of them with great affection and praised their ability to im­i­tate nat­ural insects. Speaking as Piscator to Viator in The Com­pleat An­gler, Cotton wrote:

“Piscator: Come, give me my dubbing bag here presently; and now, sir, since I find you so honest a man, I will make no scruple to lay open my treasure before you.

Viator: Did ever anyone see the like! What a heap of trumpery is here! Certainly, never an angler in Europe has his shop half so well fur­nished as you have.”

The softness, shine, and buoyancy of natural fur and hair are unsurpassed for imitating insect bodies on wet flies and nymphs. Fur transmits light through the fibers, something that Cotton understood well. While being tutored on fly tying, Viator described a dark fur dubbing as “very black”, to which Piscator responded:

“It appears so in the hand; but step to the door and hold it up betwixt your eye and the sun, and it will appear a shining red”.

A thinly dubbed body of fur applied over a thread base whose color matches a natural insect and shows through overlying fur beautifully imitates in­sect translucency. As the fur soaks up water, it be­comes increasingly soft, flexible, lifelike, and appealing to trout.

Dave Whitlock (1934-2022) was a lifelong Oklahoman who educated generations of Americans on the delights of both cold- and warm-water fly fishing. His beautiful writings, remarkable artwork, uncanny teaching abilities, and friendly personality demystified our seemingly complex sport and made it approachable by beginners and experts alike. He was (and still is!) one of the most influential fly anglers of the 20th century. Whitlock received essentially every major award in fly fishing. For example, Fly Fisherman magazine completed in 2021 the daunting task of selecting the four most influential fly fishers of the past 50 years for a figurative “Mt. Rushmore of Fly Fishing”. Dave Whitlock shared the honor with Joe Brooks, Lee Wulff, and Lefty Kreh. Remarkable honors for four remarkable anglers.

Whitlock learned fly fishing and tying at a young age reading his grandfather’s Field & Stream magazines. He did not have access to uncommon or precious tying materials, but he made do with the rewards of his Oklahoma hunting (rabbits, squirrels, game birds, etc.). In time, Whitlock designed hundreds of fly patterns, most of which featured such “blue collar” materials. Dave’s own “Mt. Rushmore” of his popular fly designs would probably be the Red Fox Squirrel Hair Nymph, Dave’s Hopper, NearNuff Crayfish, and Dave’s Diving Frog.

The Red Fox Squirrel Hair Nymph is an impressionistic fly that is ef­fec­tive in vir­tually all trout wa­ters. When asked to identify his single most effective fly in all waters and under all conditions, Whitlock confidently answered the RFSHN. He devel­oped the pat­tern in the late 1960s, hav­ing been influ­enced by the writings of Polly Rosbo­r­ough and others. Like other cham­pion nymphs such as the Gold-Ribbed Hare’s Ear, the RFSHN owes its success to the magic of soft animal fur and, ultimately, to the heap of trumpery in Charles Cotton’s dubbing bag.

Copyright 2023, Rusty Dunn

Red Fox Squirrel Hair Nymph 

Skues greatly enjoyed olive hatches, and his writings describe well over a dozen different imita­tions keyed for use in differing months.  This Medium Olive Nymph pat­tern for the early season was published in Side-Lines, Side-Lights & Reflections (1932).