Fountains of Youth – Classic trout flies that have withstood the test of time … flies that remain “forever young”
by Rusty Dunn
You are a beginning fly angler, and the moment of truth has arrived. Today is your first day of fly fishing for trout. You bought the equipment, read several “how to” books, stocked the fly box, and consulted stream access maps. You’re at the river, and it’s time to tie on a fly. But what fly? Those books made it seem so complex. Dry fly, wet fly, pupa, emerger, terrestrial, nymph, spinner, cripple, and on, and on. So many choices. So many decisions. Remembering advice of some ‘expert’ author you’ve never heard of, you pick up and examine river rocks. Yes indeed, insect looking critters are scattered about. Some creepy crawly things. Some wormy squirmy things. Some snotty knots that may or may not even be alive. Trouble is, you don’t know a mayfly from a house fly down there among the rock and rubble. You’re thinking, “For Christ sakes! I don’t want to speak Latin or be an entomologist. I just want to catch a trout.” You open the fly box, and your hand hovers with indecision. What fly? At that moment, an elderly gentleman with a kind face emerges from the path. You inquire, “Anything hatching?” The gentleman replies, “I did well with an Adams”. There you have it … wisdom of the ages. You tie on an Adams, catch a few trout, and have a grand first day of fly fishing. You now feel wise and confident.
The Adams is quite possibly America’s favorite trout fly. You’ll be hard pressed to find an angler whose fly box lacks an Adams. Ask ten anglers what an Adams imitates, however, and you might get ten different answers. That’s because an Adams doesn’t closely imitate any specific insect, but rather all of them more generally. The Adams is a generic attractor dry fly, one of the best of all time. It’s a chameleon, a fly that appeals to trout seemingly no matter the hatch. The author Thomas McGuane perhaps said it best: “The Adams looks a little like all bugs. It’s gray and funky and a great salesman.” (An Outside Chance, 1992).
The Adams originated along the banks of Michigan’s Boardman River at the hands of Leonard Halladay, an innkeeper and commercial fly tyer. Charles F. Adams, an attorney friend of Halladay’s from Ohio, was fishing a tributary of the Boardman in the summer of 1922. Fishing was slow despite there being plenty of bugs around. Adams captured one such bug and took it to Halladay, who tied a matching fly. The insect was not identified, but C.F. Adams fished the new fly that evening and reported excitedly to Halladay that it was an absolute “knock-out”. Halladay named the fly in honor of his friend and, thus, the Adams dry fly was born. Today, over a century later, Halladay’s Adams is a fly-fishing legend revered by generations of fly-fishing cognoscenti.
Halladay’s original Adams had a tail of golden pheasant tippets, oversized wings tied three-quarters spent, and a bushy collar of mixed grizzly and brown hackle. The Adams’ current form – a thinner, trimmer, and more delicate Catskill-style dressing – appeared in the 1930s. Halladay’s tail was replaced by grizzly/brown dry-fly hackle fibers for better floatation, and the wings were reoriented to be upright and divided. Variations of the Adams have proliferated ever since. The Delaware Adams, Egg-Laying Adams, Adams Midge, and Adams Wulff are but a few of many examples. Parachute dry flies grew in popularity beginning in the 1950s, and a Parachute Adams became one of North America’s most popular trout flies. It still is.
How can a non-imitative fly be so effective? Many authors have speculated about the Adams’ mystical properties. Most credit its success to the mixture of grizzly and brown hackle. Its broken mottled appearance seems to provoke some poorly understood but deeply rooted urges of a trout. The Adams is a triumph of impressionism over imitation in fly design. It is not tied to imitate an insect; it is tied to catch a trout.
Your first day of trout fishing is now over, and Halladay’s genius did the trick. As you return to the car, you meet another beginning fly angler walking up the path. She inquires, “Anything hatching?” You reply with newfound wisdom. “Yes indeed! An excellent hatch of Adams.”
Copyright 2023, Rusty Dunn
Adams
Mount the wings approximately one-fourth shank length behind the rear of the eye. Tail length should approximately equal that of the hook shank. Taper the abdomen slightly. Pair together a brown and a grizzly hackle feather and wrap them behind and in front of the wings to form a thick bushy collar whose barb length is approximately 1.5 times the hook gap.
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Hook:
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Dry fly, #12-20
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Thread:
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Gray
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|
Wings:
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Grizzly hen hackle tips, upright and divided
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Tail:
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Dry-fly hackle barbs, mixed brown and grizzly
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Abdomen:
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Gray muskrat underfur
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Adams
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Last Updated: December 4, 2023 by Drew Kasel
by Rusty Dunn
You are a beginning fly angler, and the moment of truth has arrived. Today is your first day of fly fishing for trout. You bought the equipment, read several “how to” books, stocked the fly box, and consulted stream access maps. You’re at the river, and it’s time to tie on a fly. But what fly? Those books made it seem so complex. Dry fly, wet fly, pupa, emerger, terrestrial, nymph, spinner, cripple, and on, and on. So many choices. So many decisions. Remembering advice of some ‘expert’ author you’ve never heard of, you pick up and examine river rocks. Yes indeed, insect looking critters are scattered about. Some creepy crawly things. Some wormy squirmy things. Some snotty knots that may or may not even be alive. Trouble is, you don’t know a mayfly from a house fly down there among the rock and rubble. You’re thinking, “For Christ sakes! I don’t want to speak Latin or be an entomologist. I just want to catch a trout.” You open the fly box, and your hand hovers with indecision. What fly? At that moment, an elderly gentleman with a kind face emerges from the path. You inquire, “Anything hatching?” The gentleman replies, “I did well with an Adams”. There you have it … wisdom of the ages. You tie on an Adams, catch a few trout, and have a grand first day of fly fishing. You now feel wise and confident.
The Adams is quite possibly America’s favorite trout fly. You’ll be hard pressed to find an angler whose fly box lacks an Adams. Ask ten anglers what an Adams imitates, however, and you might get ten different answers. That’s because an Adams doesn’t closely imitate any specific insect, but rather all of them more generally. The Adams is a generic attractor dry fly, one of the best of all time. It’s a chameleon, a fly that appeals to trout seemingly no matter the hatch. The author Thomas McGuane perhaps said it best: “The Adams looks a little like all bugs. It’s gray and funky and a great salesman.” (An Outside Chance, 1992).
The Adams originated along the banks of Michigan’s Boardman River at the hands of Leonard Halladay, an innkeeper and commercial fly tyer. Charles F. Adams, an attorney friend of Halladay’s from Ohio, was fishing a tributary of the Boardman in the summer of 1922. Fishing was slow despite there being plenty of bugs around. Adams captured one such bug and took it to Halladay, who tied a matching fly. The insect was not identified, but C.F. Adams fished the new fly that evening and reported excitedly to Halladay that it was an absolute “knock-out”. Halladay named the fly in honor of his friend and, thus, the Adams dry fly was born. Today, over a century later, Halladay’s Adams is a fly-fishing legend revered by generations of fly-fishing cognoscenti.
Halladay’s original Adams had a tail of golden pheasant tippets, oversized wings tied three-quarters spent, and a bushy collar of mixed grizzly and brown hackle. The Adams’ current form – a thinner, trimmer, and more delicate Catskill-style dressing – appeared in the 1930s. Halladay’s tail was replaced by grizzly/brown dry-fly hackle fibers for better floatation, and the wings were reoriented to be upright and divided. Variations of the Adams have proliferated ever since. The Delaware Adams, Egg-Laying Adams, Adams Midge, and Adams Wulff are but a few of many examples. Parachute dry flies grew in popularity beginning in the 1950s, and a Parachute Adams became one of North America’s most popular trout flies. It still is.
How can a non-imitative fly be so effective? Many authors have speculated about the Adams’ mystical properties. Most credit its success to the mixture of grizzly and brown hackle. Its broken mottled appearance seems to provoke some poorly understood but deeply rooted urges of a trout. The Adams is a triumph of impressionism over imitation in fly design. It is not tied to imitate an insect; it is tied to catch a trout.
Your first day of trout fishing is now over, and Halladay’s genius did the trick. As you return to the car, you meet another beginning fly angler walking up the path. She inquires, “Anything hatching?” You reply with newfound wisdom. “Yes indeed! An excellent hatch of Adams.”
Copyright 2023, Rusty Dunn
Adams
Mount the wings approximately one-fourth shank length behind the rear of the eye. Tail length should approximately equal that of the hook shank. Taper the abdomen slightly. Pair together a brown and a grizzly hackle feather and wrap them behind and in front of the wings to form a thick bushy collar whose barb length is approximately 1.5 times the hook gap.
Hook:
Dry fly, #12-20
Thread:
Gray
Wings:
Grizzly hen hackle tips, upright and divided
Tail:
Dry-fly hackle barbs, mixed brown and grizzly
Abdomen:
Gray muskrat underfur
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Category: Fly Tying, Rusty Dunn Fountains of Youth
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