Category: Framed Fly Posts

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Updates To My Framed Fly Gallery

Light Box Studio

I’ve recently made some updates to my Framed Fly Gallery page. It now shows all 24 of my 5×7 Framed Fly Collections and both of my 8×10 Collections. There is still one glaring absence in the 5×7 gallery and a few less obvious issues but for the most part it is pretty representative of my product line. Here are some of my latest collection photos and I think they look pretty good.

Recently Added Gallery Photos

One reason for the noticeable improvement in photo quality is a light box studio that I recently acquired. It helps me get nearly perfect lighting on the flies and minimizes the shadows due to the setback of the parchment. The other reason for the improved photos is that I now have a set of frames with the glass removed so the reflections are nearly eliminated.

Light Box Studio
Light Box Studio

My gallery has one obvious issue and a few not-so-obvious ones so to correct the issues I have created a to-do list with the following items on it:

  • Missing photo of the Old Favorite Lake Fly Collection #1 – White!
  • Poor lighting of the Old Favorite Bass Fly Collection #1 – Gray [UPDATED!]
  • Poor lighting of the Classic Wet Fly Collection #1 – Gray [UPDATED!]
  • Poor alignment/cropping of the Old Favorite Lake Fly Collection #1 – Gray [UPDATED!]
  • Changed to Gold parchment in the Black frames but several photos have not been retaken yet.
  • Both the 8×10 collection photos have irritating shadows in them.

I hope to have some of these issues corrected in the next few weeks or so.

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Watermarks

5x7 Old Favorite Bass Fly Watermark #1 (gold)

If you’re familiar with my website you will know that I post quite a bit of information on fly tying. However, another part of my website is an online store where I have flies that have been tied and mounted in a shadow boxes available for purchase. I have at least 8 different themed collections of flies in a couple of different frame sizes.

I’ve been tying them for a little while now and have finally come to my senses and began updating the watermarks that appear on the background of the framed flies. Initially, I just had some fancy feathers in the backgrounds, and they looked okay, but my daughter demanded that I do something better.

Here are the first few watermarks I have updated. These are the 5×7’s. The one on the left is pretty obvious – two bass. The one on the right is an old picture of Ray Bergman tying a fly. If you can read the fine print, the flies in this collection are from his 1938 book titled Trout. It seemed fitting to me.

5x7 Old Favorite Bass Fly Watermark #1 (gold)
5×7 Old Favorite Bass Fly Watermark #1 (gold)
5x7 Classic Wet Fly Watermark #1 (gold)
5×7 Classic Wet Fly Watermark #1 (gold)

Here is one of the 8×10’s. Two rainbow trout.

8x10 Old Favorite Trout Fly Watermark #1 (gold)
8×10 Old Favorite Trout Fly Watermark #1 (gold)

All things considered, they look pretty nice when covered with the flies.

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Classic Nymphs Collection Available

A while ago I wrote a blog post called “Nymphs Too!”. The reason for the post was that I had just won the “Nymph” division at the 2021 MTFA Fly Tying Contest and I wanted to publish my fly tying method for that fly. Since then, I pulled together some additional classic fly patterns and created a product variation for a set of these Classic Nymphs.

One of the classic nymphs, my award-winning Polish Nymph, has been a great fly for me. It’s a caddisfly larva imitation and the colors can be varied as much as there is embroidery floss – hundreds of colors and shades. A skein of cotton floss is under a buck and will make a great many flies. I do like polyester floss for the underside because it comes in brighter colors that don’t fade when wet. The weaving is what gives the fly the realistic texture and the link on the Fly Tying Card shows you how it’s done.

Regarding the remainder of the classic nymphs in the collection, I’m sure you’re familiar with some (Copper John, Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear, Prince Nymph) and perhaps not familiar with the rest. The namesake Classic Nymph is an amazing looking mayfly nymph imitation and is one I need to try out in the water. It’s beautiful! The red quill abdomen, the curved wood duck fiber tails, and the red dot on top of the head seem very realistic to me. The Tellico Nymph also caught my eye and made its way into the collection. The shell-like back gives it the appearance of a scud. This one needs to get wet for me as well.

The following Classic Nymphs are included in this collection. You can find a detailed photo and description of each fly in the Classic Nymphs Collection on my Nymphs webpage.

  • Classic Nymph
  • Copper John
  • Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear
  • Governor Alvord
  • Montana Nymph
  • Polish Nymph
  • Sawyer’s Pheasant Tail Prince Nymph
  • Tellico Nymph

A Framed Fly Collection for the eight classic nymphs is available under the Framed Flies (5×7) product in my online store.

5×7 Classic Nymph Collection #1 (black)

A set of fly tying cards for the Classic Nymph collection has also been created. These are (a) viewable at the bottom of my Fly Tying Cards webpage, or (b) available in printed form (for a small fee) under the Fly Tying Cards (Printed) product in my online store.

Cover page of Classic Nymph Fly Tying Cards

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Catching Up – Custom Fly Tying

2021 Award Winning Fly Collection

I’ve been away too long (again!) but now I’ll try to catch up.

Deep down in my website is a page called Custom Fly Tying but it is still under construction. I’m now in the process of constructing it. Some time ago, I met with some friends and showed them several of my Framed Fly Collections. They really liked several of the 5×7 frames and also the 8×10 but they just couldn’t decide which one to go with. After some pondering, we came up with the idea of a combination. I would take 3 flies from each of 6 collections and merge them into one large frame. And here is what I came up with:

2021 Award Winning Fly Collection
2021 Branson Award Winning Fly Collection

There are rows of nymphs, wet flies, lake flies, trout flies, bass flies, and even a row of realistic dry flies. The blue ribbon icons mark my three award winning flies from the 2021 Branson Fly Fishing Expo. Another custom feature is background image – a birthday cake. The sky is the limit!

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Halford Dry Fly Collection Available

A new Framed Fly collection is now available!

This fly collection contains 8 dry flies tied as they appear in Frederic M. Halford’s 1886 book “Floating Flies and How To Dress Them”. You can read more about Frederic Halford and his book in the References section on our Dry Flies page.

The following Halford Dry Flies are included in this collection. You can find a detailed photo and description of each fly in the Halford Dry Fly Collection on our Dry Flies page.

  • No. 10. #1 Whitchurch
  • No. 11. Flight’s Fancy
  • No. 18. Blue Quill
  • No. 24. Saltoun
  • No. 36. Blue-Winged Olive
  • No. 63. Alder
  • No. 66. Red Ant
  • No. 75. Dark Sedge
5×7 Halford Dry Fly Collection #1 (black)

You can shop for this collection in the Framed Flies (5×7) section of my online store!

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Catskills Dry Fly Collection Available

A new Framed Fly collection is now available!

This fly collection contains 8 dry flies tied in the style inspired by Theodore Gordon, the father of American dry fly fishing. You can read more about Theodore Gordon in the References section on our Dry Flies page.

The following Catskills Dry Flies are included in this collection. You can find a detailed photo and description of each fly in the Catskills Dry Fly Collection on our Dry Flies page.

  • Adams
  • Blue-Winged Olive
  • Hendrickson
  • Light Cahill
  • March Brown
  • Pink Lady
  • Quill Gordon
  • Red Quill
5×7 Catskills Dry Fly Collection #1 (black)

You can shop for this collection in the Framed Flies (5×7) section of my online store!

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Old Favorite Bass Fly Collection Available

A new Framed Flies collection is now available! Frames are now available in Gray and White as well as Black!

This collection contains 8 bass flies from Mary Orvis Marbury’s 1892 book “Favorite Flies And Their Histories”. You can read more about Mary Orvis Marbury and her book in the References section on our Wet Flies page.

The following Old Favorite Bass Flies are included in this collection. You can find a detailed photo and description of each fly in the Old Favorite Bass Fly Collection on our Wet Flies page.

  • No. 254 Knight Templar
  • No. 255 Jungle Cock
  • No. 259. Ondawa
  • No. 273. Mather
  • No. 279. Toodle-bug
  • No. 280. Read
  • No. 285. Triumph
  • No. 286. Tipperlinn
5×7 Old Favorite Bass Fly Collection #1 (black)
5×7 Old Favorite Bass Fly Collection #1 (gray)
5×7 Old Favorite Bass Fly Collection #1 (white)

You can shop for this collection in the Framed Flies (5×7) section of my online store!

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Old Favorite Lake Fly Collection Available

A new Framed Flies collection is now available!

This collection contains 8 lake flies from Mary Orvis Marbury’s 1892 book “Favorite Flies And Their Histories”. You can read more about Mary Orvis Marbury and her book in the References section on our Wet Flies page.

The following Old Favorite Lake Flies are included in this collection. You can find a detailed photo and description of each fly in the Old Favorite Lake Fly Collection on our Wet Flies page.

  • No. 36. Alexandra
  • No. 40. Royal Coachman
  • No. 41. Cassard
  • No. 50. Kingfisher
  • No. 60. Parmacheene Belle
  • No. 63. Cunningham
  • No. 64. Lord Baltimore
  • No. 70. Tomah Jo
5×7 Old Favorite Lake Fly Collection #1 (black)

You can shop for this collection in the Framed Flies (5×7) section of my online store!