Rob Smith has been to visit and we had a very enjoyable chat that lasted for hours.
Gradually I am starting to understand something of the art of fly fishing. Tying flies seems to stretch back for millenia and certainly for centuries.
Rob brought with him a 1915 Premier Edition copy of ‘Brook and River Trouting – A Manual of Modern North Country Methods’ by
As well as beautifully tied soft hackle flies, the book also had an original Pearsall’s silk shade card built into the book. This means that we now have access to the true original Pearsall’s colours that have not been exposed to light or water. Exact matchings are being worked on in our laboratory – more news will follow.
It was fascinating to see some of Rob’s historical collection including a parchment document giving details of fly types. Now I am the proud owner of his ‘The North Country Fly’ book and am really enjoying reading about a world I knew almost nothing about just six months ago!
Rob’s blog The Sliding Stream is well worth a look.
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That’s great that you have access to an original Pearsall’s silk shade card and can begin producing the original Pearsall’s colors.
I’ve ordered some of your “fishing” silks and flosses and await with anticipation their arrival. As an avid fly tier of North Country Spiders and Salmon flies, to get some realistic colours will be of great use and will hopefully help with the loss of Pearsall’s silks.
Great to know that you’re supporting an important aspect of fly fishing and textile history. It would be wonderful for us fly tiers to be able to create dressings even closer to the original colours than we’re able to now. I’ll certainly buy a set!