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Namsen Variant
Namsen variant Tied pretty much after a vintage one in Terry Griffiths’ great new book “The Essential Kelson” which features Kelson’s patterns from his books and Land and Water cards. There are also good notes on fly tying techniques and material selection from Kelson explained by Marvin Nolte. Recommended purchase for everyone. I have never…
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Green Highlander from G.M. Kelson
Green Highlander This is Kelson’s version of the standard classic which he attributes to Grant. It’s a bit simpler pattern than most as it doesn’t have sides or cheeks but it will show every mistake when tied as a married wing. I added a close up photo of the wing tie in point that lets…
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Butcher from G.M. Kelson
The Butcher Another staple classic that has appeared in one form or another in most of the books that are considered classic today. The shot is from a fly that I tied some years ago for fishing on an old Partridge M 5/0 hook. I have to note that the GP underwing is easier to…
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Silver Grey from G.M. Kelson
Silver Grey One of my favorite patterns ever designed for salmon. This time tied with really sparse wing and closer to “classic Finnish style”. Haven’t caught any salmon with it yet but this very fly has given me few brown trouts so I added a photo of one for your amusement. The pattern is pretty…
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Black Prince
The “Black Prince” Major John Popkin Traherne’s flies are recognized by many as the most beautiful salmon flies ever created. Many of them have fullfeather wings which has never been too common in salmon flies. They were first introduced by Traherne’s good friend George Kelson in his articles in Fishing Gazette. When tying a topping…
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Britannia
The Britannia Rare pattern because the wing is made of feathers from the Northern Shoveler duck. The fly itself must have been pretty popular since there are vintage versions of it left today and the pattern was in three major books of the Victorian era. This is a mix of the patterns from Francis Francis,…
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Highland Gem
Highland Gem (Kelson) Not surprisingly another fly from Kelson’s The Salmon Fly. Haven’t been really impressed with the pattern before but I’ve seen few takes on it that opened my mind. I tried to get a bit lower profile like on the William Chinn’s flies I adore. The fly doesn’t really allow you to hide…