Innovative Western Fly Tyer
Through his fly shop, mail order business and extensive correspondence and fishing experiences with other famous fly fisherman—Joe Brooks, Lee Wulff, Ray Bergman and Preston Jennings, to name a few, Dan Bailey became known as one of the most innovative fly tiers in the West. Using his knowledge of Eastern fly patterns, Bailey adapted these patterns to his experiences on Montana streams into a wide range of new and innovative fly patterns. A few famous fly patterns credited to Dan Bailey are:
- Marabou Muddler—an evolution of the Muddler Minnow introduced in the 1940s and still one of the most popular trout flies on the market today.
- Mossback Nymph—A extremely popular woven stonefly nymph pattern that Bailey introduced in the 1940s.
- Bailey Wulffs-Black, Grizzly, Blond and Brown hair wing dry flies named after Lee Wulff.
- Red Variant—A 1940s quill bodied may fly imitation adapted from eastern quill bodied flies.
- Green Drake—A 1950s may fly imitation originally tied for West Yellowstone anglers fishing Henry's Fork in Idaho.
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Famous quotes containing the words innovative, western and/or fly:
“A conventional good read is usually a bad read, a relaxing bath in what we know already. A true good read is surely an act of innovative creation in which we, the readers, become conspirators.”
—Malcolm Bradbury (b. 1932)
“Westron wind, when will thou blow?
The small rain down can rain.
Christ, that my love were in my arms,
And I in my bed again.”
—Unknown. Western Wind (l. 1–4)
“What a dissimilarity we see in walking, swimming, and flying. And yet it is one and the same motion: it is just that the load- bearing capacity of the earth differs from that of the water, and that that of the water differs from that of the air! Thus we should also learn to fly as thinkers—and not imagine that we are thereby becoming idle dreamers!”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)