Beginner’s Fly Tying: June 18, 2018

By Don Fine

The Beginner’s Fly Tying will be held on Monday, June 18th. The featured flies for that session will be two flies developed by one of Pennsylvania’s legendary fly fishers and fly tiers, Ed Shenk. That evening we will be tying the “Letort (or Shenk’s) Cricket” and “Letort (or Shenk’s) Hopper”. As such, they are considered terrestrial patterns since Crickets and Grasshoppers live their life cycle on land. Both of these patterns are relatively simple to tie* in comparison to other Hopper and Cricket patterns. Nevertheless, they are just as effective. Even though Ed created these two and several other patterns primarily for fishing Eastern streams, such as the Letort Spring Run in Southcentral Pennsylvania, I had success with both of these patterns on hot summer days when fishing rivers in Montana. As in past months the Beginner’s fly tying will be held in room 207 at Trinity United Methodist Church, 703 West Patrick Street, Frederick.

* Perhaps as a note of interest, a PVFF fellow member and I took a one-day course on tying these two patterns some years ago at the now closed Cold Spring Anglers Fly Shop. Ed Shenk was our instructor that day. Additional information about Ed Shenk can be found here.