Jack Montague Flies

The Long and Short of Things

Panfish Flies From Jack Montague

David Hutton ©2018

Today, the postman made a delivery. 

Now, that's probably not unusual in itself. It happens everyday, millions of times.
But this delivery is special, for several reasons.

The Mail Blockade
First off, what the postman delivered were flies from Jack Montague. 
Here again, that may not mean much to you, especially if you don't know Mr. Montague.
But it has set some precedents all its own that are pretty extraordinary.

See, Jack has had no small amount of trouble in the past, getting items from his Wolfglen Fly Fishing School (and Poultry Sanctuary) in Punta Gorda Florida, to my place in SC.

For whatever weird and intricate reasons known only to the U.S Post Office, it seems they had a blockade in place when items from Jack were sent to me.
They didn't seem to know where I lived - that's the main thing. 
Or, in fact, if ANYONE lived here.
The address was basically incognito.

To help the poor folks there at the mail office, Jack had me send him pictures of my mailbox. 
You know, so they had a point of reference.

"See here, people?" he said. "See that blue mailbox with the Palmetto Flag on it.... right, there? 
That's where these are going. You can handle that, eh?"  

He talked real slow, and loud, too, so they could understand him better.
He addressed his letters in large block print.

And still they came back..."NO SUCH ADDRESS"

So, for Jack to finally get something through the invisible force field surrounding my mailbox, well, that is a big deal.

Not Your Average Flies
Secondly, these are some of Jack's long-shanked panfish flies. Not your everyday bluegill flies, mind you. No foam, no glitter, no rubber legs; none of the usual stuff. 

They're actually just hackle, a small body, maybe some fuzzy stuff, and that's about it.
Oh, and there is one other difference - the HOOK. 

They are rather long as panfish fly hooks go. If I were to guess, I'd say they are light wire Aberdeens, or something very similar. 

But, it's that long shank sticking out of the flies head that makes the impression. Why, they don't even have what we might call a head, at least not one at the eye.

What Jack has done is tie a "bare shank" fly. This is an old practice that goes back at least a century, and probably further, if I were to guess.

I remember a discussion not long ago on Facebook, in fact, where someone posted his "revolutionary" new flies... the same long shank jobs.
These were "new and improved" versions, sure to set the fly fishing world on fire. They were a stroke of genius, he assured us.
I wanted to tell him the idea was older than he was by a long shot. 
I wanted to tell him that Jack had just shown these same flies on some other page, not 2 weeks before. 

I wanted to. But, I said nothing and just kept going. 
For all the guy knew, these really were a breakthrough - at least to him.
And I don't need my monkey in every circus.

I know, I know... pretty odd for me to keep my mouth shut. But I'm getting more humble in my old age, I guess.

Anyway, the idea here is to create a fly that doesn't go straight down in the gullet of the fish and gut-hook the poor thing. 
It may be taken deep, still , but the protruding shank keeps it from going too far. 
It also gives you something to get hold of when removing the hook. This translates to doing less harm to the fish, if that's your thing.
If you are harvesting the fish, then it facilitates unhooking so you can get back to business.

I wonder if the fish don't shy away from that hook shank, sticking out like a tiller, but Jack assures me they don't seem to mind at all. I guess a hungry fish sees what it wants to see.

But the real dilemma is: do I fish these? 
These are from Jack Montague, after all.

Why is that so special?

I remember seeing an article in a 1968 issue of the Pennsylvania Angler that lauded the excellent flies, and skill, of a young, up-and-coming man by the name of... you guessed it... Jack Montague. 

1968.

Back when I had just started waving the fairy stick, Jack told me three things that improved my casting to the point that flies actually went out where they were supposed to, instead of piling up at my feet.

Over the phone. 
In under 10 minutes.
That left an impression, I admit it
  
Jack is also one of the last of the Catskill Men. He learned to tie from Harry and Elsie Darbee, you know. 
He hates it when I call him a "living legend," in fact. 
Here's how he puts it...

"Dave, stop saying that.  You gotta be dead to be a legend, and I'm not ready for that."

So, I'll probably fish one of these flies, and use the rest as samples from which to tie my own long shank flies.

Who knows; this could be the start of something new and revolutionary.

Thanks for reading and Tight Lines,

David

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