PHOTO BY ED VAN PUT
Early Royal Coachman dry fly tied by Theodore Gordon.
Roscoe: The home of the Dry Fly BY ED VAN PUT
I
n the world of fly-fishing there has always been interest in the conception of the dry fly; many believe that this method of fly-fishing began with Theodore Gordon (1854-1915), the legendary angling journalist, fly-fisherman and fly-tier. While Gordon definitely popularized the use of the dry fly and tied some of the earliest patterns, the actual tactic of fishing with a floating
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fly occurred before Theodore Gordon was born. Fly-fishing is essentially an English creation, and its inception is discussed thoroughly by the English angling historian John Waller Hills, author of ‘A History of Fly Fishing for Trout’ (1921). Hills writes that the first mention of the “superiority” of a fly that floats on the surface over one that sinks occurred in print as early
