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3. The Atherton Boys

Here are a few oldies tied in a more modern style. Atherton's impressionistic series of nymphs, dark, medium and light. He preferred to not give them names so to speak but instead simply referred to them by their shades. I added a brass bead to get them to where the fish are!

Atherton was big on color and the way light hit it, many of his flies used seals fur and gold oval tinsel to make them look more alive and translucent. His patterns were meant to suggest life rather than directly imitate it, something I feel works better than directly matching the hatch, at least on freestone water.

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CJ

Beautiful flies, John! Can you remind us of Atherton's rationale for the blue wing case? A similar nymph is the Black Martinez with its bright green wingcase. These flies really work!

I'll take the far right one for steelhead ALLL day! Nice flies.

I agree Kurt...Very nicely tied flies. On my computer it is difficult to tell, but what are you using for the wingcase? What are your favorite sizes for your "freestones".

Thanks for sharing.

Spence

Spence I will venture a guess that it is blue deer hair. I like the JC nails on #3 definitely a different application (to me) for that material.

Actually, it's usually white quill from a duck or goose dyed Kingfisher blue. My guess is Atherton had some swan (or genuine kingfisher) in his kit for full dressed salmon flies and figured it would go with his theory. I used them in 12 to 16.

Atherton doesn't give a lengthy discussion on why he uses blue for the wing case, he just states that it "is the perfect feather to suggest color or light". These impressionistic artists think a little different than most fly tiers, but I have always been a fan of his patterns.

The wing case material is Kingfisher, a slip from the secondary wing quill. The curious thing about Kingfisher is, the blue feathers when left under water for a period of time actually turn gray. After they are removed from the water and left to dry, they return to their original color. I always coat them with varnish both as a waterproofer and to make them more durable, as these feathers are quite fragile.

Thanks guys, I will dig up some Atherton dry flys that I tied and post them here. CJ

Spence,

Kingfisher wing quill slips. These are #12's, I use them in 12 and 14. I would like them bigger, but the Kingfisher quills are short and I run out of length on anything longer than a #12! Thanks, CJ

A few without beads...
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CJ