The Literary Fly Fisher

I have some grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) fur, and I’d like to tie a few nice flies for the person who gave it to me. I had thought about tying some Adams dry flies, using the lighter under fur for dubbing and the guard hairs for tails. Obviously, the grizzly hackle normally used on Adams flies would  fit the theme nicely. I would love to hear some other suggestions, however.

I might also tie a variation of the “black bear red but” salmon fly. I’ll call it the “Hugh Glass.” This name comes to mind because I am reading Missoula, Montana author and diplomat Michael Punke’s The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge. In the book, Punke describes the mauling of Glass by a grizzly on the Grand River, in present-day South Dakota, and the events that followed. Glass’s companions left him for dead after his encounter with the bear, and they took his prized rifle with them. The badly wounded Glass famously crawled approximately 100 miles to the Cheyenne River. He then floated downstream to Fort Kiowa, on the Missouri. After recovering physically, he set out after those who had abandoned him.

This entry was posted on March 23, 2015 at 2:54 PM and is filed under Environmental Literature, Fly Fishing, Fly Fishing Tackle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.