Humpy

A place to discuss the collecting and tying of classic flies, the tyers who made them famous, the tools, materials and techniques they used as well as the waters they were designed for. While classic is generally used to describe old things, classic is also used in the sense of first class or in the highest form. Therefore a fully dressed Salmon Fly, or a Carrie Stevens Streamer are just as much classics as a Chernobyl Ant would be. Enjoy the forum.

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ibookje
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Humpy

#1

Post by ibookje »

Yellow Humpy (floss body)
Mustad 94842 size 16

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Humpy (green seal body)
Mustad 94842 size 12

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Last edited by ibookje on 02/08/20 09:08, edited 1 time in total.

Clif Sikes
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Re: Yellow Humpy

#2

Post by Clif Sikes »

Beautiful tie! My go to pattern in southern Colorado on the Rio Grande drainage. Fools a lot of fish.

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SpringCreek
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Re: Humpy

#3

Post by SpringCreek »

Nice tie. A size 14 Humpy is one of my favorite flies.
Then as it was, then again it will be. Though the course may change sometimes, rivers always reach the sea. - Led Zeppelin, 10 Years Gone

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PYochim
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Re: Humpy

#4

Post by PYochim »

Jay, beautifully tied. I'd take that fly and put a Sawyer PT nymph 18" below it and fish for cutts in our area.

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ibookje
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Re: Humpy

#5

Post by ibookje »

Thanks guys!
Yes it's a great little fly to fish with too

alberta al
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Re: Humpy

#6

Post by alberta al »

Jay, Extremely well done. It has always been a good fly for me. I should tye them more often.

Cheers,

Alan

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mcflyfish
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Re: Humpy

#7

Post by mcflyfish »

Beautiful ties...well. Done. Fortunate to have an original Jack Horner humpy (see pic) and some variations that I tied a long time ago. Interesting that Jack's has sparser hackle than the way we tie today. My guess is that the genetic hackle used today is better and Jack was tying commercially using material on hand as efficiently as possible. That is a very 'wild guess' on my part so I won't be offended by more knowledgable sources...that's why we call it a 'forum'.
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ibookje
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Re: Humpy

#8

Post by ibookje »

Thanks for the pictures.
Great link to the history of the Humpy.
I got sucked into tying it after seeing Jack Dennis' video in late 1980's.

Booman2
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Re: Humpy

#9

Post by Booman2 »

Originally it was called the "Horner Deer Hair" and, according to Gary Howells and Mike O'Brien, one of the secrets was deer hair from the flank of a west coast blacktail deer. The location where the hair was taken was important and, according to my records, Mr. Horner liked smaller young deer without overly hollow fibers.
If I recall, the original was tied with black thread on Mustad hooks. Gary Howells said that he tied "thousands" for the San Francisco Winston shop so he seldom fished the fly himself. I have 2 of his ties and they are sparse, looking very similar to the original that Gary posted.

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ibookje
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Humpy

#10

Post by ibookje »

The fly became known as Humpy I think after several alterations. I have known it since I saw a video of Jack Dennis called Tying Western Trout Flies in the late 1980s. I was fascinated (maybe obsessed :) ) by it.

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Loogie
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Re: Humpy

#11

Post by Loogie »

You are the "Humpy" master! Beautiful !

driftless angler
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Re: Humpy

#12

Post by driftless angler »

Very nice!

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jhuskey
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Re: Humpy

#13

Post by jhuskey »

Nice Humpy's Jay!

Booman2
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Re: Humpy

#14

Post by Booman2 »

I located a couple notable examples from my small collection. The original Deer Hair tied by Doc Horner had a natural deer hair body ribbed with black tying thread. The next 'improvement' was done by Pat Barnes and had a yellow body, not overly fat and my example was tied by Mrs. Pat Barnes in 1952. The two examples tied by Gary Howells shortly after that had slim bodies and fairly sparse hackle. All these examples were fairly small, about #14-16. I think it was in the 1980's when things went wild and today's Humpy emerged.

DUCKMANNM
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Re: Humpy

#15

Post by DUCKMANNM »

I think in between the Horner's Deer Hair and Humpy, there was a fly that looked real close to those two flies called a Goofus Bug. I especially like your tie with the up eye hooks!

Booman2
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Re: Humpy

#16

Post by Booman2 »

You are correct, the Goofus Bug was in there. Some theorize that the original inspiration for the humpy was the Tom Thumb, a midwest pattern.

16pmd
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Re: Humpy

#17

Post by 16pmd »

Pat Barnes, flyshop owner and guide in West Yellowstone, took to calling the Horner Deerhair the Goofus Bug and popularized the name. It's essentially the same fly. Horner's original used only black thread, but the Goofus Bug and Humpy offshoots used various colors - red, yellow, green - of thread for the body.

The Tom Thumb is similar but has no hackle and only one wing, so was used both wet and dry in British Columbia. Said to have originated in England.

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jacknoir
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Re: Humpy

#18

Post by jacknoir »

I have a question guys. I've known the humpy as a western pattern - and the historical info above is great. I've only used it occasionally on eastern rivers like the Ausable though. How popular is it in the east? Is it a go to fly for any of our eastern brethren?

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Re: Humpy

#19

Post by kingstu »

Beautiful Fly! Liquify-X floatant would work wonderful on that pattern.
Stu
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mer
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Re: Humpy

#20

Post by mer »

jacknoir wrote:I have a question guys. I've known the humpy as a western pattern - and the historical info above is great. I've only used it occasionally on eastern rivers like the Ausable though. How popular is it in the east? Is it a go to fly for any of our eastern brethren?
I've used a Green in a size 12 or 14 with lots of luck on water up in NH. Toss it in the white water, slack line let in float around and down. Yes, I have lots of luck fishing dries downstream. Like a softhackle but on top. Something that floats well, at the end let it get sucked under, pull upstream, drop the rod tip. Fly pops back up and usually gets whacked.

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