Humpy
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Re: Yellow Humpy
#2Beautiful tie! My go to pattern in southern Colorado on the Rio Grande drainage. Fools a lot of fish.
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Re: Humpy
#3Nice 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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Re: Humpy
#7Beautiful 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'.
Re: Humpy
#9Originally 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.
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.
Re: Humpy
#14I 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.
Re: Humpy
#17Pat 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.
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.
Re: Humpy
#20I'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.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?