The Ghost of Frederick HalfordI've published 15-20 articles in fly fishing magazines over the years--mostly about fly tying inventions. But I've never had much luck publishing wiggler articles. Perhaps that's why I've written so many of them. Writing about fly fishing is a labor of love rather than profit however, and It's a lot more fun publishing here where I can say anything I want; where I don't have to worry about the pompous legacy of Frederick Halford.
An editor of a fly fishing magazine once told me (in the mid-1980s or so) he thought my wigglers were interesting, but he was afraid "the readers would rebel" if he published my stuff. Another less complementary editor once said "there is a question about whether it is a fly or not." You could almost feel that editor's chin rising above his keyboard as he wrote that sentance. Another said "this isn't the direction I want to take the magazine." The ground rules for publication in fly fishing magazines are clear. If you write something about developmentally disabled mayfly emergers you'll get published in a flash. But if you write something about lure-like flies that actually catch big fish your chances for publication are a limit approaching zero. Now don't get me wrong. I love fishing a Pale Morning Dun hatch, perhaps most of all. And I do it well. I like Pecan Pie too. But I do get a belly ache if I eat too much of it. Are these lures, flyrod lures or flies? That's a question I don't know how to answer. All these wigglers can be made light enough to cast with a flyrod or heavy enough throw with a bait casting rod. So you might argue we're free to fish the way we like. But to make those choices you have to know what the alternatives are. The evolution of fly fishing, including its technology, is what the literature says it is. And that literature is still clipped and molded, even now, like a Calvinist bonsai pine, by the ghost of Frederick Halford--and by fly fishing editors so afraid of the L-word they won't even utter the sound, let alone print the word. 
If you want to learn about making lightweight flyrod wigglers you'll have to learn about it here, because fly fishing editors have been censoring what you read for decades, largely because of this guy, right here, staring at you now, watching over you, making sure he still has control.
G.E.M. Sandy :-) Editor, MRBoats.com |
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