DELAWARE ADAMS STEP BY STEP

DELAWARE ADAMS

This is my favorite dry fly pattern in the #14. 16 & 18

History

Mr. Dette was an exceptionally gifted fly tier. And for almost three-quarters of a century, he, along with his wife, Winnie, and their daughter, Mary, have been part of the tradition of Roscoe, a center of fly-fishing, and are the last of the renowned school of the Catskill fly tiers.

Mr. Dette, along with Rube Cross, is a major link in a chain that reaches back to Theodore Gordon, long considered by many as the father of dry-fly fishing in this country. In 1928, when Mr. Cross was one of the acclaimed professional fly tiers in the East, Mr. Dette approached him with an offer of $50 if Mr. Cross would reveal the technical processes involved in the construction of his flies.

"He told me to go to hell," Mr. Dette said, "even though I'd promised him I'd not tie commercially and thus compete with him, nor would I divulge his techniques to anyone else." Figured It Out

Dressing flies was a jealously guarded secret during that era. This did not discourage the young Dette. He began purchasing flies tied by Mr. Cross and others. While his soon bride-to-be, Winnie, took notes, young Dette meticulously untied the Cross flies, one turn of thread at a time, in order to learn their construction.

Unlike Mr. Cross, however, Mr. Dette shared the procedures with any and all who asked. Thus, not only was a wealth of technical knowledge preserved but in his willing students it was also eventually spread throughout much of the country. There is no doubt that Mr. Dette has directly, or indirectly, affected all who fish with the fly today.

The flies tied by Mr. Dette and his family were considered to be of the best not only in beauty and precision but also in posture and durability when fished.

Anglers and collectors have been buying the Dette flies for more than 60 years. The only frustration most collectors encountered was that no one in the family would say who tied what. Shared the Honors

Although many of his innovations would fill a book on pioneering fly tying, the Dette name does not, with one exception, appear on any of the patterns he has designed. Of those which have achieved popularity over the years, the Delaware Adams and the Coffin Fly (the spinner of the Green Drake) are perhaps the best known.

There are few, if any, awards or accolades in Walt Dette's name alone. Those who sought to honor him knew that to be able to do so, Winnie and Mary must also be included. In 1990, for example, the Eastern Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers presented their prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award to "Walt, Winnie and Mary Dette, the First Family of Catskill Fly Tying, for their untiring dedication to the sport of fly-fishing and their efforts to preserve the Catskill fly tying tradition."

Material

Hook - Mustad 94840 or similar hook size 10-20
Thread - Grey or black
Tail - Grizzly and brown hackle mixed
Body - Olive floss or dubbing grizzly hackle palmered
Wings - grizzly hackle tips
Hackle - grizzly & brown.

JOCELIN & SONIE