Hi Dean, watch out for poison letters in your mailbox. You just cost me an hour and a half when I should have been working! My first reaction was to instantly write back that Herter was fos, but thought I'd better check. I could have saved myself the time: 1. No fly called the Marryat exists in the literature. There is a Little Marryat and a Quill Marryat, neither of which are fore-and-aft patterns. If such a pattern existed it would most certainly have been mentioned as Marryat was widely celebrated, both before and after passing. 2. No old English fly called the Renegade exists in the literature. 3. Hellekson repeats the Renegade story (old English) in Fishing Flies but I think he got this from Herter. Hellekson also notes the Renegade as a wet fly. 4. Herter was well-known for his flights of fancy. While Edith Cox certainly existed in the same region that Marryat fished and where he originally collaborated with H.S. Hall on the first divided upright wing dries, there is no evidence that she taught Marrayat anything. Marryat certainly taught Halford how to tie dries.
George Herter was famous for making up stories to suit his sense of humour or self-promotion. This was another. In an earlier edition of the famous book, he had the Little Marryat correct, but there was no mention of the Marryat there. Cheers, Paul http://www.galesendpress.com -- Paul Marriner Outdoor Writing & Photography. Member OWAA & OWC. Author of Stillwater Fly Fishing: Tools & Tactics (Print [NEW] & CD), Modern Atlantic Salmon Flies, Miramichi River Journal, Ausable River Journal, and Atlantic Salmon.
