FLY
Classic Wet Fly
Professor
Tied by Christian Andrews
Professor recipe
| Hook | #6 sproat (blind and snelled) |
|---|---|
| Thread | red silk (or claret if head is not dark lacquered) |
| Tail | red slips |
| Rib | silver oval tinsel |
| Body | yellow floss (originally silk) |
| Hackle | brown, long flexible rooster saddle tied wet style |
| Wings | rolled mallard or teal flank |
About this fly
Professor: a classic wet fly from Favorite Flies and Their Histories (1892) by Mary Orvis Marbury
What the Professor imitates
- Fancy / attractor (imitates nothing specific)
Where the Professor came from
- Described by John Kirkbride, 1837, Tweed, Scotland. Earliest vault record: 'Professor's Fly', yellow floss body, mallard wing, said to be highly esteemed by Professor Wilson of Edinburgh.Source: Kirkbride, The Northern Angler (1837)
- Named for John Wilson (Christopher North), Scotland. Marbury: named after Prof. John Wilson (Christopher North); namer not stated. Story that, short of flies, he tied buttercup petals to a hook, leading to the yellow-bodied fly.Source: Marbury, Favorite Flies and Their Histories (1892), p.350
- Originated by John Wilson (Christopher North), Scotland. Buttercup-petal improvisation by Wilson presented as the fly's beginning; Marbury adds it was reputedly first made without the ibis tail (p.351). / Bastian says the Professor was created in Scotland in 1820, named for John Wilson, citing Marbury. / Retells Marbury's buttercup story crediting John Wilson; notes the fly in Orvis's Fishing with the Fly and Bergman's Trout.Source: Marbury, Favorite Flies and Their Histories (1892), p.350 | Professor (Don Bastian Wet Flies) | The Professor: A Fly History (MidCurrent, Fred Klein)
Where sources tell it differently, each account is listed with its own source.
In the old books
Original dressing as pictured in Orvis & Cheney, Fishing with the Fly (1883), Plate III, No. 11. The photo above is a later tie, not the original.
Inside the vault every material on this fly opens to its own card, and you can save the fly to your own boxes.
