Samuel Taylor's Salmon Flies.

Published in 1800, Samuel Taylor's "Angling in all its Branches" contains a wealth of interesting angling advice, including some rather interesting trout flies.  It is also notable for the three salmon flies that it contains.  These simple, yet elegant patterns seem plain and perhaps even a bit ugly compared to the fully dressed salmon flies that were soon to appear on the rivers and streams, but they were fully functional and deadly in their day.  The only question that I have of them is, how long were these patterns in service before they were published in Taylor's book?  Between the two listed in Bowlker and these three is a span of only fifty-three years.  Considering the speed with which the salmon fly was to change in the 1800's, that is a long time between the two, and Bowlker's patterns are far more gaudy by comparison than these three.  I would not be surprised if these three were very old patterns, older than Bowlker's even.  That however, is mere speculation.
I present the three salmon flies from Samuel Taylor's "Angling in all its Branches,"  which would be repeated also in the Rural Sports book, published by Bunny and Gold, Shoelane, London, the second edition of which came out in 1802, though I have no data on when it was originally printed.  The patterns are as follows:  

 Salmon fly No.1

Hook: 1

Silk: brown

Tail: two strands bittern’s wing

Body: Reddish brown hare and copper coloured mohair equally mixed

Ribbing: none

Hackle: bittern’s hackle palmered

Wing: two strips of bittern’s wing quill upright not divided

Head: same as body

 Salmon fly No.2

Hook: 1

Silk: probably red or black

Tail: none

Body: light brown bear’s dun, sable fur and gold coloured mohair equally mixed

Ribbing: gold twist

Hackle: black cock’s with a red cock’s a little larger above it.

Wing: mottled peacock strips intermixed with plain dusky red anything

Head: deep red mohair

Salmon fly No.3

Hook: 1

Silk: lead coloured

Tail: blue heron’s wing intermixed with bronze mallard

Body: lead coloured mohair

Ribbing: fine gold twist

Hackle: a large white hackle dyed deep blue

Wing: blue heron’s wing intermixed with bronze mallard

Head: same as body

Bowlker's Dragonfly

In 1747, Charles and Richard Bowlker published “Bowlker’s Art of Angling”  In this book are two salmon fly patterns.  The first is the Dragon Fly, Libella, or Libellula. with one variation.  The second is the King's Fisher or Peacock Fly. It also has a variation.  These two patterns  are important as they are possibly the first salmon fly patterns given in the English fly literature.  In this posting, I present the first of the pair with its variation.  Both ate tied in hand, true to materials as much as I could, following as much as I understood, the directions given by the Bowlkers.  

The Dragonfly, Libella or Libellula  The pattern, from the original: The wings are
made of a reddish-brown feather from the wing
of a cock turkey ; the body of auburn-coloured
mohair warped with yellow silk ; and a ginger
cock's hackle wrapt under the wings ; the hook
No, 2 or 3.





The Dragonfly, Libella or Libellula variation: The wings are

made of a reddish-brown feather from the wing
of a cock turkey ; the body of auburn-coloured
mohair warped with yellow silk ; and a ginger
cock's hackle wrapt under the wings ; the hook
No, 2 or 3. Or it may be varied thus ; the
wings of a rich brown feather from a heron's
wing ; the body drab, or olive-coloured mohair;
a bittern's hackle under the wings, and a forked
tail. This fly is about two inches in length.

In the first fly, the wing feathers from the turkey are coppery reddish brown, metallic and very nice to work with but not very long in the fibre.  In the second fly I used rich brown turkey tail instead of heron, and the bittern is from a chicken skin I have that is a dead ringer for bittern, especially when used as a hackle.  In both of these flies I have deliberately picked through the wings to disrupt the fibers and prevent them looking too modern.  Both of these flies are just under 2 inches long from eye to bend.