I mentioned the “Bird’s Nest” fly in last nights post, I had the privilege of knowing Calvert Bird years ago when it was created. Cal was one of the most singular and gentle fellows I’ve ever known, he had a weakness for coffee and wreath cake, which I exploited unmercifully.
All of Cal’s well known flies are generalist patterns, you won’t find individual legs, or precise structure that limits the fly to a single genus and species; Cal was a trained artist, a calligrapher by trade, and his artistic skills imbued all of his work.
Cal had retired and lived across the street from Frank Matarelli, the “father” of all of the fly tying tools we use today. Watching that pair in action was always a treat, as gentle and soft spoken as Cal was, Frank was strident and bellicose. They often collaborated, Cal would fiddle with Frank’s tools, and Frank would berate Cal for using them wrong, or some other imagined offense.
The Bird’s Nest pattern was invented around 1984. Cal tested the fly on trips to Hat Creek, and handed them with a knowing wink to his friends, “Try these,” was all he would say.
The original pattern was a precise blend of fur not seen in today’s commercial versions. 50% gray Australian Opossum, 40% Hare’s Mask (with guard hairs intact) and 10% Natural baby Seal fur. Cal preferred the heavily barred Teal flank feathers for the hackle, these were dyed with RIT Maple Sugar cloth dye.
The rear of the fly was left naturally unruly, the combination of the guard hairs, coarse seal fur, and Australian Opossum was untamable. The head of the fly was combed with the male side of Velcro, to increase the visible spike of the hair, and merge it with the teal flank.
The hackle was also applied differently, Cal would cut the center out of a flank feather and strip back the balance, leaving a small “chevron” of flank feather on each side. The amount depended on the size of the finished fly, perhaps a 1/4″ for small flies, 1/2″ for larger #8’s and above. He would press one side onto the fly with his thumb, and would use the thread to distribute the fibers. As the thread circled the far side of the fly, he would press the remaining teal close to the shank with his forefinger, then allow the thread to distribute the fibers along the far side and belly of the fly.
The fly originally debuted in two flavors, Natural (the fly we use today) and Spectral.
The Spectral Bird’s Nest was pure artist. Formal art training introduces the Artist’s Color Wheel, all colors are mixed from only three; Red, Yellow, and Blue. Secondary colors are mid-way between primaries, mix yellow and blue to get green, red and yellow to get orange, red and blue yields purple.
To get the Spectral Bird’s Nest, Cal used the Australian Opossum / Hare’s Ear base, and replaced the 10% natural seal, with 10% comprised of red, yellow, blue, orange, green, and purple, seal. All of the primary and secondary colors on the color wheel.
He would press a couple into your hand, with, “Fish see whatever they want with these.”
It is one of the best all-round searching flies I’ve used, and I can find no reference to it anywhere. Today’s tiers can substitute any coarse synthetic for the seal, it must be unruly enough to stick out from the Opossum/Hare’s Mask blend – as seal does. The completed fly should have “guard hairs” of colored fiber sticking out of the grey base, not buried in the gray where it will not be seen.
Spectral Bird’s Nest HiRez image
I have a date with an effluent creek, see you on the “Brownline” …
Tags: Calvert Bird, fly tying, Bird’s Nest, Spectral Bird’s Nest, color wheel
Computer technical types love jargon that lifts the customers eyebrow. It’s a simple explanation really, Ma cut the crusts off our sandwich in elementary school, we been on the prod ever since.
The 2mm bead is the perfect size for #20 and #18 hooks. They will fit over the hook point of larger hooks, #18 and #16.
They say “revenge is a dish, best served cold,” and I’ve got the ultimate prank for them mooching fish buddies of yours.
Managed to track down some more bulk tying material sources, figured to pass them on.
Out of necessity I went “Old School” on all my flies tied this season. My hook stash was light on all the Tiemco, Gamakatsu, Daiichi, round-wire trout hooks, so I dug deeper into the morass to find Mustad 94840 and 3906B’s, the old standards.
Banish the thought from your mind, tying your own flies is not cheaper than buying them. Measured simply in dollars, the two aren’t even in the same zipcode. There are some benefits to fly tying that can’t be quantified and may tip the scales a bit.
If we acknowledge some of the intangibles, that may shift things. What a flytyer gets is a deeper understanding of fly design, movement, and aquatic entomology. He can tailor a fly exactly to the bug he sees on the stream, whereas the guy buying flies has to find an approximation – a standard pattern close enough to the natural that he can use effectively. This is easy, as fish are stupid. On rare occasion, nothing but the custom pattern will do, this is more the exception rather than the rule.
Many fly tyers go off the deep end, and although it can be expensive, it is still a rewarding hobby. These tyers wind up owning huge stashes of fly materials, far in excess of what they can use in multiple seasons. Often these collections result from interests in fly crafting, attempting to tie traditional Atlantic Salmon flies using the original materials, and other esoteric forms of tying. They might live thousands of miles from any salmon, but it is the art and skill displayed that is the main event.
In reading the recent developments about 
I find it cheaper to buy bulk white/badger saddle and dye it into all the colors I need for trout, steelhead, and salmon flies. Commercial supermarket dyes like RIT work very well on the earth tones needed for trout, but for the vibrant colors for steelhead and salmon I prefer aniline dyes.
There are only three prices at a fly shop; $5.95, $3.95, and $TrustFund.95 – with fly tying the worst offender. Miniscule glascine envelopes with brightly colored lint, 13 color choices, and your wife waiting impatiently in the car…
Like any canny shopper I am always prepared to pounce on a bargain, however common sense occasionally overcomes my lust to acquire fly tying supplies. Many of the synthetic materials we use for flies come from other industries, on occasion I stumble across a lifetime supply, when only a couple hundred yards will do.
