I enjoy fly tying as an end unto itself. So, lately I have had the desire to concentrate on tying flies that I like to tie and that I like to look at. I think that the desire to catch fish and to tie elegant flies do not have to be mutually exclusive.
I haven’t talked to him about this, but Jean paul Dessaigne may have a similar viewpoint regarding his flies. When I started clicking through his website it inspired me. I think his flies are just beautiful and elegant. Some are very naturalistic, others more flamboyant – but all of them make me want to get the fly tying vise out and get to work. I’m not sure what it is exactly, but the flies that he ties are just refreshing.
I especially like the use of hare’s fur that he presents – using hare guard hairs for soft- hackle in this fly:
Using hare guard hairs for legs on this nymph:
This nymph below is just a unique fly – I haven’t seen anything quite like it before.
Please go check out Jean Paul Dessaigne’s Website – there are beautiful pictures of his flies, step-by-step tutorials and instructional videos. The only “problem” is that it is all in French. If you don’t speak French, you can use Google Translate, to get a pretty good translation of the web pages. This won’t help with the videos though.
Neat flies. They do have a very unique, simple and elegant look.
A bit of “new-age tenkara”
“New-age Tenkara” I like that. That’s a good way of describing his flies.