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If I had to pick the one person who had the biggest impact on my style
of tying, it would have to be Franz Pott. His woven body flies were and
are the basis of many of my own patterns. The swept and/or hair hackle
designs can be seen in many of my personal creations like the SHWAPF and
EZ Nymph and many others.
In the late 1930's, a wig maker named Franz Pott patented a method of
weaving hair into a string of hair hackle. Knowing that even with a patent
his methods wouldn't be totally safe, he was very secretive about his
work. It didn't take long before others were devising methods to weave
hair hackles, but none could exactly match the weave of the master.
Another person who earned fame as a weaver of hair hackle was George
Grant. George was also a wig maker by trade, and I'm guessing the
techniques and tools of his trade were part of the techniques he used
weaving hair hackles. In fact, I'll bet both Pott and Grant adapted some
of the techniques used in wig making into their personal methods of
weaving hackles, but obviously their methods were different.
To add to the confusion in my brain, another gentleman from my home
state of Montana named Pete Sanchez developed a style of knotting hair
that produced a hackle similar to those of Pott and Grant. His flies were
sold all over the state when I was young, and most people just called them
Potts Flies thinking they were the originals that started the whole hair
weaving craze.
As a youngster, I was privileged to watch an old man weaving hair
hackles for his business. At the time I was told he was Franz Pott, but
after thinking hard about it I have a doubt or two about the validity of
that claim. The old man lived in Missoula, Montana and tied in an old
garage he had converted into a fly factory. After hearing how secretive
Franz was, I'm guessing I was fooled by someone who thought it would be an
easy way to make a young kid happy. All I can tell you about the man is
that he was old, impatient and crabby; but he took the time to show me the
Pott's body-weave and two methods of weaving hair hackle. One was a simple
knotted hackle used by Sanchez and the other was a woven creation that
used a wig maker's tool (hair hook) to weave hair between three strands of
thread.
Although I can't be certain I ever really met Franz Pott or that the
weave I refer to as the Pott's weave is really the original weave, I'll
refer to that weave here as the Pott's weave as I have all my fly-tying
life. Even if it isn't the original method, it is effective and easier to
perform than the other two methods of weaving.
This is an especially long segment that will likely take several
reviews of each part before you feel confident you have it right. If it
helps, print the steps out for review at the tying bench. I'll be showing
you all three methods of weaving hair hackles and two body weaves all in
one segment. You choose the styles of hair weaving you prefer, but it's
also a skill builder to learn all of the styles.
One last thing; to my good friend Dan Rupert (Ol' Rupe), this bug's
for you. Call it a reward for all that hard work you have done trying to
learn hair hackle weaves.
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