Jay’s vintage Red Wing Blackbirds
Jay Nicholas’ 2014 Photo Review
McKenzie River fly fishing, Oregon fly fishing reports and fly tying videos.
Jay Nicholas’ 2014 Photo Review
Jay’s vintage Red Wing Blackbirds
I fished with Ray Baker in ’87… the year after he outfitted/guided Lani Waller for the Deschutes River portion of the Scientific Anglers Steelhead videos. My recollection is that credit for the Red Wing Blackbird fly pattern is not given in the video. While Ray never out right claimed the pattern as his in my conversations with him, he certainly talked about and promoted it as if he had worked with it for many years… certainly well before the Waller/SA video shoot.
The flies tied in the above photo (https://oregonflyfishingblog.com/2014/12/29/jay-nicholas-2014-photo-review/jay-nicholas-2014-review-3-red-wing-blackbird-steelhead-flies/) are exactly how Ray described it (1197G, black thread, black chenille body with oval silver tinsel rib, red calf tail wing… no throat hackle and no tail!). The pattern is simple and durable enough pattern to qualify as a “guide pattern”… one that has been reduced to the minimum. I recall that Ray was even questioning the necessity of the silver ribbing at the time… with the thought that it may even put fish off. Ray would jet boat you to and set you in a run before first light and retrieve you as soon as the run was in direct sunlight (no longer shaded by the mountains/hills). Ray believed fly fishing was done once sun was on the water at after which you could still get on them with spoons etc. I still remember tossing out a florescent striped gold spoon mid-day, sensing the periodic thumping as it swung, and the confirmation felt of it stopping in a steelhead’s grip… just were it should be in the swing.