A Dee fly -The Tartan

Francis Francis presents two flies named the Tartan in his 1867 book, "A Book on Angling," and I have taken the liberty to quote directly from that book as follows:

"The Tartan (Plate XII. fig. l,p. 357) is a strange looking fly and is rather a troublesome fly to dress. Tag, gold tinsel; tail, gold pheasant rump; body, half orange and half scarlet-red mohair laid on sparely, of course; broad-ish gold tinsel also spare; hackle, first a stripped sandy-red cock's hackle (that is, only one side of it to be used, the other being stripped off), and on top of this, the large blue-grey hackle or feather from the heron's back and rump; the larger the better, they cannot be too large, as when the hackle is laid on, the fibres are expected to extend from the very head to the farthest bend of the hook. It is an awkward feather to lay on, as are all heron's hackles, being very delicate. It should be tied in, to commence from as low down as it can be conveniently tied, so as to leave enough for a good thick brush from the head. If in winding on the hackle, any of the red hackle fibres under it be wound in, they must be picked out afterwards with the needle, and put in their proper position. At the shoulder, a teal hackle of course. Wings, two strips of silver-grey mottled turkey (the small mottled feather); these feathers are not easy to get. When this fly is finished, and before it is properly pressed down into shape, it looks like an enormous spider, or daddy long-legs; it certainly is a monstrosity, though, after all, not such a monstrosity as The Eagle,..."

He goes on to describe several Eagle patterns there-after, and eventually I will get to them, in another post.  His second Tartan, a Tay fly is much different then the above, and one I have not tied yet, but will one of these days.  Again quoting from the man himself, or at least, his book; "The Tartan (Tay).—Tag, silver twist; tail, a slice of tippet and orange-yellow pig's wool; but, peacock herl; body, pig's wool as follows, orange, yellow, bright pea-green, red, and blue grey, dressed rough and picked out; broad silver tinsel; hackle gallina at shoulder; wing, slips of grey and light-brown turkey, sprigs of yellow, red, and lavender swan with a bunch of peacock herl over all; peacock head." 

Sir Herbert Maxwell also lists the Dee Tartan, his pattern being identical to that of Francis Francis, and seen at left.  His commentary on Dees however is most interesting. He says, "This is the Dee Tartan (the Tay boasts one of its own). It may be taken as the type of the old-fashioned Dee fly dressed on a very long shanked hook. There are endless modifications of them, the long heron hackles, both black and grey, being a conspicuous feature, and they used to be invariably finished off with a teal or pin-tail hackle at the shoulder. It is difficult to get feathers long enough in the fibre to wing these long hooks, and it was an ancient practice to tie in a second pair of wings half way down the body. Flies so dressed swim very nicely."