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Pott Stickers
Post 15 Apr 2021, 16:51 • #1 
Master Guide
Joined: 02/23/08
Posts: 944
Location: US-MT
I've been working on Pott Stickers for almost a week.
I made a post yesterday and then discovered something new and so then deleted yesterday's post. Or so I thought. I deleted it again a few minutes ago.

Here's the updated new deal. This is a Frans Pott Sandy Mite. Pott started manufacturing this fly and others like it in the early 1920s. They used to be the most popular fly in Montana. The woven hair hackle tying technique is time consuming and hard to learn. Frans Pott, George Grant, Henry Wombacher, Tom McIntyre, Mark Freedman, Matt Watrous, Robert Biggar, Todd Collins and Randy Flynn are the tiers I know about who have figured it out--and who make their own woven hair hackle flies--some of them with two or three thread strand weaving techniques that vary slightly from tier to tier.

I'm a retired computer programmer. In my profession "lazy" is considered a virtue. Larry Wall who invented the Perl programming language coined this idea. What he really meant was "Any technique that is faster and easier and just as good or better than its more complex competition (the programmer's greater than or equal to concept) is by definition better." In that sense Larry Wall dedicated his programming career to being lazy.

In that sense, as a fly tier, I've been dedicated to lazy for a long time now too.
Here's the Frans Pott original deal: A Sandy Mite:
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The Pott Sticker
A long time ago I found I could wind hair onto a hook so it jambs up against a bead, so it looks a lot like a woven hair hackle fly. But I didn't have to weave anything. This idea puts a bead behind the hackle. I called it a Pott Sticker.
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I never could get Pott Stickers to work with the bead in front of the hair hackle however, or with no bead at all. Not until I tried tying the hair on so the fibers point forward tenkara style that is.

If you put a bead on the hook as a first step and then tie the body (perhaps as two contrasting rubberleg strands) and then tie the hair on so it points forward over and past the bead, you can then push the bead backward a bit so it forces the hair fibers to point slightly back. Then build up a thread head at the eye of the hook and whip finish, in front of the bead.
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Or do the same thing without any bead at all. Fibers face forward at first and then back. Use a thread head in front to hold the hackle fibers in place, so they continue to point backward.
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Re: Pott Stickers
Post 15 Apr 2021, 20:45 • #2 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/27/16
Posts: 2327
Location: US-IL
The last 2 look like a hair hackle soft hackle.The thing i love about soft hackles is their subtle movement.They get shredded after a couple fish tho.I really enjoy them for stocked spring trout and the panfish and even bullheads crush them.They are pretty much no hackles after a fish or 2.


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Re: Pott Stickers
Post 16 Apr 2021, 09:05 • #3 
Master Guide
Joined: 02/23/08
Posts: 944
Location: US-MT
...soft hackles after fish #2

Interesting observation. Pott flies are traditionally tied with horse hair, or other fat stiff hairs. I've been using thinner stuff. Guard hairs from various critters. Badger guard hairs are the best. And hardest to come by. I see a dead one on the highway every two or three years.

And still bring it home and skin it. Badger is more better.


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Re: Pott Stickers
Post 19 Apr 2021, 11:39 • #4 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/27/16
Posts: 2327
Location: US-IL
I tie a lot of generic bead eyed nymphs ala Skip's dragon with rabbit stacked on the sides,glass or bead chain eyes to invert the hook.I like dome wood duck partridge etc to represent legs on the sides.The soft hackle gets easily chewed off so i think it is a triggering material.I at least like what it adds to my flies.I catch a lot of different species .I guess these are my search lure in fly form.The mule deer seems to have a bit of that barring that partridge and woodies have.I do have some badger somewhere.


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