Any info on Shakespeare/Craftsman bass flies?

[Mike N]

Can anyone tell me the approximate date of these Shakespeare Craftsman Bass flies? Also, any info on the Shapleigh Diamond flies would likewise be appreciated? Thanks



Mike N

[Paul Roberts]

From what I could gather:
"Craftsman" was used by Glen Evans of Caldwell, Idaho, Craftsman Fishing Tackle, Glen L. Evans, Caldwell, Idaho
that became Glen L Evans Inc (Shyster spinner, Bear Valley spinners, ...). Craftsman Bass Flies existed, so possibly Shakespeare acquired them?


Dates unknown, but I found this from the American Museum of FF Winter 2004, suggesting that snelled flies began to give way to non-snelled ones in the 1930's. :


Glen L Evans, Inc. was involved, at some point, in: “artificial flies ; leaders ; snelled hooks ; Japanese gut ; fish hooks ; silkworm gut”, and the below mentioned trade catalog below may be retrievable:

https://americanhistory.si.edu/collecti ... AHTL_26796
LOCATION
Trade Literature at the American History Museum Library
COLLECTION
Smithsonian Libraries Trade Literature Collections

In 1942, Ray Bergman published a book on bass fishing, “Ray Bergman - Freshwater Bass” that would likely have had influence. He has a chapter on fly-fishing and there is a plate of “Bass Flies”:


most are essentially enlarged trout patterns, and a few are still essentially giant wet-flies, like those in your image, and like the “Lake Flies” from the late 19th century Orvis books, but sans snelled leader.

Best guess? late 30’s though the 40’s? I could see them hanging on in tackle shops much later though -in fact remembering some in the dusty corners of mom-n-pop take shops into the 70’s. But they rapidly gave way to newer designs as can already be seen in Bergman’s 1942 plate. He was cutting edge though.

Just some fodder for thought.

P.S.: I wonder if the "St. Joe River Bass Fly" was a take-off, in name only, on the Tomah Joe Wet Fly, named after a famed Algonquin fishing guide of the late 1800's. His fly was featured in the 1882 CF Orvis Fly Fishing book and developed a following:
https://midcurrent.com/flies/the-tomah- ... ian-guide/

[Mike N]

Very interesting, Paul. Thanks.

Royce Stearns posted this information on Classic Fly Rod Forum....

http://flyanglersonline.com/features/bamboo/part113.php

“Henrys' (Shakespeare’s son) early recollections also include wandering through the Shakespeare fly tying room, watching skilled hands tie the beautiful Montreals, Scarlet Ibis', and other wet flies. Although the "Iroquois Double Divided Wing" dry flies were imported from England, the "Chippewa" bass flies, "St. Joe River" bass flies, "Shakespeare Hoppers," and "Spring Brook" wet flies were all tied in Kalamazoo. Later, all flies were supplied by Glen L. Evans, Inc. of Caldwell, Idaho, and the Weber Lifelike Fly Company of Stevens Point Wisconsin.”

[Paul Roberts]

Interesting. Also, the names "Chippewa" and "St Joe" may harken back to the influence of Tomah Joe, the Algonquin, even though these tribes and angling were Canadian, and would have been "Lake Flies" centered around trout. I always wondered how it came to be that over-sized wet flies were considered bass flies. I supposed that if you fished trout-sized wet flies you'd catch tiny bass. Fishing larger ones would be the next obvious step. Once more people had time to devote to bass fishing, post-war, they started figuring things out pretty quick, as suggested by Bergman's plate.

[Mike N]

Paul,

I knew that “ Glen Evans of Caldwell, Idaho, Craftsman” rang a bell, so I searched thru a few old tackle boxes I’ve collected and pulled this out today...note the maker at the bottom and “Craftsman” in the center...thanks.

[Reel Geezer]

The Glen Evans factory was about 15 miles from our home. Lots of Evans stuff is found in yard sales around here because they had many local women tying flies for them at their homes. I once found a very large piece of polar bear hide at a sale. I tied with it for many years. I wrote an article many years ago about Evans wooden bass plugs for the NFLCC Gazette. They also manufactured the Herb's Dilly buzz bait for several years. Glen Evans was purchased by Luhr Jensen Co. of Oregon, and I believe is now owned by Pure Fishing. Craftsman was one of their trademarks. One local collector has a very large collection of Glen Evans tackle.

[Paul Roberts]

Paul,

I knew that “ Glen Evans of Caldwell, Idaho, Craftsman” rang a bell, so I searched thru a few old tackle boxes I’ve collected and pulled this out today...note the maker at the bottom and “Craftsman” in the center...thanks.

Neat. And there's "Joe" again. Maybe Joe Brooks this time?

[Mike N]

The Glen Evans factory was about 15 miles from our home. Lots of Evans stuff is found in yard sales around here because they had many local women tying flies for them at their homes. I once found a very large piece of polar bear hide at a sale. I tied with it for many years. I wrote an article many years ago about Evans wooden bass plugs for the NFLCC Gazette. They also manufactured the Herb's Dilly buzz bait for several years. Glen Evans was purchased by Luhr Jensen Co. of Oregon, and I believe is now owned by Pure Fishing. Craftsman was one of their trademarks. One local collector has a very large collection of Glen Evans tackle.

Thanks, Phil. Love that Idaho connection.

Mike N