Fly of the Week: Humpy

The humpy's development and history is shrouded in mystery and controversy. Essentially what I am saying is that no one really knows when the fly came into existence. Furthermore, a number of groups have tried to credit the several people for being the master creator behind the fly. Here is what I do know about it's history. The first time the flies pattern was documented was in the 1920's when the description of the flies unique hump shaped abdomen is clearly described in a fishing journal somewhere on the east coast. This would however lead on to believe that the flies origins would lead back over seas to Europe where there is not current record. Other publications during the 1940's in the Midwest actually brought the famous dry fly to be regarded as one of the most popular and useful flies in country. There are also stories of old timers tying humpys during this time period in a number of areas. However, it still took the marketing and business savvy of a California fly shop owner to finally bring the fly to the west coast making the fly a true national phenomenon. Today tiers enjoy a large variety of materials and colors in which to tie the humpy. It is probably one of my favorite dry flies because of the ease of tying one and the number of materials and colors one can tye with this fly. Here is Eric from one of my favorite fly shops in town doing a video demonstration of how to tie a Humpy.