writing + flytying: Fly Tying: Ken Abrames

Thursday, February 4

Fly Tying: Ken Abrames

Ken Abrames is a friend of mine. His fly tying achievements center around multi-colored flatwings. A feather tail lying flat is encouraged to follow its natural inclination, swinging side-to-side, ever-shifting in the micro-currents along its length. Ken ensured this by tying in the feather right where its stiffest section transitions to suppleness. This is further enhanced by resting the transition zone on a dubbed pillow. Arranging the feathers and flash to allow them to spread out and "fill" with water, the fly is at peace and one with the water, reacting as "lighly as a feather in the watery winds". Tying sparsely allows the bucktail and other forward materials to move in concert with the currents as well.

Ken has a rich artistic background. He applies an impressionistic color sense to his bucktails and feathered flies. He hints at the ever-changing multi-color reflections of living bait with multi-color accents fully grounded in historical impressionist theory and application.

A fly designed to be fully activated by filling with water until it is one with the sea, enhanced by shifting colors that are inseparable from the living, moving water the fly now lives in ... A thoughtful, watchful presentation that optimizes the fly's drift ... Knowing it is well-formed and now genuinely independent, he fully "lets go" of the fly. He lets go, paradoxically, as if he were fishing with live bait.

Sure, Ken's design is just one of many, many ways of tying a fly. But what a design! Adding his insights and innovations to your tying brings you into a larger continuum- decades of classic salmon presentation using a fly superbly attuned to its changing surroundings and tied with colors based on close observation and grounded in an important and much loved artistic tradition. He's generously shared these innovations. You are part of something bigger now.