Thursday, January 03, 2008

Origin of the Merkin


The Miami Herald website posts an article that among other things delves into the origins of the aptly named Merkin fly created by Key West guide, Jan Isley.
Isley came up with the idea of a yarn fly roughly in the diamond shape of a wiggle jig, featuring a tail and lead eyes. He had only yellow and dark brown yarn to tie, and he added a couple of rubber legs ``just for kicks.''

The next day, Isley showed his new fly pattern to Del Brown, a permit-obsessed client from California. ''He said, `That's it, ''' Isley said. ``I remember the first fish he threw it at, the fish would go nuts trying to find it.''
The photo of the fly above comes from the web site of FlyFishMagazine.com endorsed Florida fly fishing guide, Captain Justin Rea of Sting Rea Charters. His website includes complete instructions for tying the fly. If you are reading this at work you should probably follow the link to his site rather than searching for Merkins on the Internet. It's just not safe!

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