Brownline Innovation: 1955's Patented Cigarette Butt Fly

Filed March 1, 1955 United States Patent FLY ROD LURE Erastus Corning 2nd, Albany, N. Y.
Application March 1, 1955, Serial No. 491,266 

Claims. (Cl. 43-4232) My invention relates to fishing and particularly to a fish lure of a novel type which is especially adapted for casting with a fly rod.
Fish strike at a cigarette butt which has been thrown from a boat and is floating either in fresh or salt water.
The principal object of my invention is to provide a fly rod lure which will simulate a cigarette butt in its appearance. A further object is to provide such a lure which will float when cast in the water.

Before you knock Erastus Corning's idea, how many patents do you have?  

HAIR-RAISING GRIZZLY SADDLE HACKLE DEBACKLE

So, there's a huge snafu in the fishing industry--it's fishin' vs. fashion.

We all know that fly-tying hackle is beautiful. The problem is, it's apparently too beautiful. So much so that fashionistas in the hair styling industry have taken notice....and taken over! We just got word that Montana Fly Company can't order and receive ANY additional grizzly variant saddle hackle for its fly tyers until 2012! (Good thing they already have enough to fill their current orders for 2011.) We've done our homework and called around to a bunch of fly shops, and it seems coif aficionados all across the country are flocking to fly shops and buying up the nation's supply of that gorgeous saddle hackle to make hair accessories.

Colorful, beautiful hair extensions of a variety of shades are popping up on the trendy heads of women across the country. Woven into human hair, just like other extensions, bright grizzly saddle hackle is the next big thing for beauty buffs, causing a supply shortage for fly shops. So fly tyers, get to your favorite fly shop and stock up before the hair hipsters beat you to it.


You can see plenty of evidence of the hype online--The Feather Emporiums website is just one of many my coworker Sammi found when she Googled this phenomenon. Pretty fancy. The folks at Coloradofisherman.com recently posted a few funny pics of their own rendition of Fashion Feathers on their forum. Fashion Feathers, or “Featherlocks” have taken on a new look in fly shops—they call this the “partridge mullet.”


Honestly, I love the saddle hackle look. A booth at the Snowsports Industries of Americas trade show last month was weaving these in women's hair for free, and I stood in line for a while to get it done. (Then, I got distracted by other shiny objects and wandered off...)

Soooo...ladies, enjoy your locks, but you might want to watch your six. There could be a fisherman poised to tackle for your hackle.

Lanka Fishing Flies Ltd

What Sri Lankan company provides 90 percent of the fishing flies sold in the United States? Ever hear of Lanka Fishing Flies Ltd? Perhaps you know them under the brand they export to the United States under, Umpqua. The National Newspaper of Sri Lanka has an interesting profile of the company which also is the sole North American distributor for Tiemco hooks.

“Fly-fishing,” is a popular sport in the United States and we supply 90 per cent of artificial fishing flies to the USA market,” its Managing Director Suresh de Mel told Daily News Business.

Apparently all those flies we leave hanging in the trees make for big business:

De Mel said he has three factories with a workforce of 300 employees and exports more than half a million fishing flies to the USA. Therefore, the company’s annual revenue is US $ one million per year.

Doesn't that work out to $2 a fly wholesale? Hmmmmm....