Polish names of flies

POLISH FLY NAMES - LET'S SAVE FROM OBLIVION

 by Wojciech Węglarski

      Let's start with the fact that the demand for fly fishing equipment began to be observed only from, say, 1950, in which the Warsaw Cooperative „Fishing Equipment” tentatively offered four varieties of artificial flies in its catalog-informant. What kind of flies they were - I don't know, because I haven't had a chance to reach this document. Perhaps someone has it? Please contact me.

      Since as early as 1951, about 50,000 artificial flies were sold, (mainly in the Cracow branch of this s-store) mainly imported (Norway, Czechoslovakia), it was in 1952 in Cracow that a team of a few people gathered around the Cracow District Board of PZW proceeded to start Polish production of artificial flies. This was a group of several people who were unlikely to have even a selective idea about fly fishing, unless Mr. Józef Dyląg - an angler and owner of a well-known fishing store in Cracow - could say something about it. I knew almost all of these gentlemen personally, hence my colorful assessment of their fly-fishing knowledge. Anyway, this team plus the reasonably competent staff of the Fishing Equipment Cooperative selected 16 patterns for production, which were pasted on cardboard boxes as a pattern and advertisement. Unfortunately, I don't know more details about this, and - as before - please: If anyone knows more about this subject, please contact me. Even then there were some Polish names of flies, but about that later.

And from then on, these bow tie patterns were available for purchase in the Krakow's famous store on Sienna Street, under the long-standing management of Mr. Marian Pisarski. The fly assortment was the first swallow of native Polish fly tying. Then - as the years went by - the assortment kept expanding, but this goes beyond the topic imposed by the title. I used to go to this store often, because some of the flies sold there were of really good quality and not at all that expensive. I remember, wet trout-livestock 5.65 zl/piece, mayfly - (I think) 7 zl, cockchafer, grasshopper, pitchfork - (I think) 11 zl.

Now an anecdote: Mr. Marian was so accustomed to calling wet jumpers „spiders” that it was difficult for him to comprehend that from the English „spider” is pronounced like a spymaster. The second ridiculousness, but already accepted with a stone face so as not to offend Mr. Marian, was that according to him there were two fishing companies in England, namely the first Hardy and the second Bros. I explain to younger readers that the full name of this once renowned British company was: Hardy Bros (meaning Brothers = brothers), Alnwick, England.

      Well, now briefly about the cottagers-makers of bow ties for the Cooperative. Well, this occupation was practiced, both by residents of Krakow, (I knew that bow ties for the S-nia were even made by a certain already elderly impoverished count with a beautiful historical name), and residents of Podhale. The latter mentioned were in a class of their own, as there was a long, shall we say, tradition in Podhale of making „mousies to grab trout and salmon.” And such „mousies” were seen by highlanders at the hands of wealthy Englishmen or Germans who, as early as the 19th century, came to the Dunajec River for muskie adventures with Europe's most magnificent sea trout, called Danube salmon by the locals.

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But let's not create myths, because it is impossible that, as Mr. Kostecki (r. 2018) colorfully describes, „in just their fingers, without any tools, they can form a filigree bow tie.” Well, no miracles! They must have had at least some primitive handles, (something like vices), because the hook had to be solidly fixed in something in order to build on it and attach further materials. I know this from my own experience, when my first flies were created in a „vice” holding the hook, and this „vice” was a Czech so-called automatic pencil for black or colored mines (graphite). This pencil was L&C Hardtmuth Technicolor Versatil 5217/1. I still have it today and keep it as a kind of relic from a very long time ago.

      And so, years flew by, in Krakow in 1957 the Cooperative of Work of Fishing Equipment was established, which, in addition to flies, produced various fishing equipment (including fly fishing), ran its own store at Boh. Stalingradu 16 (now Starowiślna) and a service point for the repair of fishing equipment at 63 Dietla St. And finally, this s-nia in 1966 developed and submitted a standard, which in 1977 was approved by the CZSP in Warsaw as Company Standard ZN-67 CZSP/E6/184.

In this standard, among other things, there is a tabular listing of recipes for 115 formulas of wet flies for trout-fish, salmon, mayflies and artificial insects. I have no intention of pastoring the content of this document, because there is no lack there, both ordinary typos and coarser substantive bulls in the form of incorrect names and incorrect recipes. Well, that's how someone wrote it incorrectly, someone rewrote it sloppily - and it was reproduced in an edition of 100 copies. It's fortunate that a paltry portion of this print run was saved from destruction, although I don't think a single copy of the supplement in the form of a set of executive drawings of flies has survived to this day. And again a request: if anyone in his „treasures” has these drawings, please contact me very much. So, from this standard I fished out 8 Polish names, which I am posting in a tabular arrangement according to the standard:

Name	Ogonek	Abdomen	Wrap	Wing	Blackberry	Size
Dunajec	Spotted partridge	Peacock stack	-	Ash nylon	Dark partridge	8-14
Highlander	-	Wool or ash silk	Brass or copper wire	Pallet turkey, mallard breast spotted duck or hen	Red rooster	10-16
July	-	Black silk	-	White mallard duck	Black rooster	14-16
Current	Partridge tail darkly spotted	Black wool	Gold or silver lamé	Pheasant, partridge dark side	Dark spotted partridge	9-14
Skawica	Partridge tail darkly spotted	Wool 1/3 of the length from the tail side yellow, 2/3 dark green	-	Pheasant, partridge	Dark spotted partridge	7-16
Kashubian Jumper (a)	-	Red rooster	Gold lamé	-	Red rooster	10-16
Kashubian Jumper (b)	-	Grey cockerel	Gold lamé	-	Grey cockerel	10-16
Kashubian Jumper (c)	-	Black rooster	Gold lamé	-	Black rooster	10-16

Right at the first fly DUNAJEC two ambiguities: The abdomen - a peacock pile. I suspect that it is a monochromatic quill obtained from the rays of a feather with an eye.

Second ambiguity: wing - ash nylon. What did it mean? Maybe it's a cutout of an ash nylon stocking, (in the 1950s elegant ladies wore „nylons”), or maybe a cutout of an ash nylon fabric, (once a highly prized material by ladies for fashionable blouses)? So I made two patterns. One - with wings made of impregnated gray stocking, the other - with wings made of a bunch of ash ostrich feathers - after all, it's a wet fly, so why not? I'm posting both photos.

Second bow tie MOUNTAINS.

      Beautifully beautiful Polish reproduction of a very old English pattern Gray Drake. Let's look at how beautifully this humble fly looks! Incidentally, I used to buy copies of them from a store on Sienna Street and used them on the Dunajec River with great success starting in 1958. It was one of the best summer wet flies. Photo posted

The third is JULY.

      Based on Mr. Kostecki's information that the cottagers were mostly residents of the Podhale region, it is all too tempting to conclude that someone out there, once in the mountains, saw a wet fly fisherman in some visitor's Coachman, (and it is known that this bow tie works best in the summer hot weeks), then sat down at home to glue something similar. But yes, where exactly to get a peacock feather, (once much, much harder to get than now)? Because the rest will somehow be obtained. Hook - you will always find some, if only after you have rinsed some trout (or moth) destroyed flies. Black thread, white darts - it was enough to reach for a goose, which birds used to be plentiful in Podhale - hence the well-known highlander song: „Green, green, goose shit in the hallway”. And the blackbird - there just happened to be a black rooster, although this coloration was already then definitely rarer than shades of brown. Such a fly, someone beautifully called the JULY fly, because rightly - it was effective primarily in July. Later he suggested a pattern to the Cooperative - and yes, eventually the JULY fly landed in the Company Standard. Could it have been so? I'm posting the photo.

The fourth one is  CURRENT.

      Someone, perhaps by accident, liked the March Brown Black (because such variations of this famous fly were also encountered) - and by the mode described above, the fly with another nice Polish name landed in the production range. The photo is posted.

The fifth is SKAWICA.

      And this is where the stairs begin! Because yes: Mr. Kostecki cited a „claim” that this bow tie was invented and constructed by Mr. Wozniak, even before World War II” (in Krakow). Whether the well-known Krakow bow tie maker Mrs. W.Wozniak was the wife of this Mr. Wozniak - I do not know. However, I do know that for many years she supplied a store on Sienna Street in Cracow with her products. And probably not only this one. Also noteworthy is Mr. Kostecki's observation that SKAWICA is a British Sam Slick with a tail - instead of tippets (orange, black-tipped feathers from the collar of a golden pheasant), spotted rays from a partridge's wheelhouse were used. On the other hand, deriving the name SKAWICA from the British Stone Fly (Pitchfork, folk name: Stone Fly) I personally think is an oversimplification.

To make things even more interesting, Mr. Mikolaj Hassa (2003) states that since the Skava River basin, (the Skawica stream is a tributary of this river), was administered by the Cracow Sport Fishing Association „Potok”, the pattern named after them is derived from them SKAWICA.

And another online signal on the matter: The local name for the SKAWICA fly is Porwiszówka. It was a fly by Miroslaw Porwisz from the area of the Soła and upper Vistula river basin - slightly different in appearance from SKAWICA, because without wings. Such a spider.

Well, but since more authoritative sources indicate its pre-war ancestry, I would be inclined to say, however, that they are closer to the truth. In view of this, let's accept the fact that however one would derive SKAWICA from other (English) flies, it will still be our Polish fly - on top of that, a popular one, because it is a catching fly. So, to continue to find out who actually came first will only lead to a lot of sterile discussions of the kind of anecdotes from a justly bygone period: Question: who invented the electric razor? Answer: Pavka Morozov in the dumpster of the American embassy in Moscow.

Photos of SKAWICA are attached.

Finally, the three so-called hedgehogs ie. KASHUBIAN JUMPERS.

      That jumpers, it's true, because this kind of wingless flies were attached with the wet fly method as jumpers. But why Kashubian? That's what I really don't know. These flies are very reminiscent of the Palmers (Red, Gray, Black), with a blackberry on a bare shaft, without the winding of the torso, for example, peacock. Could it be that the author of the originals had difficulty obtaining peacock feathers? I have already mentioned this a bit above, by the way. And the rooster, without much trouble - there will always be some feathers, whether brown (in the recipes red rooster = red rooster), or ash or black - also obtainable, although the coloration is rarer.

Photos of the three KASZUBSKY jumpers are attached.

      And that would be it for these „standard” Polish flies. If you or the GM editorial staff are not bored by this story of mine, maybe I will make a fitting to look at other „Polish” flies.

      One more thing. Don't you notice that ALL Polish fly names discussed here are simply elegant and beautiful? Has our fly fishing community gone so schame over these last 50 years that now the Polish names, are mostly hideous glaives, some disgusting slivays, deliriums or silly faggots? Heck - what has happened in some heads? O TEMPORA, O MORES !!!

Wojciech Węglarski (wwegl@wp.pl)

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