Pop’s Little Black Notebook of Hand-drawn Flies

Dec 1

This is the little black notebook of hand-drawn flies and their recipes that Pop kept in the 1960s.

It is 64 pages long and contains 90 flies, three of them with step-by-step instructions to tie them (Adams, Goofus Bug and Quill Gordon). All of the flies are drawn with colored pencil with their recipe in Pop’s handwriting.

The rest of the pages include a four page list of the flies in the book, quotes from books he read, interesting facts about fishing and tying, a brief summary of four different species of fish and notes on hooks and tying material, among other things.

Pop (Harry K. Cameron) was born in Missouri in 1894 and moved to Colorado in 1900 where he lived until his death in 1973. He was a WWI vet, an electrician, a family man, a member of the Freemasons and an avid fly fisherman and fly tier. He fished the Arkansas and South Platter Rivers using the flies he tied.

Ray Cameron

Great-grandson of Harry K. Cameron, Ray started fly fishing as a teenager but didn’t start tying flies until 40 years later. Shortly after starting this new hobby, Ray’s dad, Pop’s grandson, gave him the little black notebook that began a journey of getting to know Pop and sharing his story and flies. Ray lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and fishes the same waters that Pop did in the mid-1900s, the South Platte and Arkansas Rivers.

Pop’s Little Black Notebook of Hand-drawn Flies

The Brookie’s Meat Fly

Pop’s Stack of Index Cards with Hand-drawn Flies