The E.H. Polly Rosborough Collection

The Fly Patterns of E.H. Polly Rosborough

Polly Rosborough has been described as an American pioneer in the development of artificial nymph patterns. In 1965, Polly Rosborough published a limited private booklet entitled "Tying and Fishing the Fuzzy Nymphs". This was one of the first publications to recognize the importance of the immature stage of aquatic insects to the fly fisher, however, Polly had been fishing his Fuzzy Nymphs since the early 30's. He tells of his first nymph being constructed of cream seal fur and trimmed grizzly hackle. At the time, Polly had access to a couple catalogs with photo of nymph patterns. Nymph patterns were few and far between in the 1920's and 1930's. Seal was the first material he purchased in an attempt to tie a nymph pattern. He quickly realized that seal fur was extremely difficult to dub with. Being the creative type, Polly applied a small amount of cement to the seal fur and when it was slightly tacky, rolled the fur into a fuzzy noodle. He tied the end of the noodle to the hook shank and proceeded to wrap it forward with slight twists creating a segmented body not entirely unlike the noodle Leisenring used to create the body of his nymphs and later Hidy's flymph patterns. Polly initially was using cement to hold the material together and form the fuzzy noodle. He later developed a technique that essentially felted different furs by blending the fur with hot soapy water, draining and then rolling the felted fur into a tapered noodle shape with his hands. The tapered noodle end is then tied onto the hook shank, trapped in thread loop and wrapped forward. The nymph patterns you see in this collection were made by this process. This collection of Rosborough patterns are all original patterns tied by Rosborough, which I have photographed for this page, and is as complete as one might find anywhere, at least online as far as I can tell. This collection of 50 flies was a set that Polly would tie in the 80's and sell to collectors or to a friend who would then frame them and sell them to collectors. The collection not only contains Polly's fuzzy nymphs but many of his steelhead patterns and dry fly patterns. The collection was provided by a friend who so graciously wanted them protected, displayed and shared. As of this posting, I have not included the material lists for the different patterns. I may in the future. Until then, I suggest you find a copy of Mr. Rosborough's "Tying and Fishing the Fuzzy Nymphs". They seem to be plentiful and not terribly spendy. Most the fuzzy nymphs shown here are in that publication. Click on each photo for a larger view.