The Margaree River and the Darbees

Although this summer’s fishing in Nova Scotia’s Margaree River suffered from a long drought, autumn is quickly approaching. Hopefully fall will bring rain and fresh-run Atlantic salmon to the Margaree. Already anglers are making preparations, planning trips, and tying or buying Margaree flies.

Harry Darbee (1906-1983) and wife Elsie were legendary Catskill fly tyers and they tied commercially. The Darbees visited the Margaree each fall, staying at Mary and Laird Hart’s wonderful inn, Heart of Harts. Harry also raised roosters for their feathers, an association with poultry that began when he was 6 years old and placed in charge of his family’s chickens. Harry was an important pioneer who managed to produce a line of birds that have become the foundation of many of today’s best genetic fly tying hackle.

Darbee’s Spate Fly is an old standard that no Margaree angler should be without.  The late Joseph D. Bates Jr., in his 1970 Stackpole book Atlantic Salmon Flies & Fishing, “This attractive and unusual fly was originated in 1946 by Harry A. Darbee of Livingston Manor, New York. It is dressed in sizes to suit water conditions (usually about 1/0) and is used when rivers are in “spate,“ that is, high and discolored. Originally it was dressed on the Margaree River, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and it has accounted for many large fish under such conditions. “

Spate Fly

Thread:                       G.S.P. 50 Denier blood red thread

Hook:                          Salmon hook such as Mustad 36890, or Partridge Bartleet Traditional in sizes 2 – 2/0

Tag:                            Oval gold tinsel

Tail:                             Golden pheasant crests (2)

Body:                          Chocolate brown Ice Dub or seal fur, spun on and slightly picked out

Rib:                             Medium oval gold tinsel

Throat:                        Several turns of a black hen hackle, tied on as a collar and pulled down, the longest fibers reaching nearly to the point of the hook

Wing:                          A bunch of brown bucktail, reaching to the point of the tail

Shoulders:                  Fairly wide strips of black and white barred wood duck, set on both sides of the bucktail and two-thirds as long as the wing.

Head:                          Blood red thread finished with 2 coats Angler’s Corner Wet Head Cement