Ted Towendolly

Ted Towendolly
Born
Theodore Laverne Towendolly

(1901-11-17)November 17, 1901
Lakehead, California, U.S.
DiedDecember 20, 1975(1975-12-20) (aged 74)
Sacramento, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)Fly fisherman, fly tier, and fishing guide
Known for
  • Developing short-line nymphing in the United States
  • Developing the Black Bomber, Spent Wing, Peacock, and Burlap fly patterns

Theodore Laverne Towendolly (November 17, 1901 – December 20, 1975) was an American fly fisherman and fly tyer. A Wintu Native American, he is known as the first fly fishing guide on the upper Sacramento River in Northern California, and for pioneering a fishing technique known today as short-line nymphing, a method used for catching trout by dropping weighted flies to the bottom of the river while holding the rod high and having out only a short amount of line.

Towendolly's technique employed heavily weighted flies he first invented in the 1920s, such as the Black Bomber, Spent Wing, Peacock, and the Burlap. These flies were later popularized and expanded upon by his friend and fellow fly fisherman Ted Fay. While Towendolly remained a fairly obscure figure, Fay achieved international fame, and spread Towendolly's inventions through his business in Dunsmuir, California. Their flies gained such recognition that they were gifted to President George W. Bush.

Biography

Ted Towendolly was born on November 17, 1901,[1] near Lakehead, California, to Garfield Towendolly and Rose Young Towendolly.[2] His parents were part of the Wintu tribe's Tauhindauli clan[a] who settled in the Dunsmuir area sometime around the year 1850.[3]

Not much is known about Ted Towendolly's youth except that he was adept at fishing from an early age. It is speculated this is thanks to his Wintu heritage and the influence of his uncle, John “Johnny” Towendolly, who shared a lifelong passion for fishing using, among other tools, the traditional Wintu pole spear[4] that Ted was also known for using.[3]

It was during the 1920s that Towendolly—in his 20s—started guiding in the Upper Sacramento river, becoming the first fly fishing guide in the area.[5][3] During his time he developed well-known fly patterns like the Black Bomber, Spent Wing, Peacock, and Burlap flies.[6] All of Towendolly's flies were heavily weighted so that they could sink fast, which was required by his distinctive fishing technique, known today as short-line nymphing.[3]

Sometime during the 1940s, Ted Towendolly met Ted Fay, at the time a hobbyist fly fisherman. Towendolly taught him both how to tie his flies and how to fish the Upper Sacramento River using the short-line nymphing technique.[7][3] The two maintained a lifelong friendship.[3]

Over the years Ted had worked many jobs: selling flies roadside out of his truck, working for the railroad, providing small-motor repairs, and dabbling as a carpenter and handyman around town. However, his main source of income came from working as an equipment operator for the Dunsmuir Department of Public Works for 12 years, retiring in 1968.[8] He would later move to Sacramento to work for the Sacramento Department of Public Works, still occasionally visiting Dunsmuir to fish the Upper Sacramento River.[3]

On December 20, 1975, Ted Towendolly died of pneumonia in Sacramento at age 74.[3] He was survived by his second wife Julia, two daughters, Betty Jane and Pat, and two stepsons.[1]

Legacy

Pioneering short-line nymphing in the United States

In the 1920s Towendolly was fishing the Upper Sacramento River with an unusual technique for the time. Until then, nymphing was usually performed with longer casts and slack in the line.[9] In Towendolly's technique the rod is held at 45 degrees with just about a rod’s length of leader sitting right at the tip of the rod, hence why it came to be known as “short-line nymphing” and “high-stick nymphing.”

The technique employs heavy, fast-sinking nymphs that can quickly reach the deep nooks found among the fast-moving waters of the rocky Upper Sacramento riverbed.[10] These nooks are often found in pocket water, calmer areas within faster parts of the river where fish hide and feed.[11] Usually fished with two nymphs—one at the end, with a dropper above—the flies are cast upstream of a pool that is believed to hold fish, but the heavy weight of the flies, combined with the short line, makes the cast inelegant, resulting in more of a lob. The rod is then moved across the water to match the speed of the current at the bottom of the river. Because the line and the cast are so short, the technique requires wading and frequent repositioning in order to cover water. The technique makes no use of strike indicators (which were popularized later) and to feel a strike one instead relies on the sensitivity of the line and rod, as well as other features of the line like a visible knot or coloring.[3][12]

This technique closely resembles what is known today as "Czech" and "Euro" nymphing, competitive methods that developed in 1980s Eastern Europe and that have recently (in the last two decades) seen a surge in popularity, both in Europe and the USA.[10] Despite the similarities, these European techniques developed independently, emerging in competitive fishing circuits decades after Towendolly had already started using his technique on California waters.[13][14][15] It is unclear exactly when or how Towendolly developed this technique, but some speculate he adapted it from ancient Wintu fishing methods.[16]

In the 1940s Towendolly taught this technique to Ted Fay,[7][3] who is credited for refining and popularizing it. While Towendolly was famous among his fellow Native Americans,[17] Ted Fay achieved international fame, and during the 60s and 70s the technique became known as the Ted Fay method.[3]

Original fly patterns

Towendolly created the Black Bomber fly pattern in the 1920s,[6] and would later go on to develop other well-known fly patterns like the Black and Brown Spent Wing, the Peacock, and the Burlap flies. All of his flies were tied on a #8 Mustad 3948A hook and had an underbody composed of 10 turns of 0.25 thousand-inch lead wire. This gave the flies enough weight to sink fast in absence of today's more commonly used tungsten, which came to be isolated much later. While his flies are nymphs—flies designed to imitate young insect that dwell underwater—they employed hackle traditionally used in dry flies.[6]

As with his short-line nymphing technique, Towendolly taught Ted Fay how to tie his flies. Fay later tied his own version of Towendolly's flies to which he later added his own creations. Popularized through Fay's fly fishing shop and guiding services, this set of flies gained considerable popularity and came to be known as the "Ted Fay flies," becoming sufficiently renowned to be presented as a gift to George W. Bush.[7][18] Today both the original and variations of Towendolly's flies are being tied and used around the world.[2]

Notes

  1. ^ During the 1880s, the family name was changed from Tauhindauli to Towendolly when a census taker, struggling with the original spelling, changed it to a similar-sounding English version that became the permanent family surname.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b "Funerary Services". Dunsmuir News. Vol. 86. December 24, 1975. p. 6.
  2. ^ a b "Self-Guided Tour Sign #5 - The Early Inn at Upper Soda Springs". Dunsmuir Recreation & Parks District. Retrieved July 27, 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Palmer 2017.
  4. ^ Masson, Marcelle (June 12, 1967). A Bag of Bones: Legends of Wintu Indians of Northern California. Naturegraph & Keven Brown Publications. ISBN 978-0911010268.
  5. ^ O'Briend, Chip (December 15, 2009). California's Best Fly Fishing: Premier Streams and Rivers from Northern California to the Eastern Sierra. Headwater Books. p. 85. ISBN 978-1934753033.
  6. ^ a b c O'Brien 1996.
  7. ^ a b c O'Brien, Chip (June 1994). "The Return of the Upper Sacramento: Fishing the Calendar in Shasta Country: Part 5 of 6" (PDF). California Fly Fisher. Truckee, CA.
  8. ^ "Ted Towendolly Honored With Dinner Party". Dunsmuir News. Vol. 78, no. 67. July 24, 1968. p. 4.
  9. ^ Lawton, Terry (2005). Nymph Fishing: A History of the Art and Practice. Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-0154-9.
  10. ^ a b Whitelaw, Ian (April 7, 2015). History of fly fishing in fifty flies. Aurum Press. p. 175. ISBN 978-1617691461.
  11. ^ Tedesco, John (2004). "The Water". Fast Water Nymphing Tactics. Pruett Publishing Company. pp. 1–12. ISBN 9780871089335. OCLC 56086670.
  12. ^ Green, Larry (February 1973). "Nymphs: Plain and simple". Field & Stream. Vol. 77, no. 10. New York, NY. pp. 120–124. ISSN 8755-8599.
  13. ^ O'Brien, Chip (March 22, 2021). "How 'Euro-Nymphing' Originated in Northern California". Active NorCal. Retrieved August 3, 2025.
  14. ^ Melzer, E. J. (July 1, 2025). "The Euro Nymphing Evolution". California Fly Fisher. Retrieved August 2, 2025.
  15. ^ Bock, Patrick. "High-Stick Legends and Euro Myths". Bock Fly Fishing. Retrieved August 2, 2025.
  16. ^ O'Brien 1996: "I’ve always considered the possibility that Ted Towendolly adapted the technique from ancient Indian methods, and then taught Ted Fay. The Wintus use to tie bone hooks to fishing lines fashioned from the sinewy bark of certain streamside plants along the Sacramento. Baited with salmon eggs, the hooks were gently dropped behind spawning redds in the hope of catching a greedy trout. Nothing has been documented, but it’s easy to imagine how one could evolve from the other."
  17. ^ Raymond, Frank E. (1992). Rivers to remember: a guide to fishing, camping and exploring in our great Northwest: tales of experiences in California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, and British Columbia (2nd ed. enl ed.). Redding, CA: Siskiyou Trail Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-9621614-1-4.
  18. ^ Madgic, Bob (January 1, 2013). The Sacramento: A Transcendent River. River Bend Books. pp. 78–81. ISBN 978-0988271111.

Sources

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