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On this page the Drum Flies, please scroll, down. See also the Irvine and the Winnie. The Drum series of flies were invented/developed by Alexander ( The dressings can also be found on the SalmonFlyer web site - however the version of the Drum Charm listed there is incomplete - I had to study one tied by Colin Simpson in the 1970's to get the full details. Possibly the oldest occupied castle in Scotland, Drum Castle in Aberdeenshire, was home to the Irvine family for more than six and a half centuries, a full twenty-four generations of nearly unbroken succession. The original tower keep, standing seventy feet from base to battlement and fifty feet on a side with walls twelve feet thick at the base is thought to have been built during the reign of Alexander III in the mid-thirteenth century. While the architect of the Tower of Drum is unknown the work is generally attributed to Richard Cementarius, the first provost of Aberdeen. Several prominent interior features of the tower are identical to other structures that are known to be the work of Cementarius and so Drum Tower is credited to him as well. The rambling stone mansion and Jacobean house that now surround the original tower were built during the reign of Alexander, the 9th Laird of Drum and completed in 1619.
Drum Charm
Tag: Oval silver. Tail: Topping, summer duck fibers, and blue chatterer. Butt: Black ostrich. Body: Black floss. Rib: Oval silver and bright blue thread running on either side. Throat: Blue. Wings: Blue swan, white swan, and pintail veiled with bronze mallard, topping over. Sides: Jungle cock Drum Eagle
Tag: Oval silver Tail: Topping and summer duck. Butt: Black ostrich. Body: Oval silver. Hackle: Yellow dyed eagle. Throat: Teal. Wings: Golden pheasant sword point, Sides: Jungle cock. Cheeks: Blue chatterer, topping over all. Drum Grouse
Tied by Australian Bob Frandsen Tag: Oval silver. Tail: Topping. Butt: Black ostrich. Body: Black floss. Rib: Oval silver. Throat: Guinea fowl. Wings: Grey turkey, summer duck. Cheeks: Small jungle cock. Drum Heron
Tag: Oval silver. Tail: Topping Butt: Black ostrich. Body: Pink floss. Rib: Oval silver and reverse ribbed blue thread from far side and near side. Throat: Long gray heron. Wings: Two strips cinnamon turkey, bustard, bronze mallard (the bustard showing). Drum Jay
Tied by Australian Bob Frandsen Tag: Oval silver. Tail: topping. Butt: Black ostrich. Body: Flat silver. Throat: Blue. Wings: Yellow swan, cheeks jay, the yellow to appear above the jay. Drum Lightning
Tied by Australian Bob Frandsen
Original vntage flies James Irvine ( 1912 – 1997). James lived the last years of his life at Wardmill Cottage, Drumoak and after his death, a transcription of his memoirs up to the late 1930’s has been made. It makes fascinating reading, and a copy is lodged at Drum, in the Irvine Room of the castle. Here is an extract relating to the Drun Lightning
“Drum had about 4 miles of good salmon fishing on the River Dee - Upper, Middle and Lower Drum. In the old days Dad kept the upper beat but later Sandy, who was a very keen fisherman, preferred Middle Drum and it was here, on the Lawson pool in May 1935 that he caught his 47 ½ pound salmon. When Robb the ghillie remarked that some people might question its real weight, Sandy took it straight into Aberdeen station where he had it weighed on the scales and was given a signed certificate of its weight. Sandy had this framed, together with the fly which caught it, which was a “Drum Lightning”, one which he had made himself”. Tail: Topping and indian crow. Butt: Black ostrich. Body: ½ black floss, ½ flat gold with rib oval gold. Hackle: Throat: Vulturine guinea fowl. Wings: Mallard, strip of barred summer duck. Sides: Jungle cock, topping over all. Head: Drum Mist
Tied by Australian Bob Frandsen Tail: Topping. Body: White wool, rib reverse oval silver and heavy black thread, and ordinary rib with oval gold and red thread. Throat: Long black heron. Wings: White swan. Cheeks: Short jungle cock, topping over all. Head: Red Drum Moonshine
Tied by Australian Bob Frandsen Tag: Oval gold. Tail: Topping and blue chatterer. Butt: Black ostrich. Body: ½ white floss, rib oval gold, ½ black floss, rib oval silver. Throat: Blue. Wings: Cinnamon turkey, white swan. Cheeks: Small jungle cock, topping over all. Drum Pheasant
Tied by Australian Bob Frandsen Tail: Tippets. Butt: Black ostrich Body: Red floss. Rib: flat and oval silver. Hackle: Tippet from second turn of tinsel. Throat: Tippet. Wings: Black and white turkey. Drum Ranger
Tied by Australian Bob Frandsen Tag: Oval gold and crimson floss Tail: Topping, summer duck and blue chatterer. Butt: Black ostrich. Body: White floss. Rib: Flat and oval gold. Throat: Golden Brown. Wings: Two projecting jungle cock enveloped by two tippets, summer duck covering lower parts of tippets, Cheeks: blue chatterer, topping over all. Drum Silver Blue
Tied by Australian Bob Frandsen Tag: Oval silver. Tail: Topping. Butt: Black ostrich. Body: Flat silver. Rib: Oval silver. Throat: Blue guinea fowl and vulturine guinea fowl. Wings: Blue swan covered by vulturine guinea fowl. Drum Sunset
Tied by Australian Bob Frandsen Tag: Oval gold Tail: Topping and small jungle cock. Butt: Black ostrich Body: Red floss. Rib: Flat and oval gold. Throat: Long black heron. Wing: Golden pheasant swords. Sides: Jungle cock overlapping half way up the sword feathers, topping overall. Drum Toucan
Tag: Oval silver Tail: Four toucan feathers Body: ¨÷ black wool, rib flat gold and silver, ¨÷ blue floss, ¨÷ white floss. Hackle: Blue guinea fowl. Throat: Wings: Double brown turkey.
The Drum Box
The following seven pictures are from a fly box put together by Sandy Irvine of Drum castle - it contains Dee flies and some of the Drum flies as per above patterns, see if you can identify them!
The flies would have been used on the Drum estate fishings on a regular basis. Family records at the Castle indicate that fishing was a regular activity in the 1880’s onward.
In 1976, following the death of Henry Quentin Forbes Irvine, 24th Laird of Drum, the Castle and some 400 acres passed into the care of the National Trust for Scotland. The remainder of the estate, some 3500 acres of tenanted farms, woodlands and fishings on the north bank of the Dee, were sold in the break-up of this once great estate. The Laird’s widow, to whom all Quentin’s sporting goods were left, deposited the collection with messrs Somers of Aberdeen whose premises were at that time in Thistle Street, although now in Bon-Accord Crescent. Somers were asked to find a buyer for the collection. It was purchased in 1977 by Mr Norman Matheson MBE, an Aberdeen surgeon and keen fisherman.
The photographs were taken in 2003 when Mr Matheson contacted the present Laird, David Irvine of Drum in order to try and establish the history of the collection."
Drawer 1
Drawer 2
Drawer 3
Drawer 4
Drawer 5
Drawer 6
Drawer 7
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