A World Record for Original Flies?

Moms don’t raise many sons like Clarence “Simon” Schultz anymore. After growing up hunting and fishing to feed his family Schultz, at age 89, still hunts morels and fly fishes (selling flies has one of the many things he’s done to survive). He takes a special pride in authorship when it comes to the 1,170 fly patterns he’s come up with on his own. Lest you think that he’s merely an imitator, his collection includes 1,094 flies that he tied himself but that were invented by other tiers.
“As we visited, he began pulling one ring binder after another, each filled with carefully catalogued flies tucked in clear plastic sleeves. Each notebook held more than 300 flies, every one a different pattern. A carefully printed note in Schultz’ writing tallies the flies: 2,264 unique flies in all….” Sam Cook of the Duluth News Tribune.
You can see a few images of Schultz’s extraordinary collection here.