Early in 2023 Bob was developing a new pattern for Salmon trolling on Winni. His close fishing friends like Dan Simpson, Bob Galeckas, Bill Nolen and others fished with Bob’s patterns, and they would often connect at Dan’s camp on Welch Island. One particular pattern was working so good Dan thought it should be named. We never name a pattern until it is a proven producer, and this streamer was proving itself. Dan built a little lakeside Tiki bar on Welch Island that is a gathering place for fishing friends and Bob would swing in regularly. One day they were talking about the memorabilia of the Tiki world Dan had around the bar and one of the many carved wooden Tiki faces Dan had hanging at the bar had very similar colors Bob’s streamer had. Hence the pattern was named the Tiki Bar. Bob shared the pattern with a few more guys and gals and the success grew.  I think this was Bob’s last new pattern that he developed.

This past winter Dan got in touch with me and asked if I would add the pattern to my collection and offer it to others to keep the legacy going.  Bob must have thought Dan would do something like this.  Because on his last visit to the Tiki Bar, he brought two of the final renditions of the streamer to give to Dan.   Unbeknownst to Dan, Bob had snuck in, on the back of one of the packages, all the written instructions for creating the pattern. Dan was at a loss for words as Bob probably knew at that time that these would most likely be some of the last streamers he would ever tie. Bob wanted to share the pattern with all, and he knew Dan would make it happen. Bob then sent Dan the written pattern, pictures of the material application from his pattern book along with numerous pictures showing how he tied and the material he used. Dan forwarded all this to me along with four of the original streamers Bob tied.

I started working on identifying the material and ordering what I needed to build this pattern. Most of it looked standard and available except the red Fishhair used for the underbody. Bob also had a few of his unique touches on the pattern like adding “horns” to the pattern, which is unheard of in streamers but common on full dress Atlantic Salmon streamers. One day studying pictures  Dan sent me from Bob’s tying bench I saw a Fishhair package that said Fish Red with a 25 Denier…… ???.... I had never heard of this.  50-70 denier (a designation used as to the fineness of the material) is the standard we use today.  Then I saw a note Bob made that he wasn’t sure if this super fine material made a difference but thought it might. Looking through some of my inherited antique materials I did notice some finer denier packages that had never caught my attention. But no red.  So I started a search throughout the fly-tying world and could not find anything.  Then one day I got lucky and found a guy offering a group of packages of Fish hair on Ebay and in one group was Fish Red 25 Denier.  Well, you know where the story goes from there.