If there was one constant with those old fly fishing vests, it was the sheepskin or foam fly drying patch that was pinned to the upper left hand pocket on the front of the vest. “Pinned” is the right word, too, as most of those shaggy little drying patches were held in place by a safety pin that, depending on the age of the vest, was either bright & shiny or slowly corroding with years of accumulated rust and grime.

By Guido Vinck

 

Most of us always had a love-hate relationship with drying patches. They were convenient and super easy to use, but given half a chance, they’d drop your flies – especially your streamers – before you had a chance to put them back in your fly boxes. I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that we all lost a good number of flies from drying patches over the years.

 

 

Smart, innovative system

The French JS Patch offers a truly smart, innovative system for securing and drying your flies. Last year Joël Santoni, international French fly fishing competitor, started to make fly patches ‘ à la carte’ with a real leather aesthetic outer layer and a dense neoprene inner (3 or 5 mm according to the model) in five different sizes. Available in different colours with a musketon, D-ring or scratch as attachments and a Velcro closure. Sales price fluctuates between € 23 and € 65 depending on the model.

What started as DIY business for some friends is now booming in the fly fishing world, at the moment especially in France and Belgium as far that several team members from the French world champion team use those fly patches. The demand was so big that Joël Santoni started, a few months ago, his own business to produce the JS Patch and on top of that he now also created a Dry Patch with amadou! This very rare natural fungus has been used for over a century to dry saturated flies without damaging the hackles. Its absorbance is quite amazing, perfect for CDC flies or any dry pattern that needs reviving. Comes with a D ring and smart leather holder.

 

 

Contact details

For the moment the website from Joël is under construction but you can see more details on
http://www.truites-et-cie.fr/article/materiel/mouche-toc/made-france-les-patch-nymphes-caleri-et-js-patch?fbclid=IwAR3FG4YO87InFOjKi55S_mIS6jMaG3cY4fW5L1sNrJKkE3E8u5yIyNQPjDA.

And you can follow Joël Santini and his amazing creations on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/JS-Patch-656332318141716/, or contact him on jspatch@orange.fr, mobile phone number 0033 6 1017 4897 (English and French spoken).

 

Also look at:
http://flyfishing-blog.com/flyfishing-blog.com/2020/03/13/floating-flies-video-by-rolf-nylinder/
http://flyfishing-blog.com/flyfishing-blog.com/2020/02/17/howard-crostons-world-beating-tactics-flies-inside-the-march-issue-of-ffft/
http://flyfishing-blog.com/flyfishing-blog.com/2020/01/21/adjusting-a-leader-to-cast-big-flies/