New GSS Colors?

What a busy summer it’s been! Not sure what’s going on but suddenly a few months ago orders for Secret Stuff (always steady, mind you) increased dramatically.. Which is great of course because it means people are tying and enjoying Jack’s ptterns. Not to mention that the sale of tying supplies–a meager and messy enterprise though it is–is what pays the bills for keeping his web site going.

Jack first started selling Secret Stuff back in the 90s: in two colors only, olive and pearl. Why just two colors? While I never asked him, it probably came down to money. From time to time on the internet I’ve read on one fly tying forum or another exchanges between tyers where someone would speculate that GSS was just someone else’s product repackaged by Jack. Just plain wrong. GSS was and is made at a factory to Jack’s specifications. And if you know anything about factories you know that they don’t deal in small amounts. So a single factory order of, say, pearl GSS cost Jack at some serious coin. As a result, he simply did not have the money to invest in trying out a lot of colors.

That said, given the increased interest in GSS, I’m thinking it may finally be the right time to introduce a few new colors. Based on the requests I’ve heard from tyers, black and chartruese are the front runners. But if you have your own ideas please let me know. Freshwater and saltwater anglers in particular often have different preferred colors. My thought is to introduce two new colors this calendar year and see how it goes.

Here’s a recent comment on GSS from Sean in Maine that put a big smile on my face. Thanks Sean!

“I love the secret stuff and I think it is breeding in the bags! It seems the more I use, the more I find in the bag. This is a great product, and though I did not start tying while Jack was alive, I feel like I know him from the articles I have read and the books I have borrowed. I want this one all of my own and intend to buy more. Thanks so much for keeping his memory alive. All the best, Sean”

2 thoughts on “New GSS Colors?”


  1. Warning: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead in /home1/mquigley/public_html/jackgartside.com/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/wp-comment-links.php on line 28

  2. Warning: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead in /home1/mquigley/public_html/jackgartside.com/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/wp-comment-links.php on line 28

Leave a Reply