By Joseph D. Bates Jr. and Pamela Bates Richards (Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Executive Assistant Marianne Kennedy Stackpole Books, 1996)

Thaw

HE FEBRUARYTHAW comes to Ver- "From the Old to the New in Salmon mont. The ice melts, the earth loosens. Flies" is our excerpt from Fishing Atlantic TI splash my way to the post office ankle Salmon: The Flies and the Patterns (reviewed deep in puddles and mud, dreaming of being by Bill Hunter in the Winter 1997 issue). waist deep in water. It is so warm I can smell When Joseph D. Bates Jr. died in 1988, he left things. The other day I glimpsed a snow flur- this work in progress. Pamela Bates Richards, ry that turned out to be an insect. (As most his daughter, added significant material to anglers can attest, one often needs to expect the text and spearheaded its publication, to see something in order to see it at all.) Se- working closely with Museum staff during ductive, a tease, the thaw stays long enough her research. The book, released late last year to infect us with the fever, then leaves, laugh- by Stackpole Books, includes more than ing as we exhibit the appropriate withdrawal 160 striking color plates by photographer symptoms. Michael D. Radencich. We are pleased to re- By the time these words are printed and produce eight of these. distributed, I hope the true thaw will be Spring fever finds its expression in fishing upon us here and that those (perhaps few) of and romance in Gordon M. Wickstrom's us who retire our gear for the winter will reminiscence of "A Memoir of Trout and Eros once again be on the water. For those mo- or Following I,. B. France into Colorado's ments during which you are not out fulfilling Middle Park." In this issue's Notes & Com- your fly-fishing destiny, we've prepared the ment, Richard C. Hoffmann adds informa- spring issue of The American Fly Fisher to oc- tion to Frederick Buller's "The Macedonian cupy your mind and perhaps fuel your fanta- Fly" (Fall 1996), and M. R. Montgomery sy life. relates a rather unfortunate incident that In "Western Fly Fishing: The Discovery of occurred during an attempt to pursue Mace- a Great Tradition," historian and former ex- donian trout. ecutive director Paul Schullery praises recent Be careful out there. advances in the written history of western fly fishing. He highlights ten books of particular importance to the field that have appeared since the mid-1980s. THEAMERICAN MUSEUM OF FLYFISHING Preserving the Heritage of Fly Fishing SPRING 1997 VOLUME 23 NUMBER 2

TRUSTEES Review of Books: Western Fly Fishing: E. M. Bakwin Janet Mavec The Discovery of a Great Tradition ...... 2 Michael Bakwin Wayne Nordberg Paul Schullery Foster Bam 0. Miles Pollard Paul Bofinger Allan K. Poole From the Old to the New in Salmon Flies...... 6 James H. Carey Pamela B. Richards Michael D. Copeland Tom Rosenbauer Joseph D. Bates Jr. and Pamela Bates Richards Peter Corbiil Robert G. Scott Thomas N. Davidson James Spendiff A Memoir of Trout and Eros or Following L. B. France Charles Ferree Arthur Stern into Colorado's Middle Park...... 18 Reed Freyermuth John Swan Gordon M. Wickstrom Gardner L. Grant James Taylor James Hunter Richard G. Tisch Gallery: Frank Weston Benson ...... 21 Dr. Arthur Kaemrner David H. Walsh Woods King I11 Richard J. Warren Maxine Atherton: Grand Lady of Fly Fishing's Walter Matia James C. Woods Golden Age, 1904-1997 ...... 22 TRUSTEES EMERITI Notes & Comment: On "The Macedonian Fly" ...... G. Dick Finlay Leon Martuch 23 W. Michael Fitzgerald Keith C. Russell Richard C. Hofmann, M. R. Montgomery Robert N. Johnson Paul Schullery David B. Ledlie Stephen Sloan Museum News...... 26

OFFICERS Contributors...... 28 President Richard G. Tisch Museum Exhibits ...... 29 Vice Presidents Arthur Stern Pamela B. Richards Treasurer James H. Carey Secretary James C. Woods ON THE COVER:Joseph D. Bates Jr. and Bruce Bates on the Rangeley Lakes in 1946. From Fishing Atlantic Salmon: The Flies and the Patterns, STAFF by Joseph D. Bates Jr. and Pamela Bates Richards (Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Executive Assistant Marianne Kennedy Stackpole Books, 1996). Our excerpt from this book begins on page 6. Curator Jon C. Mathewson Development Director Eric Brown Administrative Assistant Paula Morgan The Amertiaiz Fly Fisher is published Research/Publicity Joe A. Pisarro four time< a yea1 by the Museum at P.O. Box 42, Manchester, Vermont 05254. Publication dates arc wintcr, aprmg, summer, and fall Membership dues include the cost of the THEAMERICAN FLY FISHER journal ($25) and are tax deductible as provided for by law. Membership rater are llsted in the hack of each issue. Editor Kathleen Achor iU1 letters, manuscripts, pl~oto~ra~l~s,and rnater~als Intended for publication in the journal should he sent to the I~luseum.The hluseun~and journal are not respons~hlcfor unsolicited manuscripts, drawmgr, photographic Design ei- Production Randall Rives Perkins material, or memorabllla. The Museum cannot accept responsibility for statements and interpretations that are Copy Editor Sarah May Clarkson wholly the authol's Unsolicited manuscripts cannot be returned unleas postage 1s plov~ded.Contrihutlons to The

Consulting Editor Margot Page Amcrzcan Fly Ftshcr ale to he considered graiullous and the property of the Museum unless otherwise requested ContributingEditor PaulSchullery by the contl~butor.Articles appearing in this jourl~alare abstracted and indexed in H~storicalAbstracts and America- History and Life. Cupynght 0 1997, the Ametican Museum of Fly Fishing, Manchester, \'ermont 05254. Original nlaterlal appearing may not he reprinted without prior pcrrnlssioii. Second Class Peiniit postage paid at Manchester Vermont 05254 and additional offices (USPS 057410). The Atnerican Fly Ffshcr (ISSN 0884-3562) posrhrlisran: Send addrcss changca to The Anici Iran Fly hslier, P.O. Box 42, Manchester, Vermont o5z5q.

SPRING 1997 1 REVIEW OF BOOKS

Western Fly Fishing: The Discovery of a Great Tradition by Paul Schullery

FIRST BECAME INTERESTED in I must start with a book that I sus- historian's real sources: journals, news- fishing history twenty years ago. I pect most history-minded fly fishers papers, and all manner of other material. Iwas living in Wyoming, so naturally have missed, but shouldn't: John Mon- I am tempted to say that Cutthroat Q I was curious about early western fly nett's Cutthroat ei. Campfire Tales: The Campfire Tales is full of digressions- fishing. As a historian, I was already fa- Fly-Fishing Heritage of the West. Mr. sometimes it's a long way between fish- miliar with some of the sporting litera- Monnett is a fisherman first, a historical ing stories-but it might be better to say ture of the west from the late 1800s and tale-teller second, and he combines that the whole book is a digression, a knew that back then a lot of people were the two avocations to create a personal very pleasant one, from an angler's out here fishing and having a good time reminiscence and historical narrative. crowded life. When we walk a stream, with the native trout. But I soon discov- Through descriptions of his own fishing we don't share its history just with earli- ered that these adventurous anglers had trips, the author takes us into the histo- er fishermen, but with campers, explor- been pretty much forgotten by modern ry of fishing in California, Colorado, ers, grizzly bears, and all sorts of other western fly fishermen. With a few no- Wyoming, and other places, including characters. manv of whom Mr. Monnett table exceptions, western fly fishing was Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming1 happily introduces us to. without a written history. MontanalIdaho. There's a nice discus- Robert Behnke, for many years one It was widely assumed, in fact, that sion of western fly patterns with some of this country's leading cold-water fish- western fly fishing had no history. I can enjoyable notes on the development of eries authorities, approaches the whole remember more than one person firmly western grasshopper patterns. The au- subject of western trout from a formal, asserting in the 197os, "We western fish- thor uses his own experiences to launch scientifically disciplined direction in ermen don't have a history; we're mak- into stories about a river's past and to Native Trout of Western North America, ing it today." This credo was a matter of which must stand as the single most pride and did indicate an appreciation complete and authoritative source on for the dynamic nature of western fly the taxonomy, natural history, and hu- fishing, but it was sadly misinformed. man historv of our western trouts. The Being ignorant of their own traditions publication of this book is something of didn't make these people any worse a historical event itself: it drifted around than most fishermen, of course; few an- various scientific institutions and agency glers anywhere have more than a management offices in manuscript form sketchy idea of where their tackle, tech- for many years before finally appearing niques, and attitudes come from. But as a handsome monograph in 1992. It because I lived out here, and because must have been about ten years before what little western fishing history I'd publication that Behnke's manuscript learned was so interesting, I was espe- first crossed my desk. Long before it cially bothered by the general ignorance came out officially, Native Trout of West- of the long and exciting western fly-fish- ern North America was almost a stan- ing experience. dard reference work merely through en- I'm especially pleased, only twenty ergetic photocopying. years later, to be able to write an article What Mr. Behnke, who writes an in- in which I consider a few of the many formative and thoughtful column on books that now deal with western fly- trout for Trout magazine, has achieved fishing history. I won't mention them here is both a family tree of the native all, a& 1 apologize in advance to any- reflect on the additional satisfactions a western trout and a powerful appeal for

one- -- who has a favorite not mentioned modern fly fisher can find when know- its protection. During the long hatch-

here. If we play our cards right, perhaps ing even a little about those who have erv-dominance era in western fishing.", we western anglers can generate enough fished the water earlier. Mr. Monnett when overfishing threatened many dis- interest in western fly-fishing history to has spent a lot of time gathering up lo- tinct tvDes of fish. western trout took make it a major subject of attention in cal lore, doing historical research in a heavy Tokes. Mr. ~ehnke'sappeal for the The American Fly Fisher. In the mean- subject where the word "research is al- protection of these wonderful, unique, time, let me introduce some of the note- most meaningless. In doing so, he has and often stunningly beautiful strains of worthy titles of the past ten years or so. found his way to some of the serious fish is as important as his pioneering

2 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER work in developing a reasonable taxo- must do right to protect these impor- of its asides and background. He intro- nomic arrangement of them. With re- tant resources. Although Native Trout of duces many of the modern leading cent developments in DNA technology, Western North America is written quite steelheaders, and through them and Mr. Behnke's system of classification formally, it is an exciting book, full of their experiences takes us on many may not last, but the inquiring spirit of the promise and wonder of good fishing small tours of the steelheading tradi- his book and his passionate defense of stories, if only because it tells us so tion. This is largely post-Depression his- native fishes and their habitats can nev- much more than we thoughtu to be tory focusing on the last few generations er become outdated. knowable about the fish we pursue so Why all this matters so much to his- avidly. And the color plates of trout are tory students is that again and again, outstanding.

Mr. Behnke leads us into neglectedu cor- An even more focused book, though ners of our own history to track down also more popularly written, is Patrick the first mention and descriptions of Trotter's Cutthroat: Native Trout of the these great fish. He has conducted a life- West (with a foreword, appropriately, by long, professional version of the search Bob Behnke). Mr. Trotter has produced conducted informally in Cutthroat e5 a superb biography of the inland west's Campfire Tales, visiting countless waters most distinctive sport fish, and the book and museum collections to examine is rich in historv and lore of a sort that early specimens and their remaining should be of great interest to history- habitats. As important, he has examined minded anglers.u His stvle is much more far more early western fishing literature, conversational than scientific, though much of it auite obscure. than anv fish- the book's publication by a respected ing historia; to date. ~hroughhis re- western university press suggests the search, for example, we catch a glimpse quality of its scholarship. Each of the of what it must have been like to catch recognized subspecies of the cutthroat of steelheaders and how swiftly they de- gets a chapter, with lengthy discussion veloped a whole horde of techniques of its range and that area's human histo- and flies. It reminds me of a compressed ry. As in Behnke's monograph, the version of what Atlantic salmon anglers trout's manv human associations are achieved over the uast few hundred showcased, as are many local stories and years, a comparison made even more

traditions surroundingu them. And. as in avt bv the extent to which modern steel- Monnett's book, the author takes you h'eadirs follow the literature of Atlantic along on his own explorations of many salmon fishing and apply those tech- waters in which he compares notes with niques to their own rivers. earlier anglers. What Mr. Combs accomplishes on behalf of steelhead fishing, Bruce Fergu- son, Les Johnson, and Pat Trotter ac- HESE THREE BOOKS would complish on a smaller but thorough have to be cornerstones of a good scale for Pacific salmon in Fly Fishing Twestern fishing history library. for Pacific Salmon. This book flies in the After them come more specialized face of all the regional "common knowl- books dealing with a specific area or edge," still thriving only a few years ago, fish. The broadest of these is, in fact, which held that none of the Pacific just about as far-ranging as the above ti- salmons would take a fly. Despite many tles, but it deals with only one type of years of successful fly fishing on some fish, the spectacular and evermore salmo~lstreams, it remained a matter of threatened anadromous trout known as almost religious conviction among the steelhead. The leading author of many westerners that it could not be steelhead books has for many years been done. I suppose the many articles and Trey Combs, whose Steelhead Fly Fish- stories written about fly fishing for ing: Tackle and Techniques, the Great Alaskan salmon have done as much as Rivers, the Anglers and Their Fly Pat- anything else to quiet this misguided

terns is his third book on the subiect., , ovinion. The authors of this imvortant each one being larger than its predeces- manual devote a lengthy chapter to the massive Lahontan cutthroats of sor by a couple orders of magnitude. some early salmon fly fishers on the Pyramid Lake (Nevada), described by This huge work is probably as exhaus- West Coast, including much informa- explorer John Fremont in 1843 as "of ex- tive a catalog of everything mentioned tion on the exciting saltwater salmon fly traordinary size-about as large as the in its near-Victorian subtitle as will ever fishing found in the 1930s by Letcher Columbia River salmon-generally from be produced, because, as with other re- Lambuth and other skilled anglers in 2 to 4 feet in length." Alas, we also get to gions of the country, writers are now the Puget Sound area; remember that witness their destruction when irriga- turning their attention to single river this was twenty years before Joe Brooks tion projects dried up their spawning drainages as worthy of book-length and others would "discover" saltwater stream. One of the many values of Mr. consideration. fly fishing i11 Florida (though it had Behnke's book is showing us what we What makes Mr. Combs's book of been done there since at least the 1880s have done wrong, and what we now such value to historians is the richness and had been locally forgotten).

SPRING 1997 3 I have long been grateful to Frank the moments that make a day of fishing son, John. Their good friend Charles F. Amato, publisher of Fly Fishing for Pa- so important to us. I will succumb to (Charley) Waterman, one of the best cific Salmon, who has produced dozens the formulaic assertion of If-you're- modern outdoor writers, has written of books about western fishing during only-going-to-buy-one-book-on-this-Mist on the River: Remembrances of the years when other publishers were subject and say that if you want a Dan Bailey. The book also features an apparently uninterested; his books were glimpse at what west coast fishing has introductory tribute by the late Lee often exhaustive, and if their cosmetics been, which is to say a glimpse at what Wulff. left something to be desired, the simple we could make it again if only we cared Part I is a biography of the Bailey layouts did accommodate as much in- enough, you mustn't miss The Angler's family, full of historical details about the foimation as possible per page. That coast. creation of the shop and the clientele just about sums up the appearance of who made it the most famous of west- this book, except tb say that like many ern fly shops and made Dan Bailey a other Frank Amato books, it has excel- UT THEN,The Angler's Coast is household name among traveling an- lent color pictures of many flies. hardly the only great fishing book glers. There are stories of the famous A far more personal look, in fact a Bto get less attention than it de- fly-tying room where visiting anglers firsthand account, of the modern devel- served. Among the others is the amaz- could see the Bailey tyers hard at work opment of salmon fly fishing on the ing little memoir written by veteran and of hunting and fishing trips around West Coast appears in Russell Chat- steelhead fisherman and photographer the country. Part I1 is a river-by-river ham's vastly entertaining book The An- Ralph Wahl, One Man's Steelhead visit to Dan Bailey's home country, the gler's Coast. Originally published in the Shan~ri-La.This slender volume would region of southwestern Montana and G70s as a small book; a new larger edi- never have been written except that the northwestern Wyoming that he worked tion was beautifully produced in 1991. little stretch of water it describes, where so hard to promote and protect. Much This new edition is the one of greatest Mr. Wahl had several decades of incred- of this has little to say about Bailey him- interest to fishing historians. The text is ible fishing, was lost to the changing self, but it never fails to evoke the mood essentially the same-being the author's shape of his river (the Skagit, in Wash- of the country he loved. I don't know chronicle of the rise of salmon fishing in ington), so there was no longer a reason who was the more fortunate: Charley northern California in the 1950s and to withhold the tale. Illustrated by Waterman, to have spent so much time 1960s, with no end of delightful asides Wahl's unforgettable black-and-white in Dan Bailey's world, or Dan Bailey, to on other fishing-except for the addi- photographs (which graced many issues have had such a gifted chronicler as tion of dozens of superb black-and- of the Federation of Fly Fishermen mag- Charley Waterman. Like the Chatham white photographs of the fish and fish- azine The Flyfisher in its early years), the book, this one contains many fine black- ermen-of that era. Mr. Chatham is part book is a series of episodes in an envi- and-white photographs from both past of the legend of that era and place, and able life of angling that could not now and present. many of the pictures show him holding be repeated so close to Seattle or any Very rarely, a publisher does us all a up immense Pacific salmon, steelhead, other city. It is more than the story of favor and opens a window on a more and striped bass taken on flies. The great fishing-it is the story of great fish- remote time of great interest to us. The book is also the best telling of the tale of ermen and the lessons they learned recent republication of Lewis B. France's Bill Schaadt, acknowledged dean, if not from a great river. regional classic, With Rod and Line in father, of modern, west-coast salmon fly A different kind of personal memoir Colorado Waters, with an informative fishing, whose amazing exploits with a is the angling biography of another foreword by John Monnett, is such a fly rod are convincingly described service. France's book is a fascinat- with abundant photographic evi- ing account of an angler's life in dence to support them. I:. the Rocky Mountain west more I read the first published edition than a century ago in a style and of this book about twenty years tone similar to a volume that ago and even then regarded it as might be called its eastern equiva- one of my favorite fishing books, t: lent, George Dawson's The Plea- but it was many years before I sures of Angling. The two books, realized that the people being published within a few years of described in it were part of an im- each other, describe very different portant historic movement: these angling experiences in very differ- guys, Chatham included, were ent worlds, but share the rambling, pioneering fly-fishing frontiers conversational quality that charac- and catching world-record fish in terized so much of sporting travel the process. Chatham's 36-pound writing in the late 1800s. The book striped bass on a fly broke a record .. ' is published "warts and alln-that Joe Brooks had held for eighteen is, with all its period attitudes years. But even with all the athlet- (some of which are quite troubling ics and huge fish, I have always admired memorable western fishing character, today, such as the racist caricatures of this book most because Chatham is a the Montana shop ownerlconservation- minorities) in place, which I think are wonderful storyteller-one of the best ist Dan Bailey. Bailey came west from all the more reason to read it. If we're writers fishing has produced. He's funny New York for the first time in 1936 and ever going to understand how our an- (I would have to buy the book just for later settled in Livingston, Montana, cestors enjoyed fishing, we're going to the story called "Wading for Godot"), where he established the famous fly have to understand a lot of other things he's eloquent, and he hasa great eye for shop bearing his name, now run by his about them as well.

4 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER I will take my fishing history more or from being unknown and unavailable More important from a historian's less anywhere I can get it, and I have to being the topic of many books and perspective, I look forward to the con- found some excellent material in unex- articles, with every sign that more will tinued study and publication of the pected places. One of the most delight- appear sooil (another bow to Frank west's early angling history, especially ful of these involves the North Umpqua, Amato is in order here because his mag- the turn-of-the-century period when so a tradition-rich Oregon coastal steel- azines have also published countless lit- many waters were undergoing serious head stream, which Zane Grey, Ray tle historical tidbits over the years). use by inquisitive, inventive fishermen Bergman, Ernest Schwiebert, and many There are some fine. older western who were modifying old flies and test- others have written about. But perhaps books, long out of print, that could ing new ones. I'm confident that a the best short history of the river ap- stand a new audience. even if onlv in a search of early Califorilia periodicals, pears not in a fishing book, but in beau- limited edition. I've seen a number of newspapers, and journals, for example, tifully produced cookbook, Thyme and them appear in the past few years and would flesh out the stories of many the River: Recipes from Oregon's Steam- hope to see more. I'd like to see Howard great and lamented trout and salmon boat Inn, by Sharon Van Loan and Pa- Back's charming little book, The Waters rivers in that once-glorious sportsman's tricia Lee. Sharon and Jim Van Loan ac- of Yellowstone with Rod and Fly (1938), region. However that pursuit may de- auired the inn from its famous vrevious brought back in a modest paperback velop, we have a lot to look forward to owners, Jeanne and Frank Moore, in edition, and there are several other titles as we discover the angling heritage of 1975 and have made it as renowned for that await a new edition. the American West. - fine cuisine as it has long been for hearty hospitality, spectacular scenery, and challenging fishing. This book begins with an extended "History of the Steamboat In11 & the Fly-Fishing Tradi- Books Reviewed in This Article tion on the North Umpqua River," by Oregon writer Mark Hoy. If, as I hope Robert J. Behnke. Native Trout of Western North America. Bethesda, some day happens, a large book of the Maryland: American Fisheries Society Monograph 6, 1992. 275 pages, best writings about the North Umpqua black-and-white and color illustrations and photographs. $36. were compiled and published, this would make a great opening chapter. In Russell Chatham. The Angler's Coast. Livingston, Montana: Clark City the meantime, you can't go wrong get- Press, 1991. 163 pages, black-and-white photographs, foreword by Thomas ting this book for its history, and when McGuane. $34.95. you've read the history you can move right along to learn some of the best Trey Combs. Steelhead Fly Fishing: Tackle and Techniques, the Great recipes ever created within casting dis- Rivers, the Anglers and Their Fly Patterns. New York: Lyons & Burford, tan& of a trout stream. Publishers, 1991. 494 pages, black-and-white and color illustrations. $45. Bruce Ferguson, Les Johnson, and Pat Trotter. Fly Fishing for Pacific Salmon. Portland, Oregon: Frank Amato Publications, 1985. 118 pages, ERHAPS IT'S BECAUSE the black-and-white and color illustrations. $19.95. writing of western fishing history Phas lagged so far behind, but I am Lewis B. France. With Rod and Line in Colorado Waters. Boulder, Col- generally inclined to like most of what's orado: Pruett Publishing Company, 1996. 162 pages, black-and-white illus- been done so far. I've been harder on trations, foreword by John H. Monnett. $12.95. some of the eastern writers, especially when they get a little too proud of their John H. Monnett. Cutthroat ei. Campfire Tales: The Fly-Fishing Heritage local traditions (the older our neighbor- of the West. Boulder, Colorado: Pruett Publishing Company, 1988. 170 hood, the more likely we are to consider pages, black-and-white illustrations. $16.95. Out of print. it the center of the universe). On the Patrick C. Trotter. Cutthroat: Native Trout of the West. Boulder, Colora- other hand, I've intentionally left some do: Colorado Associated University Press, 1987. 219 pages, black-and-white western titles out of this little essay be- and color illustrations and photographs, foreword by Robert J. Behnke. cause they were just too inaccurate or otherwise lacking to include. At any $19.95. rate, in a very short time western fishing Sharon Van Loan and Patricia Lee, with Mark Hoy. Thyme and the Riv- history as a specialty area has progressed er: Recipes from Oregon's Steamboat Inn. Portland, Oregon: Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company, 1988. 144 pages, color photographs. $14.95. Out of print. Ralph Wahl. One Man's Steelhead Shangri-La. Portland, Oregon: Frank Amato Publications, 1989. 119 pages, black-and-white photographs, foreword by Steve Raymond. $19.95. Out of print. Charles F. Waterman. Mist on the River: Remembrances of Dan Bailey. Livingston, Montana: Yellowstone Press, 1986. 193 pages, black-and-white photographs, tribute by Lee Wulff. $19.95.

SPRING 1997 5 From the Old to the New in Salmon Flies

by Joseph D. Bates Jr. and Pamela Bates Richards

FISHINGATLANTIC SALMON: The Eminent angling historians of several records of commercial hook making as Flies and the Patterns (Stackpole Books, generations have gone to painstaking early as 1560, in Redditch, England. 1996) was a work in progress when Joe efforts to verify or refute not only the In 1725, this method gave way to the Bates died in 1988. His daughter, Pamela authorship but the very existence of attachment of eyes made of loops Bates Richards, spearheaded its publica- Dame Juliana. None has succeeded. Bio- of twisted silkworm gut. Metal-eyed tion. workinp" with editor Bob Warren graphical notes referencing her life and salmon hooks were not known until and other master tyers and artists. Ms. lifestyle give credence to the fact of her 1845, when hook machinery was invent- Richards added a significant number of existence, but none verifies her actual ed. Like the zipper and the wristwatch, patterns and historical material to the connection to the "treatyse of fysshynge it took time for metal-eyed hooks to be- original manuscript. She worked closely wyth an Angle." In spite of the scrutiny come popular, and they weren't fully ac- with Museum staff during much of her of historians, the legend of the "Dame cepted until the turn of the century. research. With access to the fishing diaries of Dubbes" survives as a viable prede- Some anglers thought metal-eyed hooks of Joseph Pulitzer II, she was able to qual- cessor to all fine fish stories. sank too quickly or gave too stiff action ify and document the origins of the Rusty Ancient spelling and obsolete words between fly and leader. Rat and the Cosseboom. In the case of the make reading difficult. but Berners's Between 1496 and 1676, a few notable Rusty Rat, she reached a conclusion that book has be& translated into modern angling books were published. Izaak was, in fact, different from her father3 English by John McDonald in his mas- Walton wrote The Compleat Angler in (see sidebar). terly volume The Origins of Angling, 1676, but since he was a bait fisherman, We are pleased to excerpt the fourth published in 1963 by Doubleday and he asked Charles Cotton and Colonel chapter of this impressively illustrated Company, Inc., of New York. McDon- Robert Venables to help him (in the work. ald's translation makes fascinating read- fifth edition and hence) with the -EDITOR ing because it describes the beginning of fly-fishing parts by combining their modern tackle and tactics, including books, also published in 1676, with his. rods, lines, hooks, and flies. Although In it, Venables says, "The salmon taketh E w H o ENJOY collecting and dressing instructions leave much to in- the artificial fly very well." He describes fishing Atlantic salmon flies tervretation. twelve seasonal flies are de- fly types and recommends, "Use the can learn much about how to scribed, some evidently having been most gaudy and Orient colors you can wselect appropriate patterns for various used for salmon. However drab and choose." Cotton explains fly-dressing conditions and how to use them prop- crude these flies may appear, their influ- methods of the day and gives dressings erlv if we know something of the an- ence on modern favorites, such as the for sixty-eight patterns, mostly for trout L2 cient and honorable history of the most March Brown, is obvious. and other fish, but some for salmon. beautiful fishing flies in the world. It be- The book tells how ancient hooks Walton's book was revered mainly begins with the simple, expands to the were made from needles, large or small, cause of its style, a dialogue between sublime, and then reverts to the simple. and even from a shoemaker's awl. These "Piscator" and "Venator," teacher and The first definitive book on fly fish- were heated to remove the temver so pupil. Walton borrowed extensively ing is the Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an that the barb could be notched kith a from previous books, and just prior to Angle, printed in 1496 from an old man- knife and the point sharpened. After re- 1956, the only known copy of W. uscript dated 1406 or thereabouts. The heating, the hook was bent, then reheat- Samuel's The Arte of Angling was discov- origins and authorshiv of this treatise ed and quenched to restore the temper. ered. Printed in 1577, it contained nearly hate been the subje; of debate and This process had to be repeated if the identical dialogue between the same conjecture among angling historians for hook seemed too soft or too brittle. two contributors. Of course, Walton almost five centuries. The controversy Hooks then were whipped to plaited knew about it, because he "adopted" so revolves around the mystique of Dame horsehair "snoods:' looped at their ends much of it. Juliana Berners, nun and noblewoman. for attachment to lines. There are In 1700, a book by James Chetham Blacker patterns dressed by Syd Glasso, From top: a Brown Fly, a Gaudy Fly, the Ballyshannun, the Spirib Fly, another Spit-it Fly

era featured intense competition between the local plain and simple patterns and the Irish (and other) gaudy and complicated ones. In every in- stance, the latter won.

Then, in the last half of the nineteenth century, everything seemed to break loose with the development of flies riotous with color and intricate detail. First in British publications (the Fishing Gazette and Land and Water), George Kelson served as scribe for Ma- jor John Popkin Traherne (i826-1901), described by Kelson as a "master of infi- nite elaboration." Although" Kelson transcribed Traherne's patterns, he did not alwavs credit them as such. and many remain relatively obscure. Those that are known exhibit the epitome of Victorian opulence and are a celebra- describes the first named salmon fly, the flies; for salmon flies, in general, are tion of the use of materials available Horseleech, with four to six wings and made just as the painter pleases. during this period. Traherne's dressings a contrasting body color embellished Salmon, being fond of anything that is are some of the most intricate and bril- with silver and gold twist. In 1746, a gaudy . . . will rise at almost any of the liant patterns known today. book by Charles Bowlker mentions two trout flies, where salmon are plenty." George Mortimer Kelson (1836-1920) salmon flies by name, the Peacock Fly (The first edition was written in 1746 by personifies the peak of the golden age of and the Dragon Fly. The first (hand-col- Richard and Charles Bowlker, but all the Atlantic salmon fly. His definitive ored) plate of salmon fliesp,by George later editions were written by Charles book, The Salmon Fly (1895), is one of Bainbridge, appeared in 1816. It showed only.) the most important works on the sub- the Spring Fly, the Quaker Fly, the In 1842, William Blacker's Art of An- ject. Its 510 pages contain eight chapters Gaudy Fly, the Summer Fly, and the gling (revised as Blacker's Art of Fly on salmon flies and tackle, including Wasp Fly. Popular flies were generally Making in 1843 and 1855) combined about three hundred clearly described somber patterns until the closing years practicality with extravagance and es- fly patterns of the time, of which of the century. Wings usually were of tablished a principal standard in the fifty-two are shown in eight stone-litho- turkey feathers from birds raised for the style and character of salmon flies. graphed color plates. purpose. These flies were known as the Blacker's book in any edition is a cher- Kelson and his book brought order Dun Turkey, Gray Turkey, and so forth. ished angling classic. His many "extrav- and system (particularly as pertains to In the second edition of The Art of agant" patterns challenge even the wing types) to the classification of Angling (1774), Charles Bowlker says, "It greatest artists to properly reproduce salmon flies and the techniques of their is needless to treat of any more salmon these "jewels among salmon flies." This dressings. Kelson has been called the

Photographs by Michael D. Radencich SPRING 1997 7 Antique Jock Scotts

"grand old man of salmon fishing" and the "high priest of the salmon fly:' but he was a highly controversial figure who was as maligned as he was applauded. His reputation suffered irreparable damage with the publicized feud he had with his editor and former friend and fishing companion, R. B. Marston, who took exception to the crelt Kelson readily claimed or misappropriated regarding the origins of numerous patterns and the techniques used to tie them. Regardless of disputes and evidence of character flaws, one thing is clear: Kelson's masterful work, The Salmon Fly, remains a standard fly-tying reference and a cherished collector's classic. Favoring the simpler Summer patterns, Kelson was not a proponent of actually using many of the complicated dressings and regarded them as historical more than practical. On this point I might concur; although I am apprecia- tive of the history and details of the The developing salmon fly reached a these patterns were composed of mo- handsome classics, I tend to use their burgeoning intensity during the days of hair, camlet, and Berlin wools; chenille; hainving counterparts when on the Queen Victoria (181pi901), ruler of the fur from seal, rabbit, monkey, pig, and stream. United Kingdom, empress of India other animals; gold beater's skin; Kelson shared his father's belief that (from 1876). and monarch of other threads and silks of every conceivable salmon most avidly took moths or but- lands beiodd the seas. These were the color, embossed with gold and silver; terflies, and the gaudy patterns of his davs when British warshivs and mer- round, oval, and flat tinsels; wire; and era reflected this. Famous ones, still in chantmen roamed the oceans, and when lace. Many of the fur and feathers were use, include the Thunder and Light- British regiments guarded the queen's dyed in a complexity of shades and col- ning, Green Highlander, Black Dose, domains in far-flung places. British offi- ors. These components, both common and the Blue, Silver, Black, White, Red, cers, hunting and trading in these exotic and exotic, were readily available to and Helmsdale Doctors. He was one of regions, sent home the skins of beautiful both professional and amateur tackle the first writers to give detailed instruc- birds so that the gillies and their fami- dealers and fly dressers. Today, many of tions and to offer a system for tying lies could while away dreary winter the feathers called for in the grand old salmon flies. These are nearly identical evenings dressing flies for their lords patterns are difficult to find, expensive, in style or shape, and they feature mixed and masters to use when thev returned or even illegal, but substitutes can work (married) wing components, com- home. It is not surprising that intense just as well. pound (built) wings, and often several competition rapidly spread to see who The classic patterns can be divided butts with veilings of toucan, as in the could create the most gorgeous and into two main groups. One is those Jock Scott (when properly dressed), or fruitful patterns. dressed to hook salmon-which, after Indian crow, as in the very fancy In addition to the feathers of birds of all, is really what this is all about. This Popham. almost every imaginable exotic species, group is composed of many popular fa-

8 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER vorites still used today: the Doctors, the bert Maxwell in his 1898 book, Salmon old customs and ceremonies connected Rangers, Thunder and Lightning, Green and Sea Trout. Also mentioned by Lee with the estate, and he and Lady John Highlander, and Silver Gray. The other Wulff in The Atlantic Salmon, this ac- repeatedly attended the collection of is those dressed as exhibition flies, count dates the origin of the fly as 1845. Wroth Silver, and did much to ensure sometimes called "vanity patterns," of- Gillie Jock Scott, accompanying his the continuance of its observance." ten composed of rare feathers and com- master Lord Scott on a stormy voyage to Hence, we can deduce that "Wroth Sil- plex in design. Although these patterns Norway, "to wile away the tedium . . . ver" was a ceremony and not a service weren't necessarily intended to hook occupied himself with dressing flies for in need of protection from tarnishing. salmon. manv of them did. To vut the approaching campaign; one result of Furthering the lore, and in its only ref- things into perspective, in this country his labours was the fly which has made erence to angling, Simpson states, around the turn of the centurv a num- his name famous amongu salmon fishers "Lady John at the time of her marriage ber of the most complicated patterns, the world over." was a noted beauty, and had glorious including John Traherne's, were offered Jock Scott's obituary, written in Feb- Titian hair, from a strand of which on for sale in fly shops by the dozen for a ruary 1893 under the pen name of Punt one occasion a salmon fly was made, little more than sixty cents each. Gun, states, "It was while acting as fish- now celebrated amongst fishermen un- Another purpose of the more intri- erman to Lord John at Mackerston in der the name of 'Jock Scott' fly, an en- cate patterns was to demonstrate prow- 1850 that he set himself to devise some- larged model of which was presented by ess in fly dressing, and many of them thing new and taking; the Jock Scott was the writer, to the Reading Room at were named for people their originators the result." It has been generally accept- Dunchurch, given by her Ladyship wanted to honor. Regardless of whether ed that the flv remained nameless for while resident at Cawston." the flies were intendved to catch fish or several years until Jock took it to John No mention is made of the gillie to catch the favor of Homo sa~iens,A, Forest of Kelso after his master's death. Jock, and there is no further description nowadays they catch collectors, who At that time, John Forest "thereupon of the fly; however, it is fun to speculate treasure them for their history, their named it after the inventor and, as 'Jock that Lord Scott might have requested beauty, and their intricate construction. Scott,' it will remain while salmon swim that this fly be dressed to honor his One cannot dismiss the butterfly pat- in the Tweed." bride and that the gillie accommodated terns of the Victorian era without pay- The legend of the pedigree of this fa- the request. Simpson's phrase "on one ing tribute to the noted gillie Jock Scott, mous fly continues with a fascinating occasion a salmon fly was made" could who originated the most successful account of its origin by R. T. Simpson indicate that the hair episode was brief perennial favorite of all time: the beauti- in a publication titled The Collection of and confined largely to the Scott family. ful classic that bears his name and, iron- Wroth Silver. First uublished in 1884. ex- Whether Jock adapted his pattern be- ically, that of his employer, Lord John panded in 1910, and reprinted in 1927, it fore or after the celebration of the "glo-

Scott. Ex~erienceand legendu tell us that is a detailed chronicle of the history and rious Titian hair" is not possible to de- the Jock Scott is a practical pattern as customs of "The Lordship of the Hun- termine. It does seem logical, however, well as an honorary one. dred" (an old English term used before that the body of the fly would be the Many accounts of Jock Scott, both areas were split into parishes and dis- most obvious place to incorporate a the man and the fly, have appeared in tricts) of Knightlow County, Waswick strand of hair. Body descriptions in angling literature, and the challenge, -and the only account of the fly I know dressings written for the Jock Scott dif- more than a century and a half later, is of written before Jock Scott's death in fer among resources, including Francis, trying to separate fact from fancy. The 1893. This little volume states that "Lord Kelson, and Pryce-Tannatt, and all ac- most popular version of how the fly John Scott greatly endeared himself to counts of the fly (except Simpson's) originated, the "boat to Norway theory," rich and Door alike on his estates and in were written after the death of both was initially written by Charles H. Al- the neighbourhood, as the monument Lord Scott and his gillie, Jock. Some call ston in the Fishing Gazette in 1895 and to him at Dunchurch testifies. His tastes for the rear half of the body to be gold, was subsequently repeated by Sir Her- induced him to revive and continue the yellow, or buttercup silk-all shades that

SPRING 1997 9 From the top: Helmsdale Doctor dressed by Megan Boyd; Red Doctor dressed by Belarmino Martinez; White Doctor dressed by Bob Veverka; Blue Doctor dressed by Bill Wilbur; Black Doctor dressed by William Wilsey; Black Doctor (antique); Silver Doctor dressed by Ted Kantner; Silver Doctor dressed by I? D. Malloch.

can vary from golden yellow to golden orange to golden red. This charming addition to the lore of such an important fly intrigued me enough to try to sub- stantiate it. I studied a few dozen early Jock Scotts in my collection and found that in several the rear half of the body was orange, or more so than yellow. The use of hair in fly bodies is rare, but not unknown. For example, Kelson caused himself trouble by claiming to have originated the Little Inky Boy, an almost forgotten pattern with a body of black horse hair, closely coiled. James Wright's Garry or Yellow Dog and the Collie Dog are examples requiring ca- nine assistance, and Megan Boyd reported to me that she had been requested to dress a fly using a portion of a cus- tomer's ample eyebrow! At any rate, the lore continues and will perpetuate itself. We cannot, at this point, determine if the Jock Scott was in fact originated in collecting, admiring, and often using use of a bare, lacquered hook. Lacking 1845 or in 1850, if the body was original- exotic and complicated patterns, even his predecessors' reverence for extrava- ly more or less than orange, and if, in- though" most of us know full well that gance, Chaytor discarded all parts of the deed, the young water bailiff was in- simpler ones are as useful for enticing salmon fly for which he could find no spired by the glorious tresses of Lady salmon, and perhaps even more so. reason-tags, tails, butts, and horns. His Scott. By chance or by design, however, In the early part of the twentieth cen- 285-page book is both practical and Jock Scott originated a fly Kelson right- tury, two men in particular were re- readable, and is recommended for even fully referenced as "the utmost triumph sponsible for the developing road to advanced modern anglers. in harmony and proportion." The simplicity. They were A. H. Chaytor, au- Ernest Crosfield, acclaimed as the choice of lore is left to the reader. thor of Letters to a Salmon Fisher's Sons greatest salmon fly dresser of his day, (lglo), and Ernest M. Crosfield, who was another disciple of simplicity. Cros- wrote articles for magazines under the field followed some of Irish master tyer pen name of Poacher. This move to Michael Rogan's (1833-1905) tenets; for eliminate ornamentation that had no example, he too believed that a fly's When styles of most any sort seem to fishing value was taking place about fif- wings should show all the fibers given be reaching their peak, the pendulum teen years after Kelson's book was pub- to it, because every fiber had a purpose swings the other way. The change in lished-that is, about 1910. Examples of and should fulfill it. Crosfield's flies and outlook from the sublime to the sensi- the new style include the Blue Charm, patterns exhibit an elegant simplicity, ble began around the turn of the centu- Silver Blue, and Logie. combining the beauty of the Victorian ry, and the return to simplicity in Chaytor's return to simplicity bor- era with the innovative practicality of salmon flies had ups and downs that dered on the parsimonious, even to the the twentieth century. still exist into the present day. We enjoy extent of advocating, on occasion, the Crosfield's flies characteristically fea-

THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER The Yellowstone Creeper and Dark Iris, originated and dressed by Preston Jennings, with pages from his notebooks.

Svd wrote that "thev're making', the rivers more slippery nowadays"; however, in 1981, he graciously agreed to tie the William Blacker patterns for The Art of the Atlantic Salmon Fly. In acknowl- edging this request, Syd said, "Thanks for your faith in my ability to do the Blacker flies. They make Kelson patterns look like child's play. Blacker was an ex- pert in thinking up torture tactics!" We are privileged that Syd chose to dress

these flies for others to auureciate:L L in doing so, he rejuvenated the honored ture economy of material, intentional would "spoil the fun" and usually tradition of Atlantic salmon flies, about translucence, and slimness of dressing. turned down requests for flies. In 1981, which he commented, "Old flies, be- Most notable, perhaps, is his technique Syd wrote: sides being truly beautiful, recall a time of tying in his wing materials in tiny and a way of life that is gone for all groups, separating one from another by Got a real winner about a month ago time." a turn or two of thread to aid in giving from a fellow in New Jersey which went as The exemplary style and elegance of translucence to the fly and reducing follows: Syd Glasso's full-dressed classics make bulk. This method is discussed at some Dear Sir, each a treasure and an inspiration. He length in both of Eric Taverner's fine Please forward to me a dozen or so of your select salmon flies. I would like was a pioneer in the development of books, Salmon Fishing (London, 1931) a couple for me to keep, the rest I will Scotland's Suev flies for fishing steel- and Fly Tying for Salmon (London, 1942) use for fishing. head, adding' th their somewhat iomber and was Crosfield's legacy to future gen- Sincerely yours, auuearanceL L brilliant colors and his dis- erations of tyers, including the revered My reply, on the same sheet of paper, tinguished style. Possessing a modesty Sydney Glasso (1906-1983), from Forks, went like this: that excluded any ambition for fame, Washington, who took his rightful turn Dear Sir, Syd was an innovative angler, ardent in establishing a new tradition in fly-ty- Mr. Glasso is hunting in Africa and conservationist, and fine friend. He was ing excellence. from there goes to Egypt to fish for a peer of the best who mastered the fine For several years before Syd's death in Nile perch in, of course, the Nile. With art of dressing Atlantic salmon flies-in- 1983, I was privileged to share a corre- barbless hooks, he says, "Who cares?" deed, it is rare individuals such as he spondence with him. His letters were Hasn't tied a fly for months-says he who are responsible for elevating the humorous, self-effacing, and full of has run out of glue. Anyway he doesn't craft of tying flies to the art of dressing "good stuff." Mystified by the tiny heads sell flies-gives them to friends to hang them. of his flies, I asked him to divulge his se- on the wall. I am his housekeeper and The most lucid. concise. comulete cret. He replied, "I followed Ernest believe me he needs one-feathers and beer cans all over hell and every and authoritative book on dressing clas- Crosfield's style, where much of the morning moths coming in to look for sic patterns is, in my estimation, Dr. T. E. wing" is tied in before the throat hackle. his toucan feathers. Sorry. Pryce-Tannatt's How to Dress Salmon and therefore there is less material to tie Lola Willing Flies (1914). It tells nothing about tackle, in at the head. It is a legitimate', con- tactics, or fly selection, but its precise struction, and what is good enough for As we bartered back and forth, Syd instructions on fly dressing denote the Crosfield is certainly good enough for admitted to "a pitiful weakness for Indi- best practices of the time. Historically, it me. I think he was the greatest." an crow," saying, "It's good for my soul is the final touch of Victorian splendor Syd never sold his flies for fear it to just look at these feathers." In 1980, and about the last we will hear of the

SPRING 1997 Salmon flies dressed by Charlie DeFeo. From top: Black Cosseboom; Silver Doctor; Silver Satan; Purple, Red, and White Spey; Torrish; Black Heron; Jock Scott; Thunder and Lightning; Copper Killer; Silver Spey.

complicated classics, even though their influences extend into American salmon fly tying and fishing. Pryce-Tannatt's book, then, is a reversion from simplicity; the last gasp, so to speak, of Victori- anism. Although Pryce-Tannatt may have been old-fashioned, his love for the beautiful classics is shared bv manv con- noisseurs today. A Pryce-Tannatt statement sums up the very essence of salmon flies: "There is an indescribable something about a fly dressed by an ex- pert amateur who is a practical salmon fisherman which the fly dressed by a nonangling professional frequently lacks. I have heard this peculiar quality rather neatly referred to as 'soul.' The term is incomprehensible to the uniniti- ated. but is com~letelvI i understood bv the experienced man." We regret the passing of the complicated classics as fishing flies partly on account of tradition; however, the resur- gence of interest among fly tyers during these beautiful framings, and others can angler and fly dresser Harry A. Darbee the past few years is heartening. The re- be seen at the Fly Fishing Museum1 of Livingston Manor, New York. These naissance of the classic salmon fly and William Cushner Collection. which Bill are pretty flies and relatively simple to its popularity as an art form may well founded in Florence, Oregon. put together. As adaptations, they have result in its revival on the rivers, but After the early 19oos, with tradition no standard pattern, and each dressing more importantly, respect for the art of thriving, few advances in salmon flies depends on whatever its dresser wants the Atlantic salmon flv assures its were made in the British Isles. In North to vut into it. preservation. Joe Hubert, author of America, other innovations were talung Each generation has its individuals Salmon-Salmon. is one of the few mod- place. whose contributions to the develop- ern anglers still wedded to the classics. Not wishing to give up the classic fa- ment of tying are unmistakable. Two His ambition is to hook a salmon on at vorites entirely, but also not wishing to such gentlemen of the mid-twentieth least a hundred patterns given in Kel- bother with their complicated built century are Preston Jennings and Char- son's The Salmon Fly, and he is well on wings and mixed wings, fly dressers be- lie DeFeo. Both were as prolific as they his way to that goal! During the 197os, "gan to look for a wav to retain all or were innovative, and their flies exhibit a my very good friend Bill Cushner shad- nearly all of the classics' components multitude of ingenious applications of ow-boxed many of my favorite classics except for the multifeathered wing. In color and materials. in protective frames. Often combining trying to maintain an effect similar to As an academic, Jennings pursued a the flies with angling art or artifacts, Bill the original, simplification was one an- tireless studv of the theories of reflec- developed a style in framing flies that is swer. Examples of these "reduced clas- tion and refraction of light through a often emulated today. The American sics are the Black Dose (reduced) and prism. His research into "how the fish Museum of Fly Fishing is fortunate to the Dusty Miller (reduced), which are see it" resulted in minnow imitations have in its collection a great many of from the bench of celebrated American dressed in a spectrum of colors. In addi-

THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER Early nineteenth-century hairwing

being to turn out something that would have real life and movement and resemble a small bright fish in colouring. If you could see one of these large flies played, salmon-fly fashion, by a series of short jerks of the rod top, and notice how the long fibres expand and contract, how the jungle fowl feathers (in a line with the hook) open and shut, you would see at tion to using hackIe tips in the wings of when the popular hairwing salmon fly once that it must be very attractive to any large game fish. White and silver predom- his flies, he also dyed golden pheasant patterns originated. Whatever authentic inate, but are toned down by long badger crests brilliant colors and incorporated documentation may have existed seems hackles and jungle fowl feathers. . . . They them in the wing. Keeping accurate ac- to have been lost. will kill all kinds of game fish, salmon in- counts of his research, he amassed a Part of the lore involves a story that is cluded. tremendous collection of patterns, pho- interesting regardless of its authenticity; tography, paintings, and flies that is now it is the story of immigrants who came This fly, which Gordon said was tried housed at the American Museum of Fly from the British Isles to Newfoundland some years earlier than 1903, was called Fishing. in the eighteenth century, very early in by him the Bumblepuppy. Literally Another first in the wings of flies was the history of fly fishing. They brought translated "whist without rules," the Charlie DeFeo's use of floss with combi- with them cattle, sheep, and dogs, as Bumblepuppy was dressed in many nations of hair and feathers. With the well as other essentials of colonial life, variations, one of which was often en- eye of an artist, Charlie DeFeo knew no including fishhooks. Although fishing closed in Gordon's fly orders. The refer- bounds when applying materials to then was mainly done with nets, the ence to salmon may have been to land- hooks-the hook was simply another colonists occasionally fished with long locked salmon rather than to Atlantic palette. Seldom tying a fly the same way fly rods for sport. Fancy flies were un- salmon, and the pattern has fallen into twice, Charlie is remembered for his known: people used what they had, and obscurity. It is, however, an early, au- style of tying rather than for actual pat- they quite sensibly named each fly for thenticated, and named example of the terns. Frequently he would add to the its ingredients, so its name told the use of a hairwing and thus is important body of a standard pattern a wing of neighbors exactly what was used to historically jungle cock body tips, thus creating the catch the "big one" of the day. Flies bore Although I state in Streamer Fly Ty- nymphs that many associate with him. names that left little question about ing and Fishing that a bucktail fly for His creative combinations of floss, their composition: the Red Cow, the Ten bass was in use in the United States as feathers, hair, and hooks produced a Bear, the Ordinary Bear, and so on. early as 1886, and that a rancher in Ida- multitude of unrecorded patterns and We do know that bucktail flies were ho named A. S. Trude tied hairwing provide a superb model for the innova- commercially available as early as the flies for trout in 1901, this date may be tive tyer of today. 1880s. In a monumental work, The open to question. The June 1948 issue of Complete Fly Fisherman (1947), John Fortune quotes an article previously McDonald endows us with the notes published in the Bulletin of the Anglers' and letters of Theodore Gordon, fondly Club of New York: "While trout fishing considered America's patron saint of fly in . . . Idaho back around 1890 the late fishermen, which include some interest- Colonel Lewis S. Thompson met a fel- ing remarks about a special fly. Gordon low fisherman, one A. S. Trude. . . . Substituting hair for feathers was an- wrote on 24 January 1903: Trude tied his own flies, and used hair other step in the quest for simplicity instead of feathers. So far as is known, and practicality. There are many theo- Some years ago we tried some flies on an he was the father of the hair fly, which ries and suppositions as to where and entirely different principle, our notion in the form of the 'bucktail' is known to

SPRING 1997 The Cosseboom as originated on the S.S. Fleuris, dressed by Keith Fulsher. It appears with a photograph of the first Cosseboom dressed by John Cosseboom (courtesy of Peter G. Walker).

most anglers. Colonel Thompson saved some of the flies Trude gave him, and later had other flies tied. These were all trout flies. At least he thought so until he tried them on salmon, on the Res- tigouche about twenty years ago (1928 or before) ." Undoubtedly the colonel didn't mean to imply that he initiated hairwing fly fishing for salmon. The important thing is not when or where or by whom hairwings were first conceived, but rather orescent butt, thus creating the varia- and the nostalgic reverence for classic that they have helped revolutionize tion known as the Conrad that is popu- patterns led to dressing many classics modern concepts in salmon fishing. lar on the Miramichi River. Other ex- with hair instead of feathers. The basis Experimentation with modern hair- amples are the Black Bear-Green Butt, of these adaptations, sometimes referred wing flies went on independently in Undertaker, and Preacher. Decades later, to as conversions. is in the wine structure many different regions. On the Mi- the simple hairwing has flourished, and of the feathered predecessor: and the ramichi, for example, men such as the popularity of tube flies in some re- wing approximates in hair the colors of Everett Price, Bert Miner, and Ira Gru- gions has opened new frontiers for its the pertinent classic. A well-executed ber developed a simplified style in both use. conversion can be as strikingly beautiful featherwings and hairwings, but seemed It is one thing to learn that hairwing as its classic counterpart. Countless pat- to favor the hairwing. In Atlantic flies will take salmon, and quite another terns and their variations have resulted Salmon Fishing (1937), Charles Phair to know what types and sizes will do it in the reform to hairwing flies, and sim- stated, "Hair flies have been fished with best. Whether or not they take salmon plifications can be made at the discre- conspicuous success by some salmon better than featherwingsV mavi be a mat- tion of the dresser. An excellent refer- fishermen, notably Colonel Edmund P. ter of opinion. Many of us have chosen ence on this subject is Hair- Wing Atlan- Rogers, Walter C. Teagle and the late to fish hairwings almost exclusively. tic Salmon Flies (1981), by Keith Fulsher Lewis Thompson." They are more available to the fisher- and Charles Krom. About 1920, Harry Smith, of Cherry- man largely because the materials are The New Testament passage "many field, Maine, devised a simple all-black more accessible and are easier for tyers, are called but few are chosen" could be pattern with a bear hair wing appropri- both independent and commercial, to applied to salmon flies. It is natural for ately called the Black Bear fly, evidently deal with. fly tyers to make up new patterns or one of the first used for Maine rivers. When hairwing patterns were first variations in hopes that theirs will prove This fly and others, such as the Squirrel developed, they were large and bulky. successful. One of the chosen few is the Tail, are designated as types of flies and Experience proved that they should be famous Cosseboom. Its originator, John named for the materials in them; exam- smaller and dressed more s~arselv.,, with C. Cosseboom, of Woonsocket, Rhode ples are the Black Bear-Red Butt and the wing hugging the hook shank. I Island, was a fascinating gentleman en- the Squirrel Tail-Orange Butt. cringe when I see the hairwings often dowed with multiple talents. Not only a The rudimentary Black Bear is fa- sold in stores. The hair employed on a champion fly caster, he was also a poet, mous for hooking salmon, and there conventional hainving should be fine newspaper writer, and insurance agent. now are countless patterns that have enough to give the fly proper action in In July 1935, John Cosseboom and Ai evolved from it. Dressers elaborate by the water, reasonably straight and Ballou, originator of the Ballou Special, adding ribbing, hackles, colorful butts, bright, with a natural gloss to yield were aboard the S.S. Fleuris making the and synthetic materials. Charles "Chuck" translucency and brilliance to the fly. twenty-four-hour passage from Quebec Conrad added a tinsel tag and green flu- The desire for beauty in hairwings to Anticosti Island. To pass the time, fly-

14 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER tying gear was brought out, and Ai's many of which are Gruber originations these years, big flies in sizes 4 and 6 wife, Annie, challenged Cosseboom to or adaptations. Hairwings eventually (usually doubles) were thought neces- create a fly using a spool of olive green became more favored because they sary. Ira Gruber's experiments proved silk floss she had selected. He met the seemed more interesting to the fish and that salmon could be taken in warm, challenge, incorporating the floss for were easier to tie. Ira's son, Edward, sent low-water conditions on flies as small as both the body and the tail, and hooked me nineteen of Ira's flies dressed in the size 12. No mention is made of his using it in Mrs. Ballou's lapel. Later, Ai Ballou 1930s that clearly exhibit Gruber and dry flies, although they were then be- attached a note to the fly, "This is the Price's influence on the popular Mi- coming well known. original Cosseboom dressed by John ramichi "butt patterns." The Black Spi- Cosseboom on the S.S. Fleuris, July 1935, der in particular, with its burnt orange and given to Annie Ballou." The fly is butt, has led many anglers to believe still in existence and exhibits a throat that Gruber fathered the black bear- Taking Atlantic salmon on the dry fly hackle rather than the collar that is usu- butted patterns; others insist that Harry has become a standard and successful al on the pattern today. Smith should have that credit. The practice in North America, especially The success of the Cosseboom led to Black Spider is evidence that "butt" flies under low-water and warm-water con- considerable experimentation and many were tied before they were called that. ditions, although we have had quite a variations, including the Cosseboom We now know it as the Orange Butt, and time convincing our friends across the that is dressed as a streamer or bucktail. it may well have been the first of this sea of the fact. Adherents of the dry fly The Miramichi Cosseboom, with its type of pattern. also now know that they can usually dark green body rather than the olive More than anyone else, Gruber was take salmon with the dry fly under the green of the original, is one of the most responsible for establishing the general same conditions as are ideal for wet-fly popular flies on that river. conformation of the Miramichi-type fishing.U Two other significant names in North salmon fly: a short, cigar-shaped body The history of catching salmon with American salmon fly development are ribbed with close-turned fine tinsel and the dry fly goes back farther than some Ira Gruber and Everett Price. Gruber with a short wing that hugs the body. In may think. John McDonald tells us that was a cotton knitting mill owner from addition to the simple methods and ma- "Pulman (Vade Mecum of Fly Fishing for Spring Valley, Pennsylvania, who fished terials, another feature is the care with Trout) pulled the dry fly out of his hat, New Brunswick's Miramichi River in which throat hackle is tied or wound complete, in 1841, though for all anyone the Doaktown-Blackville area almost on. knew it might as well have been a rab- daily during every season from 1915 un- Ira Gruber also was among the first bit." During the latter half of the nine- til his death in 1963. In 1930, Wilson to use bronzed straight or offset hooks teenth century, other references to the "Bing" Russell became his guide and for salmon fishing. Almost all of his flies revolutionary practice of fishing the fly caretaker. Ira usually used two fly rods. were tied on Allcock Model Perfect dry surfaced in the literature, and in When he hooked a salmon with one, he hooks, and he seemed to prefer singles 1890, Theodore Gordon wrote to F. M. would hand that rod to Bing, who to doubles. He favored offset hooks be- Halford inquiring about the practice. played the fish while Ira tried to hook cause of their improved hooking and Halford replied, "I can quite imagine another with a different fly on the other holding advantages and was an early that in some parts of your country fish rod. Ira was more interested in the proponent of this type of hook popular could be taken on the dry fly where the fish-taking abilities of fly patterns and on salmon rivers in Maine and Canada. more usual sunk fly would be of no fly sizes than in landing fish. He kept ac- Bing Russell, who also guided me be- avail." In an April 1906 letter, Gordon curate records. fore his death in 1970, claimed that in wrote: "A friend of mine took a Gruber started dressing his own flies the early years anglers gave up fishing 14-pound salmon on a dry fly tied like a in 1935 under the tutelage of a local ex- when the water became low and bright Coachman but dry-fly style on a big pert named Everett Price. Together they because salmon were too hard to catch Pennell hook. The line was slack, he recorded more than twenty patterns, although many could be seen. During broke his rod in striking the fish and

SPRING 1997 15 was a long time killing it. This was on In 1962, Lee fished Scotland's Ab- some days the fish came to dry flies bet- the Restigouche and he got two more, a erdeenshire Dee and demonstrated his ter than to the wet ones usually used on grilse and a small salmon, in the same ability to catch salmon on the dry fly. the river. way out of the same pools in three He caught only one, but proved it could Lee Wulff's series of flies were a valu- days." be done. Either salmon are much harder able contribution to dry-fly salmon George M. L. LaBranche, in The to take on the dry fly in the British Isles fishing, as their bushy hair wing dress- Salmon and the Dry Fly (1924), gives than in North America or British an- ings make them excellent floaters, even credit to Colonel Ambrose Monell for glers are much harder to convince that in fast currents. Manv other floaters being the first angler in North America it can be done consistently under favor- such as spiders, skaters, bombers, bugs, to take a salmon on a dry fly (which able conditions. Could it be that the and heavily palmered patterns have may be incorrect in view of the forego- presumed reluctance of salmon across since been developed. ing): the Atlantic to take dry flies is in reality Word of successful flies spreads a reluctance on the part of anglers to quickly on the rivers and in the shops, Believing, as I did, that salmon do not use them because of the misconception and, as patterns become established, feed in fresh water, I hesitated to intro- that dry flies are ineffective? they are often modified. Some changes duce the subject of fishing for them with a In 1977, Angus Cameron, Bob Kuhn, are quite by chance while others are floating fly. Divining, perhaps, what was Lewis Stone, and I were fishing Iceland's made by the determined efforts of in my mind, my friend (Colonel Monell) beautiful and productive Laxa i Kos. Be- hopeful anglers. Combining the old calmly announced that he had killed a fif- with the new, innovative tyers alter tags, teen-pound salmon two years before on a cause of the weather conditions, the fish dry fly, and assured me that it was not an were less cooperative than usual. I was butts, bodies, and wings. With new accident. He had seen the fish rising just teamed with Angus and had fished techniaues and new materials, varia- as a trout would rise and, having failed to down a pool without result. On Angus's tions of proved patterns are developed, interest the fish with any of the wet flies in turn at the rod, he gave me a sly look thus creating another generation of his box, he had deliberately cast across and dangled a size 4 Gray Wulff to his productive flies. and upstream with a No. 12 Whirling leader. Throughout the history of the sal- Dun, floating it down over the fish, which "You can't do worse than I did," I mon fly there are countless examples of took it at once. It was the taking of this said. "Go ahead and try it." flies influenced by previously docu- fish, and the rising of six or seven others On the third cast or so, a salmon rose mented patterns, and elements of clas- which he did not hook, that convinced to the fly and took it solidly. The fish sics such as the Doctors, the Parsons, him it would be possible to kill fish with took Angus downriver about a hundred the Jock Scott, and the Thunder and the dry fly when the water was low. yards before being tailed. It weighed Lightning can be recognized in many In the book, LaBranche gives four fa- 14% pounds. patterns that appear in this book. Mod- vorite dressings of dry flies that are To make the story short, we both ern examples of flies and styles of flies heavily palmered over silk or dubbing. took salmon on dry flies that day. Re- often emulated are the Black Bears, The greatest exponent of dry-fly fish- turning to the lodge, we met up with Rats, Cossebooms, Buck Bugs, Mud- ing for salmon is Lee Wulff, author of Bob Kuhn, who proudly exhibited two dlers, and Wulffs. - The Atlantic Salmon (1958), who de- big salmon. signed the Gray Wulff and the White "Guess what I hooked them with," he Wulff in 1929. He says, "In the early asked. This chapter is excerpted from Fishing thirties, it was unusual to meet another "Dry fly," said Angus. Atlantic Salmon: The Flies and the Pat- dry-fly angler and it was quite common "Dry fly," I repeated. terns, by Joseph D. Bates Jr. and Pamela when moving to a new river to find "Dry fly," confirmed Bob proudly. Bates Richards, which was published guides and fishermen who had never "How did you guess that?" in 1996 by Stackpole Books (800-732- seen a dry fly fished and who were The following July, Angus and I took 3669); $75, hardcover, 416 pages, 206 frankly doubtful that a floating fly salmon regularly on dry flies on the color photos, fifty black-and-white pho- would have any attraction for salmon." same river. It wasn't a coincidence. On tographs, thirty drawings.

16 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER Top left: Joseph Pulitzer's 5/0 "old worn-out Black Rat" from which the original Rusty Rat was modeled. Thisfly was stuck on the wall of Pulitzer's Grog Island camp from 1949 to 1984 when reelmaker Stanley Bogden made arrangements for it to be given to the American Museum of Fly Fishing. Below it, the Black Rat and, right, the Rusty Rat, both tied by J. Clovis Arseneault.

while, I am happy to extend to the editors of FORTUNE the privilege of using it for the next ninety-nine years to their hearts' content. Arseneault's own version of the story of the Rusty Rat parallels Pulitzer's. Sam Day, in his article "A Salute to Three Rats" (The Atlantic Salmon Journal, Winter 1965) quotes "Clovie":

It was in 1949, and the late Joseph Pulitzer had been fishing with one of my large Black Rats. It happened that I had used a rusty floss for the under binding and after he'd taken a salmon or two the fly was pretty well chewed up, the body torn and the rusty tying thread had been cut and came through. But as is often the case, the more disreputable the fly became in appearance the more alluring it must have been to the salmon for Mr. Pulitzer wound up with a 41-pounder. He came back to me excited about its performance and en- thusiastic about its possibilities. He handed me what remained of the fly and told me he wanted it copied exactly. I got to work and after several tries produced a fly that pleased him, and immediately he named it the Rusty Rat. The Origin of the Rusty Rat Further documentation of the origin of the Rusty Rat can be found in Pulitzer's diaries that contain detailed fish- MOST RENOWNED OF ALL the North American hair- ing logs recorded at Grog Island and Brandy Brook on the wings is the Rusty Rat, and the story of its origin was first Restigouche. The logs tell us that Pulitzer caught his published in October 1949 in Fortune magazine's column, 41-pound salmon on June 24, 1949, and his wife Liz took "Fortune's Wheel." In an effort to patent his newly success- the first salmon, as well as three others, with the new pat- ful pattern, American publisher Joseph Pulitzer I1 wrote to tern on July 6. The following day the Rusty Rat yielded the sports editor of that magazine, saying: four fish to the Pulitzers, ranging in size from 11 to 22 pounds. Having devised a new salmon fly on the Restigouche River this Letters included in the diary also repeat the story of the summer, I took it to J. Arseneault, the local fly tyer at Athol- 41-pound salmon, the 510 dilapidated Black Rat (or Rat), ville, N.B., and had him tie a number for me and others and and the subsequent visit to Arseneault, one letter ending told him to name it the RUSTY RAT. He informed me that to have this name officially adopted I should write to FORTUNE with: "I got a good deal of satisfaction out of the success of MAGAZINE. Whether this information is correct I have no my last year's invention, the Rusty Rat fly. Liz and I togeth- means of knowing, but I do recall with great pleasure the fine er took 76 fish and of those 39 were taken on the Rusty Rat. color feature on salmon flies which you ran in June 1948. Arseneault, the local fly tyer, is selling a good many of them For your information this fly is an imitation of an old, on the Restigouche and on other rivers." worn-out Black Rat Bucktail, on which I took a 41-pounder, Thus, at last, it is clear to us that the vene ble Rusty Rat and from which the black body had disappeared, leaving the was originated through the collaborative effo\ of Joseph rusty colored dental floss wrapped around the body of the fly. Pulitzer I1 and J. Clovis Arseneault in the summe~of1949. RUSTY RAT proved quite effective and I hereby make formal application to have the name officially adopted. . . . Mean-

SPRING 1997 A Memoir of Trout and Eros or Following L. B. France into Colorado's Middle Park

by Gordon M. Wickstrom

MONG THE FIRST WRITERS was my first real, honest-to-God, away- drive in those days, and my excited ex- about trout fishing in Colorado from-home fishing trip-a heady expe- pectation of great fishing made the trip Awas nineteenth-century Denver rience for a boy of fourteen obsessed seem to take forever. Mother's cold fried attorney L. B. France. With wit and with both trout and the tackle to catch chicken provided sustenance along the grace, he sang the state's praises and did them. way and helped to make the trip in much to spread the good news eastward And I recall how that first big fishing some degree bearable. At last we were and bring myriad anglers to the western trip had about it another dimension, an coasting easily down that long canyon wildernesses. When I recently read event at its conclusion of enough power corridor past West Portal on the West- France's With Rod and Line in Colorado to make a boy into a new creature, one ern Slope into Middle Park and then Waters (1884) and his accounts of fish- suddenly faced with the anguish of Fraser. Streams of living water seemed ing adventures of more than a century growing up. Now, through the lenses of to flow everywhere along the canyon ago in Middle Park on Colorado's West- that pioneer Colorado fly fisherman, I floor; there were even more when we ern Slope, I recalled my own foray to can see and feel that week of mine in all burst out into the park and onto the the tiny town of Fraser in Middle Park the richness and heartbreak of refreshed vast and beautiful prairies of superb in the summer of 1940.* My pharmacist memory. It went like this. wild hay. I was out of my head with ex- uncle and aunt, the Murrins, operated citement: each little run of water the drug and general store in that town, through the grass, I thought, must sure- and they invited me to spend a week Dad and Mother were to drive me ly be full of waiting and hungry trout. with them fishing the Fraser Valley's from Boulder over Berthoud Pass and All was trout, the possibility of trout subalpine and still-pristine waters. After down to Fraser one weekend and return everywhere, and I was a boy besotted reading France's book, I now see that it for me the next. It was a long, tough with the very idea of trout. All the ele-

18 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER ments of air and earth sang to me of them tapered), packets of snelled hooks, uv the current ahead of me and close to trout. sinkers, and the obligatory cards of the overhanging bank-out from under Those enchanted, lush, and limitless svinners: Colorado. Bear Vallev. and which came a trout that took that little meadows of Middle Park had to have Aeroplane. The purest of fly fishermen hunk of worm just as though it were a been much as France had known them were not without a couple of spinners- flv. It was a wonderful fight-and it was sixty years earlier, but now they were the just in case. There were the necessary a konderful brook trout\eighing more stomping ground of lumbering and creels for a legal limit of twenty-five than a pound! ranching Swedes and workers on the trout and, of course, a half-dozen 9-foot Maybe there never was so beautiful a Denver and Salt Lake Railroad that bi- bamboo fly rods on a rack nearby-rods fish or such a prize. With him in the net, sected the park on its way down into that today we call "production grade" I calmed down a little, observed all Utah. -and priced around twelve to twenty rightful ceremony over the fish, and got Anyhow, we soon pulled off the main dollars. There were also a few uairs of him into my creel. Up and at it again, road immediately into Fraser: six or sev- hip boots. I hesitate to think hoh much but still dazzled, I set forth up the Fras- en unadorned, white clapboard build- time I spent poring over and handling er. with vet another little viece of worm ings set down seemingly at random on this stock of tackle in terrible rushes of -with the same result. Only this time it perhaps two acres, all of them with low, angling fantasy. was a slightly smaller brookie as jewel- uncovered plank porches. Fraser had no My uncle and aunt got me fishing on like and vibrant as the first. discernible street or walkwavs-certainly streams around Fraser the first two And so it went, depending only on nothing like a main street-only the ir- days-fishing that didn't come to much. my finding another worm or two to di- regular dirt spaces between buildings Accustomed to the free-stone creeks of vide among those willing trout. Such that were dust when dry and mud when Colorado's Front Range, I hardly knew hard fighters they were in that heavy, wet. Everything man-made seemed to how to handle those meandering but fast deep water-just the water that brook have just grown up or been dumped willow-bound, high-meadow streams. trout like best. Using a fly hook and a there arbitrarily. Around the small core My flies and spinners just didn't work. finely tapered leader, I fished that tiny of buildings, here and there out in the Probably my flies were too big, coarse, bit of worm just like a fly, directly up- meadows, were low-lying rough log and ill chosen (I had no entomology at stream and close into the bank, allowing cabins. lean-tos. little corrals. sheds. all). Mv vresentation would have been it to drift down as freelv, as ~ossibleL in ricks of lumber and hay, a barn or two, clinky Bid ruined by drag, sufficient to the surface. It brought those trout up wagons in various states of disrepair, keep me fishless in any such paradise. out of the depths with utter abandon. I and a few livestock. The scene was After those disappointments, I decid- was in triumph. Two of my fish weighed hushed and still, caressingly cool, moist ed to take my angling fortunes into my more than 2 pounds. What a fine mess and yet dry, and sun-drenched; the sky own hands. Next day, I simply struck of trout! There'd been nothing in my life was intensely blue, and every kind of out walking up the highway south, half like that before. green was in the yellow-flowered mead- a mile out of town. until I cut a little But then I began to suspect that I'd ows. The white buildings seemed lone- dirt track of a road going off into the gone over the legal weight limit of ''lo some, the outlying cabins more lone- meadow where it crossed the Fraser Riv- vounds and one fish"-and I had. So. some yet. The entire prospect was con- er itself. There, I hoped, I would fish to though not overly worried about meet- tained in a crystal of intoxicating air. mv heart's content and iust mavbe ac- ing a game warden, and not too trou- Right in the center of town stood complish something. bled of conscience, I stopped at thirteen, Fraser Drug, only slightly more impos- But the Fraser was just like the other all brook trout, a memorable catch of ing, as I remember, than the other Middle Park creeks I'd been fishing- brooks if there ever was one. structures with its old, roughly painted only bigger. At first there were the same As I walked back up the narrow little sign over the door. It was my own Uncle frustrations and failures. But only at road to the highway, those thirteen fish, Les and Aunt Irmogene's enterprise, first. I can't remember why I did what I which back at the drugstore would boasting a soda fountain and, to galva- did next, what may have happened to weigh in at almost 15 pounds gutted, nize my consciousness, a small counter suggest such an action, but I sat down were a serious burden in the creel on my full of fishing tackle. I felt proprietary in the deeu grass in the willows and cut shoulder. Wanting" to show off this about it. the dressiiifrom the no. 14 dry fly of catch, wanting the world (at least every- Rough but cozy living quarters were my own tie that I had on the 4x pointed one in Middle Park) to know what I'd attached to the drugstore on the south leader. Then, in a moment of truth, I accomplished, I threaded the fish onto a side and were entered just behind the dug in the black wet earth with my willow fork and walked the half-mile soda fountain by the fishing tackle. Nev- pocket knife for a worm-and found back to Fraser and the drugstore where I er before had I enjoyed free access to one! It must have been from sheerest would surely be received in triumph. I study and memorize so much fishing economy that I decided to fish no more made sure that the few cars and trucks tackle-boxes of snelled wet flies, two or than half an inch of that worm at a that came down that old highway got an three dozen dry flies, three or four auto- time. Impaled on the little light-wire eyeful of my fish. I probably swaggered matic fly reels, assorted leaders (some of hook, with no sinker, I tossed it straight shamelessly.

SPRING 1997 l9 Back at the store, I was indeed reused, dour middle age-and began al- me-an indictment that proved indeli- ceived with high praise. The fish went to most grudgingly at first to play the pop- ble. the refrigerator in order to go home to ular swing numbers of the day. It was all Somehow, I got back to the bosom of Boulder, and I went to the soda foun- very agreeable indeed: Percy, Thelma, my family, but the rest of the evening tain. Talk about satisfaction! Irmogene, and Les relaxing to the mea- was significantly muted and full of Anyhow, I could now coast along sure of the music and the whiskey, self-doubt and heartache for me-just during the rest of my Middle Park week, dancing, and enjoying themselves in a the opposite of my midweek elation and rest on my laurels, and go home to way I'd not seen in my parents before. sense of accomplishment on the river. Boulder in glory to tell my story. I They were absorbed, caught up in a se- My grown-ups understood what had stayed close to the soda fountain and cret sensual world all their own and. I happened and treated me carefully, even that tackle counter and felt like an ex- realized with some alarm, forbidden me lovingly, but I suspect that down deep ~ertfull of useful advice to anv tourist to enter. thev were amused at this moment in the Gho might stop in to ask about ;he local Just then, some more people came in, hukan comedy that had been played trouting. I was quite certain I'd struck a family of three. They took a booth just out for them. They may even have been upon a great new light-tackle technique beyond us, fully in my view-a mother, there before me. for taking trout with my fragment of a father, and a daughter almost certainly Driving in silence back through the worm fished like a fly. my age, who now sat facing me across deep mountain night to Fraser, I tried to But the euphoria wasn't to last. I was maybe twenty feet of charged space. It call up the thrill and happiness of those in for a fall. It went like this. seemed she sat there in the palpable ob- brook trout of earlier in the week, but scurity of the room in a halo of her own ever and again the countenance of that light. Our eyes met, and I was altogether girl rose up to fill me with longing and Uncle Les and Aunt Irmogene were hers. Though I should never in the misery. I was still caught in her gaze, given now and then to enjoy a few world back then have understood the that gaze of yearning and gentle sorrow, drinks at bars and grill, roadhouses with words I now attribute to her, she was, utterly still, changeless, dreaming. And I dance halls they found agreeable. So nevertheless, exquisitely Pre-Raphaelite had thought that there might be a place when my parents arrived early Saturday in her loveliness. in that dreaming for me! If only I could afternoon to fetch me home on Sunday, My mouth dried up on my Orange have caught those fish for her. Uncle and Aunt urged Mother and Dad Crush. My stomach turned over. I felt Next day with my parents, and like to go with them down to Granby to a shaky and must have stared outrageous- L. B. France before me, I recrossed the joint they knew and liked that had a ly. And she stared back with a solemn Continental Divide of the Rocky Moun- good local dance band. It would be per- unblinking candor that undid me. The tains, back over Berthoud Pass to the re- fectly all right for me to come along; in grownups knew at once what was going alities of home and growing up, leaving those days, there was no prejudice on and began to tease me a little; Aunt Middle Park behind as a sort of abiding against children in such places. Besides, Irmogene egged me on to go ask the girl mythology of adventure, the crossing of I'd be protected by my doting family. to dance. Me? Ask her to dance! Me, a divide in the heart of a boy which And so off we went that evening with my junior high gymnasium dance hurts and is desired. down the Fraser Valley to where that steps! The prospect was terrifying. But it's curious now, so many years river meets the great Colorado at Gran- It must have taken a full half-hour of later, that the most desirable element of by. I was still awash in self-satisfaction persuasion for me to get up the courage that mythology has become not the girl, from my fishing success and eager for to do it-to go ask a beautiful girl to whose rejection broke the heart I of- this new grown-up experience. dance in a public dance hall. But it had fered her that night, but those fine The roadhouse bar and grill, a rustic to be done,-I guessed. brook trout and the way they rose to a pine log affair, was big enough inside Surelv I was shaking', in mv timbers as piece of worm as to a fly. That was ac- for a few tables and booths, a little I crossed the great gulf of those twenty complishment. e bandstand. a dance floor, and a bar feet to their booth. to look first at her swagged in colored lights. An aromatic unresponsive parents and only then at amalgam of stale beer, tobacco, and her. hamburgers pervaded the dimly lit "Would you like to dance?" room. I'd never been in such a place. It "No, thank you." *L. B. France, With Rod and Line in Col- felt faintly illicit, even dangerous. That I heard it as though from far, far orado Waters, first published under the it was nearly empty made it seem even away as my world crashed down around pen name "Bourgeois" in 1884, reprint- more so. me. I felt so ashamed, so certain that I'd ed by Pruett in Boulder, Colorado, 1996. The adults ordered highballs and I done something terrible and had been Two chapters of this book appeared in got a bottle of pop. The little dance told, in fact, that there was something the Winter 1996 issue of The American band arrived-men of uncertain, well- absolutely and forever wrong with Fly Fisher.

20 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER N 1977, Thomas Barbour donated a watercolor to the hitched to a railway train when you get one, yet, if you Museum that had belonged to his uncle, Frederick handle him well you are sure to beat him at least. If you IBarbour, The painting is signed "E W. Benson, 192f' make a mistake he will smash you up. If you don't drop and depicts a stretch of the Upsalquitch River in New the top of the rod where he leaps, he will break some- Brunswick. This painting is one of the true gems of the thing and you must watch like a cat for the leap? Museum's small collection of original art. Although he was primarily concerned with the rivers During his lifetime, Frank Weston Benson (1862-1951) of the Gasp4 Peninsula in Quebec, Benson also fished in enjoyed widespread popular and critical acclaim. He won New Brunswick. He made trips every year to both fish every award an American artist could win and sold his and paint. At first he took oils with him; then, following work as fast as he could produce it. He wrote, "It is my his son's suggestion, found it easier to carry watercolors. good [fortune] to be doing what people like, but it keeps His last trip to the provinces was in 1933, but he returned me on the jump." to the subject constantly in his art. Benson received education as a painter in Boston and Benson hunted ducks on Cape Cod and painted them Paris and began a career teaching others how to paint. as well. He supported Ducks Unlimited from its incep- Ironidy, he was known to say, "All that I have I got from tion: his art graced their membership certificate, and studying nature, not by studying how other people do it." their publication masthead from 1938 to 1966 was a Ben- Regardless, in 1889, he began teaching at the Museum of son design. He also designed the second federal duck Fine Arts in Boston and, along with his childhood friend stamv. Edrnund C. Tarbell, turned that small school into one of inso on summed up his career desires this way: "A the nation's premier art institutions. Also early in his ca- man's best chance to produce something which will reer, the Library of Congress commissioned seven panels please others is to represent as faithfully as he can what from him based on "The Three Graces" and "The Four pleases him, in the way he likes it best. Others then iden- Seasons." tie in it their own experience.'' In 1895, the focus of his life and art changed. That One part of Bensonasexperience is pictured above. summer marked his first try at salmon fishing. He imme- JONMATHEWSON diately wrote to a friend: "Salmon fishing seems to me CURATOR the finest sport in the world. You feel as if you were

Photograph by Cook Neilson SPRING 1997 21 IN MEMORIUM

Maxine Atherton: Grand Lady of Fly Fishing's Golden Age

T CAN BE ARGUED that the pre- the fly-fishing world. Maxine was ex- a fatal stroke while playing a salmon on sent is truly the Golden Age of fly tremely generous to the Museum and the Miramichi in 1953, and Maxine and Ifishing. Tackle, fly-tying materials, donated to it nearly every piece of fly- Lee Wulff scattered his ashes on his fa- books, guides, and travel that revolve fishing memorabilia she owned. This vorite pool on the Battenkill. around the sport have never been better was a considerable amount, because not Before living in Vermont, the Ather- or more accessible. However, for many only was Max a serious fly fisher, but tons lived in New York City and later people, especially those who appreciate she was also married to John Atherton Ridgefield, Connecticut. They were reg- the history that embellishes our tradi- (author of The Fly and the Fish) from ular fishing companions and correspon- tion, the period from 1930 through 1960 1926 until his death in 1953. Included in dents with Lee Wulff, Harry and Elsie was the original Golden Age, perhaps her donations were hundreds of flies Darbee, Alfred and Louise Miller because during these years fly fishing tied by Atherton and a number of ex- (Sparse Grey Hackle and Lady Beaver- was an arcane-pastime known to very tremely rare Gillum bamboo rods. kill), George La Branche, and especially few, and it was a true insider's club. Max was not a newcomer to Ver- Edward Hewitt. The Athertons were at Maxine Atherton was one of the last mont. She and John moved to the banks Hewitt's cabin on the Neversink when it living members of this club. She died on of the Battenkill in West Arlington just tragically burned to the ground and, January 6, 1997, at the age of ninety- after World War 11. While living in Ver- still in their waders, they rushed into the three, and with her passing the Ameri- mont, John Atherton was a commercial cabin to save Hewitt, who had entered can Museum of Fly Fishing lost one of artist whose work appeared on the cov- the burning cabin to retrieve some of its best friends. ers of The Saturday Evening Post, Holi- his possessions. Maxine lived her last decade in Man- day, True, and Fortune. The Athertons After her husband died, Maxine con- chester, where she was a regular guest at were close friends with Norman Rock- tinued to fish, especially for her beloved Museum functions. When she entered well and Meade Schaeffer, neighbors Atlantic salmon. She fished with Ted the room, it was always a regal entrance, and fellow artists who also lived in West Williams and was present when Stan befitting her nature and her stature in Arlington at the time. John was felled by Bogdan caught his first salmon. She

22 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER traveled to the Rockies to fish for alpine cutthroats and fished her way around NOTES & COMMENT Europe, where she especially enjoyed the chalk streams of southern France. She once related a story to me about fishing in Spain, where she happened to wander onto the wrong beat and was suddenly accosted by a group of heavily armed men. It turns out she had been inadvertently poaching on Francisco Franco's private beat, and true to Max's On "The Macedonian Fly" nature, she charmed her way out of the predicament. Max did not return to Vermont ten FREDERICKBULLER'S ARTICLE, "The surely well aware of Klian's reference years ago to relax and hobnob with the Macedonian Fly" (The American Fly long before he was "discovered" in the early nineteenth-century by W. A. Chat- garden club. She had a firm conviction Fisher, Fall 1996) sparked this additional that there was a cover-up by fisheries of- to. In fact, shortly after the early six- ficials of a widespread epidemic of fu- comment from Richard C. Hofmann, teenth-century recovery of a manuscript runculosis in Canadian salmon stocks, a professor of history at York University in copy of Elian's Greek original (only two bacterial disease that ravages the im- North York, Ontario. We also include a copies survived the intervening 1,300 mune system of trout and salmon and is letter from M. R. Montgomery, who years), the first printed edition was un- often spread via hatchery fish. Based on shares with us a tale of adventure on the dertaken, along with a translation into recent disclosures about whirling dis- Latin, by the Swiss linguistic and scien- ease in hatchery stocks of rainbow trout, way to a Macedonian stream. tific genius Dr. Conrad Gessner, who she may have been closer to the truth EDITOR published the dual-language text at than many of her friends thought. At Ziirich in 1556 under the title De ani- the age of eighty-one, Max bought her- REDERICK BULLERhas made malium natura libri XVII. Gessner's old- self a computer and began a book that another thoroughly enjoyable ad- er fellow ichthyologist Pierre Gilles she completed a year ago. She was con- Fdition to fly-fishing history with (Gyllius) had begun the Latin version, stantly rewriting the manuscript, but I his article in The American Fly Fisher which explains why the work later ap- had the pleasure of reading it several (Fall 1996) about Elian (ca. 170-230), peared under both names in printings times, and it was an amazing memoir of the Roman essayist whose writings (in at Geneva in 1611, at Koln in 1616, and a woman who had seen most of the im- fashionable Greek) contain the first thereafter. It remained the authoritative portant events in fly fishing for a large written record of the artificial fly now edition until 1858. Hence Chatto must part of the twentieth century. Her known to us.l Buller unearthed an in- have used a text originally prepared by daughter Mary now has the manuscript triguing tale of ancient Macedonian Conrad Gessner in the 1550s. and hopes to publish the book, which hooks reused in the Salonika campaign During that same decade, Gessner was Maxine's dream for the past ten of World War I and proposed plausible had himself also clearly recognized years. It is crucial that so much of this natural prototypes for the artificial con- Elian's report as an artificial fly and firsthand view of the characters associ- coction of red wool and wax-colored treated this in a widely available angling ated with fly fishing become part of the cock's feathers bound to a hook that context, namely the article on trout in public record. Klian described. This information sets Gessner's own monumental Historia an- When I was a teenage fly fisher, John Elian's report into the ecosystem and imalium, volume 4, "On the nature of Atherton's book was my bible. I can still the economy (bronze technology) of an- fishes and aquatic animals," which was recite many passages from memory, and cient Macedonia. published in 1558.~Besides describing never did I think in the middle of my The importance of Buller's discover- the biology of each fish, Gessner told life I would count myself lucky enough ies grows when we recognize that much how they were caught. Regarding trout, to be one of Maxine Atherton's many more knowledge of early fly fishing has after detailing in Latin a half-dozen imi- friends. Besides being a woman fly fish- accrued since the writings of W. A. tative patterns for artificial flies (he er fifty years before it was fashionable, Chatto (a pseudonym for Stephen Oliv- called them "semblances . . . which very she was also an environmentalist before er, 1834), Osmund Lambert (i881), and nearly recall those flies or insects in many of us were born. Her introduction even William Radcliffe (1921), the au- which all fish take delight") from a Ger- to the Freshet Press edition of The Fly thorities whom Buller cites. Indeed, man-language manuscript no longer and the Fish is especially poignant, and some new findings have been reported known to survive, Gessner plainly said, one paragraph captures the essence of in The American Fly Fisher itself, which "A like manner of fishing for trout Max's spirit: Buller's paper again confirms as the top Elian describes in De Animalibus 15:~" And instead of lighting an eternal flame journal of record in the field. How ("Similem truttas piscandi rationes on Jack's grave I have been supporting in might we further contextualize Elian's praescribit Elianus de animalibus 15.1.") every way possible any movement which report? We can better judge its meaning and went on to quote Elian's statement strives to conserve-or bring back to this when we consider what Europeans evi- in full Latin translation from his own Earth all which ruthless pillage destroyed -the magic Jack extolled. dently knew of IElian's writings and of edition of 1556.3 artificial flies in the millennium and a Gessner's Latin was the common cul- TOMROSENBAUER half after he wrote. tural heritage of all learned Europeans Tom Rosenbauer is a member of the On the first point, knowledgeable even into the twentieth century. Long Board of Trustees of the Museum. Europeans, English among them, were before Chatto, English anglers had also

SPRING 1997 23 read Gessner. This we know, for in- to explicate an early fifteenth-century Teiitsch gebracht (Betruckt zii Ziirych bey stance, from Gessner's close contempo- tract that asserted a right of peasants to Christoffel Froschower, M.D., LXIII [1563]), rary, the author of The Arte of Angling, get food with this technique, German though done under Gessner's supervision, was legal historian Hermann Heimpel more sharply abridged from the original Latin, and printed in London by Henry Middleton that all subsequent editions, including the sec- in 1577.4 Whether Huntingdonshire than thirty years ago assembled a broad ond Latin edition published at Frankfurt in range of evidence for the "feathered clercvman"/ William Samuel5 or some 1604, appeared long after the author's death other one-time religious refugee in safe- hook."l4 Following Heimpel, I discussed and were more or less revised by persons un- ly Protestant Geneva, this writer's use of this material in English in a 1985 article known. Gessner had earlier listed Wlian's a different passage from the Swiss au- on medieval sport fishing and here in among the works he used to prepare his first thority was subsequently cribbed (in The American Fly Fisher in my 1995 re- zoological writing, the "Catalogus alphabeticus garbled form) by Izaak Walton.6 Indeed, port on Gessner's own fly patterns.l5 A animalium:' in his Pandectarurn sive Partition- Walton himself also twice cited Gessner full edition, translation, and analysis of um universalitim . . . libri XXI (Tiguri: on the very subject of trout fishing.7 the richest such list of vederangel pat- Christophorus Froschouerus, 1548), fols. Since the mid-I~OOS,then, educated Eu- terns (and much more) from a manu- 219~-221r, and then credited Elian by name for script compiled about 1500 at the Bavar- information on "trocta" (trout), fol. 230r. Hans ropeans had good opportunities for ac- Wellisch, "Conrad Gessner: A Bio-bibliogra- cess to filian's report of ancient Mace- ian monastery of Tegernsee is part of phy," Journal of the Society for the Bibliography donian fly fishing. my Fishers' Craft and Lettered Art: Tracts of Natural History, vol. 7 (1975), pp. 160 and As to the second contextual point for on Fishing from the End of the Middle 209-10, summarizes Gessner's work with understanding Elian's historic place, Ages, now in production at the Universi- Elian. namely European knowledge of fly fish- ty of Toronto Press for July 1997 publi- 3. The original Latin, an English translation, ing, use of artificial flies to catch certain cation. and remarks on what the passage implies about fishes is well documented in western From the third century into the six- knowledge of Wlian's flies, earlier appeared in Europe for centuries and in England for teenth, then, the form and contents of Richard C. Hoffmann, "The Evidence for Early at least decades before 1496, when all the records indicate that fly fishing, European Angling, 111: Conrad Gessner's Artifi- Wynkyn de Worde printed The Treatyse though first known to us in writing by cial Flies, 1558,'' The American Fly Fisher, vol. zi, no. 1 (Spring 1995), pp. 4-5 and note 41. Elian and later by other learned men, of Fysshyng wyth an Angle in the second 4. Gerald E. Bentley, ed., The Arte of Angling Boke of St. Album8 Back in 1921, Rad- was, as Radcliffe halfway surmised in 1577 (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University cliffe thought this publication the first 1921, an ordinary part of the arsenal of Press, 1958). Only loss of the title page from the record since tElian,9 but subsequent dis- techniques with which illiterate Euro- one extant copy makes this work anonymous. coveries have much narrowed the "gap" pean peasants caught certain of the fish- 5. As proposed by Thomas P. Harrison, "The between Elian and a continual record es in their localities and with which, in Author of 'The Arte of Angling, 1577,'" Notes of fishing practice. all likelihood since as long ago as the and Queries, new series 7 (October 1960), pp. Several English manuscripts of late twelfth century, some of those peasants 373-76, endorsed by Arnold Gingrich, "William fifteenth-century date, so contemporary and their betters may occasionally have Samuel: A New Name to Revere Between Dame with and independent of the Treatyse fished for fun. Juliana and Izaak Walton," The American Fly tradition, give explicit advice on making RICHARDC. HOFFMANNFisher, vol. 2, no. z (Spring 1975), pp. 4-5, and, to my knowledge, not seriously disputed. and using the "artificially flye . . . made 6. Bentley, ed., Arte 1577, p. 46. The informa- . . . lyke unto the flys which be on the ENDNOTES tion (on pike) there at issue first appeared in waters," to quote a tract in British Li- Gessner's Historia animalium, vol. 4 (1558), fol. brary Manuscript Harley 2389.1° After I. The best modern edition and translation is jr, and not, as D. E. Rhodes asserted in "A New obscure ninteenth-century reference now in the Loeb Classical Library as Claudius Line for the Angler, 1577," The Library, 5th se- and publication of these texts, Willy L. Rlianus, On the Characteristics of Animals, ries lo (1955)~ pp. 123-24, only in Gessner's Braekrnan newly collected and pub- trans. A. F. Schofield, 3 vols (Cambridge, Mass.: Nomenclator aquatilium animantium. Icones lished all of them in 1980.11 In "A New Loeb Classical Library, 1958-1959). For the pas- animalium aquatiliuum (Tiguri [Ziirich]: Treatise on the Treatyse," a review article sage in question, see book XV, section 1. The Christoph. Froschoverus, 1560), p. 316. Gess- appearing in the Summer 1982 issue of immensely well-read Elian, a teacher of litera- ner's own guest book names several visitors The American Fly Fisher, I drew atten- ture so famous for the quality of his Greek that from England (Richard J. Durling, "Conrad he wrote only in that language, compiled inten- Gessner's Liber amicorum, 1555-1565," Ges- tion to Braekrnan's work and analyzed tionally unorganized literary epitomes to enter- nerus, vol. 22, no. 314 [1965], pp 134-59). The passages like the one just quoted with tain and inform an educated Roman audience. wide impact of Gessner's scientific works re- special relevance to early fly fishing.Iz Rlian never left Italy, so his Macedonian report ceived extended discussion in Caroline A. Literary references and administra- is certainly hearsay, but he drew on a huge Gmelig-Nijboer, "Conrad Gessner's 'Historia tive documents of fishing with what range of classical literary and scientific sources, animalium': An inventory of Renaissance zool- Conrad Gessner, and now we, would many of them now lost. ogy," Communicationes biohistoricae Ultrajecti- call artificial flies are almost common in 2. Conradi Gesneri medici Tigurini Historiae nae, vol. 72 (Utrecht, 1977) and in Christa German-spealung lands (Switzerland, animalium liber IIII, qui est de piscium & Riedl-Dorn, "Wissenschaft und Fabelwesen: Bavaria, Tirol, Upper Austria, maybe aquatilium animantium nature. Cvm iconibvs Ein kritischer Versuch iiber Conrad Gessner singvlorvm ad vivvm expressis fere omnib und Ulisse Aldrovandi:' Perspektivcn der Wis- Thuringia) since about 1200. Perhaps DCCVI. Continentur in hoc volumine Gvlielmi senschafisgeschichte, vol. 6 (1989), and shorter the plainest early record is from the Rondeletii quoq et Petri Bellonii de Aquatilium appreciations in English by E. W. Gudger, "The writer of chivalric romance Wolfram singulis scripta (Tiguri: apud Chr. Frosch- five great naturalists of the sixteenth century: von Eschenbach, who about 1210 de- overvm, 1558), p. 1208. Readers should be aware Belon, Rondelet, Salviani, Gesner [sic],and Al- scribed a (fictive) noble young kinsman that the German version, Fischbuch. Das ist ein drovandi. A chapter in the history of ichthyolo- of King Arthur named Schionatulander kurcze doch vollkomne beschreybung aller Fis- gy," Isis, vol. 22 (1934/1935), pp. 32-36, and wading." barefoot in a clear brook and chen so in dem Meer vnd siiessen wassern . . . Er- Pamela 0. Long, "Humanism and Science," in catching trout and grayling with a stlich in Latin durch . . . Cuonrat Gepner . . . Albert Rabil, ed., Renaissance Humanism: "feathered hook" (vederangel).l3Aiming neuwlich aber durch D. Cuonrat Forer. . . in das Foundations, Forms, and Legacy, vol. 3

24 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER (Philadelphia, Penn.: University of Pennsylva- nia Press, 1988), pp. 498-500. The 7. Izaak Walton, The Compleat Angler (1653 edition), "Third Day," chapter 4 (London: American Museum Everyman's Library, 1906 and later printings), pp. 60-61. For more seventeenth-century Eng- of F1 Fishing lish use of Gessner, see Wellisch, "Bio-bibliog- Box 42, X anchester,Vermont 05254 raphy:' pp. 197-201. Tel: 802-362-3300. Fax: 802-362-3308 8. Note that the older, mid-fifteenth-century manuscript of the anonymous Treatyse, now a JOIN! fragment in the Beinecke Library at Yale Uni- Membership Dues (per annum) versity (Beinecke MS 171), is missing the sec- INDIVIDUAL tion on flies in Wykyn de Worde's printed text. Associate $35 (See John D. McDonald, The Origins of Angling Sustaining $60 [Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday and Co., Inc., $125 19631, chapters 6-9.) Benefactor Patron $250 9. William Radcliffe, Fishing from the Earliest runs to the sea at Thessaloniki. Smaller Times (London: John Murray, 1921), p. 189. GROUP "From Elian until the Treatyse of Fysshynge tributaries yet hold the native fish with Club $50 wyth an Angle (1496) we find no mention of, or speckled skins. Very speckled: the native Trade $50 allusion to, the Artificial Fly." Quoted in Fred- trout is the large-spotted brown trout, Membership dues include four issues of erick Buller, "The Macedonian Fly," The Ameri- Salmo trutta macrostiumata." The American Fly Fisher. Please send your can Fly Fisher, vol. 22, no. 4 (Fall 1996), p. 2. While attempting to reach the rural payment to the Director of Development lo. British Library Manuscript Harley 2389, town of Naoussa in Macedonia (Greek and include your mailing address. The fols. 73r-v. Macedonia) where I planned to look for Museum is a member of the American 11. Willy L. Braekman, The Treatise on An- macrostigmata in a tributary of the Ali- Association of Museums, the American gling in the Boke of St. Albans (1496): Back- akmon, my automobile trip was can- Association of State and Local History, ground, Context and Text of "The treatyse of celed by a Mercedes-Benz E-class sedan the New England Association of Muse- fysshynge wyth an Angle," Scripta: Mediaevalia ums, the Vermont Museum and Gallery moving at an estimated 140 to 150 and Renaissance Texts and Studies, vol. 1 (Brus- Alliance, and the International Associa- sels: Scripta, 1980), notably pp. 31,41, and 56. mph-across my bow, so to speak. I tion of Sports Museums and Halls of 12. Richard C. Hoffmann, "A New Treatise would encourage any angler visiting Fame. We are a nationally accredited, on the Treatyse," The American Fly Fisher, vol. Greece to approach an Elian trout nonprofit, educational institution chartered 9, no. 3 (Summer 1982), pp. 2-6. stream by using public buses which run under the laws of the state of Vermont. U. Wolfram von Eschenbach, Titurel. Walter between Thessaloniki and Naoussa, and J. Schroder and Gisela Hollandt, eds. (Darm- then on to the more remote city of Kas- SUPPORT! stadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1971), toria. Kastoria is also served by a daily As an independent, nonprofit institution, pp. 616-17: Strophe 154, 1-2: "Schionatulander commuter airplane service from the American Museum of Fly Fishing mit einem vederangelivienc aschen und Athens. Alternatively, one might hire a relies on the generosity of public-spirited vorchen. . . ." Strophe 159, 1-3: "Schionatulan- individuals for substantial support. We der die grBzen und die kleinenivische mit dem local driver whose wetware includes a program for estimating the speed of ask that you give our museum serious angel vienc, di er stount fif blBzen blanker consideration when planning for gifts and beinenidurh die kiiele in lfitersnellem bache." E-class sedans. Naoussa is something of bequests. 14. Hermann Heimpel, "Die Federschnur. a mountain resort renowned. I hear. for Wasserrecht und Fischrecht in der 'Reforma- vineyards, orchards, and running water. tion Kaiser Sigismunds,'" in Deutsches Archiv VISIT! I do have two photographs of Mace- Summer hours (May 1 through October fur Erforschuna des Mittelalters, vol. 19 (1963), donian macrostigmata kindly sent by a 31) are lo to 4. Winter hours (November 1 pp. 451-88. distinguished European angler and field through April 30) are weekdays lo to 4. 15. Richard C. Hoffmann, "Fishing for Sport biologist, Johannes Schoffmann of St. We are closed on major holidays. in Medieval Europe: New Evidence," Speculum, vol. 60 (1985), p. 893; and Richard C. Hoff- Veit, Austria, as souvenirs of the expedi- mann, "The Evidence for Early European An- tion. Schoffmann informs me that all BACK ISSUES! gling, 111: Conrad Gessner's Artificial Flies, the high mountain streams in Greece, Available at $4 per copy: 1558," The American Fly Fisher, vol. 21, no. 2 including the Pelopponesus, have small Volume 6, Numbers 1,2,3,4 (Spring 1995), pp. 2-11. to very small trout in them. The other Volume 7, Numbers 2,3 memento is a left (noncasting arm) Volume 8, Number 3 clavicle that has knitted in the approxi- Volume 9, Numbers 1,2,3 A Macedonian Adventure mate shape of a mosquito larva in full Volume lo, Number 2 The informative and speculative arti- contraction. So it goes. Volume 11, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 Volume 12, Number 3 cle by Frederick Buller on Elian's M. R. Montgomery Volume 13, Number 3 "Macedonian Fly" (Fall 1996) might en- Lincoln, Massachusetts Volume 14, Number 1 courage fly fishers to emulate those an- Volume 15, Numbers 1, 2 cient anglers. That is certainly possible. Volume 16, Numbers 1,2,3 Whether Buller's suggested ties are use- According to footnote 3 of Buller's article, Volume 17, Numbers I, 2,3 ful, I know not. They all sound a bit ': . . Astrceos in ancient Greek geography Volume 18, Numbers 1,2,3,4 bumbly; I'd rather try a good-sized Ma- is a northern tributary of the Aliakmon Volume 19, Numbers 1, 2,3,4 hogany Spinner, which has Elian's red (or Haliacmon) River running between Volume 20, Numbers 1,2,3, 4 wool body and white feather wings. Veria and Thessaloniki, perhaps that riv- Volume 21, Numbers 1, 2,3,4 The "River Astrzos" is simply the er known in modern times as Kotichas." Volume 22, Numbers 1,2,3,4 modern Aliakmon River, and it still -EDITOR Volume 23, Number 1

SPRING 1997 25 past, whether it be donating items to our dinnerlauction program, donating a piece to our collection, or sending in a monetary gift-thank you. Holiday Gathering 1996 The Museum opened-its doors for a holiday gathering on December 12 to more than sixty-five people who enjoyed exhibits and festivities. Museum magazine and has owned two businesses Trustee Tom Rosenbauer was on hand Festival Weekend 1997 (a Sunoco station and a lawn mainte- signing his new book, Fly Fishing in The Museum's annual festival week- nance business). Stick lives in Arlington, America. end will be held May 9 to 11 this year. Vermont. Her hobbies include fly fish- Friday evening will feature an opening ing, golfing, and motorcycling. Thanks to Sponsors reception for the exhibit of wood en- The American Museum of Fly Fish- gravings by artist Alan James Robinson Correction ing wishes to thank the sponsors of our from 5:30 to 7:30 Saturday evening we Arnold Peterson, Jr., of Seymour, 1996 dinnerlauctions: Baker & Hostet- will host our annual dinnerlauction at Connecticut, has enhanced our knowl- ler, Austin Barneyll, the Bay Foundation the Equinox Hotel. The Museum plans edge of fly-fishing history. In the Winter and Hans Ege, Mr. and Mrs. George to host open house events throughout 1997 Gallery, we noted that the Bartletts Berrey, Mr. and Mrs. Jim Bokor, John the day on Saturday and Sunday. Call were from Pelham, New York. Appar- Dughi, Erwin and Allis Edelman, Wil- the Museum for details. ently, the Ward Rod Company was in liam Hazen, Art Kaemmer, Mark and Pelham, Massachusetts. Eugene Bartlett Barbara Mishkin, Mr. and Mrs. Norm Staff Changes was a Ward rodbuilder who married the Pancoast, Pete and Judy Perdue, Ivan Craig Gilborn, executive director boss's daughter and took over the busi- and Susan Popkin, Robert and Karen since August 1995, resigned his position ness. Pelham, Mr. Peterson writes, is "a Scott, Jerry Tone, Dr. and Mrs. Felix 31 December 1996. During his tenure, he small town about a dozen miles east of Trommer, and Mr. and Mrs. Frederick worked closely with the staff and Board Amherst, on Rte. 202, not far from what B. Wells. of Trustees to prepare a three-year plan is now Quabbin Reservoir." The original for the Museum. He also instituted reg- factory was a mill on the Amethyst Riv- Club and Trade ular admission fees, oversaw a tasteful er, originally a gristmill, later a sawmill, Memberships and finally a rod factory. We would like makeover of the Museum's interior, In 1996, the Museum introduced two and worked to expand the Museum's to thank Mr. Peterson for sending us the historical correction. new membership categories: a club gift shop. Gilborn left his position to membership (for volunteer organiza- pursue scholarly interests, including his Annual Fund Drive tions, such as fishing and fly-tying clubs work on a history of the Adirondacks. and local chapters of national organiza- The staff and trustees wish him success. As the twentieth century quickly tions) and a trade membership (for comes to a close with fly fishing gaining businesses). The following have sup- Kathleen Achor worldwide interest and vovularity, our ported the Museum by becoming club role as a Museum becomes even more or trade members: Stackpole Books, essential. It is the responsibility of us Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania; Fonti- all-members, friends, and trustees-to nalis Club, Vanderbilt, Michigan; Cort- educate the public about the sport's rich land Line Company, Cortland, New history. To do this, the Museum has York; Thomas & Thomas Rod Compa- committed itself to a strong develop- ny, Turners Falls, Massachusetts; Wright ment effort that requires everyone's par- & McGill Company, Denver, Colorado; ticipation. The Bay King Club, Tokyo, Japan; Lang You can play a part through active Sporting Collectables, Inc., Raymond, participation in the Museum's develop- Maine; Hexagraph Fishing Rods, Inc., ment effort. If you have not already par- Houston, Texas; Glenn Struble Manu- ticipated in this year's annual fund, con- facturing Company, Sutherlin, Oregon; sider doing so. No matter the size of the and United Fly Tyers, Inc., Woburn, gift, every dollar is important. When Massachusetts. Paula "Stick" Morgan making a donation, check with your employer about a matching gift pro- Membership Questionnaire The Museum welcomes Paula "Stick" gram. If one exists, your dollars can be Morgan back to its staff as part-time ad- doubled or even tripled. Winner ministrative assistant. Stick, fondly re- To learn more about the ways that Congratulations to Ronald Bean of ferred to as "executive assistant emeri- you can help, give. the development of- White River Junction, Vermont, winner tus,'' held the position of executive assis- fice a call at 802-362-3300. Eric Brown, of the Orvis Superfine 7-foot, 6-inch tant at the Museum from 1981 to 1987. our development director, will be de- 1-weight rod. Mr. Bean was one of more A graduate of Middlebury College, she lighted to speak with you. than 300 members who responded to has previously worked for Fly Fisherman To those who have contributed in the our membership questionnaire mailing. The mailing gathered valuable Vermont, who then gave it to information from members all the Museum. Museum Trustee over the world. Thank you to SPRING DINNER/AUCTIONS Jamie Woods also gave us six everyone who responded. books. Paul Jones of Austin, March 13 Q New York City Texas, sent a photocopy of In Search of Howard The Anglers' Club Bowlker's Art of Angling (1829). Back. . . Bill Byrnes of Springfield, April lo Q Westford, Massachusetts Massachusetts, sent us a collec- For a biographical essay on Westford Regency Inn & tion of old angling magazines Howard Back, author of The Conference Center and pamphlets. Through long- Waters of Yellowstone with Rod time friend Peter Castagnetti, 6 Fly, please send any available April 24 * Cleveland Sydney Curelop of Nashua, information or knowledge of Chagrin Valley Hunt Club New Hampshire, gave the Mu- heirs to Robert Berls, 2751 Uni- seum William Franklin Knox's corn Lane, NW, Washington, May lo * Manchester, Vermont F. E. Thomas rod. William Knox DC 20015; 202-244-2944. The Equinox Hotel & Resol (1874-1944) was a U.S. newspaper publisher and secretary of Benefit Dinner the Navy during the Second Leigh H. Perkins, founder of World War. the American Museum of Fly Fishing sioned especially for the event and do- and Chairman of the Orvis Company, nated by some of the mtion's finest Call for Books sporting artists. These were sold through was honored at a benefit dinner for the Continuing our call for angling titles American Museum of Fly Fishing on silent auction. we'd love to add to our library, here's a It is expected that the benefit raised February 25. More than 170 people at- list of fifteen books we need dated 1811 more than $70,000, which will be split tended the dinner at the Cosmopolitan to 1825. Club in New York City. Trustee Janet between an endowment fund and oper- Salter, Robert. The Modern Angler, Being Mavec chaired the event with the help ating expenses. A Practical Treatise on the Art of Fish- of Trustee Wayne Nordberg and use- ing, 6c., in a Series of Letters To A um staff. Trustee Gardner L. Grant act- Recent Donations Friend. Oswestry: J. Salter, 1811. ed as master of ceremonies, and Dick- Mrs. A. B. (Grace) Wadsworth of Ar- Young Angler's Assistant; or, A New and son L. Whitney was on hand to share lington, Vermont, gave us the angling li- Complete Treatise on the Art of An- stories. brary of her late husband Gus. Via long- gling. London: Mason, 1813. William F. Ruprecht, managing direc- time Museum friend and Trustee Roy Laschelles, Robert. A Series of Letters on tor of Sotheby's, auctioned off some Chapin, we received an angling library Angling, Shooting and Coursing. In unique sporting and cultural opportu- from Thomas E. Armstrong of Grosse Three Parts. London: J. Cornes, 1815. nities donated in honor of Perkins. Pointe Farms, Michigan. Sabra Flory of Carroll, W. The Angler's Vade Mecum, Trustee Walter Matia orchestrated the Allentown, Pennsylvania, gave a copy of Containing an Account of the Water centerpieces-original painted silhou- William D. Boyce's A Strike (1894) to Flies, Their Seasons, The Kind of ettes of game fish-which were commis- Gwenn Perkins of Manchester Center, Weather That Brings Them Most On The Water, The Whole Represented in Twelve Coloured Plates; To MJhich Is Margot Page Added a Description of the Different Baits Used in Angling, and Where Found. Edinburgh: Constabler Co., 1818. Charleton, T. W. The Art of Fishing, A Poem. North Shields, 1819. Lathy, T. P. The Angler, a Poem in Ten Cantos, comprising Proper Instruc- tions in the Art, Flies, Bait, Pastes, &c. with Upwards of Twenty Beautiful Cuts. London: W. Wright, 1819. Irving, Washington. The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. No. VII. New York: C. S. Van Winkle, 1820. Kiddi Instructions for the Art of An- gling. London: Kidd, 1820. Salter, Thomas. Salter's Trolling Guide: Being a Complete Practical Treatise on the Art of Trolling or Fishing for Pike and Jack. London: Tegg, 1820. Rules and Regulations of the Walton & Trustee Gardner L. Grant and benefit dinner honoree Leigh H. Perkins Cotton Club, instituted 19th March admire a tarpon centerpiece painted by Trustee Peter Corbin. 1817. London, 1821.

SPRING 1997 27 Adams, John Quincy. The Duplicate Let- castle-on-Tyne, July 27, 1824, by River and Its People (1996-excerpted in ters, the Fisheries and the Mississippi. William Andrew Mitchell, President the Fall 1996 issue), Dave Whitlock's Washington: Davis & Force, 1822. for the Year. Newcastle-on-Tyne: Mer- L. L. Bean Fly-Fishing Handbook (1996), Clinton, DeWitt "Hibernicus." Letters cury Press, 1824. and Dick Talleur's Talleur's Basic Fly Ty- on the Natural History and Internal Thompson, J. Handbook of Angling. ing (1996). Backcountry Publications Resources of the State of New York. Bristol, 1825. sent us Jimmy Jacobs's Tailwater Trout New York: Bliss &White, 1822. in the South: An Angler's Guide (1996). Clinton, DeWitt "Hibernicus." The Os- In the Library Frank Amato Publications sent us R. wego Bass. New York: C. S. Van Win- We'd like to thank the following pub- Chris Halla's and Michael Streff's Every- kle, 1822. lishers for their donations of recent ti- one's Illustrated Guide to Trout on a Fly. Mitchell, William Andrew. On the Plea- tles that have become part of our collec- The Museum depends on generous do- sure and Utility of Angling; A Paper tion. Lyons & Burford sent us Ed Van nations of books for the expansion of Read to the Waltonian Club of New- Put's The Beaverkill: The History of a our library.

CONTRIBUTORS Bob Warren

Daniel P. Marschka

Marbha Karle

Since the death of Joseph D. Bates Jr. in 1988, Pamela Bates Richards has been the self-appointed family curator. She has cataloged fifty years of remarkable Gordon M. Wickstrom is vrofessor of correspondence and photographs of drama emeritus and was longtime chair noted anglers, writers, and world- of the department at Franklin and Mar- famous fly tyers and has cared for and Paul Schullery was executive director shall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. added to the renowned Bates collection of the American Museum of Fly Fishing He is now retired to his native Boulder, of Atlantic salmon flies. In 1995, she from 1977 to 1982. He is the author, co- Colorado, where he fishes, writes, edits, reissued two of Bates's most popular author, or editor of twenty-five books, politics on behalf of trout and their classics: Atlantic Salmon Flies e+ Fishing including American Fly Fishing: A His- waters, produces a theater group, and (first published in 1970) and the 1966 tory and Shupton's Fancy: A Tale of the generally enjoys his old hometown. He edition of Streamer Fly Tying and Fish- Fly-Fishing Obsession. His new environ- is published in various academic and ing (to which she added twenty-four mental history, Searching for Yellow- angling journals. His interest in James new color plates and new material to stone: Ecology and Wonder in the Last Leisenrinn" has led to several articles the text). Fishing Atlantic Salmon: The Wilderness, will be published by and, for the first time, to one about Flies and the Patterns, excerpted in this Houghton Mifflin in July. He is an actually tying flies when he published issue, was released in 1996. Ms. Richards affiliate professor of history at Montana an article about Leisenring-type wet enjoys salmon fishing on the Miramichi State University and an adjunct pro- flies in the Fall 1996 Fly Tyer. The Amer- and saltwater fishing in New England. fessor of American studies at the Uni- ican Museum of Fly Fishing awarded She lives in Newburyport, Massachu- versity of Wyoming. him the Austin Hogan Award for his setts, with her extended family (her contribution to this journal in 1993. husband, two daughters, and three stepchildren, as well as a menagerie). Ms. Richards is a vice president of the Board of Trustees of the American Museum of Fly Fishing.

28 THE AMERICAN PLY FISHER MUSEUM EXHIBITS

Despite his coming from a family of artists, Betts did not start painting until 1988., His work-often a mixed media presentation that includes both a painting and tied flies-offers images evoked by his experiences of fly fishing and the flies that he uses. He describes the ges- tures of the paintings as those of movement: "Some are discreet, careful, and quiet; others are sudden, swift, and elec- tric. There is the flight of line and fluid shave. the intense stillness of vrecise drift, 'and the shocking sensation of sveed bevond anv means of control." Betts sees his drawings and paintings Alan James Robinson as moments that either show a story or present a point from which a story can May 9- June 23 begin-events that he and others have known and will know again. But he is LAN JAMESROBINSON, master OHN BETTS,fly tyer, writer, and ever aware of his nonangling audience printmaker and sculptor, special- artist, began tying flies for his liveli- -people who know little about the sub- f% zes in original etchings and J hood in 1976 and published his first ject and may care even less. "I am held wood engravings. His etchings are all article a year later. He is a regular con- to a standard that leaves no room for hand drawn through an acid-resistant tributor to several fly-fishing magazines. anything that doesn't feel true," he says. coating and then etched into copper In 1981, he became one of the few fly ty- The Museum will host an artist's re- plates. The varying size of lines, their ers to be featured in Sports Illustrated. ception and opening on June 27. density, and the time a copper plate is left in the acid all contribute to the quality and detail apparent in his prints. Robinson grinds all his own inks from oil and pigment and uses traditional eighteenth-century techniques exclusively. Robinson's wood engravings are cut on end-grain English boxwood or ma- ple blocks. Each wood engraving is painstalungly worked as he cuts away all the white areas to create the image. Master printer Harold Patrick McGrath then prints each block the old-fashioned way, with very little ink and a lot of impression. Robinson is the owner, designer, and illustrator for the award-winning Press of the Sea Turtle, formerly Cheloniidz Press, which he established in 1979. He has exhibited all over the country and in Europe, and his work is a permanent part of the collections of prestigious li- braries and museums across the United States. John Betts The Museum will host an artist's reception and opening on May 9. June 27-August 4 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF FLY FISHING, a nationally accredited, nonprofit, educational institution dedicated to preserving the rich heritage of fly fishing, was founded in Manchester, Vermont, in 1968. The Museum serves as a repository for, and conservator to, the world's largest collection of angling and angling-related objects. The Museum's collections and exhibits provide the public with thorough documentation of the evolution of fly fishing as a sport, art form, craft, and in- dustry in the United States and abroad from the sixteenth century to the present. Rods, reels, and flies, as well as tackle, art, books, manuscripts, and photographs form the major components of the Museum's collections. The Museum has gained recognition as a unique educational institution. It supports a I publications program through which its national quarterly journal, The American Fly Fisher, and books, art prints, and catalogs are regularly offered to the public. The Muse- um's traveling exhibits program has made it possible for educational exhibits to be viewed across the United States and abroad. The Museum also provides in-house exhibits, related interpretive programming, and research services for members, visiting scholars, authors, and students. The Museum is an active, member-orient- ed nonprofit institution. For information please contact: The American Museum of Fly Fishing, P. 0. Box 42, Manchester, Vermont