Volume 8 Crosscurrents
American F1-Fisher J Volume 8 Crosscurrents
The Museum, though it is a bit waters. Of course this is the way it has ment of the Interior has already been out of the way geographically, always been - that's why the organiza- abolished. A great many museums and is something of a crossroads for tions were formed - but there seems to historical societies will be affected by information. Because we main- be a greater intensity to the alarm these the losses to these programs (The Muse- tain a library of fly fishing related days. um of American Fly Fishing doesn't re- periodicals and club publications, The other direction from which we ceive any money from any federal or and because we gather tackle cat- receive news is the professional museum state programs, but you might check al*, we receive a broad view of what's community. For many reasons, the mu- how all this will affect other museums going on in fishing circles around the seum world is long past alarm, well into you care about). country. Right now it's not hard to be panic. They were, naturally, braced for In comparison, the fly fishing world alarmed about what we see. The Feder- a lot of belt-tightening under the new is in a lot better shape than the museum ation of Fly Fishermen Bulletin tells us administration, but were unprepared for world. We still have lots of good news, that new government budget-trimming the extent of the proposed budget cuts. and fishermen are better able to marshall and changes of direction threaten to re- Important and distinguished programs public support than are many interest verse recent progress made in California such as the National Endowment for the groups. But it's clear that we're going fisheries management. Theodore Gordon Humanities and the National Endow- to have to work harder to keep what Flyfishers is caught up in two immensely ment for the Arts face overall budget we have. important struggles, one to save the reductions of fifty percent or more. Though it is uncharacteristic in an Esopus from a devastating water diver- Entire programs (important to many editorial, we'd like to refer you at this sion project, the other to control treated- museums and other historical agencies), point to someone else's editorial column. sewage effluents along the Beaverkill. The such as The Institute of Museum Ser- Don Zahner's editorial in the April issue Everglades Protection Association re- vices, The National Historical Publica- of Fly fisher ma?^ is an eloquent state- ports that the Secretary of the Interior tions and Records Commission, and the ment of the choices fishermen now face. is attempting a wholesale reversal of re- U.S.D.I. matching grants program, face It's called cent gains made in sportfishing manage- projected budgets of zero dollars; they verswill on ‘the I ment in Florida Bay. Other organizations would be cancelled. The Conservation report similar threats to their home and Recreation Service of the Depart-
.wk?W* Ckatlcs Eichel David Ledtic Steven Raymond ~&j$&%w& U. Dick Finlay Bud Lily Rick Robbins WarnCLassford Nick Lyons Willard Roekwell Leon Martuch Hen Schky Cardnu Orant Ahran Macaulcy .Jr. Col. Henry Siege1 Alh@OW John Mmvln Rescott Tolman CL Awtb Henan Dudley MiIls Ben Upson Cad N'avwrc Ralph Wahl Dkk WBitney I>- Zabcr Eb Zefn
s, Published by The Museum of American Fly Fishing for the pleasure of the membership.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
An Angler's Childhood by George Edward Mackenzie Skues
Neversink Idyll by Maxine Atlierton
Rangeley Reflections
Recent Acquisitions
Stevens Point, Wisconsin, 1940 by Susie Isaksen
Volume 8 Number 2 blollta~laO~Y sseey by George Grant SPRING 1981 Books
011 tlz~cozrer: Edzuarrl llrwitt fzslzi~zg tlzt. Nezl('rsillk about Notes and Conln~ent 1940, from a plzotograplt by John Atherto7z. SL'C,tlze article by,\laxi?le Athertu~z071 page six. kluseum News
Editor '1'111~,\>ll.:l
I was born on the 13th of .August, in a garden wall of plank and stone and with a float and a hook to gut and some 1858 at St. Johns, Newfound- mortar and after running a few yards shot. But before I could manage a rod I land, the eldest child of Willia~n turned back through another hole into was sent off to a boarding school at Mackenzie Skues, then Surgeon the same or another garden. 'Khe little Stokes Bay near Gosport. A holiday at of the Newfoundland Companies, intervening stretch was rich in minnows Ryde introduced me at the age of eleven by hlargaret Ayre his wife, daugh- and I used to watch them and eye their to hand line fishing for small wrasse and ter of Christopher Ayre, Clerk of scarlet bellies with a huge excitement pout, but pocket money was scarce and IParliament and acting Colonial Secretary which I did not understand. I did not attempt to fish from the pier, of the Colony. My Father was eldest son It was raised to a trembling height on but investigated the sand pools at low of George Skues, Lieutenant of the Royal the rare occasions when I saw a trout tide. Soon afterwards I was sent to a Marine Light Infantry by Mary Gibbs there. I recall a trout of 6 or 8 ounces private school at Alverstoke near Stokes Mackenzie daughter of Alexander Mac- lying dead on a plate in the larder and Bay. kenzie of Breda in Aberdeenshire - by being told by my grandfather that it had Stokes Bay is intersected with a num- his wife Maria Rebecca daughter of Col- been tickled by a labourer in the stream ber of brackish moats in which were to onel William IIumberston hlackenzie of at the end of the paddock. be found eels, small perch and shoal bass Cononshay, sister of the last Lord Sea- My grandfather, however, neither did and mullet. At length I acquired a rod forth prior to the 1921 creation. any fishing there nor did he encourage (at the cost of a shilling - a two piece My Father was of Cornish extraction, or even notice my excited interest in hazel affair) and I set out to catch eels. his forbears having for many generations running water and the life therein. 'l'here I ditl not know enough to dig worms.
been Receivers of 'Kin Dues at I-lelston was a bridge over a stream - it may have hly observation of roach fishing with for the Duchy of Cornwall. been the Yeo - hard by on one of our paste persuadecl me that paste would At the age of three I was brought most frequent walks and it was hard for prove attractive to eels. 1 was according- over by my parents in a sailing vessel my nurse to drag me from it when we ly bitterly disappointed when eel after to Aberdeen where my Father's parents went that way, so set was I on peering eel showed a painful lack of interest in lived. for the fish in the shallow ford below. my bait. I was going home at length, rod In 1863 my Father went to India on At the age of seven I went to a board- over shoulder with my rejected bait service taking my Mother and leaving ing school near Bristol for a year - and dangling behind me, when I felt a tre- me, with two small sisters, in charge of on my Father's return from India I was mendous tug and found that I had hook- his Father and Mother. They left Aber- taken to Portsmouth and Southsea be- ed a hen belonging to a railway porter deen and settled in Langford in Somer- fore my Mother was settled near Hornsey who kept a crossing on the Stokes Bay setshire, shortly afterwards moving to Rise. Here, in the intervals of attending line. The porter and his sons waged con- Wrington - both places on the Somer- day school, I made my first humble ef- stant war with the boys of my school - setshire Yeo, a little below what is now forts at fishing. It was for newts in the and so, more than a little scared, I played Blagdon reservoir. A tributary or branch clay ponds which abounded in the neigh- that shrieking fowl clown a hundred of that stream showed itself in a shallow borhood. yards or so of road and round the next gravelly patch at a corner of a paddock One of the schools which I attended corner before trying to extract the hook. behind the house in which paddock my was at no great distance from the New She was too firmly hooked, however, grandfather used to keep his pony and River, and there was a little stretch where and so I cut the twisted horsehair just goats and some aggressive geese - it was a number of anglers used to fish for above her beak and took to my heels. in this corner that at the age of 5 or roach and perch. Here I first saw fishing That was for the time being the end of thereabouts I saw my first trout - be- with rod aid line and floats - and be- my fishing, for funds were low and I was coming greatly excited about it. At the came greatly excited. I spent every pos- not able to buy another furnished line. front of the house on the far side of the sible half holiday watching the anglers In 1871 the exigencies of the Service way a tiny stream passed through a hole and eventually I invested in a cane winder took my parents to hlalta and they made
Page 2 arrangements for me to spend my holi- was conducted by a process of sifting. An Isonychiasubimago tied by G.E.M. days with the family of a Doctor in Gos- When the final list of 15 came down I Skues in about 1940 andgiven to Preston port. It was during the summer holiday found my name fourteenth and went Jennings; part of the Museum's Preston of that year that I came across a man back entitled to wear the gown of a Jennings collection of flies donated by fishing with rod and line in the creek for foundation scholar of Winchester. I men- George Stagg. shoal bass and catching them at quite a tion this because it was an occasion good rate. He told me how and where to which brought me a small harvest of dig the rag worm which he used as bait, tips - and when I came back from a flicted me with a positive nostalgia. I but it was not till two years later that I holiday on a farm in Midlothian I still used when I could to hang about any was able to put the information to use. had enough left to buy a certain 1/6d anglers fishing those waters with a fly In July 1872 I was sent up to Win- rod, in some hard white wood, which I and on the few - very few - occasions chester College to take the Scholarship had long coveted, together with a hank when I saw a trout landed, my excite- Examination - not with any idea that of twisted silk line and a gut furnished ment was intense, but my finances were I might succeed, but to practise me in winder. But I was not to use them for not strong enough for rod, reel, line, being examined so that I might perhaps some time. flies and license. succeed in getting a small scholarship at The Old Barge River at Winchester The winter holidays were devoted a lesser public school. The examination running by the school playing fields af- largely to following the beagles. The
Page 3 level one. I had never heard of a tapered one. In time the cast wore out and it was some time before I could afford another. A tip on a leave out day enable me to buy one at Iiammond's in the Square, Winchester. In July I think I caught my first trout. It was under size, but I carried it in triumph - curiously enough I got it with a sunk fly. I had only one other trout that season. I had no one to teach me anything of the entomology of the river; I had no idea that the flies did not visit the water from the air and no one explained to me the theory of fly fish- ing. It is true that a school fellow named Kensington read one evening at a meet- ing of "Bug and Snail" (The Natural His- tory Society) an article on the Ephem- eridge, mugged up from some Encyclo- pedia, but I was too stupid to connect A pheasant tail this information with the art at which I dry fly tied by was so keen and so incompetent a prac- C.E.M. Skues i~z titioner. I had no literature on the sub- about 1939, also ject and no one gave me a hint - I never part of the Muse- saw anyone catch a natural fly from the urn's Preston Jen- surface or observe on what the fish were ni~zgs Collection. feeding - I went for the Wickham, while I had any, as the most attractive looking of my flies. None of them were built to cock and they invariably fell on their sides. Indeed I should say that they had summer holidays of 1874 and part of recall getting my first rise to a floating been shop made for Tweed-side angling. 1875 were again orgies of bass fishing Wickham's Fancy, cast with a favouring They were quite as well suited for that in the creeks and moats about Gosport - wind from the bulge at the bottom of as for the Itchen. and in the Solent. In the winter of 1875 the length and being so surprised that I my father was appointed to Jersey as did not remember to strike. During 1876 I had a meeting on Old Principal Medical Officer and my holi- I once saw Dr. Wickham, the inventor Barge side with a man whom I always days were thereafter spent there. of the fly, in Hammond's shop on a leave identify in my own mind with May or There was then no fresh water fishing out day, but I do not recall him. There Carlisle. I had just risen a trout and hit- in Jersey, except for carp in private was a boy in Commoners of the same ting him too hard had left not only my ponds, and the sea fishing is extremely name and I believe a relation of his who fly but the entire remnant of my cast poor. caught an occasional trout in Old Barge. with him. A bearded stranger fishing In 1874 I saw and bought, in Ham- There was another fellow named Paul1 close by came along and inquired what mond's shop in Winchester, some eyed who had a lovely little 9 ft. Greenheart, was the matter. I told him I had lost all fly hooks on which I used to catch with a detachable handle, with a quick my only cast. He promptly produced a minnows. and lively action - but it was hopeless book with an array of shining new casts My first essay in fly fishing for trout and helpless with a trout that went to and gave me one with the utmost kind- was made towards the end of March on weed. My own rod was an awful bean ness. It was tapered from medium gut to a windy afternoon with a Wickham's pole, eleven feet long and of a paralysing quite fine but as usual in those days (and fancy. If it had not been for the wind I stiffness and quite unsuited to carry the too often at present) it had a loop at should certainly not have stretched my light silk and hair line which was in fash- both ends. I had never, so far as I knew, fly, for the rod and line were not in the ion at the time. Oiled silk lines had still seen a tapered cast or heard of one, and least suited to one another. I remember to come. My line had the vice of stick- I fixed it to my line by the fine end, an older school fellow who came along ing in the rings and it would not carry looped on the fly to the stout end and handling it and saying, "What do you against the wind, but it did fall with ex- selected a rising trout. The unstraight- call this thing?" and when I said, "A fly quisite lightness on the water. It was well ened, undamped cast fell in a coil on the rod," "Oh, do you" he said - and pro- suited to the type of rod old Hammond water, but I think the trout must have ceeded to crack off one of my flies. sold, which was whippy beyond belief. been insane for it sailed up, picked out My stock comprised Blue Quill, Red It would have seemed impossible to the fly from the middle of the coil and Quill, Pale Watery Dun (with white wool handle a good fish with it, but I remem- went under and I, taken by surprise, re- body) Blue Dun and Wickham's Fancy, ber seeing old John put a fly with one of sponded with a violent strike and left fly all on gut. Why I also bought a dozen them (with the wind) right across the and cast and all but the loop with the Champion May flies I don't know, un- widest part of Old Barge, hook his trout fish. It was the biggest trout I had ever less it was that John Hammond was too and bring it rolling across to the net at hooked or even seen hooked. good a salesman for me. I never had a his feet. The fly was the Pale Watery After leaving Winchester I spent a chance to use them, for the May fly had Dun which Hammond called by some year in the Channel Islands doing a little recently disappeared from the Old Barge name like Infallible or Irresistible - I sea fishing and some carp fishing on a with the digging of gravel from the bot- took it out of the trout's mouth. private pond but having no opportunities tom by the City Fathers. It was a long Fairly early in that season I lost half of fishing with the fly. During the win- time before I caught my first trout. I a yard of gut in a trout. The cast was a ter I had an accident in the football field
Page 4 in which I sprained both my wrists so badly that they have never recovered. Indeed for many years afterwards it pained me to write for half an hour at a stretch. Frank Buckland, whose scob (box writ backwards) I inherited at Winchest- er, was running the rival paper of the Field, Land and Water and I used to study the angling matter in both relig- iously - but until 1883 when I began to earn a little money, res angusta pre- vented me from doing anything in the way of fishing with the fly beyond a few attempts on the dace and chub of the 'Thames. In 1879 I became convinced that my fly rod of Winchester days was quite unsuited for fly fishing or any other purpose -and I purchased of Bow- ness of the Strand a general rod which by using alternate butts and a variety of tops was capable of being converted into anything from a big to a small pike rod, a bottom rod and an 11 foot fly rod. 111 .Ilc,qplrst uj ISSO, this si~~lplc.stu?~c br~lch ruas u~lz~eil~rl011 the banks of the river Knowing no better I took immense pride Itc/rc*11as cr mr~norialto (;.E.iZI. Skucs. The plaque reads "171 memory of G.E.hI. Skues in it and it sewed me for a variety of who fished these waters from 1883 to 1938. A mall who had a way with a trout." purposes for several years till 1887. A It was built with fu?zds raised from Ep~glishflyfishrrs. tackle dealer in Russell Street, Covent Garden, named Sexton Biggs I used to visit on my way home to my diggings and he put me on to what I found quite subject of fly dressing. appalling trash in pursuit of that ambi- the best Thames chub fly - a palmer In 1887, my holiday was in July and tion. I destroyed all of it long ago, being tied with black hackle dyed a strong I spent it with friends on the Wear catch- convinced that I have not the faculty for magenta, and I often used it on the ing a good many smallish trout on flies writing drama. Thames - until the river manners - or of my own make - nothing quite up to In August 1890 I had a weekend at want of manners - of foreigners dis- 314 Ibs. I got most by casting from mid- Sutton Scotney on the Dover as a guest gusted me with that river and I aban- stream to the banks and stripping my of Mr. Nicoll and caught some pretty doned it in favour of better opportun- flies outwards. It lured many small trout trout of about a pound and a quarter ities elsewhere. to slash at the flies, mainly red spinners average. He told me (and he seemed to Sexton Biggs was not the only tackle tied with flat gut dyed bright orange. I be right) that no fly but the Red Quill recall observing Olive Spinners. At this shop I haunted - Carter and Peck was was needed on his water. On the Monday another and indeed I used to look the Mr. F. M. Halford sneered. when I men- we drove over to the Itchen and fished dealers up in a Directory and spent win- tioned it some years later, saying that Mr. Cox's water. What a difference! The ter Saturday afternoons visiting them there was no such fly - but afterwards fish, as almost always, were as persnick- and yearning over the treasures I could he relented. ety as possible. not afford to buy and occasionally yield- During this and several subsequent In the autumn of 1891 I had a week ing to temptation and buying some quite years I spent many of my holiday after- with my brother C.A.M.S. on the Teme. noons in the British Museum reducing useless article. My later angling experiences are, I into set formula the dressings of innum- In that year Mr. Irwin Cox gave me think, sufficiently dealt with in my erable trout flies as described by every my first day on the Itchen above Win- published books. angling writer on which I could lay my chester - and several more followed - hands and I have the material which I and from that time there was never a accumulated to this day. It had the merit year, down to his giving up the water at G.E.M. Skues was, of course, one of of showing me what effect could be got the end of 1918, that owing to his kind- the giants of Twentieth Century angling, ness I did not enjoy fishing on that beau- with various materials and so eventually contributing many important books and tiful and extremely difficult water. At enabling me to discard the formula of ideas to the sport. He died in 1949. His the various authorities and dress patterns first I had only odd days, but when he unpublished autobiography, Trivialities saw how desperately keen I was he got to my own ideas. of a Long Life, by a Person of No Con- into the habit of sending me a compre- In 1888, I made my first contribu- sequence, is part of the manuscript file hensive ticket which allowed me to go tion to angling literature in the form of in the Kienbusch Angling Collection at down whenever I liked. Hut until 1916 a somewhat bitterly worded protest a- Princeton University. The manuscript Sunday fishing was barred. For some gainst the discursive irrelevancies intro- was compiled and organized by C.A.M. years my fishing was purely empirical; duced into the bulk of the angling papers Skues, the angler's younger brother. This I had not a notion why one fly offered of that day (and not unknown at pres- article comprised chapter one of the a better chance than another - and it ent) and I signed myself "Val Conson." autobiography, and appears with the was not till Floating Flies and How to At that time I used to frequent the permission of Princeton University Li- Dress Them came out in 1887 that I theatre (pit entrance) a good deal and I brary. We thank Jim Merritt, Associate began to get ideas on the subject. In was consumed with ambition to be a dra- Director of Communications at Prince- that year I began to get interested in the matic author - and I perpetrated some ton, for his help with this article.
Page 5 Neversink Idyll in which thc author finds a Catshill Camelot on the eve of World War I1 by Maxine Atherton
John had met Edward Hewitt at rod fee each fishing season. And with camp, an old farmhouse near the river, the Anglers' Club of New York that arrangement John and I felt free to and generally we fished until dark. And shortly after we moved east from fish there at any time. I cooked a late supper on the old wood- San Francisco. He was known as Mr. Hewitt owned seven miles of the burning stove while my host and hus- the dean of anglers in the east Neversink, a lovely trout stream, very band sat in the kitchen talking about and was generally addressed as clear, and he had the riparian rights on fish, fish, fish, nothing but fish and fly- Mr. Hewitt. He was much older both sides. Very few other fishers came fishing until I thought they were daft. than John, but they had much in com- to fish there, generally we had the fish- However, I loved them dearly and mon and became close friends. ing to ourselves, and we seldom fished shall be forever grateful for what they I met that charming old gentleman together in one pool. There was no need; taught me about fly-fishing and the hab- the first time in 1939, and by then the Mr. Hewitt's section of the Neversink its of trout, especially brown trout, the stock market crash and Depression that had ideal natural pools, and he had made most erudite of the trout species. followed had forced him to charge his some excellent pools by putting up a Sometimes I sat on the bank and friends, whom he invited to fish his series of log dams. watched one of them fish. I recall a day water on the Neversink River, a small John and I stayed with him in his that I stopped along the river and watch-
Page 6 ed Mr. Hewitt fish one of the pools he used the roll cast and let the fly drop Edward Hewitt enjoying the fruits of had made. The low log dam had formed close to the bank, a bit below his stance, his labors: fishing one of the pools he two pools, one above and one below it. and the instant the fluffy fly touched built on his Neversink water. Mr. Ilewitt was wading knee-deep in the the water he lifted the rod tip, twitched middle of the upper pool, a long flat one, it slightly to set the long stiff hackles on and he was casting a fly to the opposite edge, began to strip in the line, and at side of the river, where the current had the same time jerked the rod in a man- net and released the trout while holding dug a channel close to the bank. Big ner that moved the fly in darts and stops the net under the water. brownies liked to rest under the over- across the surface, just like a real live "The skater seems to drive big fish hanging bank in the shade of branches skater. But it did not get far, for a huge crazy. But it's not always easy to hook hanging over the water, he said. And to brown trout shot out of the pool and fish with it," Mr. Hewitt said, wading to lure one out he had chosen a Hewitt water erupted in all directions. When the shore. Skater (like the spider as described in trout dove down on the fly Mr. Hewitt "You made it seem very easy," I said. John's book, The Fly and the Fish). To lifted the rod, struck, played the trout "You see," he said, holding the fly get the fly under the branches Mr. Hewitt until it tired, and then scooped it up in a out for me to examine, "to keep it light
Page 7 in weight the hackles are tied on a tiny hook, and that makes it easy for a Cis11 to spit out before you have time to strike. You should use it only to locate large trout. r\tld be careful not to let the fish feel the hook; if you do raise a large trout, change to a dry fly at once, a vari- ant is good, anti fish it carefully. Don't give up until the trout gets mad enough to take a swat at your fly. 'l'hat may take a hundred casts." lie then suggested I fish the lower pool, a small pool in which the water falling over the dam had dug an ideal hiding place for trout at the base of the dam. And he added three feet of 4x tippet to my nine-foot gut leader (nylon leaders and floating lines had not yet come on the market) and he tied on a Hendrickson, the artificial that matched the natural flies over the water. Handing the rod to me, he said, "Stand well back, strip out the amount of line you'll need to reach the dam, and cast the fly as close to the base as you can. Somehow, I managed to drop the fly at the foot of the dam, and I started to strip in line at once, but then a silvery flash rising out of the dazzling dark green depths of clear water was my undoing. I yanked the fly away before what looked like a whale had a chance to get the hook inside its mouth. Mr. llewitt patted me on the shoulder, wished me better luck next time, and went off upriver. Of course Ile knew that smart brownie would not come up again, but I did not . . . until a couple of hours and an aching arm later. When Mr. Hewitt was not fishing he coulcl be found in his hatchery, working on experiments or improving his formula for a trout diet rich in protein, vitamins, amino acids, and everything nature had invented to make fish, and subsequently man, strong and healthy, as part of her program for the survival of the species. The hatchery was located near the old farmhouse at the bottom of a slope, and Mr. Hewitt had piped water from a lively spring brook, running down the hillside behind the camp, into the hatch- ery building, through two long table troughs, and then outside to small rear- ing ponds. Inside, the troughs were filled with trout fry and fingerlings which had been hatched from eggs fertilized by the largest and healthiest of the trout in the rearing ponds. And one of those ponds held six or seven brook trout averaging four to five pounds each! Mr. Hewitt said they had grown big because he fed them lights: a mixture of ground livers, gizards, hearts, and the like - a gourmet delight on the trout menu. One day I fished the Camp Pool all Maxine Atherton fishing the Little Bend Pool on the Upper Neversink. morning and failed to catch or raise a trout. At lunchtime I returned to camp
Page 8 Edward Hewitt's hospitality in- cluded a comfortable and shady lunch along the Neversink.
and announced to John and my host stream, saying that casting it overhead around in the current a couple inches that there were no fish in the Camp Pool might scare the trout. He made a couple under the surface near the big rock. I that day. Mr. Hewitt, who was very sen- of casts to get out enough line to reach caught and released every single one, six sitive to derogatory remarks about his to the opposite bank, about forty feet big brookies averaging from four to five pools, marched out to the hatchery with away, and then he lifted the line from pounds each! not a word, returned to the kitchen with the water and cast it to the opposite At lunchtime I returned to camp vic- a pail of lights, and invited me to follow bank, a bit above his stance. He cast torious, elated, and irrepressible. And as him. I followed him down to the pool slack in the line by jerking the rod tip I described, play by play, just how I had in question and watched as he dumped backward a bit at the end of the for- outwitted each monster, my astonished the lights over the water. The pool ward cast, and the instant the streamer husband turned to our host wide-eyed, exploded trout! touched the water he lifted the rod and asking for an explanation. "You see," he said, smiling at me, tossed the loop of slack line upstream. Mr. Hewitt nodded and smiled, know- "they are there all right but are very He explained that he was using the ingly. "Yes," he said, "I planted them in smart. They've been caught and released greased-line method and was mending the river this morning and took her to more than once and are not likely to the line so the streamer could have a the river to teach them to be more cau- take an artificial readily." chance to sink a bit and swim down tious next time they saw a minnow with Very chagrined, 1 hung my head and along the bank underwater before the a hook on its bottom." followed him back to camp, silent, with current dragged it in a manner no real Later in the season Mr. Hewitt taught the humbling thought that he and John minnow would ever behave as it swung me how to fish a nymph by using the had no trouble catching wise old brown- around in the current at the end of the greased-line method. I was delighted to ies in that pool. cast. discover that when trout were feeding .John could do anything with a fly, His purpose, he said, was to show the under the surface, fishing with a nymph and I learned about dry fly fishing from streamer to any trout that might be rest- could be as much fun as dry fly fishing. him. When trees and brush interfered ing under the overhanging bank on the I look back at that time when John with his backcast he directed the fly in other side. He then handed the rod to and I fished the Neversink with Mr. the space over the river and changed its me, advised me to fish down to the end Hewitt as one of the happiest periods direction in midair on the forward cast. of the run, where a boulder protruded of my life, despite what Hitler and Mr. Hewitt said John had perfect timing above water, and asked me to release Mussolini were doing abroad. Ironically, and coordination between arm and eye. any trout I might catch that morning. today Mr. Hewitt's water in the Never- And I said his movements were as grace- "Fish carefully around the big rock," he sink, and his camp and hatchery too, ful as those of a ballet dancer. said, and then he wished me good luck are covered over by a reservoir for New One day Mr. Hewitt took me to the and left.me to my own devices. York City. river, greased my line, tied on a heavy I had a terrible time. The streamer gut leader with a strong 2x tippet, and was heavier than any fly I had ever cast on it he tied a Neversink Streamer, his before; it simply would not behave as it Maxine Atherton needs no introduc- own pattern, which he said was meant had for Mr. Hewitt. tion to anglers; she hasfihed widely and to represent a minnow. He then waded However, the six huge brook trout he well, and the episodes recounted in this into the river and stopped at the head of had taken out of the hatchery and plant- article are only a small part of her color- a run. I followed and stood beside him ed around the rock early that morning ful experience. "Neversink Idyll" is part as he demonstrated how he wanted me were very gullible. Each one hooked it- of a book manuscript she is currently to fish. To get line out, he cast it up- self securely when the streamer swung writing.
Page 9 Range1ey Reflections We recently received some wottderful stereoscopic views of Maine's Rangeley Repion. They are entitled "Richardson & Rangeley Lakes Illustrated - Choice Bits of Romantic New England - C.A.J. Farrar, Publisher, Jamaica Plain, Mass." Above is the famous Upper Dam (probably in the 1870s) that divides Mooselookmeguntic and Richardson Lakes. To the left is Middle Dam, at the lower end of Lake Weloke?zebacook (i.e. Lower Richard- son). On page 11, upper left, is a view entitled "Arm of the Lake," which we suspect is on Richardson Lake, but we aren't sure. Do our readers recognize this scene? Be- low it is Middle Dam Camp, probably about 1877. At that time it was under the control of the Oxford Club. Upper right on page I I is an interior view of Camp Ken- nebago, and below it is a non-stereoscopic photo we re- cently received of the exterior of Camp Kennebago. The camp was constructed starting in about 1869 and became the headquarters of the Oquossoc Angling Association, which had a membership limited to seventy-five with annual dues of twenty-five dollars.
Recent Aquisitions
It has been ?zearly two years since we Vermont around the turn of the cen- Leon Martuch - sixteen rods from the listed recent gifts to the hluseum, and tury). collection of Leon P. Martuch, includ- so the list is quite long. We'll plan to Frank Fletcher - 1I.A. Whittemore Kos- ing: Hardy Palakona Gold hledal 12' list library acquisitions (including books, mic 8 ft. 3 in. fly rod with celluloid salmon rod; Frank Wire 7 It. 7 in. five- catalogs, and assorted manuscripts) in a reel seat, c. 1900. strip cane rod; Heddon hlodel 14 8% later issue. Because of the great amount Arthur Frey - Abbie & Imbrie Ihplex ft. fly rod; two llardy Palakona Phan- of material we receive it's impossible to fly/cast combination 9% It. rod; \Vin- tom Salmon Rods, 8% ft. and 9 It.; give the kind of detail we'd like to give ston 9 ft. 3 in. fly rod; Jack Schneider early Phillipson fiberglass 7 It. fly rod; about each item, but we think this list- 9 ft. fly rod. Heddon Expert 125 7% ft. fly rod; ing is still quite useful; it shows thegreat Major Henry Forester - Hardy 14 ft. H.L. Leonard 7% ft. Tournament fly array of items being received and it gives Palakona Victoria salmon rod. rod; several early fiberglass rods. us a chance to acktzowledge the gener- Sara Gillespie - a collection of thirteen Mrs. Max Matthes - Orvis "Dry Fly" osity of many people. rods from the Carsten Tiedeman es- 8% ft. fly rod, c. 1930. This list does not itlclude items do- tate, including several modern fiber- William Munroe - Payne 9 ft. 3 pc. fly ?luted for our auctions. LYe list those glass rods, a Heddon Featherweight rod. donors in the Museum News section of fly rod and a Paul Young Midge fly rod. Donald Owen - Heddon #10 fly rod and the magazine when we report on the Katherine Holden - Custom built fly unidentified antique rod. auctions. rod made by George Parker Holden, Leigh Perkins-- 10% ft. unidentified author of Idyl of The Split Bamboo greenheart fly rod. and other books. 7% ft. fly rod, two Lee Richardson - E.C. Powell 8% ft. fly RODS pc., built in 1932. rod made especially for Lee Richardson Howard Baetjer - three rods, including Timothy Hollander - Hardy 10 ft. fly by E.C. Powell. an F.E. Thomas Special, 13% ft. fly rod with locking ferrules. Donald Ross -- lancewood fly rod built rod and a Malloch 16% ft. greenheart Bart Jacob - Horrocks-Ibbotson by Ed Smith, c. 1890. fly rod. "Tonka-Glass" 8 ft. rod, combination Mrs. Edwin Schoen - seven rods, includ- Richard Bauer -- F.E. Thomas 9% ft. cane and fiberglass. ing two F.E. Thomas Hangor rods, a Dirigo fly rod once owned by Charles MargaretJones- two salmon rods; Thornas 9 ft. Special, and two Payne Stechel. Hardy Palakona 11% ft., and Scribner's rods, 8% ft. and 9 It. Neil Beckwith - three antique fly rods: 16% ft. greenheart rod. Paul Schwindt - three rods by 'I'homas one by Frost, one by D.S. & K. Hub, Joseph King - A.W. Gamage 12% ft. Conroy, c. 1890: 12 ft. 3-pc. fly rod and one unknown. salmon rod used by Zane Grey in of four-strip construction; 10 ft. fly/ William Cass - Pflueger/Goodyear 9 ft. New Zealand. cast combination; 9 ft. casting rod, all fly rod and a Heddon "Premier 115" Mrs. John Knott - seven rods, including three with Conroy patent reel seat. 8% ft. fly rod. a c. 1890 9 ft. Orvis; a 9 ft. George Philip Townley - Charles Murphy 9% ft. Winthrop Murray Crane - H.L. Leonard Burtis presentation rod, 1915; a William fly rod, 3-pc.; entire rod has been 13 ft. salmon rod, c. 1920. Mitchell 7 ft. Calcutta cane fly rod with "silkien" wrapped with clear thread. Charles B. Cumings - six rods from the patented handle; and a Thomas Conroy Mrs. R. Van der Straeten - collection of collection of the late Ed Cumings, well- 8 ft. greenheart fly rod. rods, including H.L. Leonard Tourna- known Michigan tackle dealer, includ- Richard Kress - Goodwin Granger ment fly rod and Von Lengerke and ing a 9 ft. Divine fly rod, an 8 ft. 9 in. Champion 9 ft. fly rod. Detmold fly rod, c. 1890. Hardy Monogram fly rod, and two Ed Kenneth Leonard - Thomas Chubb Su- George Whitney - B.F. Nichols 10% ft. Cumings Greenleafs (one custom fitted perb 9 ft. fly rod (Mr. Leonard also fly rod. to Ed Cumings). donated an outstanding fish recipe to Mrs. Bruce Dunsmore - lancewood 9% the Director). REELS ft. fly rod owned by Redfield Proctor Bruce de Lis - custom fiberglass rod by (Secretary of War and Governor of noted builder Cliff Wyatt. hlrs. William Bell - small raised-pillar
Page 12 fly reel, unknown date. Anzong the rc,cently rtjceiz~cdrrcls are these. Starting in the lower left, a Leon-
Kay Hrodney -- Garcia Delta 3 nod ern ard-dlills trout fly rrrl, a highly clrsirable collectible donated by Mrs. Henry Van fly reel. (.'lt.c,,f. Aborle thc, Leonard is a hard-to-fincl Aleisselbach Catucci Symploreel, one of R.1.T. Hronstad, Jr. 4 in. dia. wooden the most sought-aftcrr of all ~\leissclbachs. Above it is a fine Edward Vom Hofe trolling reel. nzultiplier, also >p.z~e,nto the .Ifusrum by Mrs. Van Cleef. To the right of the Vom J.hl. Burrall - unidentified aluininu~n Ilofe i.r a Ilolmes reel (the company was L. W. Holmes, of Oronoque, Connecticut) n~ultiplyingreel, c. 1900. that was used for many ycsars by the late C. Jinz Pray, famous steelhead fly tier. It Frank Fletcher Hartly Uniqua fly reel. was donated by Harry (;eron. Beluw the tlolmes is an early design prototype of
Sara (;illespie - nine fly reels fro111 the the rzow-famous Oruis C.1-:O. reel, donated by Orvis. Below the Oruis is a brass estate of Carsten Tieden~an, mostly .\lalluc-h reel. circa 1900, donated by Cl'illiam Sipperly. In the center, bottom row, various Pflueger hledalist nlodels. is ail .lbbt.), B Imbrie circa 1890 rcel donated by Anita Page. In the center of the
Alec Jackson - antique raised-pillar reel ,group is a zlery small brass reel, unusual in that its pillars are raised; raised pillar with horse-hair line; reel has ivory reels did not become well-k~zownuntil both Conroy and Leonard began producing handle. them well after thc Civil War, and this reel in every other respect appears to be
John Kinnane - Julius Vo~nHole cast- oldrr than that. Our assessment of its age is reinforced by the horsehair line it ing reel, c. 1890. /~oltls.It was donated by Alec Jacksom. The photograph is by Ron Coppock.
John hgackiewic~- Pioneer Sports (New Ilclhi, India) Flyfish aluminum trout reel built in India.
Mrs. Max Matthes - R.lcVickar Ilushkill
Page 13 John Knight Waters - small anti qu e brass reel, c. 1900.
FLIES Pierre Affre - dry fly box inscribed ' from Jon Tarantino to Charles Ritz. Box is full of flies, owned and used by Charles Ritz. Frank Amato - an original Skunk steel- head fly, tied by Mildred Kogel, the developer of the pattern. Maxine Atherton - a large collection of flies tied and used by her late husband and author of The Fly and the Fish, John Atherton. Joseph Beck - Wheatley 32-compart- ment fly box with 130 assorted Scot- tish flies; framed shadow box contain- ing an Alex Martin parachute dry fly from the 1930s and a letter telling the origin of the pattern; west coast salmon and streamer patterns by Bob Zimmer- man. AlBrewster-twenty-seven assorted flies, some originated by Mr. Brewster, and all tied by him. Henry Bruns - four flies tied by Don Martinez, famed western tier. Rodolphe Coigney - fifteen assorted nymphs and salmon flies tied by the late Charles De Feo. D.C. Corkran - fourteen assorted Irish salmon flies tied by Garnetts & Kee- gans of Dublin. Charles B. Cumings - the sample fly pat- tern case of Ed Cumings, Michigan tackle dealer; case includes three glass cylinders with a total of 28 assorted sample patterns. Wes Drain - five wet fly steelhead pat- terns tied by Mr. Drain. Lindley Eberstadt - unique handwritten book containing 157 flies and extensive notations on their use in the late 19th and early 20th century; leather fly book in slip case, containing 169 assorted wet flies and seven bound-in original pen and ink drawings of fishing scenes from the early 1880s. Six of these The top jly is an original Lunn's Particular, tied many years ago by drawings appeared in the Museum mag- the famous English Riverkeeper William Lunn and donated to the Mu- azine, Winter 1980. seum by Dermot Wilson. The lower jly is a Whirling Blue Dun tied by Chico Fernandez - twenty-five assorted Emlyn Gill, author of Practical Dry Fly Fishing (1912); it's part of the saltwater patterns, many originated by Jennings Fly Collection donated by George Stagg. Mr. Fernandez. Keith Fulsher - ten Thunder Creek bait- fish imitations, originated and tied by Trout Reel. Mrs. Edwin Schoen - seven Hardy reels, Mr. Fulsher. Donald Noel - Horrocks-Ibbotson Vern- including two St. George, a St. George Katherine Holden - 146 assorted flies ley Trout Reel. Junior, a Uniqua, a St. John, and two tied and used by George Parker Holden, Orvis - early prototype experimental Perfects, in various diameters. in two boxes. One box has Dr. Holden's model of the modern C.F.O. reel. William Sipperly - Malloch brass reel name inscribed in the top. Donald Owen - Martin Number 2 auto- with ivory handle. Fred Houwink - two framed sets of matic aluminum fly reel. Mrs. Henry Van Cleef - Leonard Mills Current River (Missouri) feather- and Anita Page - Abbey & Imbrie fly reel fly reel and Edward Vom Hofe Multi- hair-winged flies used in the 1920s. with 1889 patent. plier trout reel. Bob -lacklin - five hand-woven Bar X Leigh Perkins - eleven reels, including: V.C. Warren - Bache Browne-Airex flies, marketed some years ago in Butte, Rudal Aluminum trout reel; Farlow Mastereel, c. 1947; one of the fist Montana. Ambassador salmon reel; Hardy Mar- popular modern' spinning reels in Alec Jackson - steelhead wet flies tied quis multiplier; Pridex trout reel. America. by Jim Pray (one) and Brace Hayden
Page 14 (six); 28 assorted Alex hlartin para- chute and realistic flies; 60 assortetl New Zealand streamers, including many hlatuka variations. Walt Johnson -- four wet fly steelhead patterns tied by hfr. Johnson. tlarry LeMire - two dry fly and five wet fly steelhead patterns tlevelopetl and tied by Mr. LeMire. Alvan Macauley - five Orvis trout flies mounted on sales cards from Joseph Marks S- Co., Detroit.
John Mackiewicz - five wet flies for use in India, tied in India. Ed Shenk - assortetl original patterns by Mr. Shenk, including cress bugs, hop- pers, sculpins, and double spinners. Anne Sitnoneau - four Tuttle deer hair bugs.
William Sipperly - three antique leather fly books containing an assortment of wet flies. George Stagg - the Preston Jennings fly collection, containing more than 1,100 flies that were gathered by Preston Jennings while researching fly fishing subjects. The collection includes flies by most of the 20th century's most famous tiers, including Skues, Gordon, Jennings, La Branche, Hewitt. Harding, Southard, I)e Feo, Gill, and many others. Roswell Truman - 106 assorted Aber- A General Money steelhead fly, tied by General Noel Money, one of crombie & Fitch trout flies formerly the foremost flyfishers in British Columbia history, who died in 1941. owned by James Cobb, President of Roderick Haig-Brown dedicated his masterpiece The Western Angler to Abercrombie & Fitch. General Money. Karl Upton - five cork-bodied bass bugs, C. 1930-40.
Jim Victorine - three variations on the Army hledical Department in World Richard Kress - several William Mills gut Rusty Squirrel steelhead fly. War I1 to wounded soldiers for thera- leaders and an antique collapsible fish- James Waddell - antique leather fly peutic fly-tying sessions. ing net. book with 31 snelled wet flies. Coleman Lake Club (Wisconsin) - Alvan Macauley - Allcock aluminum Dermot Wilson - a Lunn's Particular woven wicker creel with canvas strap, wet fly box. trout dry fly, tied by William Lunn. c.1920. Leon Martuch - a large collection of fly George Cook I11 - two large pre-1940 fishing accessories, including various fly wicker creels and two small belt-looped boxes, leaders, fly treatments, and fly bait boxes. lines, including a customized Garcia fly ART & MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS Robert Cruickshank - 2 Weber leader- line that was probably the first proto- Jack Brewton - seven William Schaldach soaking tins and a Hamilton fishing type sink-tip line. Eight assorted fly etchings; Salmon at a Waterfall, White- jacket, c. 1940. rod tubes, of various materials, includ- water, Leaping Ouananiche, Three Charles Cumings - assorted fishing ac- ing early models by Scientific Anglers Trout, Sunny Run (Brown Trout), cessories of Ed Cumings, including a and Shakespeare. Barnhart's Pool - Beaverkill, Leaping Cumings Carryall fishing jacket, and Frank Matarelli - a collection of prate Tarpon. two landing nets. types of fly tying tools, including vari- Robert Buckmaster - approximately Harold Demarest - various fishing ac- ous open-frame bobbins, whip finishing 400 trout fly hooks of various sizes, cessories for use with Japanese light tools, and bobbin threaders, invented mostly for snells, many in original tackle fishing, including floats, snelled by Mr. Matarelli. packages (Horrocks & Ibbotson, IIarri- hooks, and leaders. William Siebert - 36 assorted William son, Hemming, Woodfield, Conroy); L.W. Farmer - an Outers locater trian- Mills gut leaders in new condition. hooks were owned by the famous gulation device and a Duffy antique Donald Owen - a wooden fly line spool writer conservationist Emerson Hough, fish scaler, c. 1910. for storing spare lines.
pre-1930. Joseph Hubert - S. Sandstrom print Anita Page - antique Richardson collaps- Ken Cameron -- two fly paintings by "Atlantic Salmon - Safely Grassed," ible landing net. Herb Jones; Austin Hogan watercolor from an edition of 100 to accompany Leigh Perkins - Fye-type metal fly box of 18 flies; four Austin Hogan pencil the publication of Salmon - Salmon. with shoulder straps. sketches of flies; Churchill Ettinger David Kashner - a large collection of Dale Worfel - Allcock's gut leader. etching "Nearly Netted." Ray Bergman hooks for fly tying, in- Ed Zern - a vest patch from the Half-
William Cass - eight boxes of Herter's cluding various price lists and corres- Limit Club, organized by John Alden barbless hooks and one box of E. Hille pondence from Ray Bergman and A.I. Knight about 1948 to promote conser- #10 hooks that were issued by the Alexander. vative killing of fish.
Page 15 An assortment of recent acquigi- Sons f-m many sources. The rod in the upper left is e Gamage "Chd- lenge,""ef e and a half feet Iu~zg~ that was used by Zane Grey during one of his viSE'ts to New Zealand, probrrbty in the 1920s. ft was donated by Joseph King. In the upper right h a two-place ~euen-foot,sevejz-inch fty rod buitt by Frank Wire, a promi~~erzt westem rodbuilder; the rod is of five- sided const~uctioon,and was donated by Leon Mgrttah. Below the Mite rod is a rattan-handled Chartes Murphy rod? the third ZR the Museum % ccollec- tion. The rod is nine end a katf feet long* three-piece, with two tips, and is entirely wrapped with clear thread k the style of "SiZkien" urapfiings used on some Thomas Chubb rods. A seems likely that this wrapping took piwe after the rod was sold by Murphy. It also seems probaba-bCe that the entire rod was refi'nished at the same time, bemuse it lacks the intev- medisk win& that apparently weye standad on Murphy rods, nte rod was originaily owned by Dr. William Andreus of Newark, New Jessey. Dr. Andrews was a near neighbor of Murphy Usee Vvlume Seven, Num- ber Three, of the magrrzie for more on Murphy), and apparently fighed with him in New Jersey and the Cats- kills. Dr. Andpews had been a C@tak and o swgeon in the Union Army in the CbiZ War, and died in 1913. The rod was danated by ht grwds~n, Philip B. Townley- The bottom rod is an eight md e half foot E. C. Powell rod built &yPowell for the well-known western outdoor rn-ter Lee Richard- son and donated by Mr. Richavdson. The three gdnss tubes containing flies are part e?f a large gzyt of mem- orabdtia relating to the Ed Cumings tackle that has been well known in Michigan for mare than half a centllrq2. The flies were samples, ear- ried to show tackle dealers what th@ Cumdngs product looked like. From that same gzft came thd antiqzce la71d- ing net in the Cower left. The Cumings collection was donated by CEawles B. Cu mings. The flat wooen wee1 was a gift of the Coleman Lake Club of Goodman+ Wdconsin. The leaders were @en by Willi~mSi~bert, Jr., $art of a large assortment of Wibiiam Milts gut leczd- ers in their origrkd packages. Thcr Churchill Ettinger etching, 'WarSy Netted," was danatad by Kenneth Ckrn~ron,and the William Schaldach etchkg "Leaping Ta~plon,'" was donated by Jack Brewton. photograph by Ron Coppock I Tackle catalog cover girl Carrie J. Frost proudly displayed this trophy trout she caught, in 191 7. Stevens Point, Wisconsin, 1940
FlvA tving.' Capital of the World bv Susie Isaksen
An order of flies from England She talked the family's housekeeper and one of Carrie Frost's biggest buyers) failed to arrive in Stevens Point, into lending a hand. Still, the orders was named manager and treasurer of Wis., on time for opening day in multiplied. More help was recruited from Frost Fishing Tackle. Investors in the the spring of 1896. This circum- other women willing to tie for what be- deal included two brothers in the gro- stance, unfortunate as it seemed came the C. J. Frost Co., incorporated cery wholesale business, A. M. and Clin- at the time, eventually hatched by Carrie and her brother George W. ton Copps of Stevens Point, and Herbert into an enterprise producing flies Frost. Weber of South Bend, Ind. Edward C. in such numbers as to rival the myriads The flies were good. Orders were Wotruba of Stevens Point joined in as Awhich rise off a central Wisconsin stream filled promptly and accurately. Not sur- sales manager and secretary in 1921 on a prime midsummer's night. prisingly, there turned out to be an in- when Oscar Weber left Frost Tackle to Carrie J. Frost, ace fishing partner satiably hungry market for a competent start Weber Lifelike Fly Co. The Copps and daughter of the flyless angler, took source of domestic flies. The delays of brothers left Frost Tackle to finance a look at the flies her father did have, dealing by mail with distant-but-tradi- Weber. Carrie Frost remained loyal to mangy remains of seasons past, and de- tional English houses had frustrated A- and active in Frost Tackle. cided to tie some herself. She did a beau- merican flyfishers for years. There were In 1926, Oscar Weber bought out tiful job, creating replicas of the English many successful individual American ty- Frost Tackle and everyone (except Dan patterns that pleased her delighted dad ers and other company endeavors such Frost who sold out) joined together a- easily enough. It was a bit tougher, as the seven-women Orvis flytying oper- gain under the Weber Lifelike Fly Co. though, to please the brook trout for ation begun by Mary Orvis Marbury name. which the Stevens Point sand country during the 1870s. It was Carrie Frost, Meanwhile, Carrie's brother George streams are still famous. Her flies passed however, who catered to the hardware had started (in 1920) his own separate even this ultimate test with flying colors. store market and surpassed all others competing company. His sons eventually John C. Frost became the envy of his in volume. joined in to form G. W. Frost & Sons, many fishing friends because of his fish- By 1910, Frost's cottage-style indus- capitalizing on the Frost name. This par- ing prowess and especially because of his try had transformed into a downtown ticular limb of the Stevens Point tyers clever daughter and her skill. Beaming Stevens Point flytying factory where never achieved the national sales prom- and boasting with all due pride, he lined women worked at long tables divided inence enjoyed by the Weber group. his daughter up with orders by the score. off into individual lamp-and-vise cub- Oscar Weber was an innovative guy So many, in fact, that Carrie, working icles. There were almost 100 women who delighted in retaining his lead as out of the Frost family home in Stevens working in two factory buildings when, America's biggest (at least so far as this Point, had more business than she could in 1920, Carrie sold her business to Dan author can tell) purveyor of flies. Pub- handle. Frost, unrelated but wealthy business- licity stunts and big splashy ads were the man and president of Citizens National marks of his distinct business style. With Copyright, 1981, Susie Isaksen. Not Bank, Stevens Point. Oscar L. Weber great fanfare, he hired W. G. Hogg of to be reproduced without written per- (formerly employed by Kelley-Howe Co. Inverness, Scotland, to come to Stevens missiolz from the author. of Duluth, Minn., hardware distributors Point and show Weber tiers the true and
Oscar L. Weber; photo courtesy of Weber International, Znc.
l~istoricallyaccurate way to tie the very "Fly Rod" Bill Cook, expert local fly- But Oscar Weber wasn't able to at- popular Scotch salmon flies. liogg, who fisher, was hired during the late 1920s tract all the limelight. He had too good had tied for Hardy brothers and a few and sent to the northeastern United a thing going. Joseph Worth, a heating others, was probably never so famous as States to introduce and promote fly- equipment engineer and inventor, sold he was in the mid-1920s when Oscar fishing and Weber's by-then full line of the Kleenaire Corp. he had founded and, Weher saw to it that his American flies and accessories (fly lines, dressings, in 1940, bought Olsen Bait Co. of Chip- tour was noted in the national sporting dry-fly floatant, gut leaders, etc.). Lots pewa Falls, Wis. Worth moved the com- magazines. of attention focused too on the trout pany to Stevens Point, renamed it The hatchery Weber established near Stevens Worth Co., and expanded it into flies. Point in 1930. With Worth's arrival, Stevens Point The LVeber Company, though its prod- Full page color ads in Field & Stream secured, far beyond all other claims, the ucts are not now prized by classic rod touted Weber products. There were: title of "Fly Tying Capital of the World." and reel collectors, produced some fine Weber's own original Hornberg Special, By the mid 1940s over 500 local tiers, equipment. Both the rods pictured from a wet-or-dry trout fly first made in about mostly women working in factories, the hluseum collection are well made and 1930 and named after (if not also de- made over 10 million flies each year. It attractiz~e.The upper rod is an eight and veloped by) local conservation warden was a phenomenal total considering that a half foot, three piece model. The lower and flyfisher Frank Hornberg; "Hell On Orvis, one of the (if not the) biggest con- rod is a ".A. Henshall" model, three- Bass - famous killer" flies, introduced temporary fly sales outfits, last year sold piece, eight feet long, sold in 1934. The by Weber in the late 1920s and popular- 480,000 flies - more than in any of its upper reel is a Kalahatch Fly Reel Num- izing forked-tail scissor-action streamers other 125 years in the business. Of the ber 400 (in the 1931 catalog the word is as "irresistible" modifications to 12 well- Orvis total, 468,000 were tied by Amer- spelled Calahatch). The lower reel is known patterns; the Whiskerbug, devel- ican flyfishers, most of them men, work- Ll'eber's famous Webcr Henshall Number oped by Weber during the mid 1920s ing at home. 104. The three streamers are from the and sold as "weedless wonders" inten- Weber Co. produced roughly half the 1930s, and were donated by Robert tionally tied with stiff bucktail hair pre- Stevens Point total, employing 350 wom- Cruickshank. The upper catalog is from ceding the hook to assure a snag-free re- en with wholesale fly sales running about 1931, and the lower catalog is from trieve; and "Paired Cocked Wing" wet- one million dollars annually. G. W. Frost 192.5; both were loaned to the author or-dry flies with upright and divided & Sons was second in fly production. for use in this article by the Weber peo- wings offered in 72 classic patterns. Worth sales ran about a quarter million ple. The center catalog is from 1939, Anyone who fished knew the slogans: dollars annually, much, but not all, from and is part of the Museum collection. "Fish Fight for Frost Flies," and "If the sale of flies made by 160 fulltime The photograph is by Ron Coppock. Web Makes It Fish Take It." workers assisted by 20 or 30 part time
Page 21 Abozre: part of the Weber operation in the late 1940s, when the Stevens Point companies shared a revolving pool of 500 workers and produc- ed ten million flies a year. Left: a worker's rest area at Weber about the same time; competition among the Stevens Point companies compelled employers to provide extra benefits such as this. Both photos cour- tesy of Weber Inter- national. Inc.
Page 22 control was nonexistent. nylon absorbs up to 5 percent of its Other less prolific protlucers in the "'l'hen Japanese quality improved weight in water. The spindles froze up Stevens Point fly tying conlplex inclutl- while American labor costs kept accel- and most of the reels ended up back in ctl: llass 1Io11rl (soltl to \Yeller in the late erating. Japanese labor costs increased the factory. We bored out the center l!)L'Os): Plantigo (soltl to \Yeller in the too but nowhere near as rapidly as ours posts and put in brass bushings. The re- earl!. 1940s); ant1 Jlarathon 'l'ackle (10. did. .\n~ericanpolicy was to encourage psired reels were marvelous but we had of \\';lu.cau. \\'is.. n.hich ~naintainetla fly the reclevelop~nent of our former ene- spoiled the market." t\.ing fi~ctoryas a 1,ranch operation in ~niesso protective import duties antl Weber Tackle coasted through the Stt-\.ens I'oint (Alarathon .l'ackle is sepa- quotas on flies were political impossi- 50s with a short-lived Stren distributor- rate from \larathon Rul)bcr I'rotlucts bilities. ship. In 1956, they started making foam "\t'e were faced with a choice; either buckets and coolers for live bait, six 1:ach company conducted fly tying import flies or make a patriotic appeal packs and picnics. They also got into training courses, recruiting nearly all the to flyfishers to buy 'made in U.S.A.' salt water terminal tackle with a dazzling young wolnen seeking work out of each quality. We tried the latter. It was a line of wiggling plastic "skirts" and trolls year's high school graduating class. noble idea but it ciitln't work." sold under the name "Hoochy." Now \lost trainees coultl master the easy CVeber couldn't get much going either. under the direction of Remer Hutchin- pan fish flies which sold for 35 cents per They obtained an exclusive arrangement son, who bought the company from the tlo~enwholesale. 'I'hey were hired to to sell cheap Japanese flies through their Wotruba family in 1979, Weber Inter- make 16 or 18 dozen of them daily at network of sales representatives. hut the national Inc. continues to make a broad
the basic hourly wage of 35 cents. 'I'he deal lasted less than a year - foreign line of fishing tackle and accessories. very .best tiers only 5 percent of those suppliers undercut the clistributors and Note, though, that Weber never got taken on for training ant1 only after two started selling directly to retailers. wholly out of the fly business. Over the years of experience were given Inore "The second factor drowning our fly years, they continued to tie high-grade than an hour to complete one of the business was the advent of spinning," specialty flies - Hornbergs, Irresistibles, more complex Scotch sal~nonflies which recalletl Worth. "Servicemen returning salmon flies. In recent years, they have \vholesaled for from 43 to %6 per dozen home from 1;urope brought back equip- been supplying a few western accounts. tlepending on the pattern. Piecework ment for spinning or 'thread fishing' as More significantly, they have been mak- bonuses were paid to those able to pro- it was called in England. It was Bob Abb, ing 5,000 dozen flies per year for surviv- duce more than the espectecl minimums. it LVeber employee, who brought the first al kits for all U.S. government planes 'l'he standard wage worked out to annual spinning gear to Stevens Point. and boats. (Each survival kit contains pay of 5728 with the better tiers earn- "czarcia, . recognizing a golden and eight flies.) They also make decorative ing as much as 20 percent more or $900. timely opportunity, jumped into spin- flies for manufacturers of cuff links and 1'0 put the pay rates in perspective: Boss ning in a big way. The new sport be- glasses. Interestingly, Japan has turned Joseph Worth bought a brand new 1941 came quite a fad. Fly fishermen changed out to be a surprisingly good place for Plymouth Special Ikluxe, snazziest thing over, some making a complete switch Weber to sell their Weedless Moussies for on the road that year. for 5885 less a while others still took their fly gear along $5 each. Weber currently provides work $650 trade-in on his year-oltl car for a anti alternated between the two methods for 25 part time tiers working out of net cost of 3235. while astream. The net effect was that their homes and is considering setting Fly tiers capitalizing on the bonus fishermen started buying fewer and few- up a tying desk or two for stepped-up system out-earned factory assembly line er flies and more ancl more spinning factory production. workers and laborers. Actually, the tiers lures." The market for domestically tied flies were pampered. l'he various companies Worth Co. was well equipped to cash is making a strong comeback. However, scratnbled to hire each other's best tiers. in on the new market. They had never the nature of the sales game has changed. Air conditioning (at \Vorth) and luxuri- stopped making the old Olsen Bait Co. The old manufacturer-distributor-retailer ous restrooms were important prereq- Colorado and Indiana spinners designed sales system, backbone of the Stevens uisites to the production of quality flies. for use with worms. It was not too diffi- Point tiers, no longer works because most Some extremely skilled company-juggl- cult to weight them and adapt them for flyfishers no longer shop at hardware ing and secret-swapping prima donnas use with spinning gear. Also, flush from and discount stores. caused their juggled bosses no end of big war-time government contracts to grief. make split-rings used as retaining rings Acknowledgments No matter, really. 'l'he neighboring on military aircraft, Worth purchased competitors stayed on more or less Chippewa Spinner Co. of Eau Claire, Robert W. Worth, president of The friendly terms anyway because there Wis. Eventually, Worth phased out of Worth Co., and Edward C. Wotruba, re- was plenty of business for everyone. fly production, once half its annual tired former owner of Weber Tackle Co., Plenty of business for everyone, that business. and his son Edward C. Wotruba, Jr., gen- is, until 1949. l'he transition did not come so easily eral sales manager of Weber TacMe'Co., 'l'hen came the crash. at \Yeber where flies had been their main- graciously provided background infor- "l'herc were two post-war trends that stay. President Edward (;. Wotruba (the mation and interviews for this article. let1 to uur demise as fly tiers," explained former sales manager who had been with Both companies are conducted with an Robert \V. Worth (Joseph's son antl pres- the company since 1921 and had bought enlightened and refreshing sense of his- ent president of The \tlorth Co.). "I.'irst, out retiring Oscar Weber in 1947, 14 tory; both have maintained scrap books the Japanese started tnaking flies for the years after Carrie Frost's death) changed and saved items of historical interest. .\merican market. They had a huge the company name to Weber Tackle to source of cheap labor. 'l'heir flies hit the reflect his efforts to branch away from Susie Zsaksen, a long-time Trustee of L1.S. market at three for 25 cents while flies. the Museum, is the chief reason we have ours retailed for 50 cents each. .4t first "We tried a nylon fly reel in 1949 so many Wisconsin members. She is for- the Japanese creations were mostly junk; but it was an idea ahead of its time," mer Editor of Trout Unlimited's Action tied by ladies working at home without explained Wotruba. "After we had made Line and writes on a wide variety of out- benefit of training or supervision. (luality them and sold several, we learned that door-related topics.
Page 23 Montana Odyssey 6). G~O,C Grant The better part of the first two decades of my life had little to do with trout fishing and noth- ing at all to do with flytying. Horn in Butte, Montana, a rough- and-ready mining town, in 1906, my early years were more seri- kously concerned with a hard struggle to merely survive. 'Tragedy was a constant companion in the form of mine disasters, violent labor-management disputes that were arbitrated with bombs and guns, brutal killings of striking workers by hired gunmen, interminable strikes that idled men for months, even years, and always long, bitterly-cold winters with not enough food, clothing or warmth. I have memories of World War I, an epi- demic scourge of influenza that took hundreds of lives, and persistent post- war depression. My father was a sturdy Illinois farm hand, a semi-pro baseball player, Span- ish-American War veteran, who worked in the hazardous depths of Butte's cop- per mines in order to feed and clothe his family. He escaped the violent death that befell many, but on a cold January night in 1929 he died as I held him in my arms while the remnants of his metal-laden lungs hemorrhaged out of his nose and mouth in an unceasing, unstoppable tor- rent of his life blood. My wife's own father was killed in an underground mine accident. These were truly hard times and death, in various guises, stalked the streets and entered the humble homes with great frequency. It is, however, no longer a question of who was right and who was wrong, or why it had to be that way - these accounts and circumstances are included here only to acquaint the reader with the fact that my youth was spent in a region and an era of violent social change that was not conducive to contempla- tive, recreational pursuits such as trout fishing. If trout were mentioned at all it would likely have been in relation to their desirability as a meat-stretcher on
Portrait of the angler as a young man; George Grant posed for this, one of very few photographs he has of his early years, in 1933. The location was along the Big Hole near Dewey, Montana, dur- ing what George has called the "golden era of fly fishing in Montana. "
Page 24 the table rather than a discussion of the brought me in touch with a new world streams; dressing artificial creations to various attributes that are so highly of well educated, intelligent and humane copy the aquatic insects and deceive the valued today. individuals who taught me that trout large wild trout that lived within them; My mother, also from a small town were beautiful, courageous wild creatures enjoying the mystique and the endless in Illinois, was a strong, resourceful, that, while intensely interesting to pur- variety that is part of the sport called resilient woman tempered with a kind sue, were also too important and valu- flyfishing, but which, to many of us, is heart that compelled her to feed bread able to kill. a passport to another world. crusts to wild birds on cold, snowy At the age of 18 I was personal secre- As time passed, unknown to them, mornings when we had scarcely enough tary to the president of a small railroad but through their writings, I was being to feed ourselves. She refused to suc- that ran from Armstead, Montana, to instructed in basic flytying by Paul cumb to the rigors of climate or the ad- Salmon, Idaho. Residency in Armstead, Young, George Herter, Roger Wooley, versity of fate, persevering to within a now drowned forever at the bottom of Major J. H. Hale, and others; in some- few months of her 96th year. An expert Clark Canyon Dam, was made more ten- thing new and exciting, nymph theory seamstress she plied her trade until she able by the close proximity of the Red and development, by the early pioneers, was 91. Rly maternal grandmother was Rock and Heaverhead Rivers, then re- Edward Ringwood Hewitt and John a gentle French immigrant who untler- nowned for their large rainbow and east- Alden Knight; in the then-little-known stood and spoke seven languages suffi- ern brook trout, but not yet populated (to me at least) world of the dry-fly by ciently well to serve as a paid interpreter, by the now-dominant brown, which was E~nlynGill and George La Branche; in was an accomplislled self-trained artist, slowly working its way up through the the enchanting revelations of trout and the mother of thirteen chiltlren of Jefferson. stream entomology by Louis Rhead and which my mother was the eltlest. Per- Later, I occupied similar positions Peter Claassen. I learned about flytying haps somewhere in this ancestry lay the with several prominent men, leaders in materials from Herter's fascinating and genes that were eventually to result in forming and guiding the affairs of rau- all-encompassing catalog. The flies of an individual who believes that flytying cous, immoral, free-wheeling Butte, a Jack Boehme, Bill Keaty and Franz Pott, is a useful therapeutic tool that on occa- place where I was to live all my life but famous Montana flytiers of the era, were sion allows the mind to retreat from a never really belonged - except perhaps being clissectetl, thread by thread, on my world plagued with worry ant1 care; that for the fact that the site was the hub of flytying bench. it is an important art form that satisfies a surronndingcountryside made lush and I looked upon these men then with the creative urge of many intlividnals green by the world's greatest concentra- awe and admiration because of their whose everyday activities may border on tion of beautiful wild trout streams, and knowledge and fame. Today, I recall monotony; ancl that it is a most vital possibly, too, because my being there them as another might recall his favorite factor in the conservation and perpetua- was part of a master plan which I could college professors. Hewitt seemed to tion of wild trout, for though it provides not alter. know everything worthwhile knowing an effective means of capture it also al- It was exciting to be closely associ- about fly fishing, and he presented his lows the quarry to be returned relatively ated with these interesting men and bask icieas with such final authority ("I have unharmetl to continue to exist. in their reflected glory but many days spoken!") that even the slightest doubt Because I was a frail youngster, the spent at their elbow gave me an insight seemed unthinkable. Herter was similar "runt of the litter" in a family of physi- into their private lives, and it soon be- - everything in his catalog was not only cal stalwarts, I was viewed by them with came apparent to me that success and superior, but he seemed to indicate that much consternation and despair for it contentment were not synonymous. My he had a corner on the market. His way was evident that my future clid not in- own life, in contrast, was routine, simple, of doing anything was better, ranging clude toiling in the mines or in doing almost monastic and, while my employ- from how to cook a trout to how to heavy work of any kind. Realizing this, ers constantly prodded me to become make insect repellent. I liked Rhead be- my parents wisely instructed me to en- more ambitious ("Young man, you cause he called insects by names I could roll in high school courses that would should try to make something of your- understand and pronounce. To this day be compatible with my lack of size and self!"), I also sensed a degree of envy I resent his critics. In addition, he was a strength. I studied typing, shorthand, among them for my unsophisticated life- consummate artist and the color plates bookkeeping, elementary journalism, style and the seemingly unlimited pleas- in his American Trout Stream Insects and upon graduation I continued my ure that I derived from my obsession were and are superb. Major Hale wrote preparation in business college. with the outdoors. about tying classic Scottish and English I was fly fishing before I got out of They, of course, had no way of know- salmon fly patterns, and I learned much high school, but only now and then be- ing, and even I was not yet certain of it, about attention to detail from him. Paul cause few people owned automobiles but desire and circumstance were draw- Young was my favorite because he took and this lack of transportation made it ing me irresistibly toward a life so foreign time out from a busy schedule to write difficult to get to the rivers and lakes. to my family background, my business me detailed letters in longhand that I became interested in flytying about training, and the mining camp mentality supplied me with answers to many of 1928, and it has been a consuming pas- that prevailed all around me, that it was my flytying problems and fortified my sion ever since. Both of these activities difficult for others to understand my knowledge of materials. were things that I could do fairly well, motives. In retrospect, it now is apparent In 1933 a wonderful thing happened which gave me a feeling of confidence that I was simply pre-destined to lead an I lost my job. In that time of deep and achievement, but even more, they- idyllic life wading fabulous western trout depression you didn't look for another
Page 25 one because there weren't any. 1:or the several phases of flytying ant1 tackle ability I tlicl all the drawings ant1 the re- next three years, June to 0ctol)er. I shop operation with results that were sults were pretty tnuch as one would lived in a snlall cabin (rented at a fee of less than sensational. 'There were tiisap- expect. Despite all this the I)ooks hat1 a $5.00 per month) locateti on the bank pointn~ents,tliversions, tlisillusiot~~net~tscolnbinetl sale of about 6,000 copies be- of the Big Hole River near a place calletl and outright failures, but through it a11 I fore I allowetl them to go out of print. Dewey. In the winter I rcturnetl to llutte sotnehowv retainetl a cloggetl tleter~nina- I4owever. what was more important, and tied flies, supplementing tny incotne tion and spirit of optimism, never losing they introtlucetl my name and my metli- with my typewriter and temporary em- that intangible attraction that even to ods to a large number of people. ployment. During those sumtners I this day draws tne to the vise in winter I was invited to attend, tletnonstrate learned a great deal about the river, and and to the river in sutnmer. As one might tny tecl~niques,ant1 display my flies at I lived the kind of life that nlany young suspect, I an1 poor in material things, the Federation of 1:ly 1;ishermen nation- anglers dream about but probably will but rich in flytying and fly fishing exper- al conclave at Sun Valley, Idaho, in never have the opportunity to experi- ience ant1 memories. 1972. at a time wlien I was about as ence. This was the golden era of trout Rlilitary service, marriage ancl entry well known as my unorthodox flytying fishing in Montana, superior to what had into the wholesale-retail sporting goods processes. Eventually, I found myself gone before, and a time that will never business in later years curtailed my time seated at a long flytying table alongside be repeated in the future. The hlatlison astream to a certain extent, but only such notables as .2rt Flick, Dave Whit- was at its peak, and the llig Ifole was temporarily. I retired early at the age of lock, E. 14. "Polly" Rosborough, 1)oug probably even better although not as 61 in order to pursue my flytying am- Swisher ant1 Carl Richartis. I Iooketl at well known. The quality of fishing in bitions - not because I could afford to these inclividuals, at a sea of faces six Montana west of the main range of the do so, but because I had a working wife deep on all sitles, ant1 the only thing I Rockies was unsurpassed any place in who understood and supported me, both coultl think of was, "\Vhat am I doing the world, aud it is quite likely that it literally anti spiritually, every inch of here?" was better than that experienced cur- the way. Since early youth I have been af- rently in Alaska, I$ritish Colutnbia, New During the first four years after my flicted with a hereditary tremor, a milt1 Zealand, Argentina, and other far-away retirement I wrote two books on fly- incurable tlisorcier of the nervous system places. My only regret is that at times I tying, the tnanuscripts of which were that can be masketl by a self-imposed considered the mundane requirements sent to a number of publishers and exterior calm untler normal contlitions. of everyday living more important than which were routinely returnetl with the but is activated uncontrollably uncler being on the river. usual rejection remarks, but at least one stress. 'I'his occasion was no exception. As my knowledge of trout fishing and from one of this country's foremost NIy I~anclstretnbletl. I droppeti tools, I my flytying competency increased I be- publishers of sporting books bore a note broke threads, and things 1 coultl tlo at gan to think seriously about becoming a of optimism: "We have studieti your home with tny eyes closed 1 could not full-time professional flytier and ulti- material and discussed it. Unfortunately. tlo well at all. I thought of feigning ill- mately the proprietor of my own tackle we conclude that while this is fascinat- ness and asking to be excusetl, but I did shop. In those days such a choice of live- ing, interesting, provocative, and per- not because I desperately wanted to lihood was regarded as hovering some- haps groundbrcaking, it comes at a titnc show to this knowledgeable audience where between foolish and insane, es- when.. ." the techniques that I had developed over pecially if you were trained and qualified Disheartenetl, but not wanting to many long years and what I truly be- to do something more traditional. Over give up, I decided to publish the books lieved to be a revolutionary method of the years my quest for a small amount on my own. This was done in two paper- flytying. The interest of the onlookers of success in this field, for recognition, backs which, admittedly, were amateur- was intense - they had never seen a for escape from obscurity, led me into ish and crude. Although I lacketl artistic hackle woven onto thread wit11 hair,
Six large brow?ts take71 by George and a friend on the Big Hole near Glen, hlon- tuna, in 193 7. Fish this size were commo?t e- nough to be taken reg- ularly by fly fishermen in the 1930s - 1950s.
Page 26 nor had they ever seen a realistic look- admire a perfectionist and I place you azines than live in a crowded city and ing artificial nymph body emerge from in that category. Let me point out one make better money working on a nine- a strand of flat monofilament fishing thing about me. I am not a 24-year-old to-five job. line. These people, all strangers to me, person 'infatuated by the master' but a I am acquainted with many young were patient and understanding and their 40-year-old man who falls into that cat- men who would sacrifice almost any- genuine interest enabled me to continue egory. Perhaps you may think 1 am thing to operate a tackle shop in trout with ever-increasing confidence. Today crazy. In real life I manage a jet engine country and, while I do not encourage many of them are among my very best shop and employ 78 people so I guess I them, knowing that all is not what it friends and supporters. wouldn't fall into the crazy category. seems to be, I certainly understand them The following year (1973). perhaps What has happened to me in the past to a greater extent than most others out of sympathy or to compensate me four years I am sure happened to you would. Who can say that they are wrong? for the ordeal they had unwittingly in- many years ago. I was bitten by the fly- I believe that as long as we have wild flicted on me the previous year, the fishing and flytying bug." trout and wild trout rivers we will have Federation presented me with the Wayne The following is an excerpt from my young men who are captivated by them, "Uaz" Iiuszek Memorial Fly Tying reply: "You must have sensed something and they will continue to enjoy a way Award, which is given annually to the in my writings because, at one time, I of life that has attracted and held such tier who is considered to have contrib- have little doubt but that 1 was the a wide variety of intellects and enthusi- uted most significantly to the advance- world's super-enthusiast in matters relat- asms down through the centuries. I think ment of the art during that particular ing to fly fishing and flytying. Age and this is good for mankind in general, and year or, in some cases, for achievements physical limitations no longer permit good for the individual who participates that have extended over a period of me to indulge in either of these activ- in it. many years. To many people the win- ities to the extent that I would like. ning of awards is routine, but outside of However, I have not lost my enthusiasm, a typing medal I had been given in lligll and I sincerely doubt that I ever will. It George Grant has written for us sev- school and a Good Conduct medal re- is a world within a world, and you are eral times on historical subjects, but this ceived in the Army, this was the high- most fortunate to have discovered it." is thefirst time he has dealt with his own light of my life. Since that time, too, It is probably trite to quote the old place in the history of western fly fish- lily techniques have been given kind at- saying, "Fishing is a disease for which, ing. Since the appearance of his books tention in such classic works as Ernest thank God, there is no cure," but it is on fly tying, and especially since the Schwiebert's Nymphs and Col. Joseph true, and could be extended to include publication of The Master Fly Weaver D. Bates' Streamers And Bucktails (The flytying and other aspects of fishing. I just recently, George's important place Big Fish Flies). I regard all these events know a young man who graduated cum in western fishing history has become as the culmination of a destiny that was laude from a technical college whose en- widely appreciated. Besides his many set in stone many years ago, the fulfill- trance examinations eliminate most pro- contributions to fly-tying, he performed ment of which while painfully slow was, spective students. He could name a start- an inestimable service to the rivers he nevertheless. inevitable. ing salary with a choice of large indus- loves as editor of the River Rat, the Remembering my early years, I derive trial firms but prefers to manage a sport- bulletin of the Montana Council of much pleasure from embryo flytiers ing goods store because it keeps him in Trout Unlimited. whose questions and interest take me close touch with the things he loves and This article appears as a chapter in back to the days when I wrote the great allows him to remain in wild trout coun- The Master Fly Weaver, and is reprinted flytiers of the world, many of who111 try. I know a young artist who would by permission of the publisher, Cham- took the time to reply. I quote from a rather draw pictures of trout and may- poeg Press, P.O. Box 92, Forest Grove, letter received during the past year: "I flies and illustrate articles in fishing mag- Oregon, 9 7116.
George Grant fish- ing the lower river "during a period of extremely low water it1 1947."
Page 27 Books revicwcd 67) t/zc editors
OLD FISIIIN(; LURES ;\NI) 'I'ACKLI< '1'\trO hlOI Page 28 Notes and Comment fly efforts have also been reported on in Goodspeed, in Angling in America the iltlantic Salmo~zJournal and The (1939), suggests that Franck fished in 'l'he article, "'l'he <;eorge La Branche Atla7ttic Salmon Treasu y by Weeks. North America; if he did then I am Salmon Flies," in the Fall (1980) issue Probably the first salmon caught on reasonably confident that he fished for of 77tc America71 h'ly Iq'isher prompts a fly was caught on a dry fly. The earli- salmon, and caught them, with a dry fly. comment. Even though I have not re- est accounts of fly fishing for salmon searched the origins of salnlon dry flies support this proposition, as startling as Alec Jackson, it is apparent, fro111 a quick review of it sounds. Barker, in Barker's Delight Kenmore, Washington the literature, that Monell was not the (16591, writes of salmon rising, like first to intentionally fish for salmon with trout, to a fly (I have not seen a copy .I.I~I;IIALF-LI~II-~ CLUB: them; it's possible he wasn't even the of Thr Art o,f Anglitzg, 1651, to check AN APPE,4L FOR INFORhIATION first in North America. it). Venables, in The Lxperienced Angler Chaytor, in Letters to A Salmon (1662), discusses angling "upon or above Il'c recently receizred a ?tote from l.'ishcr's Sons and Bssa)ls Sporting and the water" with artificial flies, and nalnes hluseuln TrzlstecEd Zer7t, which is self- Srriozts, records his having used them in the salmon first in his list of rive fish explallatory (the ~d): 1896. On May 23 of that year he landed that will "freely rise at the fly." How- 'I'he IIalf-Lirnit Club was thunk up a nineteen pountl salmon on a specially ever, the strongest evidence is found in by John Alden Knight; my contribution dressetl dry fly approximately three- ~ranck'sNorthern Memoirs (1694), was telling him I thought it a great idea, quarters of an inch long. Likewise, "writ in the year 1658," where he states which it was for its time (about 1947 or ..\shley-Dodtl, in I.'ishcrma71's Pie and .I "The next thing that falls under the an- '48, I'ci guess, but it night have been a I.'islterwzail's Lo,q, details Fraser's use of gler's consideration, is the bait or charm year or two later). I don't know who large dry flies as early as 1906. No less for the royal race of salmon: which I re- woulcl have more information on this an authority than Taverner notes 1;raser's duce under the classis of two general, pioneer effort to reduce the kill on accolnplisl~mentsin his (Taverner's) book viz. the fly for frolick, to flourish and trout streams, but a note in The Amer- Sal??zo?lh'ishirrg. 1)etails of 1:raser's dry sport on the surface of the streams. . ." ica?l Fly Fisher might stir up some mem- 731c patch of thr Ilalf-limit Club, show7l here actual sizc, was rlonat~~clbv Ed Zc~rn,whose letter wc print aboz~e.We would like to hear nzorc, about this early coizserzlatio7z effort. Page 29 ories among readers of my generation ant1 geriatric tilt. (Jack didn't mean to restrict the clul, to trout fishernlen, of course. as Ile and most of his frientls fislletl for sliiallmouth bass and other spe- cies.) 'l'lierc were no tlues or formalities, ant1 tnembershil~ was open to anyone wllo woul(l voluntarily abTee to restrict his take to half the legal limit, always. It was Ilopetl that wearing the patch woultl stitllulate queries anti give the wearer ;t chance to slIre;~dthe gospel ant1 exert some tiegree of moral suasion. II'e,. likc Erl. ruozclrl npprcscicct(, lcaril- irlg r~zorc.nbozit the, ori,qins nr~clc,j,]i~rf.s of this i?zj'orrn(zl or,qn?~izntioi~.It coi~.sti- tzctcs n r~c~ql(,ct[.tl(111~1 rcz.cnli~~,q j~crrt oj- ),>1 S treanz ers \,,' file ,qrozuth of o7cr rr~otlc,rrzn?~,qli,tz,q cl/!ic. ri\Iiing tvriters I~avccreclitecl various intlivitlu;~ls,inclrltlitig 'l'heoclore (;ortlot~ ;~n(lSOIII~ of his late- I !It11 crntury cot~te~nl)or;~ries.\\it11 "inventing" the strc;il~ler. ORI(~1NS01: .I'Ill,: It alqxars to us, lio\vrver, that streamer fishing has 1)rt.n going on for rluite ;I PAUL SOUN(; AIII)(;E long titne. .\ustin Ilogan and others have pointecl out that for centuries peoplr have heen catching salt\vater fisli 011 hook (lressetl \\.it11 notl~ingn1ort. tli;111 ;I 'I'he 1980 Sunltller Issue of 771c .-lrnc,- piccc of bright cloth. ;~11(1tliat early .\IIIC~~C~IISocc;~sio~iaIly caugl~t a 1;trgc pike icnrz I.'[? I~'i.ri~~~rcontainetl references to or tnuskie I)y trollitig a tvliole 1)ttcktail. Such practices hardly clualifv as fly fisli- thc late Paul 11. Young as a super11 rod i~~g.of course, l)ut thev do suggest an ;t\v;lrcncss ol the \vortl~of itnit;~tings111;111 builder and a skillecl fly tier, references fisli. \Ye offer here a pair of short rcferenccs, in tl~cI~ol,c that they \\.ill inspire that are especially interesting to rile. solne of our reatlers to look further. Iioth are from I)ooks ~~itl)lishcclI)eforc 1x50. I hat1 been fly lishing Rlichigan's ..\u ant1 I>oth are clear cases of streanler fishing. 1,y \vIiich \ve mean tying ancl fishing Sable River above antl below Stephan's a fly tliat is itnitative of ;I snlall fish. \Ve're leaving ortr tlefinitiotl that vague in ortler to avottl the alreacly-existing scm;~nticqrtarrels xl~oottlcfinitions (so~nc I Page 30 California ~a chle Dealers Our files yielded this intriguing early Orvis leaflet; it was apparently offered by a San Fran- cisco dealer. It is dated 1878 on the reverse. We'd sure appreciate it if one of our western members would check early city directories for this and other early tackle dealers. We know only that Mr. Uunn was a family friend of the Orzlises. few years - found it to be somewhat this "MIDGE" has been improved over After Paul passed on - his two sons, Parabolic - casting exceptionally well in the original in workmanship." What I Jack and Paul, Jr. moved the Sporting the 30-40 foot range - and was very ver- received was a 2 tip- 2 piece Bamboo Goods business to Traverse City, Mich- satile in handling terminal tackle. The Fly Rod - 6 feet- 3 inch with these igan. It is still in operation. cosmetics lacked "finish" but the Uam- inscriptions: boo action could not be fault'ed - it Herbert II'Sinter - May '58 Herbert E: U'Sinter had class. "Midge" 6'3" - 1.75 oz. Los Altos, California I read an article in Field & Stream Paul H. Young - Detroit - Maker (1958), that mentioned Paul Young as one of the world's finest Bamboo rod makers, that ~romptedme to take the 6 foot 3 inch "dandy" he had made for me to Detroit to show it off to Paul. When I arrived at his store he greeted me very warmly and went on to tell me that Gordon memorabilia after I had left his store he kept thinking stolen from that the type of rod he hacl put togethe, for me ought to have a place in his assort- private collection ment of rods for what he called "l\.lidgeW fly fishing on Michigan's trout waters. He decided to make up a few of them Some of our readers may already Foremost among the stolen items for some of his wealthy friends and pa- have learned of the recent death of is a large mounting of a Meek Model trons around Detroit. When they came Thomas Capstick of New York. Tom 44 reel, with four flies, a leader, and back with glowing praise wit11 whatever was Editor of the Bulletin of the An- a photograph of Theodore Gordon. performances they had with these G foot gler's Club of New York and was an The reel was Gordon's originally, and 3 inch rods this prompted Paul to get extremely knowledgable collector of the flies were tied by him; the mount- into full gear to ;lake ind promote the rare angling items. We have learned ing is approximately thirty inches model more extensively. that shortlv after his death several square and four inches deep. Also stolen were two large framings of Just a few months after this visit it important items were stolen from his was necessary to return to Detroit and office at McGraw Hill in New York. forty flies each. The flies were tied by noted tier Charles Krom from the 1 made a point of visiting Paul's store In an effort to help locate these items, color plates in Ray Hergman's again. This time Paul said I've been wait- we describe them below. Angling col- Trout. ing for you to come back as I've been lectors are a pretty tightly-knit group, An original watercolor, a trout fish- saving something for you since your last and should be able to keep an eye out ing scene by Tom Hennessey, was visit. Whereupon he went back to his rod for these items. Any information con- also taken. making area and came back with a com- cerning the items listed below should Please help spread the word about pleted rod and handed it over to me with be sent to Mr. Pat Kelly, Manager of these items so that they can be re- this remark -"it is complimentary - no Security at McGraw Hill. His number turned to their rightful owners where charge. It is the least thing I can do in is 212-997-4998. they will receive the care they deserve. appreciation of your getting me started on the production of my "MIDGES" which have turned out to be my most popular rod at the present time, besides Page 3 1 our trip needs to his fellow guides in Florida; John klerwin provided 11s with typesetting help for our preliminary cat- alog; and Dick Finlay helped out with bookkeeping during the auction. Dr. Will (;otlfrey, of Mapleton, Utah, served once again as auctioneer. Will, Museum News who is a bluseum Trustee and a 1;etlera- tion of Fly Fishermen Ilirector, has MUSEUM ACQUIRES 1:und Committee, Chaired by former made a great difference in our recent auc- 1873 LEONARD ROI) Federation President, Jim Eriser, has tions through his talents as auctioneer. hired the professional fund-raising firm The following firms ant1 intlividuals The Museum has obtained what many of 1)ougIas M. Lawson Associates, Inc. donated gifts to the Museum for this consider to be the most significant rod The Lawson Associates firm is currently auction: produced by Hiram Leonard, the famous conducting what is called a preliminary kiowells 1873 rod which is the first audit of potential donors. This process Alazcine Atherton known six-strip rod built by Leonard takes about four months (it began in Robert Rarrett quite early in his career. ?'he rod has early March), and it usually gives the Berkley often been written about, especially by firm a reasonably accurate idea of the Charles Brooks Ernest Schwiebert, who devoted several fund-raising potential of the client. Once Buck Knir~es paragraphs to it in his recent book Trout, this audit has been completed, we will Clint By rnes describing it as "one of the rare bench all have a much clearer picture of the Eagle Claw marks in our angling history." proposed Federation/Museum facility's Cortla?~d We will feature the rod, with a report future. In the meantime, Museum Offic- Jack Daniels on its history, in an upcoming issue of ers are keeping posted on the Federa- Dick Fi?tlay the magazine. Right now we want to tion's investigations and will be meeting Fly Fish erm a71 express our deep appreciation to the at the end of March to discuss various Fly Tyer Johnson Wax Company, who presented aspects of the move proposal. Will Godfrey's Fly Fishing Center the Museum with a $3,000 grant to al- For those of you who are also Feder- Gardner Grant low us to purchase the rod. This is the ation members, news and updates on the Gudebrod most significant single item of tackle we situation are available in the Federation's Bill IIu~tter have acquired since we obtained the Bulletin. We will of course report again Susie Isakse~a Daniel Webster rod in 1979 (see the Fall, in our next issue. hlartin Keane 1979 issue of The America~aFly Fisher Lefty Kreh for the Webster rod), and a rare oppor- Richard Kress BACK ISSUES tunity to add a magnificent piece of Pete Krieiadler angling memorabilia io our co~llection. Dana Lamb We have the following back issues Thanks to the generosity of Johnson Nick Lyons Books available, for $3.00 each, from the Sec- Wax we were able to take advantage of hlartin Reels retary, The Museum of American Fly the opportunity. John Merwin Fishing, Manchester, Vermont, 05254: Alustad Volume I, Numbers 3 and 4 Norton Publishers Volume 11, Numbers 2 and 3 MUSEUM MOVE UPDATE O rvis Volume V, Numbers 3 and 4 Pflu eger Volume VI, Numbers 2, 3, and 4 Since the report given by Leon Mar- Plano Volume V, Number 4, is an index of tuch, Museum President, in the last issue Captain Nut Ragland the first five years of The American Fly of the magazine, further progress has Ranger Waders Fisher. It also contains a brief history of been made in the investigations of the Rod &Reel the first ten years of the Museum. proposed move of the Museum to West Rodon ello ow stone, Montana. For those who Seth Rose?aOaum may not have seen the last issue, we will THE NEW YORK AUCTION Peter Sang explain that at its Conclave last Fall the hlrs. Edwitz Schoen Federation of Fly Fishermen decided to On Tuesday, March 31, the Museum Scott Rod Company move its permanent headquarters from held its third annual New York fund- Scientific Anglers/Shl California to West Yellowstone. The raising auction at the Yale Club. Our A1. Sharf & Co. Federation further decided to invite the total income from the auction and raffle Ifelen Shaw Museum to move to West Yellowstone was slightly more than $12,000, about 7bny Skilton also so that the two organizations could the same as last year. Attendance was up Sportsma?a's Edge share a joint facility. This is not a merger, from last year, and the larger crowd Stackpole Books but a common sharing of one roof. The participated in some spirited bidding for Sunrise India Museum's Board of Trustees voted (in some unusual items. Captain Bob Stearns October, 1980) to accept the invitation Hosts at the auction were Leon Mar- Alike Stidham on the condition that further investiga- tuch, Richard Kress, Ben Upson, Laura Stonewall Press tions show that the Museum could sup- 'I'owslee, and Paul Schullery. We are Thomas and Thomas port itself in the new location. The grateful to Museum Vice President Captain Alike Vaughn Federation firmed up a lease with the Gardner Grant for again serving as our Paul Webber town of West Yellowstone at the very Yale Club member-host. We would also Captain Jose Wejebe end of 1980. and that is where it stood like to thank the following: Seth Rosen- Wild Wings at the time of Leon's report. baum helped us evaluate our antique The Wiley Company Since then, the Federation's Building lures; Captain Nat Ragland presented Woodstream Page 32 In Future Issues In our next issue we'll be giving in this issue. Among those chosen for at- people including Herman Christian, you a good look at the mapif; tention in future issues of the magazine Don Martinez, Bill Edson, and Charles cent Howells 1873 Leonard rod are the George Parker Holden collection, Southard. we recently acquired (see Muse- which includes the tackle and photo- We've had some unusual responses um News, page 32). Among our graphic collection of this important rod- to our recent plea for historical pho- feature articles will be George builder of the 1920s and 1930s; the tographs of American anglers. Some Grant's report on the Montana Cahill dry fly, as it has been interpreted of these will be appearing in upcom- fly tier known as Paul Bunyan, the latest by some of this century's foremost fly ing issues much as the Rangeley scenes in a series of articles by George (he's tiers; Preston Jennings' flies, including were presented in this issue. Let working on more for us) about western both wets and dries; salmon flies by the us know if you fly tying pioneers. late Charles De Feo; a spectacular as- come across any We've been busy cataloging and pho- sortment of Royal Coachman variations that might be tographing some of our outstanding re- tied over the past century; and the flies of interest to us. cent acquisitions, besides those featured of many other historically significant