1996-Vol22-No3web.Pdf

Role Cast

ARLY IN MAY, I treated myself to a a brief stop in Huntingdon on a recent busi- weekend of fly-fishing school. I began ness trip to meet our dear "Salmo" face to Efly fishing seven or eight years ago, but face in the town that introduced me to my sporadically - my time on the water tended first fly-fishing friends (a town not far from to happen during those few vacations away Spruce Creek and the Little J~~niata). from the citv. With the move to Vermont The Summer 1996 issue of The American and a looming editorship of a quarterly fly- Fly Fisher highlights salmon fishing on the fishing journal, I decided the time was right historic Penobscot River in Maine. Author for some formal instruction. John Mundt discusses the first salmon to be That Margot Page was one of several in- taken with a fly on that river and the several structors leading the school could not have men who have laid claim to that honor. He felt more appropriate. Since I joined the staff offers a history of the Penobscot Salmon of The American Fly Fisher last September as Club and tells the story of the Presidential managing editor, Margot has generously Salmon, a 43-year tradition of sending one shared both editorial and piscatorial exper- of the season's first salmon to the White tise with me. On the water, she gave me House. some great casting tips. Rarely does an edi- From our library we offer you a collection tor pass the torch so gracefully, putting the of opinions published between 1814 and 1926 pieces in place herself for a smooth transi- about fishing and the weather. In the spirit tion. We at the Museum are sad that we'll be of angling, it contains its share of conflicting seeing less of Margot, but I'm happy to re- advice. In Notes & Comment, R. Patrick port that she has agreed to be available when Simes argues that in the 177os, William Bar- needed as our consulting editor. tram penned one of the first written ac- As editor, I felt it was high time I met this counts describing fly fishing in the New journal's excellent copy editor in person. In World. Finally, be sure to check out the pho- a small-world twist, Sarah May Clarkson to essay from the Museum's annual Festival moved to Huntingdon, ~enns~lvania,in July Weekend held June 7 to 9. 1995 when her husband took the job as dean I'm excited to be taking on the editorship of students at my undergraduate alma of this journal. Feel free to contact me with mater, Juniata College. We just missed meet- letters, suggestions, and submissions. ing each other here last summer and have been working together via phone, fax, FedEx, and the U.S. mail. I was able to make Preserving the Heritage of Fly Fishing TRUSTEES Journal of dthe American Museum of Fly Fishing E. M. Bakwin Martin D. Kline Michael Bakwin Me1 Kreiger SUMMER 1996 VOLUME 22 NUMBER '? William M. Barrett Nick Lyons Donn H. Byrne, Sr. Walter Matia James H. Carey Janet Mavec Roy D. Chapin, Jr. James L. Melcher The Historic Penobscot: America's Atlantic Michael D. Copeland 0. Miles Pollard Salmon Fishing Legacy ...... 2 Peter Corbin Susan A. Popkin Thomas N. Davidson Pamela B. Richards John Mundt Charles R. Eichel Tom Rosenbauer Charles Ferree Robert G. Scott Off the Shelf: Audun Fredriksen James Spendiff Arthur T. Frey Arthur Stern Weather Lore and the Opinions of Anglers...... lo Reed Freyermuth John Swan Gardner L. Grant James Taylor Notes & Comment: Curtis Hill Richard G. Tisch James Hunter David H. Walsh Dapping in the New World...... 16 Dr. Arthur Kaemmer Richard J. Warren R. Patrick Simes Woods King 111 James C. Woods Earl S. Worsham Gallery: TRUSTEES EMERITI The Myron Gregory Collection ...... 19 G. Dick Finlay Leon Martuch W. Michael Fitzgerald Keith C. Russell Museum Exhibits...... 20 Robert N. Johnson Paul Schullery David B. Ledlie Stephen Sloan Letters ...... 21 OFFICERS 1996 Festival Weekend Photo Essay ...... 22 President Richard G. Tisch Vice Presidents Arthur Stern Museum News...... 26 Pamela B. Richards Treasurer James H. Carey Contributors...... 28 Secretary Charles R. Eichel

STAFF ON THE COVER: Opening day of the 1946 salmon season at the Penob- Executive Director Craig Gilborn scot Salmon Club in Brewer, Maine. Courtesy Penobscot Salmon Club. Executive Assistant Virginia Hulett Curator Jon C. Mathewson

Membership Lillian Chace The American Fly Fisher 1s published Research/Publicity Joe A. Pisarro four times a pear by the Museum at PO. Box 42, Manchester, Vermont 05254. Publication dates are winter, spring, summer, and fall. Membership dues include the cost of the THEAMERICAN FLY FISHER journal ($zj) and are tax deductible as provided for by law Membership rates are l~stedin the back of each issue. Editor Kathleen Achor All letters, manuscripts, photographs, and materials intended for publication in the journal should be sent to Design & Production Randall Rives Perkins the Museum. The Museum and journal are not responsible far unsolicited manuscripts, drawings, photographic Copy Editor Sarah May Clarkson material, or memorabilia. The Museum cannot accept responsibility for statements and interpretations that are Consulting Editor Margot Page ivholly the author's. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot be returned unless postage is provided. Contributions to Tile American Fly Fisher are to he considered gratuitous and the property of the Museum unless otherwise requested Contributing Editor Paul Schullery by the contnbutor. Articles appearing in this journal are abstracted and indexed in Htstnncai Abstlucti and Amenca: History and Life. Copyright O 1996, the American Museum of Fly Fishing, Manchester, Vermont ojz54. Origlnal material appearing may not be reprinted without prior permission. Second Class Permit postage paid at Manchester Vermont 05254 and additional offices (USPS oj7410). The ant err car^ Fly Fisher (ISSN 0884-jj62) P~STMASTER:Send address changes to The American Fly Firhcr, P.O. Box 42, Manchester, Vermont 05254.

SUMMER 1996 The Historic Penobscot: America's Atlantic Salmon Fishing Legacy

by John Mundt

HEN ST u D ENT s of angling history turn their was formed where the Penobscot and Kenduskeagu rivers thoughts to Atlantic salmon fishing, they can lose meet, which is now part of current-day Bangor. During this themselves in the numerous volumes that recount meeting, Champlain smoked with the Indians and received wthe tales of those who have angled for Salmo salar in the wa- gifts of venison and waterfowl from "these people of Norum- ters of Canada, Scandinavia, and the United Kingdom. There bega." He in turn gave gifts of rosaries, hatchets, knives, caps, is the occasional reference to isolated exploits in New Eng- and other knickknacks. Champlain wrote, "I landed to see land waters, but a surprising absence of information about the country; and going hunting, found the part I visited most the rich angling history and traditions that were established pleasant and agreeable."3 With respect to the fishery, he on the banks of Maine's Penobscot River. stated, "The fishing for diverse sorts of fish is very good, as is A fair quantity of material regarding salmon fishing on also the hunting for waterfowl."4 the Penobscot can be found in the early issues of the Bangor In 1614, Captain John Smith (of Pocahantas fame) noted Daily Whig and Courier, later known as the Bangor Daily that he went to the region "to take whales and make trials of Commercial and now the Bangor Daily News. In 1953, Bangor a mine of gold and cGpern and "if these failed, fish and furs Public Library Reference Librarian Olive M. Smythe com- were then our refuge." He goes on to say, "let not the word piled much of the information contained in those newspaper fishe distaste you, for it can afford as good a gold as mines of articles for a story she had published in the Bangor Daily Guiana with less hazard and more certainty and felicity." He News on April 1 of that year. Her efforts, when coupled with then asked, "Is it not a pretty sport to pull up two pence, six those of later Bangor Daily News writers, such as the late Bud pence and twelve pence as fast as you can hand and throw a Leavitt and current columnist and artist Tom Hennessey, line?"5 Smith would eventually turn a profit of £1,400 sterling provided the foundation for further research to piece togeth- on his voyage, with the proceeds from fish and pelts. er a brief history of the golden age of salmon fishing on the Increased exploration and the subsequent desire to exploit Penobscot. Maine's vast timber resources during the next century even- tuallv led to armed conflict between France and England" for control of these lands. In 1759, England won possession after the fall of Ouebec in the French and Indian Wars. Ten vears The Penobscot Valley was originally inhabited by mem- later, the site of present-day Bangor was settled by Jacob bers of the Abenaki or "Dawnlanders" tribe, with western ex- Buswell. This settlement was recounted during the centennial ploration commencing shortly after the voyage of Columbus. celebration of that date by Bangor historian and judge, the In 1604, at the age of thirty-seven, the famous explorer Honorable John E. Godfrey: Samuel de Champlain navigated the Penobscot's waters in a region he referred to as Norumbega.' During the period from The settlement upon the river was very gradual and did not September 6 to 20, Champlain made several entries about his reach Bangor until 1769. . . . The first of these was Jacob Buswell, or Bussell as his descendants prefer to pronounce the name. He experiences in the area. After making contact with two Indi- was probably originally from Salisbury, Massachusetts, and had ans who were traveling by canoe, he tells us that "having been a soldier in an expedition to Canada, in which his health made friends with them; they guided us into their river had suffered. He was poor. He had a wife and nine children. He Peimtegouet (Pentegoet) as they call it, where they told us was a hunter, fisher, boatbuilder and cooper. lived their chief named Bessabez, headman of the ri~er."~On This region abounded in game and fish, and was inviting to September 16, he met with Bessabez on a tongue of land that pioneers such as he. A title to the soil did not probably disturb

2 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER Localfishermen on opening day, 193~at the Bangor Salmon Pool.

his contemplations. . . . He took up a spot of ground upon the top of the hill overlooking the river just below the rocks of Champlain and erected a log cabin thereon; and this was the first dwelling, and his was the first English family known to have After reviewing earlier research conducted by Charles been established within the limits of Bangor. . . .6 Goodspeed in his volume Angling in America, it appears that Soon after Buswell's arrival, the American Revolution we will probably never uncover conclusive evidence as to the erupted. In his book Penobscot, Gorham Munson explains, identity of the first angler to hook a salmon with a fly in "Bangor was to play no glorious role in the Revolution. Some Penobscot waters. Knowing this fact is not of paramount im- of the fleeing crews of the Penobscot expedition in 1779 land- portance, but there are several pieces of related correspon- ed there but pushed on because the people could make no dence that "give rise to an interesting.u debate. provision for them. Bangor's destitution at this period was so The earliest mention of Atlantic salmon taking a fly in great that many were compelled to subsist solely upon fish, Penobscot waters was found in a letter dated 20 April 1831 sometimes boiled with sorrel1 to improve the flavor."7 that was submitted to the American Turf Register and Sport- With victory in the Revolutionary War attained and the ing Magazine by one J.R.P. of Augusta, Maine: subsequent treaty between Britain and the colonies codified in 1783, Maine became part of the Province of Massachusetts I notice in the June No. vol. first, of your magazine, that your Bay. Except for a brief occupation by the British during the correspondent "Walton" wishes to know if the salmon is ever war of 1812, Bangor would remain a United States holding, taken with the fly in this country, as in Great Britain. They have and Maine eventually became an independent state in 1820. been taken in the Penobscot, about 18 miles from the sea, and I As a last brief point of early historical interest, it should be presume may be taken in any of the rivers in Maine. I have pro- vided myself with the requisite tackle, and intend fishing for noted that in 1804 the esteemed statesman and accomplished them in the Kennebec in the manner above mentioned. They are angler Daniel Webster began practicing law in Bangor. Later, abundant in all our rivers in June and July. I shall be pleased, at after moving to New Hampshire, he would return to deliver some future date, to send you a communication of fly fishing for his so-called Bangor Speech during a visit in 1835. "Whatso- salmon, and hope to settle the question, as to its practicality in ever promotes communication, whatsoever extends general this country, as questioned by your correspondent, "Walton." I business, whatsoever encourages enterprise, or whatsoever see no reason why the salmon should not take the fly in the advances the general wealth and prosperity of other states," United States as well as Great Britain.9 said Webster, "must have a plain, direct, and powerful bear- When referencing a Maine map, 18 miles from the sea ing on your own pro~perity."~ finds the Penobscot in the vicinity of Bangor and Brewer,

Photographs courtesy of the Penobscot Salmon Club SUMMER 1996 3 which is exactly where later angling traditions would devel- op. A more specific claim would later appear in print in the 12 August 1880 issue of Forest and Stream, in which none oth- er than H.L. Leonard himself participated in the "first" tak- ing of an Atlantic salmon in the Penobscot:

It has been said that while salmon in most waters take the fly in some seasons, those in Maine have persistently refused it. It would be very gratifying to know why they declined it, and still more so to learn their reasons for reconsidering the question and resolving to accept it. In proof that they now take the manufac- tured insect, we publish the following dispatch which was re- ceived at Portland from Bangor one day last week: "J.F. Leavitt and H.L. Leonard 'the rod man: have just returned from a trip and have brought with them the first salmon taken with a fly in Penobscot waters. This they took in Wassatiquoik stream, which empties into the east branch of the Penobscot half a mile above the Hunt farm. They report that plenty more can be had in the same way." Five years after the Forest and Stream dispatch, a lumber baron named Fred W. Ayer was credited with being the "first" in the following passage from the Bangor Daily Whig and Courier of Monday, 15 June 1885: "Mr. F.W. Ayer, landed a large salmon with a fly some distance up the river Saturday. This was said to be the first salmon ever taken with a fly on the river." Local lore holds that Ayer hooked his fish on a Cosse- boom pattern, but this would be impossible considering that Clarence Cosseboom was believed to have been born in 1885 and to have subsequently invented the famous pattern that bears his name while on a trip to the Margaree River in the 192os.l0 Unidentified anglers outside of the Penobscot Salmon Club- I suspect the reasons that the F.W. Ayer claim was not dis- house, c. late ~gzos/early1930s. puted by H.L. Leonard and Frank Leavitt could be because Leonard had already left Bangor and relocated his rodmaking operation to Central Valley, New York, in 1881. In addition, prize, all have been unsuccessful until yesterday had drawn near- the Leonard fish was caught in a Penobscot tributary while ly to a close, when the reward that sooner or later attends pa- the Ayer fish was taken on the main branch of the river. tience and persistence came to two of our successful wielders of These various accounts reveal that the attempt, if not the the rod and fly. actual taking of a salmon with a fly on the Penobscot, had It was about five o'clock when Mr. William A. Munro begun as early as 1831, and that for the next fifty years the ac- "struck a fish and he played him for nearly an hour before he made a successful landing of a magnificent salmon weighing tion of taking a salmon with a fly on the Penobscot would be nineteen pounds. Some time after Mr. Munro struck his fish Mr. considered a most newsworthy event. Even though it appears Fred W. Ayer, who has caught the first salmon each year since that Mr. Ayer may not have hooked the first Penobscot salmon fishing was inaugurated here by him, was also successful salmon with a fly, he certainly established the widespread be- in making a strike and after playing him a short time successfully lief that Atlantic salmon could be taken with a fly on that landed one of the finest specimens which would weigh, accord- river. ing to best estimates, twenty-five pounds. Unfortunately, he did not have a chance to get it on the scales, as after he had got it safely landed it slipped from the shelving ledge into deep water and was lost. He had caught his fish just the same. With the widely publicized success of F.W. Ayer in 1885, it Rival claims are made as to who caught the first fish, as they was only a short time later that Bangor became a popular At- were landed at some distance apart and out of sight of each oth- lantic salmon sport-fishing destination. Shortly thereafter, er, so that, as neither took the time when his fish was landed it is the United States would establish its first salmon club on the impossible to decide, but probably they were very nearly landed Brewer shore of the newly christened "Bangor Salmon Pool." at the same time. Mr. Munro's fish was on exhibition last evening at Lynch and Gallagher's market, where it attracted The Bangor Daily Whig and Courier published several de- much attention. scriptions of the fishery and Penobscot Salmon Club in their Salmon fishermen abroad, who have been waiting for the May 18 and 23, 1887, issues, and through these articles we can opening of the season, have been pouring in letters and form a vivid picture of the scene at the time. telegrams asking for the earliest information regarding salmon being struck, and last evening a large number of telegrams were The day looked forward to with such eager anticipation by the sent off by Mr. Ayer and Officer Allen to their correspondents, lovers of that noble sport, salmon fishing, not only here but all informing them of the happy event, and we shall, in a day or over the country, has arrived, and yesterday witnessed the first two, see a large influx of visitors, equipped with the most ap- catches of the season at the salmon pool below the dam. The wa- proved tackle, wending their way to Bangor's noted salmon ter has been so high and rolly that though several of our noted grounds. fisherman have cast the fly, in the hopes of alluring the tempting

4 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER Among others who will be on the ground early is Archibald Persons are rapidly adding their names to the list of member- Mitchell, Esq., of Norwich, Conn., who made so many fine ship of the club and forty have already been secured, a list of catches last year, and Bath and Portland, Maine, Worcester, whom we shall publish in a few days. They include not only Lawrence and Boston, Mass., are among the places where sports- those from our own city and vicinity, but gentlemen from other men are only awaiting the arrival of news to start off at once. cities in this State and other New England States. Those intend- The water is falling at the dam at the rate of eight inches a ing to join the club should do so at once and Officer Allen would day, and now that the fish have begun to take the fly some lively be pleased to receive the names of those desirous of becoming sport may be anticipated. members. The club house is in a forward state of completion, but it will As the Whig has before had occasion to say, Bangor is des- probably be nearly a week before the last finishing touches are tined to become one of the most famous sporting resorts in the put on. It will be finely fitted up for the accommodation of the country. With the finest salmon grounds in the United States on members of the club, and will contain closet room for one hun- the Atlantic coast, and with splendid trout fishing at Moosehead dred and fifteen. The building will be thirty-one by forty-five and other lakes within short distances of us, the disciples of feet in size, with fourteen foot posts and will have a piazza on Izaak Walton can here find sport to his heart's content (18 May three sides. The horse shed will be one hundred feet long. 1887). An interesting entry in the "New Advertisements" listing on the same page as the above article stated: "Go to John H. Neal for the best salmon tackle." In addition, with rodmakers Hiram Leonard, Ed Payne, Fred Thomas, Eustis Edwards, and Hiram and Loman Hawes doing business in the area, it is probable that the anglers of the area were well equipped. For additional commentary about the clubhouse, we turn to the Bangor Daily Whig and Courier of 23 May 1887:

The new club house at the fishing pool is virtually completed, the painting being mostly done on the outside while it is entirely done on the inside, the closets fitted up with keys and racks for fish poles and the keys are now being distributed among the sub- scribers. As before stated the building is 45 by 31 feet, the longest side facing the river upon the bank of which it sits, and has a handsome piazza on the river front and west end. Outside the building is painted a light straw color with maroon trimmings and the roofwill be painted red. The walls and ceilings are paint- ed a light drab, while the closets are stained in cherry and var- nished. A tier of closets extends across the east end and another across the south side, and separated from the latter by a walk is a double tier of closets, one set opening into the walk and the oth- er into the club room. Banks of hooks above the closet and hooks on the front give accommodations for forty-eight fishing rods and other banks can be arranged when wanted with an equal capacity. In the closets are hooks for clothing and rods in these cases and other paraphernalia can be placed within, each closet being of a capacity for two members, while there are two F. W. Ayer larger ones, the whole fifty-four closets furnishing ample accoin- B A N G o R L u M B E R B A R o N Frederick Wellington modations for one hundred and fifteen. A large and handsomely Ayer could rightly be considered the father of Atlantic finished chimney, with two broad fireplaces, rises in the center of salmon fishing in the United States. It was his early ex- the room. It is furnished with handsome settees and basket-work chairs, the wood work being in bright vermilion. ploits on the Penobscot in 1885 that led to the establish- A small ell to contain lavatory, water closet, store room and a ment of the Penobscot Salmon Club and the widespread room for the janitor is being built. The whole presents a hand- notoriety of the Bangor Salmon Pool. His obituary in the some appearance and from the piazzas a fine view is obtained of Bangor Daily News on 28 September 1936 reads in part: the fishing, while as a lady who was there on Saturday expressed "The rivers and woods of northern Maine and Quebec it, "If there was no fishing here it would be well worth coming were as well known to Mr. Ayer as he to them. In the first here on account of the scenery," the view of the river, the dam, rank of salmon fishermen, one of the best shots in and the surrounding countryside being a delightful one. Maine, actually the first man to suspect that salmon There was a very large number of people, both sportsmen might be caught on the Penobscot with a fly, and follow- and lookers on, at the pool on Saturday, and the fishing was ea- ing his intuition, caught the first fish, respected as an ex- gerly watched, and each fish struck drew forth expressions of pleasure from the crowd, who as soon as a rise was made would pert killer of salmon on the Restigouche and Matepedia follow the lucky fisherman, watching him as he played his noble Rivers, still his enthusiastic reminiscenses were apt to prey, and kept pace with him along the bank until the fish had dwell upon the picture of two fawns at play or the secret been gaffed and successfully landed. ways of the salmon out of season." Eleven fish rose to the fly on Saturday but only three were In addition to his business and outdoor pursuits, F.W. landed, two in the forenoon and one in the afternoon. Mr. Fred Ayer was a collector of note. He sold his famous collec- Ayer taking one each in the forenoon and afternoon, weighing tion of stamps to the Duke of York during a visit to Eng- respectively seventeen and twenty pounds, and Mr. Jerome land in 1898. (The Duke was later crowned King George Philbrook one in the forenoon, from the Bangor side, weighing V.) In 1929, the F.W. Ayer collection of American furni- seventeen pounds. ture was sold at auction by the American Art Association. Yesterday in disregard of the day a large number went up to try their luck, or witness their trial, and the result was that fif-

SUMMER 1996 5 teen fish were struck and eight landed, one of them tipping the scales at twenty-three pounds and a half. Since the fishing com- menced on Wednesday, eighteen splendid fish have been taken with the fly, and they are delighting the palates of friends of the successful catchers here, in Portland, Boston, Connecticut and New York, and there are lots more to follow. Those who are here from abroad are in ecstasies over Bangor's splendid fishing grounds and at the accommodations made for the comfort and convenience of those who come to indulge in the noble sport (23 May 1887). In reading these firsthand accounts, written less than two years after Fred Ayer landed his famous salmon on Saturday, 13 June 1885, one can sense the incredible enthusiasm that spread within the late nineteenth-century angling fraternity. With the Penobscot Salmon Club and the Bangor Salmon Pool becoming the social center of the angling community, an opening-day tradition began to take hold in which "mem- bers gathered each April ist, each with a setter dog, a pound of beefsteak and a quart of whiskey, the steak being for the dogs."ll Many of these New England gentlemen would travel to this popular destination by the "Boston Boat," described by Tom Hennessey in several articles about the Bangor Salmon Pool and its history in his Bangor Daily News sport- ing columns. In one column he describes how "each Spring, the 'Boston Boat,' a steamship that made weekly runs be- tween that city and Bangor, brought Atlantic Salmon anglers up the Penobscot to test their luck and skills at the now-fa- mous fishing grounds. Many of them had immigrated from England and Scotland, bringing with them the salmon fish- ing tackle, techniques and traditions of those countries (2-3 ~a~ 1987): The members and their guests enjoyed the club- house for the next thirty-five years until sadly, it burned Herbert Hoover receiving the 1931 Presidential Salmon from down in the early 1920s, taking many old photographs and Walter Crossman. records with it. It was promptly rebuilt in 1923 with the Penobscot Salmon Club incorporating itself that same year. 1912 fish was the one to inaugurate the Presidential Salmon tradition. Mr. Anderson was able to land the first two fish of that One very distinct American tradition about which I un- 1912 season, according to the Bangor Daily Commercial of 2 covered surprisingly little information in historical texts, April 1912. such as Goodspeed's, is that of Penobscot's Presidential When the early afternoon train left Bangor for the West Tuesday, Salmon. This tradition, which spanned forty-three seasons a handsome silvery coated, 11 lb. Penobscot River Salmon re- (1912-1954), developed to the point that the fortunate angler posed on ice up forward in the express car, bound for President who landed the first bright salmon on the Penobscot each Taft at the White House in Washington. It was sent as the gift of spring would be invited to the White House to present his or Karl Anderson, the lucky angler who on Monday, April ist, land- her prized catch to the president of the United States. ed the first two fish taken at the Bangor Salmon Pool this season. This tradition grew out of earlier nineteenth-century "As long as Bangor presented the President with its full quota competitions between local establishments that wished to of delegates to the Republican State Convention, Monday night, serve the first salmon of the season to their patrons. Olive I thought it would be more than fitting that I should contribute Smythe described this practice in her 1953 Bangor Daily News to the city's meed of honor and respect by sending him the Salmon," said Mr. Anderson. article: "At various times during the first years of the pool, The fish will arrive in Washington sometime Wednesday and the Bangor House and the Penobscot Exchange vied for the it is expected that the salmon will be served for dinner at the honor of serving their guests the succulent morsel. Later, the White House on Wednesday evening. It was carefully packed in Congress Square Hotel in Portland was the recipient (1 April ice and shipped by Oscar Fickett, the local marketman. The Taft 1953, p. 14)." The tradition evolved further when, in the early salmon tipped the scales at exactly 11 pounds and was caught by 19oos, "John McGregor of Lincoln put in a standing order for Mr. Anderson early Monday afternoon after his having success- the first two salmon caught, the first of which was shipped to fully landed a 13 pounder in the morning. W. Campbell Clark, President of the Clark Thread Company The first fish will go this year to W. Campbell Clark, Presi- at Newark, New Jersey, and the second to Andrew Carnegie dent of the Clark Thread Company at Newark, N.J., and it also (1 April 1953, p. 14)." left by express on the early afternoon train Tuesday. Mr. Clark has had the first fish from the Bangor pool for a number of An interesting twist took place in 1910 when an angler years. It was always sent him by John McGregor of South Lin- named Karl Anderson caught the first fish of that season as coln during Mr. McGregor's lifetime and the practice is still car- well as the first in 1911 and 1912. The 1910 fish graced the table ried on by Mrs. McGregor. Mr. McGregor also made an annual of Lucius Tuttle, president of the Boston and Maine Railroad. practice of purchasing the second salmon also and shipping that The first fish of 1911 was sent to W. Campbell Clark, and the to Andrew Carnegie. There were a number of fishermen at the pool Tuesday, en- oaid for a salmon in the citv.,, so all the fishermen declared. and couraged by Mr. Anderson's success on the opening day of the there was, also, general agreement that no handsomer fish ever season. The water was high and muddy but conditions for fish- swam. ing were by no means unfavorable. The article concludes: "Conditions never were better for early The Presidential Salmon tradition took on a partisan fla- salmon fishing-ice gone, river low and water clear. Hence vor in 1914, as indicated in the Bangor Daily News of the great luck. No one is fooled who lands a Penobscot April 6: salmon on April 1, or immediately following that date. It's next to picking up diamonds." The second salmon of the season was landed at the pool Satur- The Presidential Salmon tradition was now in full swing day morning, April 5, by Gus Youngs. It was an 18 pounder and and for forty-three years, the tradition would continue with as handsome a specimen as ever came out of the Penobscot. Mr. only two minor diversions. In 1925, Charles Bissell's 11% Youngs had not been on the pool more than lo minutes when he pounder caught on 2 May was not sent to President Coolidge got the strike and his fish hooked hard. This fish will be sent to as a result of an apparent miscommunication with Oscar the McGregor family of Lincoln who for years sent the first Fickett's Market "who wasn't directed to send to the Presi- salmon to a thread manufacturer in New Jersey. The first salmon dent." Mr. Coolidge would have to wait another two weeks of the season was taken by Michael Flanagan. It was an eighteen until Adolph Fischer, a Bangor sausage maker, landed a 20 pounder and this was the first time he has caught the first pounder on May 17, before he would be able to dine on salmon although he had the honor of catching the second Penobscot salmon. And in 1938, a Bangor woman and salmon several times. This fish was bought by Connell J. Gal- lagher for $27. The Democrats went ahead and purchased the staunch Republican named Sylvia Ross decided that she did fish to send to the White House for President Wilson. not want to see the first fish of that vear sent to Franklin De- lano Roosevelt, so she went ahead and purchased the 7% The following year, the 2 April 1915 headline read "Presi- pound fish at a premium price of $2.50 a pound. The fish was dent Gets Bangor Dinner": caught by Adolph Fischer, according to the Bangor Daily News : President Woodrow Wilson won't have to go marketing for his Sunday dinner, for it was sent to him on Thursday by five enthu- On a large freak fly which he tied Monday night, Adolph Fischer siastic Democrats of Bangor, who got it at Gallagher's market of Bangor captured the first fish of the season, a 7 % pound fe- and paid a fat price for it. It is some dinner, too-perhaps the male, in the tumbling waters of the Salmon Pool shortly after lo choicest to be had in America, for love or money-the first o'clock, Tuesday morning. Penobscot salmon of the season, a sixteen pounder, taken at 5:30 The salmon although small as the silversides run at the pool, Thursday morning at the Bangor Pool below the waterworks staged one of the liveliest battles seen at those waters in years. dam by John L. Thomas of Rockland and sold by him to Gal- Seeming to possess an inexhaustible supply of energy, the stout lagher's for $2 a pound, or just $32. This is the highest price ever silverside made numerous runs and broke water a half dozen times during the struggle (6 April 1938, p. 14). His fish was listed as the Presidential Salmon that year, but it appears that Sylvia Ross may have indeed had her day, for it is not known whether FDR ever received another fish in its dace. Another interesting historical footnote concerns an angler who cast the fly that caught the Presidential Salmon, but could not cast a vote for or against the man who would dine on it. The Bangor Daily News of 7 April 1916 reads:

In the course of a day or two they will have something fit to eat at the White House- the season's supreme delicacy, in fact, for early on Friday a group of Bangor Democrats, ardent admirers of President Wilson, will forward as a gift to the nation's chief executive two beautiful Penobscot river salmon, the very first of the season. These salmon were taken with the fly at Bangor pool on Thursday afternoon, the first weighing ten pounds by Miss Jeanette Sullivan, of 377 Hancock street; whose boatman was Patrick Nelligan of 385 Hancock street, and the other weighing eleven pounds, by Michael Flanagan of 34 Pearl street. Miss Sul- livan is a famous angler, whose skill with rod and fly has been demonstrated on many occasions. Mr. Flanagan took the first salmon landed in 1914 and the second in 1915. Thursday's captures, both very handsome fish, were taken to Gallagher's Uptown Market, 271 State street, where they were much admired by throngs of people who called to take a look at the President's dinner, and where they are to be packed for ship- ment by express to Washington. It would be four more years before Miss Sullivan was legally able to cast a vote for a president. She had years earlier caught the first fish of the 1901 season, a 16 %-pound fish that Charles Bissell often hooked the first salmon of the season. she successfully landed on April 3 of that year. An impressive run of forty-three Presidential Salmon Often a fisherman would fish alone. He would lay his fly rod in years would come to an end in 1954 when Dwight D. Eisen- the boat, hook the heavy reel behind the rowing seat and extend hower received the last Presidential Salmon of that era. As a the tip of the rod out over the stern. The amount of line dragged direct result of increased dam building and growing levels of in this manner depended on what section of the pool he was fishing, but it was never more than he could cast. pollution, the Penobscot had reached a point where the Occasionally, he would drop his oars, strip in the line and salmon run was no longer sustainable. John Kent's 25 make a cast. He would then place the rod quickly back into its pounder of 1894 was the largest salmon of reward up to that original position, grab the oars and make up the distance he had point. drifted downstream. A hooked fish required furious action by a lone angler. He had to maneuver the boat out of a rocky stretch of water, at the same time following the racing fish downstream. With one hand he would hold the rod high, while with the other he tugged on The Bangor Salmon Pool was fished primarily from cedar- an oar to keep the boat straight in the strong current. Sometimes a fisherman would ignore his fish completely, giving his strength planked, canvas-covered boats, known as "double-enders," and skill to running the rapids while the salmon danced on his that were launched from the Penobscot Salmon Club on the tail a hundred yards below in the slack water.12 Brewer shore. Once a fish was successfully hooked, the angler would attempt to finish the fight from shore whenever it was Blanchard also mentions a few of the local personalities possible. Tom Hennessey described fishing from a double- who fished the pool and some of their unique traits: ender in the following passages from his May 2-3,1987, Ban- gor Daily News column. Then there was Wingate Cram, the president of the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad. I remember watching him one day as he Stable, and extremely responsive, the slick-rowing craft were and his guide were fishing the Cow and Calf, a pool so named ideal for negotiating the conflicting currents and swift tidal because of its rock formation. Mr. Cram had hardly soaked his flows. While one angler rowed and fished what was called the leader and made a few well placed casts with his Thomas rod be- "drag line," his partner occupied a seat toward the stern. The fore he was fast to a fish. He managed skillfully to hold the fish boat was maneuvered so that their flies probed the edges of rips in the upper pool and completed the battle from shore. Within a and the tails of sprawling pools. Periodically, the anglers would few minutes his guide lifted out a 14-pound silverside, fresh make casts to present the feathered lures at different angles and from the sea. Five minutes later, the old gentleman was giving drifts. This method of boat fishing is called "harling" and is not battle to another fish, and in a short while he landed it.l3 to be confused with trolling. During early-April fishing, there was a constant danger of The late Bud Leavitt, who was with the Bangor Daily News boats being capsized by slabs of floating anchor ice that the tides for forty-two years, recalled in an interview in the book lifted off the shores. Besides keeping a sharp eye out for those Penobscot River Renaissance, by James E. Butler and Arthur threats, anglers depended on each other for shouts of warning. There was not, if you can believe it, a life jacket or a flotation de- vice among them. In addition to these unique boating methods, Hennessey mentions some interesting uses of tackle during these earlier times:

In the early 1900s there was no such thing as a sinking fly line. Naturally, April anglers at the Pool were confronted with the problem of getting their flies down to the salmon, which were ly- ing deep in the cold water. Innovative and resourceful, many of them made sinking lines by rubbing white lead into lengths of saltwater handline. Others attached a few feet of wire between lines and leaders. By soaking them in tea and coffee grounds, some anglers stained their leaders to match the dark complexion of the Penobscot's "alder water." Those were the days of two-handed rods that could lift fifty feet of sodden silk line and cast it as though it were a length of yarn. Built, of course, from split bamboo, the iz- to 16-foot Thomases, Paynes, and Leonards were works of art. Affixed to those long rods were large reels - Hardys, Farlows, Vom Hofes-with drags that could turn a team of horses, and voices that could hit a high C and hold it. One innovative angler named Charles E. Tefft who, ac- cording to the Bangor Daily News of 12 April 1905, hooked the first salmon of that season and "had no landing net. So he shot the fish with a rifle." It was a 22 pounder that we as- sume he did not intend to release. Douglas Blanchard was a local guide who wrote an article for the April 1967 issue of Down East magazine about his ex- periences during the golden era of salmon fishing at the Ban- gor Salmon Pool. He described how a lone angler would fish On display at the Penobscot Salmon Club is a tally of Charles from a double-ender: Bissell'sfirst salmon of the season.

8 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER An unidentified angler on the banks of the Bangor Salmon Pool. Note the rod length and attire.

Taylor, how Wingate Cram was "a huge man, God, he must then and now called the Cosseboom." This seems improbable when have weighed 300 pounds, would come in with his chauf- one refers to Joseph D. Bates, Jr:s Atlantic Salmon Flies and Fishing feured automobile, always with a couple of fresh bottles of (Harrisburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 1970). According to Bates, John scotch. He'd put them on the table, and they'd get half drunk. Cosseboom was credited with first tying a bucktail pattern that bore I was a kid and I'd look at these people with awe."l4 his name on the Margaree River in 1922 (p. 237). The Cosseboom Blanchard described those times as "the days when At- Special, which is usually called the Cosseboom, was first used on the Margaree in 1923 (p. 237). Lastly, John Cosseboom would have been lantic salmon taken on the rod and reel from this short a young child in 188; when Fred Ayer hooked his fish if the assump- stretch of water added to the hundreds. At the same time tion that Cosseboom lived between 1885 and 1935 is accurate (p. thousands more were being caught commercially lower down 235 1. the Penobscot by weir fisherman."l5 He also made mention of 11. Olive M. Smythe, Bangor Daily News, 1 April 1953, p. 14. his guiding three-time Presidential Salmon angler Walter 12. Douglas Blanchard, Down East (April 1967), p. 36. Crossman who one morning "scored a double and lost a 13. Ibid. third fish in a matter of two hours."l6 14. James E. Butler and Arthur Taylor, Penobscot River Renais- "And this too shall pass" was stated long ago by one who sance (Camden, Maine: The Silver Quill Press, Down East Books, was himself associated with fishermen. And in 1954, so passed 1992), p. 122. that grand first era of salmon fishing at the Penobscot's Ban- 15. Down East (April 1967), p. 38. gor Salmon Pool. e 16. Ibid.

ENDNOTES ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 1. Graham Munson, Penobscot: Downeast Paradise (Philadelphia The author wishes to extend his sincerest thanks to the indi- and New York: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1959), p. 5. viduals and organizations that assisted with the research re- 2. Ibid., p. lo. quired to complete this piece: Roger D'Erico, registered Maine 3. Ibid., p. 12. guide and historian for the Penobscot Salmon Club, who made 4. Ibid., p. 11. the club's photos available to us; Tom Hennessey, sports colum- 5. Ibid., p. 45. nist and artist for the Bangor Daily News, who holds the distinc- 6. Ibid., p. 329-30. tion of being the 1986 Presidential Salmon angler; the Bangor 7 Ibid., p. 330. Public Library; the Bangor Historical Society; and Arthur Tay- 8. Richard N. Current, Daniel Webster and the Rise of National lor. Conservatism (Boston: Little, Brown &Company, 1955))p. 106. For those interested in learning about early conservation ef- 9. American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine, vol. 2, no. 9 forts and the subsequent revival of the Penobscot salmon run, I (May 1831), P. 452. recommend the book Penobscot River Renaissance by James E. lo. "Local lore" is attributed to a quote contained in a column by Butler and Arthur Taylor. the late Bud Leavitt in the 29 April 1986 issue of the Bangor Daily The Penobscot Salmon Club is America's oldest salmon club News (p. 13))which reads, "There is no pattern record, though sev- and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The eral historians have claimed Ayer used John Cosseboom's dressings, clubhouse grounds are located off Route 9 in Brewer, Maine.

SUMMER 1996 9 OFF THE SHELF

Weather Lore and the Opinions of Anglers

WILLIT RAIN?From which direction is the wind blowing? Does it matter? light of past experience or in obedience Through the years, many have opined on signs of the changing weather and the to the warnings of those who know, we refuse to let the sky signs move us to ei- expediency of fishing under various conditions. To some, weather is the all-im- ther unwarranted optimism or unneces- portant factor in determining a good or bad day on the water; others refuse to sary despair, it cannot fail to be of inter- take it too seriously in pursuit of fish. Included here are passages culled from est to determine such conditions of light the following works: Trout Lore, by 0.MI Smith (1917); Fisherman's Weather, or temperature, such manifestations of electrical disturbance, such changes in by EG. Aflalo (1906); Fly-Fishing: Salmon, Trout, and Grayling, by Edward the quality or quantity of the wind as Hamilton, M.D. (1885); The Art of Angling, Tenth Edition, by Thomas Best appear to exercise an appreciable, though (1814); Trout Fishing, by W Earl Hodgson (1904); and Fish Facts and Fancies, not a constant, influence on the sport of fishing with rod and line. by E Gray Griswold (1926). Enjoy the free advice. EDITOR u To attach, therefore, a due and not exaggerated significance to the part played by atmospheric conditions in the v E R s I N c E Noah looked out of the IS H I N G, while never perhaps whol- day's bag is not necessarily to go to the E Ark each morning and asked, "Is it F ly arrested by any condition except other extreme, and invariably tax the still raining?" weather has been the drought, is more susceptible than most weather with the responsibility for an varamount subiect of discussion. In city sports to those shades of difference, on empty creel, which should rather have or country, by radiator or camp-fire, it which the favourable conditions directly been attributed to bad fishing. Failure is always our first and last resort in con- depend: the level and colour of the river invariably seeks an impersonal excuse. versation. To the angler no topic is of on the rainfall; the hatch of fly on the usually summed up in the somewhat greater importance than this hackneyed temperature; the success, or even possi- vague expression "bad luck," and the one of weather, for upon it, he thinks, bility, of fly fishing on the strength and weather is, in the course of such expla- hinges the fortunes of his day a-stream. direction of the wind. nation, apt to come in for more than its Be it far from me to shatter the idols of - AFLALO share of the blame. Success, though any brother of the angle, or to simply quite as likely to be due to similar caus- run amok amid fishing traditions, but I es, is rarely accounted for on such think the importance of mere weather HE FISHERMAN'S first impulse, grounds. Yet there is no weather, indeed has been much overrated. Have we not T on getting out of bed on a holiday no art, so bad as invariably to produce a all heard from youth up: "Fish bites best morning, is to pull up the blind and blank day. Success, as unexpected as it is when it rains," "Fish will not rise in a look at the sky. An aneroid barometer delightful, is always possible by reason thunderstorm," "It is useless to fish for knows more of the coming weather than of the caprice of fish. trout when the sun shines full on the the sky, yet both are untrustworthy so -AFLALO stream," etc., etc. In fact, if we were to far as the mood of the fish is concerned; believe all that we heard as to when to and the best plan, unless the day is actu- fish, we would never cast fly or boat, for, ally too bad for enjoyment, is to take no HEN w E GO "a- fishing," we anx- to borrow an old saw, weather which is notice of the weather, but to get to the Wiously look at the barometer and "one man's meat, is another man's poi- waterside as soon as possible and there at the sky, hoping for a soft south-west- son." tempt fortune. er or a showery day; but we Londoners -SMITH At the same time, even though, in the cannot choose our days, and must take

10 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER them as they come, fine or wet; and he looks out upon the morning of a day many a bright holiday have I spent by to be spent in pursuit of trout. Saving the river-side with little prospect of o ANGLING SUPERSTITION is that his hope faints if there seems to be much sport, and yet I seldom came N more prevalent than the one which "thunder in the air," the other condi- home with an empty basket. asserts that trout will not rise to a fly tions of the weather are comparatively -HAMILTON when the wind is from the east; indeed, insignificant. What matters it if there be so ingrained is the belief that we accept a little rain? A shower now and then is it almost without question, and it is not refreshing to man and fish; besides, s IT IS HIGHLY necessary that an uncommon to see carved above the an- there will be fair intervals, in which A angler be able to form a judgment gler's fireplace some such statement as, one's clothes will dry. Perhaps the sun- of the change of weather, on which his "May the east wind never blow." shine is oppressive; but that need not sport entirely depends; if he observes -SMITH cause despair, for clouds are likely to the . . . signs, it will soon become famil- come. iar to him. -HODGSON -BEST HE RE ARE,no doubt, localities in T which an east wind puts fish off the feed. Nevertheless, much of the preju- HERE IS A SCHOOL ofsportsmen dice which exists against it is a matter of T which regards an alleged preference tradition rather than of actual experi- for fishing in dirty weather as the stamp ence. This attitude on the part of fisher- of true sportsmanship. "Alleged" rather men may in part be accounted for by than real, because such professions of the depressing influence which this indifference to climatic discomfort are wind has on many people, notably on probably as little sincere as the assur- those subject to neuralgia, whom I have ance of those who go on the sea for known to suffer acutely during its prev- pleasure that they find no enjoyment in alence in places as far apart as Mel- smooth weather. Here and there, it bourne and Gibraltar. might be possible to find a joyless tem- -AFLALO perament capable of preferring Nature in her uncouth moods, but the normal human being is for her smiles. F ANYTHING CAN make an easterly -AFLALO Iwind still worse for fishing, where it is already bad, it is a touch of north in it. ~houghthis, again, is not without many FEEL THAT TROUT should be exceptions, a northeasterly wind prob- LTHOUGH MUCH STRESS has Ilured only when the weather is as ably has more enemies among fisher- A been laid on the wind, and, as every beautiful as the fish. Gentle sunshine, men than that blowing from any other fly fisher knows, a balmy, breezy, cloudy spring flowers, and soft south winds quarter. day, with the wind from the south or make days a-stream in springtime a de- -AFLALO west will give a better chance of sport, light. Upon the other hand, if I am fish- vet that cannot alwavs be commanded. ing and the wind whips round into the ind when one is obl&ed to take the day east, I do not reel in my line and make F THERE IS NO WIND,the boat as it is. whatever the wind or weather my way homeward; indeed not! More Iwill not drift, and the trout will not may be, experience tells me that many a than once I have made record catches rise to artificial flies. If there is too much good day's sport has been had with the when the wind was blowing a half-gale wind, the drift will be so quick that wind in the north or in the east; in fact, from the east, the sky overcast with many a fish which would rise had it a let the wind do its worst, I heed it not. I heavy clouds. The secret of the matter is chance will be passed over while anoth- can remember having capital sport in here: if we think we can catch trout, we er is being played into the landing net. some open water in Hertfordshire years generally can; if we think the weather is To most anglers this exasperating state ago, the wind from the north-east, and against us, we only half fish and lay our of affairs is very familiar. At the close of snowing all day. failure to the weather. a good day on a lake during a high -HAMILTON -SMITH wind, who has not felt that it would have been much better if only the boat could have been stopped whenever a HEN THE WIND veers about, trout came on? Is it not an article of W uncertainly, to several points of faith that where one fish rises a good the compass, rain is pretty sure to fol- many others are probably feeding? low. - HODGSON Some have remarked, that if the wind, as it veers about, follows the course of the sun, from the east towards HAT OF THE WIND? IS it high, the west, it brings fair weather; if the W or low, or moderate? Is it from the contrary, foul; but there is no prognos- west or from the south? Is there in it a tic of rain more infallible than a touch of east or north? whistling or howling noise of the wind. These are the queries of the angler as -BEST

SUMMER 1996 11 plausible theory. However, I have air, in thin white trains, like locks of proved to my own satisfaction that trout wool, or the tails of horses, they shew will take both artificial flies and bait that the vapour as it is collected is irreg- during such atmospheric disturbances. I ularly spread and scattered by contrary s we have all heard from childhood, have caught trout on flies again and winds above; the consequence of which A"trout bite best when it rains." . . . again when fierce thunder and lightning will soon be a wind below, and probably Trout do bite when it rains and rains all but drove me from the stream, a rain with it. hard. . . . Such fishing is preeminently though the fish never seemed disturbed If the clouds, as they come forward, worm-fishing; the large fish will not as a in the least; they continued to rise so seem to diverge from a point in the rule rise to the surface under such con- long as the water remained clear. . . . horizon, a wind may be expected from ditions - indeed, the water is too roily Yes, trout will bite in a thunderstorm if that quarter or the opposite. for a trout to see a fly. For fly fishing the they are hungry; and I think that is the best sort of weather is the very best that whole secret - if they are hungry. Nature can manufacture, clear sky with -SMITH fleecy clouds now and then shutting out the sun. Ofttimes when the sun is daz- zlingly brilliant trout will not rise to the feathers, but when a shadow cast by a cloud crosses the water, they will display unusual activity. T IS A VERY considerable symptom -SMITH I of fair weather, when the clouds de- cay, and dissolve themselves into air; but it is otherwise when they are collected HEN YO u can see houses or oth- out of it. Wer objects at a great distance with Against heavy rain, every cloud rises scintillating clearness, it means wet bigger than the former, and all the weather for the reason that the unnatur- clouds are in a growing state. al clearness of the air is caused by invisi- This is most remarkable on the ap- When a general cloudiness covers the ble vapor which is likely to turn to rain. roach of a thunderstorm. after the sky above, and there are small black Such beautiful days are called weather- vapours have been copiously elevated, fragments of clouds, like smoke, flying breeders. Sounds also carry much fur- suspended in the sky by the heat, and underneath, which some call messen- ther when there is much moisture in the are highly charged with electrical fire; gers, others Noah's Ark, because they air. small fragments of flying clouds in- sail over the other clouds, like the ark - GRISWOLDcrease and assemble together, till in a upon the waters, rain is not far off, and short space of time they cover the sky. it will probably be lasting. When clouds are formed like fleeces, There is no surer sign of rain than E F E RRIN G . . . to an ancient belief deep, and dense toward the middle, and two different currents of clouds, espe- R . . . "Trout will not bite during a very white at the edges, with the sky cially if the undermost flies fast before thunderstorm." The theory is that the very bright and blue about them, they the wind; and if two such currents ap- reverberations of the thunder cause the are of a frosty coldness, and will soon pear in the hot weather of the summer, earth to tremble and the disturbance is fall either in hail, snow, or in hasty they shew that a thunderstorm is gath- of course communicated to the water showers of rain. ering: but the preparation which pre- and the fish are frightened. It is a very If clouds are seen to breed high in the cedes a storm of thunder, is so generally understood, that it is needless to insist upon it minutely. -BEST

ONG streaky light clouds brushed Lback at the ends mean a change of wind. Small black clouds traveling fast mean strong winds. If the sun sets in a dark unbroken cloud, it will probably rain, and grey clouds divided by green sky are a sure sign of wet weather. Small black clouds with red borders mean storm with strong winds, and heavy grey and black clouds with cop- per-red borders promise storm accom- panied by rain. - GRISWOLD

12 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER F A WHITE MIST in an evening or sun's rays likely to lessen our faith in I night is spread over a meadow, that source of all natural light and heat. wherein there is a river, it will be drawn Those of us who have in the Great up by the next morning's sun, and the Desert cowered from his fierceness un- day will be bright afterwards. der burnous or tent may also have Where there are high hills, and the feared it, but the instinctive reverence mist which hangs over the lower lands for the sun is not altered. Yet., agreeable', draw towards the hills in a morning, though its warmth and brightness and rolls up their sides till it covers the makes indulgence in any outdoor pur- top, there will be no rain. suit, the sun is not invariably a friend to In some places, if the mist hangs the fisherman, who always fears its light, upon the hills, and drags along the as betraying his guile, and sometimes woods, instead of overspreading the lev- also has reason to resent its heat, as flies and fine tackle. There is, however, el grounds, in a morning, it will turn to spoiling either the condition of the wa- an alternative possibility which we must rain; therefore to judge rightly of the ter or the appetites of the fish. reckon with, and this is the dazzling of - appearance of a fog, it is in some degree AFLALO the fish bv the sun shiningV full in its necessary to be acquainted with the na- eyes. . . . Dazzling may operate in one of ture of the country. two wavs. It mav, Lurevent the fish from -BEST seeing even the lure, and with salmon T IS REASONABLE that when we go which are not actually feeding, but Ifishing we should be anxious about merely rising in half-hearted and wan- the light. What is wanted. it is common- ton fashion at the fly, this is all likeli- ly suiposed, is a light that will blot out hood its effect. On the other hand, with the rough edges of the tackle, soften fish like the bass, of which I have caught down any excess of gaudiness in the all my best in gin-clear water and glar- flies, and make the lures look natural. ing July weather, it may just dazzle the What is this light? The answers by fish to the extent of hidingV the tackle any dozen anglers, even if they were and hook. men of much experience, would be of -AFLALO striking variety. One would say that a dull day is the best. Perhaps that would be the general opinion. . . . Each of the VEN T H o s E who, under given rest of our dozen witnesses might have a E conditions, either prefer or tolerate theory of his own. As a rule ituwould be sunshine, differ in many matters of a negative theory. "A glare on the water" detail, as the two following remarks il- would be the bane of one; another lustrate: - would like a thin veil of fleecy clouds; "I do not mind sunshine when fish- another would prefer the light of day, ing a lake for trout, provided the sun is characteristic of April, on which the sun not directly facing me and there is a good FTEN YOU HEAR an angler ex- is hidden and peeps out alternately; an- breeze to ruffle the water." plaining away an empty basket by 0 other would have but little hope if the "In bright sunshine, provided the an- saying that the weather on the water was ripples were tipped with silvery gleams; gler has the sun in his face, so that the too "muggy" or too "close"; but you another would dread "lanes of light" ly- shadow of his rod and line do not fall never hear him saying that it was too ing upon the surface of the water; oth- on the water, sport is frequently excel- warm. In his estimation heat in itself is ers, according to individual fancies, lent." no hindrance to his efforts: it is only the would think well of any light in which The italics are my own. conditions which sometimes accompa- the water was not too blue, or too gray, -AFLALO ny heat that are a trouble. On the other or too yellow, or too red, or too green, hand, he will often tell you, without or too purple. Probably the only hesitation, that the weather has been thought on which all would be unani- HAT EV ER objections fishermen too cold. Cold, he will say, puts down mous is that the light which falls from a Wmay have learnt from experience the trout. cloudless sky would never do at all. It is to raise against sunshine, there seems to The proposition, which is usually ab- generally supposed that good sport is be no doubt whatever about a condition solute, made without reference to times not to be had in unmitigated sunshine. of alternating sun and shade, with or seasons, is not in accord with experi- -HODGSON gleams between passing clouds, being ence. particularly favourable to sport, and -HODGSON preferable even to uniform dullness of the sky. What precisely may be the effect H E v I E w commonly held as to the of such chopping and changing of the Teffect of bright light is that it frus- light on the vision of fishes we cannot trates the angler's purpose by betraying know, but the results, as measured by N MOST human beings there is im- himself and his tackle to the fish-an the catch, are almost invariably satisfac- I planted some survival of pagan sun opinion that, no doubt, receives support tory. worship, nor are the latest discoveries of from the success which often under - AFLALO the therapeutic magic worked by the such conditions attends the use of small

SUMMER 1996 13 ground or the sound of asses braying. It er such things as they feed upon. When is not improbable that the significance the mountains of the earth begin to be of these alleged indications of bad capped with fogs, the moorcocks and w E AT H E RW I s E sailorman once Atold me that if the sun rises red it weather is much overrated, but they are other birds quit them, fly off in flocks, is a sign of stormy weather, but if it popularly accepted in this light, and and betake themselves to the lower rises a bright clear yellow it indicates many folks would soon trust their infal- lands for the time. Swine discover great fine weather. If the atmosphere is grey libility than that of the barometer. At uneasiness; as do likewise sheep, cows, and hazy at sunrise it promises good any rate, it is only what we should ex- and oxen, appearing more solicitous weather. pect that animals living in a medium so and eager in pasture than usual. Even - GRISWOLD sensitive to pressure as water should be mankind themselves are not exempt in close sympathy with the barometric from some sense of a change in their variations. bodies. - F THOSE VAPOURS which the heat AFLALO -BEST Iof the day raises from the earth are precipitated'by the cold air of the night, then the sky is clear in the morning; but IRDS AND ANIMALS seem to have if this does not happen, and they remain B stronger premonitions as to changes still in the air, the light of the morning of the weather than we mortals enjoy. will be coloured as it was in the evening, The loons call, the crows croak, the and rain will be the consequence. blackbirds are noisy, and all animals There is commonly either a strong seem to be restless and uneasy. dew, or a mist over the ground, between - GRISWOLD a red evening and a grey morning; but if a red morning succeeds, there is no dew. It is a bad symptom when a lowering redness is spread too far upwards from the horizon, either in the morning or in the evening; it is succeeded either by H EN T H E RE I s a haziness aloft rain or wind, and frequently both. W in the air, so that the sun's light When such a fiery redness, together o LONG AS the swallows fly aloft fades by degrees, and his orb looks with a raggedness of the clouds, extends S after their prey, we think ourselves whitish and ill-defined, it is one of the towards the zenith in an evening, the sure of a serene sky; but when they skim most certain signsu of rain. wind will be high from the west or along near the ground, or the surface of If the moon and stars grow dim in south-west, attended with rain, some- the water, we judge the rain is not far the night.", with the like haziness in the times with a flood. . . . When the sky, in off. . . . air, and a ring or halo appears around a rainy season, is tinged with sea-green If the sheep wind up the hills in the the moon, rain will be the consequence. colour, near the horizon, when it ought morning to their pasture, and feed near If the rays of the sun, breaking to be blue, the rain will continue and in- the tops, the weather, though cloudy through the clouds, are visible in the air, crease: if it is of a deep dead blue, it is and drizzling . . . will clear away by de- and appear like those horns of irradia- abundantly loaded with vapours, and grees, and terminate in a fine day; but if tion which painters usually place upon the weather will be showery. they feed in the bottoms, the rains will the head of Moses, the air is sensibly -BEST continue and increase. filled with vapours, which reflect the Dogs grow sleepy and stupid before rays to the sight, and these vapours will rain, and shew that their stomachs are soon produce rain. T s UN s ET, if the sun sets red and out of order, by refusing their food, and If the sun appears white at his setting, A not sharp enough to dazzle the eating grass . . . this they cast up again eyes, fine weather is to be expected. soon afterwards, and with it the foul- Light grey and damp atmosphere at ness that offended their stomachs. Wa- sunset is also a good sign, and means ter-fowl dive and wash themselves more light winds. Small light clouds, a so- than ordinary; and even the fish in called mackerel sky, at sunset, promise rivers are affected, because all anglers fine weather and brisk winds. agree that they never bite freely when - GRISWOLDrain is depending. . . . Flies, on the con- trary, are particularly troublesome, and seem to be more hungry than usual; and toads are seen in the evening, crawling across the road or beaten path, where they seldom appear but when they are HE IN s T I N c T which foretells com- restless with an approaching change. . . . T ing changes of the weather is famil- Birds of all sorts are in action: crows iar in both wild and domestic animals, are most earnest after their prey, as are and few of those who live in the country also swallows and other small birds, and are unfamiliar with such signs of rain as therefore they fall lower, and fly nearer the sight of swallows flying near the to the earth in search of insects and oth-

14 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER or shorn of his rays, or goes down into a very speculative. Again, when they tell bank of clouds, which lie in the horizon; you that fish rise directly after the rain all these are signs of approaching or begins and stop as soon as it leaves off, I continuing bad weather. GO o D DAY is not the rule. It is the think this really means that when the If the moon looks pale and dim, we A excevtion. This will be found out bv drops were falling, the surface was bro- are to expect rain; if red, it is a sign of anyone \ho fishes every day for ken by them, and the lure was therefore wind; and if white, and of her natural month. As I write these words I am in able to delude the fish as it could not colour, and the sky is clear, it will be fair the midst of an even ampler experience. when the surface was calm. Wind, of weather. . . . On most days during the latter half of course, acts in the same way, more obvi- If the moon is rainy throughout her March and the beginning of April sport ously in loch fishing. In a ripple, you course, it will clear up at the ensuring was good; after that, for nearly a month, will catch fish at every cast, but when it change, and the rain will probably com- it was on most days poor; since then, on dies down, you will not catch one. If the mence again in a few days after, and a few days, there have been signs of a re- water is low, you will not catch fish with continue; if, on the contrary, the moon vival. Is not the moral manifest? The a bright, clear sky, but again it is all a has been fair throughout, and it rains at chances are that if I had been on the wa- question of the fish seeing the lure too the change, the fair weather will proba- ter only one day, instead of for many plainly. Naturally, the indirect effects of bly be restored about the fourth or fifth days consecutively, it would have been a weather, in altering the height and day of the moon, and continue as be- day of poor results; and probably that colour of the water, have an immense fore. would have been attributed, conscien- influence, but the immediate effect of -BEST tiously but without much thought, to changes is either nil, or else so subtle in the aspect of the weather, in which, as a its cause that we cannot understand it. rule, the quality of the light is the most That, at least, is my opinion. HEN an aurora borealis appears, noticeable phenomenon. -HORACEHUTCHINSON, IN AFLALO W after some warm days, it is gener- -HODGSON ally succeeded by a coldness of the air: as 'if the matter bf heat was carried up- HE ONLY TIME I feel absolutely wards from the earth to the sky. T certain of good sport is when the -BEST barometer is rising in the recovery of the atmosphere from an outbreak of lightning and the wind. When the re- covery is complete the sport becomes inconstant. Then, howsoever agreeable the weather may be to society at large, F THE D E w lies plentifully upon the to the angler it is a speculative risk. The I grass after a fair day, another fair day trout may rise freely; but that they may may be expected to succeed it; but if af- not is just as probable. Indeed, it is ter such a day there is no dew upon the more probable. ground, and no wind stirring, it is a sign - HODGSON that the vapours go upwards, and that there will be an accumulation above which must terminate in rain. N DRY,hot weather, a heavy shower, -BEST I without thunder, will often bring HE ANGLER should never be dis- trout up and set them feeding briskly, T couraged from trying his luck by and, on the other hand, a gleam of sun- RAINB ow in the evening is sup- any weather condition condemned by shine, occurring on a dull, depressing A posed to promise good weather, the text-books, but should persist in the day, will have an exactly similar effect. while one in the morning means rain. I face of apparently hopeless circum- Ideal "fishermen's weather," therefore, cannot remember ever seeing one in the stances. A too careful attention to the would seem to consist in a happy alter- forenoon, probably owing to the high fact of the sky may at times baulk the nation of blue skies with sunshine and sun. over-cautious fisherman of what might, clouds with rain. But I repeat that the -GRISWOLD by trusting a little more to luck, have experience of anglers is so infinitely var- been a red-letter day. ied-inasmuch as success is often at- -AFLALO tained under conditions apparently the NOT H E R most interesting hypoth- most adverse, while failure as often re- Aais. . . is that periods of European sults under those that seem most earthquake have been synchronous with HERE ARE only two features of the favourable -that any attempt to be dog- poor fishing results. This suggestion, T atmosphere that, in my opinion, are matic on the subiect would be absurd. which may perhaps be borne out by the fatal to success with trout, and, in less experience of others, may prove that the degree, with salmon: the one is a mist, influence of even remote seismic distur- coming down thick and low on the riv- bance can make itself felt on a class of er; the other is the appearance of bright, OOD WEATHER is when trout animals that, outside the area of actual white, hummocky clouds in a clear sky. G bite, speaking from the fisherman's upheaval, would seem peculiarly im- People will tell yon a lot about fish com- view-point. mune from its effects. ing short in consequence of the angle of -SMITH -AFLALO light on the water. This, I think, is all -

SUMMER 1996 15 NOTES & COMMENT

Dapping in the New World

by R. Patrick Simes

HE [John Dennys, author of the 1613 poem The Secrets of Angling] says also that May, June and July are the best months, which alone proves him a fly fisher. In the evening a fly with a short line moved on the crust of the water under trees or bush is deadly, provided you are well hidden. This, now called dapping or daping, he calls bushing.'

ROM ITS FIRST publication in William Wordsworth (Ruth) and Sam- shore. He then ingeniously swings the 1791 to the present, naturalist Wil- uel Taylor Coleridge (Kubla Khan), the bob backwards and forwards, just above liam Bartram's Travels continues to latter praising Travels as "a work of high the surface, and sometimes tips the water F with it; when the unfortunate cheated mesmerize its readers. Exploring mos- merit in every way."2 For four years, from 1773 to 1777, Bar- trout instantly springs from under the quito-infested lagoons, eluding gigantic weeds and seizes the supposed prey. Thus alligators, and observing poisonous tram traveled through North Carolina, he is caught without a possibility of es- snakes appears to have been as delight- Alabama, and Florida. During this time cape, unless he break the hooks, line, or ful to Bartram as it would have been ter- of observation and discovery, Bartram rod, which he, however, sometimes does rifying to one more interested in his wrote a piece entitled "Trout Fishing in by dint of strength. To prevent this, the own survival. Joy was inseparable from Lake George Florida," which fishing his- fisherman used to the sport is careful not the study of nature for Bartram, despite torians should note as one of the first to raise the reed suddenly up but jerks it the fact that during the early days of written accounts describing fly fishing instantly backwards, then steadily drags American exploration there were nei- (what Dennys called dapping) in colo- the sturdy, reluctant fish to the side of the ther laboratories nor museum collec- nial America: canoe and with a sudden upright jerk tions to aid him in identifying the plants brings him into it.3 and animals he encountered. There 1 found some of my companions fishing were only old world origins, few of for trout, round about the edges of the What Bartram describes as a "bob is which were directly applicable for a nat- floating nymphaea, and not unsuccessful- certainly known to fly fishers today as a ly, having then caught more than suffi- very large bass bug or streamer of some uralist working in America. Regardless, cient for us all. As the method of taking the pioneer's vision of a terrestrial par- these fish is curious and singular, I shall sort. His description of the fishing tech- adise added an entirely new chapter to just mention it. They are taken with a niques used are very similar to Thomas natural history. hook and line, but without any bait. Two Barker's and Charles Cotton's gear, Accounts of the New World, whether people are in a little canoe, one sitting in which consisted of spliced ash or hazel- for propagandistic or scientific reasons, the stern to steer and the other near the wood rods and horsehair lines. These were popular reading throughout Eu- bow, having a rod ten or twelve feet in lines were twisted into lengths, then rope and in England. For the early length, to one end of which is tied a joined with a water knot. Each length colonists, such information gave them a strong line about twenty inches in length, had fewer and fewer hairs, starting per- better understanding of the American to which are fastened three large hooks, haps with ten to twelve and finishing in continent's large and unknown regions. back to back. These are fixed very securely a twist of four hairs-what modern fly Writers who described their travels in and covered with the white hair of a deer's fishermen now call a tapered line.4 We tail, shreds of red garter, and some parti- should also note that Bartram's depic- settled areas also helped to forge a sense colored feathers, all which form a tuft or tion of casting above - "ingeniously of national identity by making distant tassel, nearly as large as one's fist, and en- places familiar, so that readers could see tirely cover and conceal the hooks: this is swings the bob backwards and forwards, they shared some important traits and called a bob. The steersman paddles softly just above the surface, and sometimes had common interests with their coun- and proceeds slowly along shore, keeping tips the water with it"-should not be trymen hundreds of miles away. In Eu- the boat parallel to it, at a distance just confused with what Norman Maclean rope, the pastoral patterns of Bartram's sufficient to admit the fisherman to reach refers to as shadow casting because of Travels influenced the poetic works of the edge of the floating weeds along the different techniques and flies being

16 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER Engraving of Mico Chlucco the Long Warrior, or King of the Siminoles [sic] which appeared as the frontispiece in William Bartram's Travels, published by J. Johnson, London, 1792.

liquely in the end of a pliant shaft; c) the plain hook; d) the barbed hook; e) the barbed hook combined with sinker and lure. This series does not exactly repre- sent stages in invention; the evolution may have been affected by the habits of the different species of fish and their in- creasing wariness. The materials used for hooks were bone, wood, shell, stone, and copper. The Mohave employed the recurved spines of certain species of cactus, which are natural hooks. Data on the archeology of the fishhook have been gathered from the Ohio mounds and the shell heaps of Santa Barbara, California. Unbarbed hooks of bone have been found at a number of Ohio used. Shadow casting involves the use of However. Schullerv's assertion that Bar- sites, and gorge hooks have been found dry flies and dry-fly fishing, which A. J. tram "observed southern Indians fish- at Santa Barbara. And when we look McClane noted "did not exist as a defin- ing for trout" is not correct2 First, when closer at Bartram's iournal. there is de- itive method (flies were tied in wet-fly Bartram referred to "my companions," tailed evidence regarding the primitive fishing techniques used by Native Amer- configuration)." , , but with the line danc- he was not speaking about Native ing in the wind . . . it would be impossi- Americans, but rather the party of Eng- icans in Florida. ble not to catch an occasional trout on lishmen that was traveling with him. One of our Indian young men, this the surface."5 Whether or not the tech- Textual support for such an assertion is evening, caught a very large salmon trout, nique involved the use of wet or dry beyond the scope of this paper, but it is weighing about fifteen pounds, which he flies, Bartram gave a very accurate ac- obvious from Travels that Bartram was a presented to the Col. who ordered it to be count of the sport and the art of dap- stickler for detail. Distinctions made be- served up for supper. The Indian struck ping (or fly fishing). tween various ulants. wildlife. native this fish, with a reed harpoon, pointed According to Bartram's detailed people, and Englishmen were second very sharp, barbed, and hardened by the drawings, what he saw his companions nature to a scientist of Bartram's caliber. fire. The fish lay close under the steep fishing for were not trout but large- Furthermore, the Cherokee and Semi- bank, which the Indian discovered and nole Indians were not "sport" fisher- struck with his reed; instantly the fish mouth bass. Bartram's written descrip- darted off with it, whilst the Indian pur- tion of the trout verifies the actual men. The Cherokee and Seminole, like sued, without extracting the harpoon. . species. most Native Americans of the colonial era, were interested in efficiency when it But there is no mention of a bob or The head of this fish makes up about one came to hunting and fishing. In fact, the fly used by the Native Americans. The third of his length and consequently the term "harvesting" is used quite fie- more modern fishhook, however, is mouth is very large: birds, fish, frogs, and quently by anthropologists when de- used by the North Pacific tribes and the even serpents are frequently found in its scribing the techniques used for hunting Eskimo of Alaska. The Makah of Wash- stomach . . . the whole body is covered and fishing by Native Americans. with large scales . . . this fish is remarkably ington have a modified form of the ravenous; nothing living that he can seize Starting with the basic device of at- gorge hook, consisting of a sharpened upon escapes his jaws.6 taching bait to the end of a line, the pro- spine of bone attached with a pine-root gressive order of fishhooks used by the lash to a whalebone. British Columbian In his book American Fly Fishing: A native people seems to be as follows: a) and South Alaskan tribes used either a History Paul Schullery acknowledges the gorge hook, a spike of bone or wood simple hook of bent wood having a barb that Bartram's written account is one of sharpened at both ends and fastened at lashed to a point or a compound hook the first known references to sportfish- its middle to a line (a device used also consisting of a shank of wood, a splint ing (dapping) in colonial America. for catching birds); b) a spike set ob- of pine-root lashed at an angle of 45 de- grees to its lower end, and a simple or 2. Helen Gere Cruichshank, John and The barbed spike of bone, wood, iron, or William Bartram's America (New York: copper lashed or set on the outer end of Devin-Adair Company, 1957), p. 6. American Museum the splint. Eskimo hooks frequently 3. Francis Harper, editor, The Travels of consisted of a shank of bone with a William Bartram (New Haven, Conn.: Yale of F1 Fishing University Press, 1958), pp 69-70. Box 42, anchester,Vermont 05254 curved, sharpened spike of metal set in x: 4. John McDonald, Quill Gordon (New the lower end, or several spikes were set Tel: 802-362-3300. Fax: 802-362-3308 York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1972). in, forming a gig. Usually, however, the 5. A.J. McClane, Introduction in Rodolphe Eskimo hook had the upper half of its Coigney, Izaak Walton: A New Bibliography JOIN! shank made of stone into which the Membership Dues (per annum*) un- 1653-1987 (New York: J. Cummins, 1989), pp. Associate* 535 barbed curved spike of metal was set, x-xi. Sustaining* 560 the parts being fastened together by 6. Harper, p. 70. Benefactor 5125 lashing of split quill. A leader of quill 7. Paul Schullery, American Fly Fishing: A Patron* 5250 was attached to the hook and a bait of History (New York: Lyons & Burford, 1987), Sponsor* $500 crab carapace was hung above the spike. p. 20. Corporate* $1,000 This is the most complex hook known 8. Harper, p. 29. in aboriginal America. If the southern 9. Ibid., pp. 153-54. Membership dues include four issues of lo. Ibid., p. 75. The American Fly Fisher ($25). Please Native Americans had or used bobs, it is send your application to the membership likely they were given as gifts or ex- changed during trade with the white secretary and include your mailing ad- BIBLIOGRAPHY dress. The Museum is a member of the Europeans. Again, if we look closely at American Association of Museums, the Bartram's journal we find the evidence Anderson, Douglas. "Bartram's Travels and American Association of State and Local to support such a claim. the Politics of Nature," in Early American History, the New England Association of Literature, vol. 25, pp. 3-17,1900. Museums, the Vermont Museum and Soon after entering the forests, we were Coigney, Rodolphe. Izaak Walton: A New Gallery Alliance, and the International met in the path by a small company of In- Bibliography, 1653-1987. New York: J. Association of Sports Museums and Halls dians, smiling and beckoning to us long Cummins, 1989. of Fame. We are a nationally accredited, before we joined them. . . well mounted Cruichshank, Helen Gere. John and William nonprofit, educational institution chartered on fine horses, with a number of pack- Bartram's America. New York: Devin- under the laws of the state of Vermont. horses; the man presently offered us a Adair Company, 1957. fawnskin of honey, which we gladly ac- Even, Joseph. William Bartram: Botanical cepted, and at parting I presented him Zoological Drawings, 1756-1788. Meriden, SUPPORT! with some fish hooks, sewing needles, &c. As an independent, nonprofit institution, Conn.: Meriden Gravure Company, 1968. For in my travels amongst the Indians, I Gingrich, Arnold.The Fishing in Print: A the American Museum of Fly Fishing always furnished myself with such useful relies on the generosity of public-spirited Guided Tour Through Five Centuries of and acceptable little articles of light car- Angling Literature. New York: Winchester individuals for substantial support. We riage, for presents . . .9 ask that you give our museum serious Press, 1974. consideration when planning for gifts and More importantly, historians note Harper, Francis, editor. The Travels of bequests. the term "bob used by Bartram to de- William Bartram. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1958. scribe the lurelfly employed by his com- Hills, John Waller. A History of Fly Fishing panions, but they do not mention Bar- VISIT! for Trout. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Summer hours (May 1 through October tram's own use of a bob. 31) are lo to 4. Winter hours (November 1 Company, 1926. Irwin, R. Stephen. The Indian Hunters: through April 30) are weekdays lo to 4. Having collected a good quantity of wood We are closed on major holidays. for the purpose of keeping up a light and Hunting and Fishing Methods of the North smoke during the night, I began to think American Natives. Blaine, Wash.: Han- of preparing my supper when, upon ex- cock House Publishers, 1994. BACK ISSUES! Larson, Lewis H. Aboriginal Subsistence Available at $4 per copy: amining my stores, I found but a scanty provision. I thereupon determined, as the Technology on the Southeastern Coastal Volume 6, Numbers 1,2,3,4 Plain During the Late Prehistoric Period. Volume 7, Numbers 2,3 most expeditious way of supplying my necessities, to take my bob and try for Gainesville, Fla.: University Presses of Volume 8, Number 3 some trout.1° Florida, 1980. Volume 9, Numbers 1,2,3 McDonald, John. Quill Gordon. New York: Volume lo, Number 2 My assertion, then, is that from Alfred A. Knopf, 1972. Volume 11, Numbers 1,2,3,4 William Bartram's journal we now Moore, L. Hugh. "The Southern Landscape Volume 12, Number 3 know that he not only documented one of William Bartram: A Terrible Beauty:' Volume 13, Number 3 of the first occurrences of dapping (fly in Essays in Art and Sciences, vol. lo, pp. 41-50,1981. Volume 14, Number 1 fishing) in the New World, but that he, along with his companions, were some Moussette, Marcel. Fishing Methods Used in Volume 15, Numbers 1, 2 the St. Lawrence River and Gulf: Ottawa Volume 16, Numbers 1,2,3 of the first known Europeans to sport fish in the New World. and Hull, Quebec: National Historic Volume 17, Numbers i,2,3 - Parks and Sites Branch, Parks Canada Volume 18, Numbers 1,2,3,4 [and] Indian and Northern Affairs, 1979. Volume 19, Numbers 1, 2,3, 4 ENDNOTES Schullery, Paul. American Fly Fishing: A His- Volume 20, Numbers 1,2,3,4 tory New York: Lyons & Burford, 1987. Volume 21, Numbers 1,2,3,4 1. John Waller Hills, A History of Fly Fish- Van Doren, Mark. The Travels of William Volume 22, Numbers 1,2 ing for Trout (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Bartram. New York: Dover Publications, Company, 19261, P. 43. 1928.

18 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER EITHER AUTHOR nor tacklemaker, Myron Gregory ing the American Fishing Tackle Manufacturers Associa- may not be a name many fly fishers know, but his tion (AFTMA) to adopt a standard line measurement N efforts made all angling easier. Born in Santa Cruz, based on weight. He gained several allies in the effort, California, in 1908, Gregory caught his first fish at age most notably Art Agnew of the Sunset Line & Tackle five-on a worm. He remained a dedicated drowner of Company. In 1960, AFTMA introduced line weight desig- worms until 1932 when, while fishing in the High Sierras, nations that are not only still the standard, but are part of he met a fly fisher of such amazing competence and style every fly fisher's vocabulary. that Gregory decided he had to learn the art of fly fishing. Gregory retired as a conductor with the Southern Pa- Like many other converts, Gregory immersed himself cific Railroad in 1974 and spent his remaining years find- in fly fishing, especially fly casting. In 1948, he entered his ing new streams to fish from Mexico to British Columbia. first casting tournament in Fort Worth, Texas, and showed After he passed away in 1978, his cousin's husband, Alan success not only then, but consistently during the next Nunes, donated much of Gregory's fishing apparel to the fourteen years. American Museum of Fly Fishing. Having successfully conquered the American competi- Pictured here are some small parts of the Gregory col- tions, he looked for new waters in which to cast about. Be- lection: an award from the Netherlands Casting Federa- cause there was no real organization promoting interna- tion, one of his customized two-piece Winston casting tional competition at the time, he founded, with others, rods, his Hardy & Pflueger reels, and a sketch done in 1958 the International Casting Federation in 1955. Myron Gre- by Eric Turner of Gregory standing in front of a row of in- gory served as its first president and saw international ternational flags, each mounted on a fly rod. Most memo- rules for competition standardized. rable of the items, though, is a mounted plug, presented With this standardization in place, Gregory moved on to him by the British Casting Association. A card Myron to his next concern: fly lines. At the time, every line com- Gregory taped to the bottom of the trophy explains this pany in the world had its own line size measurement and unusual memento: "Presented at Oslo, 1961: in 1959 I had designation. Most of these were unreliably based on line made a new world record cast with this plug (30 grams) diameter, not - as Gregory thought it should be - on line -523 feet - that hit a building or would have gone further." weight. So, in the late 195os, Myron Gregory began lobby- JON MATHEWSON,CURATOR

Photograph by Cook Neilson SUMMER 1996 l9 MUSEUM EXHIBITS

James Prosek through motion - and consequently I July 12 - August 27 miss most salmon strikes (to the chagrin of my sons)." horna as studied art history and ar- AMES PROSEKof Easton, Con- lived at the mouth of the Margaree Riv- chitectural design at Princeton, spent necticut, is an undergraduate at Yale er in Cape Breton, where he fishes for three years as an artist with the U.S. University, an enthusiastic fly fisher, Atlantic salmon and for trout in the Navy, worked as a documentary pho- anJ accomplished watercolorist, and au- tributaries. He also enjoys fishing for tographer, and received a master of fine thor of the book Trout: An Illustrated bonefish west of Islamorada and arts degree in printmaking at the History, published this year by Alfred A. Marathon in the Keys and for land- Boston Museum School. He has taught Knopf. locked salmon in Maine. art at Milton Academy in Andover, Inspired by John James Audubon's "I catch very few salmon," he says, Massachusetts, and at the Massachusetts classiE bird pbrtraits and frustrated by because "when on the water I am mes- Institute of Technology. His work is the lack of similar references for trout merized by the miscellaneous adjacent owned in private, public, and corporate species, Prosek decided to combine his visual treats -for example, water in mo- collections throughout the United States passions for trout fishing and painting. tion, transparency, reflection, blurring and Canada. When he was unable to find anv, Lvho- tographs or drawings of the nearly ex- tinct blueback trout of northern Maine, he began researching and creating his own watercolors of trout, at times trav- eling thousands of miles to catch, pho- tograph, and release rare species. Prosek has painted all the popular species of North American trout, as well as rare and extinct species, subspecies, and strains. More than seventy paint- ings illustrate his book. A selection of these will be on display at the Museum from July 12 to August 27.

EORGE THOMASwas a young .boy when he began summering on Nantucket in 1945 and started drawing and painting watercolors. Now he lives and paints there most of the year and spends July and August in Cave Breton, Nova Scotia. Today he w&ks primaiily in pastel and watekol- or. George Thomas Thomas has been a fly fisher for August 30 - October I j about thirty years, as long as he has

20 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER panded to fishing in general). General advertising would, in my opinion, de- tract from what is now an excellent publication. Surely there are enough manufacturers and retailers of rods, reels, clothing, publications, etc., who would welcome the opportunity to ad- vertise their wares to a specific audience. On another subject, the enclosed photograph of the father of the Muse- um's curator is yours to do with as you wish (Jackson Lake Lodge, Wyoming, August 1935). The trout was caught in a beaver pond with a borrowed rod and bombing. The Flyfishers' Club in Lon- reel using (and it hurts to tell you folks Livingston Collection don may have the Gordon flies, al- this) a freshly caught grasshopper as Just a brief note to tell you how though I do not recall ever seeing them bait. The rod broke as a result of sur- much my wife and I enjoyed and appre- there. prise and inexperience on my part, but ciated your featuring the Livingston col- Col. Henry A. Siege1 the owner did not seem to mind since lection in Gallery of the Fall 1995 issue. Angler's and Shooter's Bookshelf such a large fish was landed by one who We know that the collection is in the Goshen, Connecticut had never before fished. right place and were pleased that it was Hazen I.: Mathewson shared with the entire membership. The [The Museum's murky photocopy of Benson, Vermont Livingston sisters would certainly be With Rod and Line in Colorado Waters Mystery Creel pleased as well. Thank you for your ef- has Lewis B. France's name handwritten forts. on the title page. -Ed.] I eagerly await your magazine each Michael Kashgarian, M.D. quarter. Friends and I have mostly New Haven, Connecticut Advertising Angle stopped reading the standard fly-fishing You asked for members' thoughts magazines, although of course we On France and Gordon concerning advertising in The American glance at some occasionally. We are all Congratulations on another fine is- Fly Fisher. In the interest of providing collectors of classic cane rods, and some sue of the journal [Winter 19961. Some income for the Museum, I would see of us are makers. Whenever you publish random notes, however. nothing wrong with the concept, but something about cane we are excited First, the author of With Rod and would suggest advertising be limited to and pleased. Line in Colorado Waters is indeed Lewis companies, organizations, and individ- My favorite article in the Winter 1996 B. France, but in all the years that I have uals involved in fly fishing (or even ex- issue was "A Creelful of Sporting seen copies of this book, I have always Prints." I would like to know who the seen the author listed as "Bourgeoise," man in the pictures, described as "one which is a nom de plume of France. I of the greatest makers of fly rods this don't say that there is no copy with the country has ever known" is. I repeatedly author's name, but I do say that I have read this article and look at those pic- never seen one in forty years of collect- tures. It would be so wonderful to find a ing. set of those prints somewhere. Regarding the article on Theodore Thanks again for a fine publication Gordon, your readers may be interested and museum. to know that the only article he ever George Boehme wrote appears in Sir Herbert Maxwell's Venice, California Fishing At Home & Abroad. The article is entitled "American Trout Fishing." This book was published in London (1913) in an edition of 750 copies and is scarce and pricey. The article also ap- peared in The Gordon Garland, pub- lished in a limited edition in 1965 by Theodore Gordon Flyfishers and in the subsequent trade edition by Alfred A. Knopf in 1966, entitled American Trout Fishing. Gordon and Frederic M. Halford ex- [We provided all the information we changed flies and correspondence, al- had on the Henry Hintermeister prints though I can find no written mention of found in our collection. If any reader this. The Anglers' Club in New York has knows more about the prints or the a series of the Halford flies that were re- people who appear in them, we'd like to stored after being damaged in the 1975 hear about it.- Ed.]

SUMMER 1996 21 Festival Weekend

nRIENDS OF THE MUSEUM gathered June 7t0 9 inMan- Kathleen Achor chester for our annual festival weekend. An opening recep- tion was held on Friday night at the Museum, where newly designed exhibits and the work of artist Anton Stetzko were fea- tured. Saturday night's annual dinnerlauction was held at the Equinox Hotel with auctioneer Lyman Foss. Committee mem- bers Angus Black, Jean Black, Brad Coursen, Joe Dion, Hut Fer- ree, Ted Ferree, Jim LePage, Joan Mathews, Joe Mathews, Joe McCusker, and Dawn Murray worked hard to make the auction a success. They were ably assisted by Ginny Hulett, Lillian Chace, Jon Mathewson, Darlene Cole, Bill Chandler, and Kim- berly Bushnell. Time was set aside after dinner to recognize some important personal contributions to the Museum. This year, the Joe A. Pisarro Volunteer of the Year Award was presented to Joe Mc- Cusker and Bob Blain. Margot Page was recognized for her years of service as editor of The American Fly Fisher and pre- sented with two bound volumes of the issues published during her tenure. Open house at the Museum on Sunday featured events both on Museum grounds and at Eauinox Pond. The Museum of- Joe Pisarro, Angus Black, and Ted Ferree kick off the a1 rnual festival fered a bambvoo rod-building demonstration by Fred Kretch- weekend at Friday night's opening reception. man and fly-tying demonstrations by Wade Caler and Bill Chandler. Angus Black gave a casting demonstration on the lawn. At Equinox Pond, Trustee Tom Rosenbauer and his daughter Brooke Page-Rosenbauer gave fly-tying demonstra- tions. Trustee Jamie Woods and instructor Jennifer Winder Mareot Paee oversaw casting lessons and fishing, and Steve Sanford, guide and naturalist, spent the day in the bow of the Museum's Adirondack guide boat.

Kathleen Achor

Maxine Atherton of Manchester, Vermont, was escorted to the dinner/auction by Peter Castag- netti ofAshland, Massachusetts.

Heidi Humphrey, designer of several of the Museum's new exhibits (including '%liticians in the Stream"), attended the opening reception with her family.

22 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER Executive Director Craig Gilborn recognized Margot Page for her years as editor of The American Fly Fisher. She was presented with two bound volumes of issues published during her tenure.

Dinner committee members Joan and Joe Mathews participate in the bucket raffle at the dinner/auction. Mareot Page

Margot Page

Trustees Walter Matia and Janet Mavec attended the dinner/auction at the Equinox.

President Richard Tisch presented the Joe A. Pisarro Volunteer of the Year Award to Bob Blain of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and to Joe McCusker of Manchester, Vermont (see story on page 26).

SUMMER 1996 23 Kathleen Achor

Fred Kretchman ofNashua, New Hampshire, demonstrates how he builds his classic split- bam boo fly rods.

Wade Caler of Dryden, New York, demon- strates fly tying at the Museum's open house.

Kathleen Achor

Kathleen Achor

Trustee Pamela Bates Richards andfly tyer Bob Warren at the Museum's open house. Bob Warren is one of sev- eral classic and contemporary tyers featured in a new exhibit designed by Pam Richards that displays various Trustee Jamie Woods and Bill Dreyerfishing Equinox Pond on Sunday. salmon fly patterns from the collection of Joseph D. Bates.

24 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER Guide Steve Sanford gave tours of Equinox Pond in the Museum's Adirondack guide boat.

Kathleen Achor

After volunteering his services at the dinner/auction on Saturday night, Bill Chandler of Burlington, Vermont, shared Mark Wesner and sons of Cambridge, New York, hone his fly-tying skills on Sunday. casting skills at Equinox Pond during the Museum's open house. Past visitors to the Museum will also remember the Mary Orvis Marbury Panels and Bamboo Rod Construction exhibits. These have both been relocated within the Museum with only one other change: visitors can now actually handle the pieces in the bamboo rod exhibit. The long hallway is our fly fisher's art gallery, featuring the pick of our collec- tion, presenting prints, etchings, and Volunteer of the Year Award The opening hallway introduces visitors original oil paintings and watercolors to the Museum and presents a general The annual Joe A. Pisarro Volunteer from 1865 to the present. Artists on dis- overview of the history of fly fishing. play include Chet Reneson, Ogden of the Year Award was presented at the This lays the groundwork for the rest of Manchester DinnerIAuction on June 8. Pleissner, Winslow Homer, S. A. Kil- the exhibits, which expand on parts of bourne, S. F. Denton, William Schal- This year, two equally deserving volun- this general history. The reel exhibit teers were recognized. Joe McCusker of dach, and Ralph Ludwig Boyer. showcases twenty-two early American The audiovisual room is the same, Manchester, ~ermont,serves on the Reel Patents. The Camp Life and Fly Manchester DinnerIAuction Commit- but the walls are now adorned with se- Fisher's Sanctum show the fly fisher's lections from our collection of shadow tee. During the Museum's exhibit space natural habitats and include reproduc- transition, he has chipped in to paint boxes framed by the famed William tions of wonderful old photos culled Cushner. The framings in this room walls and set up new exhibits. Joe has from our collection. volunteered on numerous occasions have -with some exception - been se- Politicians in the Stream and Person- lected to represent fly tyers not repre- (and on short notice) to open the Muse- alities in the Stream dis~lavthe lives L, sented in other current displays. These um on weekends and greet guests. Bob and artifacts of some of the well-known Blain of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, is a include Vince Marinaro, Carrie Stevens, anglers represented in our collections. Theodore Gordon, Charles DeFeo, Lee member of the Boston DinnerIAuction Currently included are John Quincy Committee. He also organized and ran Wulff, George LaBranche, and Edward u Adams, Daniel Webster, Grover Cleve- Ringwood Hewitt. the Westford auction. Bob manages to land, Herbert Hoover, Dwight David find many of the items for the auctions, The last room is dedicated to rotating Eisenhower, Jimmy and Rosalynn Car- exhibits. This year we have so far fea- and he donates many items himself. ter, George Bush, Ernest Hemingway, Both Joe and Bob are dedicated work- tured Thomas Bewick, Anton Stetzko, Aldo Leopold, Bing Crosby, Glenn and James Prosek. ers. The Museum is proud to recognize Miller, and Babe Ruth. their contributions. These and other exciting changes are Next is Julianna Berners's Legacy: going on at the Museum. But don't take Journal Wins NEMA Award Five Hundred Years of Fly Fishing Tack- our word for it-stop in and see for le. This four-case exhibit shows the gen- yourself. The New England Museum Associa- eral evolution of fly rods, reels, flies, tion has awarded The American Fly Fish- gadgets, and ethic. Featured in these Angler's Luck er and Designer Randall Perkins first displays are imitations of Berners's flies place for design of a scholarly journal in and original flies by Gordon, Hewitt, When Joan Mathews attended the their 1996 Publications Awards competi- Jennings, and Atherton; Kosmic and Museum's open house for volunteers on tion. The annual awards recognize ex- Garrison rods; and dozens of other his- February 9, little did she know how well cellence in design, production, and ef- torically significant artifacts. her skills would match our needs. But as fective communication in all aspects of museum publishing. Awards are given Margot Page to the entries that most effectively pre- sent their message to the intended audi- ence. TAFF staff submitted the Spring 1995 issue (vol. 21, no. 2) for consideration in this category. The issue featured an arti- cle by Richard C. Hoffman about Con- rad Gessner's artificial flies and a 1918 article by Louis Rhead about angling bookplates. Museum Exhibits Change Those who have visited the American Museum of Fly Fishing before will im- mediately notice the changes we have made in recent months. First, the gift shop has been masterfully expanded and im~roved.thanks to the dedicated assistance of Joan and Joe Mathews. Visitors enjoy the May lo opening reception for Anton Stetzko amidst new Museum The exhibits have changed as well. exhibits.

26 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER Executive Assistant Ginny Hulett began talking with Joan and her husband Joe, it became apparent that Joan was the perfect person to oversee our planned gift shop expansion. After years of vacationing in the area, Joan and Joe Mathews moved to Man- chester from Florida in November 1994. For fifteen years, Joan managed the gift shop of the Science Museum in West Palm Beach. Before moving to Vermont, she managed the Loxahatchee Historical Museum gift shop in Jupiter, Florida, for two years. Since becoming a Ver- mont resident, she has also volunteered at Hildene (home of Robert Todd Lin- coln).

Cape Cod artist Anton Stetzko with one of his watercolors on display at the Museum.

play case, where explanations and ex- The Long Run amples of some of his techniques were presented. The exhibit closed May 7. Do you have a complete set of The On May lo, the Museum opened American Fly Fisher? We would like to "Art of a Cape Cod Angler: The Paint- document where these sets of the jour- ings of Anton Stetzko" to an enthusias- nal exist, both with individuals and in tic crowd and held a reception for the libraries. A complete set thus far con- artist. Stetzko, both a painter and salt- sists of volumes 1:1-4,2:1-4,3:1-4, 4:1-4, water fly-fishing guide, lives in Orleans, 5:l-4, 6:l-4, 7:l-4, 8:l-4, 9:l-3, 10:l-3, Massachusetts. The twenty-eight water- 11:l-4, 12:l-4, U:1-4, 14:l-2, 15:l-2, colors in the show included salt- and 162-3, 17:l-3, 18:l-4, 19:l-4, 2O:l-4, With Joan's help, the front room of 2i:i-4, and 22: 1,2,3. Let us know if you the Museum is now devoted entirely to freshwater scenes. Stetzko's paintings were on display through July 9. have a set with every issue. (Many back the gift shop, featuring art, books, issues are still available for those who T-shGts, statibnery, jewelry, and logo want to fill out their collection. See items. Joan has designed the displays Catskill Connection Members box, page 18.) and ordered lots of new products. She The staff enjoyed a visit from Lisa and Joe put up the new shelving, hung Lyons, director of the Catskill Fly Fish- Letters, Anyone? the art, and even donated a cash register ing Center and Museum, on March 20. Angelo Droetto, a Museum member to the Museum. We are happy to wel- Ms. Lyons stopped in to research the in Italy, would like to correspond with come this valuable volunteer. history of line development and to look members in the United States. If inter- through some original papers in our ested, please write directly to him: Dr. Art Openings collection. The information she gar- Angelo Droetto, Medico Veterinario, nered, along with some items we will be A crowd of people was on hand for Mura delle Cappuccine 35/13, 16128 loaning, will be part of the Catskill Cen- Genova, Italy. the March 29 opening of "Thomas Be- ter's line development display being in- wick: Small Worlds." Bewick (1753-1828) stalled this summer. Because there are Call for Books was one of England's greatest wood en- only a handful of fly-fishing museum gravers. His method of wood engraving conservators in the world, Lisa and In the Spring 1996 issue, we listed ten ultimately became the most popular AMFF Curator Jon Mathewson also en- books published before 1760 needed by way of illustrating books until photoen- joyed talking shop (it was a rare experi- the Museum's library. This time, we graving was perfected. The largest of the ence for all involved). bring you up to 1800 with ten more titles: twenty pieces on display was approxi- mately 3% inches by 3 inches. Magnify- The Angler's Guide to the Tweed and ing glasses were provided for guests to Summer Hours Whitadder. Benvick, 1781. better view the detail of the works. The Museum began its summer Bowlker, R., et al. The Universal Angler; The works on display were printed schedule April 13. From now until Octo- or That Art Improved in All Its Parts, from 1970 zinco reproductions made ber 31 we are open every day, lo A.M. to Especially Fly Fishing. London, 1766. from the original woodblocks. These re- 4 P.M. (except July 4 and September 2). Brookes, R. The Natural History of Fish- productions produced a quality of print Make a visit to the Museum this sum- es and Serpents; To Which Is Added that Bewick never saw in his own life- mer and check out our new exhibits and an Appendix, Containing the Whole time. Some of Bewick's tools and origi- gift shop. And don't forget to send your Art of Float and Fly Fishing. London, nal blocks were also featured in a dis- friends our way. 1790. Cole, Ralph. The Young Angler's Pocket Bradford & Anthony [retailer] (any) Scientific Anglers from 1945-1973.'' Companion. London, 1795. M. A. Shipley fly reel Leigh Perkins of Manchester, Vermont, Essay on the Right of Angling in the River Pettengill Mohawk #2 or #3 sent a copy of Antiques magazine from Thames and in All Other Public Navi- Sellers "Bas-kit" reel June 1974, which featured articles on gable Rivers. Reading: Smart, c. 1785. J. J. Ross 1869 patent fishing tackle. Fairfax, Thomas. The Complete Sports- Bogdan small trout reel Dick Finlay gave us a prototype man, Or Country Gentleman's Recre- J. Conroy (any-if multiplier, 2 %- Orvis Golden Eagle fiberglass rod. The ation. London: J. Cooke, c. 1760. inch diameter or less) New Jersey Division of Fish, Game, and The North-Country Angler, or, the Art of Julius Vom Hofe "Wells" Wildlife sent two "Christie" flies, tied in Angling as Practised in the Northern Talbot "Ben Hur" honor of their fly-fishing governor, Counties of England. London, 1786. Redifor Model X Christine Todd Whitman. Joseph M. Salter, Robert. The Modern Angler, Being Enterprise Mfg. Company (Pflueger) McNulty of Hinsdale, Illinois, sent us a a Practical Treatise on the Art of Fish- Medalist (first model) collection of line storage devices, a creel, ing, &c. London: J. Salter, Owestry, Hardy 1896 brass Perfect with logo and a combination knifelgaff. n.d. (second edition, 1811). Hardy Bougle Joe Pisarro of East Wallingford, Ver- Shirley, Thomas. Shirley's Angler's Muse- Hardy Cascapedia mont, presented us with letters written um; or, The Whole Art of Float and Malloch Sidecaster to him by Vince Marinaro, Sparse Grey Fly-Fishing, with Portrait of Kirby, the Allcock Aerial Hackle, Hermann Kessler, Arnold Gin- Celebrated Angler. London, 1784. grich, Austin Hogan, Roderick Haig- Smith, Thomas. Every Man His Own Recent Donations Brown, and John Voelker. Frank Harding of Jupiter, Florida, Ed Mitchell of Wethersfield, Con- gave us two books written by George F. necticut, gave us a collection of flies be- Reel Needs Kelson: The Salmon Fly (1895) and Tips longing to pioneering saltwater angler (1901). The Reverend Stephen Paul Frank Woolner who, among other Below is a list, prepared for the Mu- things, was the long-time editor of Salt seum by Jim Brown, of significant reels Booth of Mississauga, Ontario, gave us an 1889 edition of Charles Kingsley's Water Sportsman. The impressive selec- that the Museum does not have in its tion includes early versions of saltwater collections. Donations are welcome. Prose Idylls. Bill Cummings of Wood- bury, Connecticut, sent a copy of his flies tied by Joe Brooks, Harold Gibbs, Edward Vom Hofe "perfection" trout book, A Master's Guide to Atlantic John Fabian, Bill Gallasch, Gordon M. reel Salmon Fishing. Dean, Al Rudnickas, Captain Bill Curtis, Homer Rhodes, Joe Bates, and Bill Bradford [retailer] (any -if multi- Leon Martuch of Orlando, Florida, Catherwood. plier, 2 %-inch diameter or less) sent a copy of his memoir, "A History of

Marilvn Dalla Valle CONTRIBUTOR

Broody Studio Patrick R. Simes is an English and philosophy major at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. At

Wilkes he is the Englishu as a Second Language Coordinator, a research assistant, a member of Sigma Tau Delta and Chi Alpha Epsilon, and editor of Amnicola. Pat lives in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, with daughters Tiffany and Sasha and John Mundt, a previous contributor fiancee Laura White. Besides free-lance to The American Fly Fisher, resides in writing, he enjoys building home pages Simsbury, Connecticut, and is a mem- and surfing the internet. When he has ber of the Museum's Hartford Dinner1 time off, Pat enjoys fishing with his Auction Committee. He and his wife family and loves hiking along creeks, Joyce celebrated their fifth wedding an- rivers, streams, ponds, and lakes. After niversary in June. They enjoy spending graduating from Wilkes, he plans to their free time in Maine and Canada. study early American colonial literature In addition to angling and history, and environmental ethics. John's other interests include hunting, theology, and collecting.

28 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER Camelot Reprised

stored them in her large home Louisville matron who publishes a pizza in a suburb of Rochester, New magazine got an ink drawing and a mir- York. The $60 million from ror for $25,400. She seemed regretful, a her estate was used to care for New York Times reporter thought, that this trove and to construct a she'd failed to get other items- she had museum building for it. She five nieces and three stepdaughters and had called her creation-to-be had wanted to give each of them "a little "Museum of Fascination," but piece of history." this avvellation was discarded, The sale was about celebrity, which perhi6s because it suggested may be history of the most accessible HE PRICE s paid in April for per- eccentricity (as its founder had been ru- kind. "Mystique" was the polite eu- sonal belongings in the estate of mored to possess). Today the Strong phemism in the press for what fans of TJacqueline Kennedy Onassis so ex- Museum is a serious history museum, Elvis Presiey know is hero worship. ceeded the auction house's estimates interpreting American taste and tech- Again, smugness is not becoming here that reporters and participants were nology of the nineteenth century. because museums tap into the interest seen struggling sheepishly to answer No fishing tackle was in the Sotheby's people have in the possessions of the why. A table that sold for $1.4 million sale, but this museum would have been rich and famous. Such things are re- had been valued at $30,000 or less. A a bidder, albeit one left in the dust of the garded as witnesses to history and con- cigar humidor went for $574,500, two rich and richer. Jack Kennedy occasion- firmation of our own place in it. Lewis sets of golf cl~~bswere knocked down for ally fished, but he did not use a fly and H. Lapham, in the May 1996 Harper's, more than $1 million, and a putter may have been advised to spare his bad averred that Americans were not the brought $30,000. The Sotheby's sale was back. I would gladly have joined what materialists they were said to be, but treated as a major news event for each one reporter called a "feeding frenzy" in quite the opposite: "We are a people of four successive days, but, as if to order to add one more rod to the presi- captivated by the power and romance of prove sanity, people joshingly referred dential rods collection at the Museum, metaphor, forever seeking the invisible to it as a garage or yard sale, these things and I have no doubt the Museum's sup- through the imagery of the visible." The being castoffs the Kennedy children did porters, if asked, would have done the Kennedy sale was not on his mind when not want. same. he wrote that, but it might as well have A milestone had been reached, but If a museum has a claim, wouldn't been. the significance eluded grasp. No one that redeem the purchase from criti- Were a vote taken, it would be the -none that I heard, anyway - claimed cism? We'd applaud a golfing museum rods of four U.S. presidents at the Mu- the princely sums, media hoopla, and that paid a cool million for clubs used seum that would get the nod of the gen- glitz meant anything one might point to by Jack Kennedy, said to have been the eral public, who in the aggregate are less with pride. Was the auction equivalent finest golfer among presidents who interested in the details of fly fishing to bungee jumping, without redeeming played the game. Why deny the privilege than about men lucky enough to make a social content, but too much of a spec- to an individual? The question is fair, difference in their lifetimes-men who tacle to go unnoticed? and it is answered only partly by the dif- put pants on one leg at a time as they A superior attitude is unbecoming ference between museums and individ- hastened to get to the stream before here, for museum collections and some uals: museums act for a public benefit in sunup. Just like us. Museums are the museums would not exist except for the contrast to a personal one. watchers at the gate to the past. They questionable or murky motives with Bidders invariably cited "history" have no monopoly on the truth, but which collectors and founders often when asked why they paid such high they have a franchise of sorts on one-of- pursue a passion. Margaret Woodbury prices. The ungenerous might see histo- a-kind things that are witnesses to the Strong, heiress to the Kodak fortune, ry as a fig leaf for covering extravagance. past. This is perhaps the Museum's best emptied antique shops of Victoriana "This wasn't just a humidor," said the lure. -glass paperweights, dolls and doll buyer of what one journalist called a CRAIGGILBORN houses, buttons, patent furniture - and "cigar box." It was a "piece of history." A EXECUTIVEDIRECTOR THEAMERICAN MUSEUM OF FLY FISHING, a nationally accredited, nonprofit, educa- tional institution dedicated to preserving the rich heritage of fly fishing, was founded in Manchester, Vermont, in 1968. The Museum serves as a repository for, and conservator to, the world's largest collection of angling and angling-related objects. The Museum's col- lections and exhibits provide the public with thorough documentation of the evolution of fly fishing as a sport, art form, craft, and in- dustry in the United States and abroad from the sixteenth century to the present. Rods, reels, and flies, as well as tackle, art, books, manuscripts, and photographs form the ma- jor components of the Museum's collections. The Museum has gained recognition as a unique educational institution. It supports a publications program through which its na- tional quarterly journal, The American Fly Fisher, and books, art prints, and catalogs are regularly offered to the public. The Muse- um's traveling exhibits program has made it possible for educational exhibits to be viewed across the United States and abroad. The Museum also provides in-house ex- hibits, related interpretive programming, and research services for members, visiting scholars, authors, and students. The Museum is an active, member-orient- ed nonprofit institution. For information please contact: The American Museum of Fly Fishing, P. 0. Box 42, Manchester, Vermont 05254,802-362-3300.