Lyle L. Dickerson and the Rodmaker's Llel Krcigcr S;~Rnfa11 Sc\\ Richarc1 F
American Flv Fisher Courtesy The Orvis Company. Inc.
"Tlze lovely bamboo, Arundinaria amabilis", a rodmaker's classic material
Exploring a a .
WE OFFER OUR READERS some se- continues to make rods in the Dickerson rious research in this issue of The tradition. Continuity and tradition-in- American Fly Fisher, including the tegral parts of our fly fishing heritage. second (and last) installment of Also returning in this issue with some "Lyle Dickerson and the Rod- exciting new research on two disparate maker's Rod," by James W. subjects are Rik Hafer and David Klaus- Schaaf with Gerald S. Stein, M.D. meyer. David Ricardo, the 19th century BIt's somewhat ironic that Dickerson, a English philosopher/economist, called quiet, unassuming man who did little to economics "The Dismal Science." One promote his rods during his own life- suspects that Rik Hafer would disagree time, should attract so much attention with this declaration. We're fortunate today. But then all great artists ulti- that he has decided to combine his love mately find a biographer, and Dickerson of vocation with avocation-fly fishing- was an artist in the best sense of the to create another article on the econom- word. ics of fly fishing. Many of our readers will remember For David Klausmeyer, fly fishing is a that another two-part article on Dick- metaphor for life. Dave's love of the erson, by the late Tim Bedford, ap- sportlartlcraft is certainly fully devel- peared in The American Fly Fisher (Spring oped for not only does he build mag- and Summer, 1985).Taken together, the nificent cane rods and play an active role articles by Bedford, Schaaf and Stein in streamside conservation activities, he published in this journal constitute an also writes (and writes well) about fly exceptional body of work on a most un- fishing. For this we are thankful. Here, usual and accomplished individual. David explores the long-forgotten an- I wonder, too, if our readers are aware gling traditions of southern Appalachia. that Tim Bedford worked extensively We'll be hearing more from Dave later with Dickerson's rod tapers before his this year when we publish his article on death, and that those same tapers were silk fly lines. then passed on to James Schaaf, who D.S.J. The American
Preserving a Rich Heritage Fly Fisher Journal of The American Museum of Fly Fishing for Future Generations SUMMER 1990 VOLUME 16 NUMBER 2
TRUSTEES Foster Barn 130h Mitcltcll William Barrett \Vallace,I. Slurrav 111 Under the Rhododendron Canopy: Bruce 1-1. Begin M'avne Nnrclherg Paul Ilol~nger 1.eigl1 11. I'crkitt\ Angling in the Great Smokies ...... 2 I.e\vis M. llorden 111 Komi Perkins Kohert R. Buckmaster r\llan R. 1'hil)ps David Klausmeyer Ko\- D. (:ltapin, Jr. 0. Miles 1'1~lI~tr~l Peter (:orbin Susan A. Pry~kin Charles K. Eichel Keith C. Ku**rll Rod and Reel...... 7 G. Dick Finlay 1)r. l\.alt Scltloll' \V. blichael Fitzgerald 1';tul Schullrr\~ William H.H. Murray .4rtliur .I.. Fres Frcderic :\. S11:lrf Larry Gilsdorl' Stephen Slo;~n Gardner 1.. Grant W;llI;ice Stenl~~ruse,]I.. William Herrick Artltur Strrtt An Early Illustration of a Rising Trout ...... lo (:urtir Hill Dr. W~lfStirts~~tt Dr. Arthur K;ternmer FOI-rest Sl~.;ligltt Paul Schullery Rohert J. Kahn J~IIICS7 :~vIor Wrloils King 111 Ralph J. 'l'inglr >fartilt I). Klinc ,]:IIIIC~\4', V:III I.I,;II~ Lyle L. Dickerson and the Rodmaker's llel Krcigcr S;~rnFa11 Sc\\ Richarc1 F. Kress 1)ickvln I.. \Yl~itnc\ Rod, Part I1 ...... 12 David 13. Ledlie Earl S. \%'<,r\I~~tnt lati 1). Mackay Ed!r.ard (;. %rt-n James W.Schaaf zuith Gerald S. Stein, M.D.
OFFICERS Essentials of Fly Fishing: What's the Chrtirmn~ro/'lhp Honrd Real Cost? 21 Robert J. Kahn ...... PI-esidr~rt R. W. Hafer Leigh H. I'erkins Virp Pr1,.sid1>111 Willian~Herrick Book Review: American Fishing Books ...... 2 5 Tr0a.slor,. Joe A. Pisarro Rob hlitchell Srrrrlrr~y Foster Ban1 Museum News ...... 26 Asistant Srrrr,tnylClr,rk Charles R. Eichel ON THE COVER:
Exertctiz~r1)rrurtor Rorlmrrkr? Lyle L. Dlckerson (?rg/tt)nnd conzpnnron "Holly" Blos- Donalcl S. Johnson tom 171 1939. F?oa the Lyle L. Drckercon Colleclro?~of //~rArtterzcnn Ex~culiveAvrislnnl Mltsel~rnof Fly Fzdtzng. Pliotograplter ~rnknozurr. Virginia Hulett CtrraIor/D~~~r/~~/~~n~~~tA.s.si.sta111 Alanna I). I.'isher VO/ILII~PPTCoordrnato? Tltr A??z,r,zr~z,r12(v h\krr i\ pt~l,li\hcd four li~ncr:! )car 11). II>C hluseuni .tt Joe A. I'isarro I'.O. Box .I?, %Ian
TAFF SUMMER 1990 1 Under the Rhododendron Canopy: Angling in the Great Smokies by David Klausmeyer
One can find snippets of information WHENI TRAVEL AND FISH new waters flies, weathered canoes, and the best wa- onflyfishing in southern Appalachia around the country, local anglers always ters New England and eastern Canada in some of our early sporting and ask me about the quality of fishing in the had to offer. I grew up believing that fly angling periodicals, and oftentimes southern Appalachians. These new ac- fishing meant the North Woods, with in period and contemporary regional quaintances offer that they have scant evenings spent in a cabin tying flies of anglingguides. Butfor the most part, knowledge of southern trout streams, bold and exotic materials. Indeed, upon this component of our American fly and that what they do know has been examining the overall body of American fishing tradition has gone unnoticed and acquired only through one of the very fly fishing literature, one will note a shift unexplored. occasional pieces which appear in fishing of emphasis from the Northeast only in David Klawmeyer is supremely knowl- publications, rarely from first-hand an- recent years. Oh yes, anglers wrote edgeable in all matters piscatorial. It came as gling experience. about and discussed other destinations, no surprise to those of us who know David to This is understandable. but the concentration was definitely on learn that he had discovered that a rich an- When I was a small boy, sitting in my the Northeast portion of the continent. gling heritage exists in southern Appalachia, grandfather's easy chair, turning In recent years, the focus has shifted a tradition that is responsiblefor, among other through the pages of the popular out- to the streams and rivers of western things, the introduction of several species of of-doors periodicals he kept in a brass- North America. Today many consider trout and the development of flies unique in handled kindling rack which served as the well traveled angler not to be one origin, design, and materials. We think this his magazine stand, I always got the feel- who can discuss a wide variety of waters, is a major discovery which, happily, adds yet ing that I was peering into some cool, but instead one who makes an annual another chapter to the history of Americanfly remote place. The photographs and art trek to Montana. This attitude is re- fishing. D.S.J. work generally depicted bright salmon flected (or perhaps is led) by today's fly
2 TAFF SUMMER 1990 Company alone cut over two thousand fly fishermen of southern Appalachia acres of land per year between 1902 and pursue trout. Opposite: A hand-colored lilhograplz 1924) had two effects on local angling. The brook trout, referred to as entilled "The Smok? Mounlain~,"i,y R. First, many miles of stream containing "speckled" trout by many locals, is with- Hinshelwood, 1873. Courtesy Great Smoky native brook trout were destroyed due out a doubt the most beloved game fish Mounlains National Park. to silt run-off and a general warming of among the mountain anglers. While the water's temperature. Not being able never reaching the size of the "exotic" to survive in this disturbed environment, rainbow and brown trout (a large spec- the brook trout became restricted to a imen may reach ten or eleven inches), it fishing literature. Sure, the storied wa- decreasing number of undisturbed is the only member of the Salmo family ters such as the quiet, gliding limestone headwater streams. Secondly, the lum- indigenous to the Smoky Mountains. Its streams of Pennsylvania and the free- ber companies paved the way in opening beautiful colors, scrappy fight, and the stone rivers of the Catskills are still being the southern mountains for future gen- lush green mountain environment it in- written about, but large pieces of the erations of visitors (and anglers). Many habits make even a poor day of angling country and their angling potential are of the roads found in the area were ac- a fulfilling experience. still being sparsely reported. (',onse- tually constructed on old railway beds. While logging and heavy fishing pres- quently, much parochial angling history The next major event which had an sure (including the use of dynamite and is being lost as senior anglers put away impact on local trout fishing was the es- nets) took its toll on the brook trout pop- their rods for the last time, and younger tablishment of a national park. The ulation, the introduction of rainbow and anglers become convinced that the fish Great Smoky Mountain Conservation brown trout also had a severe impact on are always bigger in the next stream. Association, formed in Knoxville in 1923 the native species. With the streams I was also a victim of this thinking. In by businessmen who were concerned as damaged due to years of abuse, coupled preparation to moving to Knoxville, I much about the profit potential of a na- with the desire to increase the angling looked fix any information I could find tional park as in preserving the dwin- potential of the Great Smokies, the de- about the local cold-water angling. 1 dling virgin forest, began to promote the cision was made to introduce the hardier knew that trout were available, IILI~I park concept to state and federal offi- rainbow and brown trout. Stories wanted specifics, and I l~ecameappre- cials. abound of local anglers and officials hensive about my angling prospects as I In I 925, the Tennessee legislature and transporting the new arrivals in horse- learned that very little had been pub- Knoxville city council authorized the drawn barrels to the higher elevations lished about southern trout streams. purchase of the Little River Logging even before the establishment of the The angling must be very poor, I Company's holdings as a sign of goocl park. Once released, the new, more ag- thought, if it's not even worth the price fi~ithto the fecleral Park Service that the gressive fish began to compete with the of ink and paper. state would actively si~pporta national I~rooktrout, clalming territory and fur- Since moving to eastern Tennessee, park (while the Smoky Mountains are an ther restricting the range of the however, I have discovered that south- hour's drive from Knoxville+ven on "specks." The Kephart Prong Hatchery ern Appalachia has a rich fly fishing her- today's roads-the state requirecl that (named fix Horace Kephart, local out- itage. This tradition, as unnoticed as the city pay one-third of the purchase doorsrnan and writer) was built at the many of the streams that How untler the price). ?'his land was then donated to .junctilre of the tumbling Oconoluftee mountain rhododendron canopy, has the federal government fin- initial inclu- River and Kephart Prong tributary in passed through time in ;I quiet, almost sion in the new park. In 1925, the Con- North Carolina. This hatchery played a secretive fashion. Occasionally the high gress passed, and President Coolidge major role in park stocking activities, al- quality of the fishery will be recorded in signed, a bill authorizing the establish- lowing officials to more easily introduce the popular angling press, but the lore ment of the Great Smoky Mountain Na- many thousands of trout to the park's and charm are always absent. I'he es- tional I'ark. This legislation was passed, waters. Today, second-growth forest has tablishment of three species of' trout, however, with the conclition that actual taken over the long a1)andoned hatch- flies unique in origin and materials, and park development would begin only ery-all that remains are foundation a lodge which catered to some of Hy fish- after the states of Tennessee and North remnants, old pipe, and the outlines of ing's greatest personalities all contribute Carolina donated a conlbined total of one or two rearing pools. The most out- to a local tradition which fi)rces us to y)o,ooo acres to the project. With the standing feature is a large, wordless broaden our thinking about the overall commitment of federal, state and local stone sign which once greeted visitors to history of American fly fishing. parties, a campaign of' extensive fund- the birthplace of the fish that still inhabit The development of fl y tishing in the raising began in order to secure the the surrounding streams. Southeast, as with other parts of the more than 1600 individual pieces of One ofthe most noteworthy yet least country, can be traced in time along with property which con~prisetoday's park. known features of southern trout an- the economic development of the re- By the early ~ggos,it became obvious gling is the Ha~elCreek Fishing Club. gion. In very broad terms, the turn of that the states would fall short of ac- While several hunting lodges catered to the century was a time of extensive log- quiring the necessary acreage. Rising the needs of bear, boar, and deer hunt- ging operations in the mountains of land costs and expensive litigation re- ers prior to the formation of the national eastern Tennessee and western North sulting from contested purchases ate park, the Hazel Creek club stood alone Carolina. Timber rights were divided into the available land acquisition funds. as the gathering place for local fly an- among eighteen logging concerns, the So, in August of 1933, President Roo- glers. Started by North Carolina busi- largest being Tennessee's Little River sevelt stepped forward and pledged the nessmen who enjoyed the finer Lumber Company, which owned over necessary funds to complete the pur- piscatorial pursuits, a tract of land along 77,000 acres. These companies, eager to chases, and in 1934 the new national Hazel Creek was purchased and a lodge supply growing cities with lumber and park became a reality. Later, the north- erected in the early 1920s. With the start tanneries with the bark necessary to tan ern and southern districts of the (:her- of this exclusive club, Hazel Creek hides, sent loggers to clear the forests okee National Forest were established at gained in prominence and eventually and haul out the felled trees on the backs each end of the park to further protect came to be considered the finest dry fly of narrow-gauge trains. The large scale these southern mountains. This then stream in the Southeast. As word spread of this logging (the Little River Logging provides the land and water in which the of the quality of the fishery, noted an-
TAFF SUMMER 1990 3 Drawings by Nancy Aitken
The Kephart Prong Hatchery as it apfieared during the heyday of stocking activity. After a National Park Senlice Photo publist~ed in The Smokies Guide by G.M. Stephens (1947).
glers such as John Tainter Foote, to what flies they were recommending reflected in local Hy development; today George LaBranche, and Ferris Green- to their sports. The Brown Hackle, most would consider the flies developed slet came to fish the club's waters. In 1944 Coachman, Cahill, Cowdung, Black by the anglers of the Smoky Mountains the club faded into angling history when Gnat, Queen of the Waters, Brown as "attractor" patterns. The only fly of title to the property passed to the Park March, and White Miller were all of- local origin to gain a national reputation Service for inclusion into the still grow- fered as tried and true favorites. The is the Tellico Nymph. This yellow-bod- ing national park. When the Tennessee Woolly Worm was also a popular pat- ied fly, referred to locally as simply a Valley Authority completed Fontana tern, tied on a straight-eyed hook so that Tellico (it's a lot like saying Hare's Ear- Dam, the resulting lake flooded the main it could be used in combination with a everyone understands), was generally approach to Hazel Creek (ironically small spinner. But the curious omission considered to be an impressionistic stone called Dry Weather Road). Today, one in this list of favorites are the local cre- fly imitation. Today, of course, most an- must ferry across Lake Fontana to the ations: those wonderful sketches in glers carry frauds that are far more rep- mouth of Hazel Creek in order to enjoy feather and fur which reflect the history resentative of the Plecoptem, but the its now lonely pools. and surroundings of their makers. Tellico is still found in most fly catalogs. Other visitors to the area, those who Most of the anglers felt that exact du- Going much further back than the had no introduction to an establishment plication of the naturally occurring in- Tellico Nymph, J.H. Stewart of Jackson, such as the Hazel Creek Fishing Club sect was less important than simply Mississippi, wrote Mary Orvis Marbury and its knowledgeable members, weren't getting a fly on the water-the fish to describe "North Carolina Indian entirely out of luck. Before the founding would do the rest. This philosophy was Flies." This letter, contained in lin71orite of the national park and the construc- Flies and Tf~eirHistories, certainly sheds tion of better roads, a good guide and a light on one of the most unusual Hy pat- couple of evenings camping out under terns to have evolved in southern Ap- the stars were almost mandatory if one palachia, the Yellowhammer. Mr. wanted to sample the best fishing. A Stewart wrote in his letter that the In- guide could be found just by inquiring dians of North Carolina (undoubtedly at the desk of an area hotel. I have seen referring to the eastern band of the one period list of guides which num- Cherokees, who still have a reservation bered over twenty men, all considered at the southern end of the park) would highly knowledgeable in woodcraft and cut a thin strip of fur from a deer's leg. angling. I know of no one offering guid- This strip was then wrapped on the hook ing services in today's Smoky Mountains. in a palmered fashion, with the hairs But then, in an open national park, a pointing toward the eye of the hook. Mr. guide really isn't necessary. Stewart went on to say, "They use feath- For flies, fishermen used the popular ers occasionally in the same way." Cer- patterns of the day. Robert L. Mason, The Yellow/zclmmer tainly he was describing the for his early book The Lure of the Great Yellowhammer. Smokies (1927). polled the local guides as While many local anglers have heard
4 TAFF SUMMER 1990 The clzcbhozise at the Hazel Creek Fishing CkrO. Afier a flhotopaph rohich appeared in Jim Gasque'.i Hunting & Fishing in the Great Smokies (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1948).
of the Yellowhammer, very few have wing of the Clay Hart is a mix of feathers fact, I've noticed that it's the same group ever seen one or are familiar with its and fur which makes the fly as singular of fishermen who can tell you about construction. The mystery behind the Hy as the Yellowhammer. A small bunch of things as obscure as the Yellowhammer is probably due to the materials required red fox squirrel tail was tied in first, with and the Hazel Creek Fishing Club who in the fly's recipe. The key ingredient in a white and a grizzly feather tied in on can also tell you about Mr. Mark Cathy's tying the Yellowhammer is the tail and one side of the fur (with the white "dance of the fly." wing feathers of the now federally pro- feather on the outside) and a ginger and Mark Cathy, of Bryson City, North tected yellow flicker woodpecker. These brown combination on the other (ginger Carolina, believed that any Hy could unusual feathers, black on one side iund feather out). The Clay Hart has a dingy, catch fish; it was simply a matter of school-bus yellow on the other, were dirty, greenish-brown spun fur body proper presentation. He didn't believe soaked in warm water (as describetl by which one angler described as the color that stealth, a fine leader or a drag-free Mr. Stewart), split down the middle of of "manure in August." Today, the Clay Hoat was at all important in catching the quill, and wound on the hook as a Hart, like the Yellowhammer, is remem- trout. Instead, he would attach to his line hackle. I have seen two versions of the bered mostly by those fishermen who a leader more suitable to angling for bass Yellowhammer (both tied on a straight- can still recall the founding of the na- than trout, stand on a rock in full view eyed hook to accommodate a spinner). tional park. of every fish in his chosen pool, and be- One simply had the feather palmered Along with this set of attractor fly pat- gin skimming his fly back and forth over the entire shaft of the hook with terns, there was one angler of local rep- across the surface of the water. Occa- the barbs pointing forward. The other utation who developed what we could sionally he would dance the Hy on the had a peacock her1 body and goltlen call an "attractor" method of fishing. In top with a few quick pops of his rod tip. pheasant tippet tail, the yellow flicker The fish, their attention now shifted feather being used more as a regular from Mark to his forgery, would strike hackle. I have been told that both pat- at his lively offerings. And, as was re- terns are true Yellowhammers, but in corded by Jim Gasque in Hunting and light of Mr. Stewart's very early letter Fis/ii?zg in the Great Smokies (1g48), Cathy (dated i887), I believe the palmered ver- was known to always creel his limit. sion to be the original pattern. With Mark Cathy died in October, 1944, time, "Yellowhammer" probably came while hunting. According to his obitu- to mean any Hy that was dressed with ary, his body was found in the woods, the feathers of the yellow flicker. leaning against a tree with his squirrel The Clay Hart, another local creation rifle lying across his lap. Today, over named for its originator, is a streamer forty-five years later, he and his unique also tied on a straight-eyed hook to ac- style of angling are still remembered. commodate a spinner (while I have The parameters of fly fishingare quite never seen anyone use this method, sen- The Clay Hart broad. From fresh water to brine, and ior anglers report that the use of small from teasing pan-sized brook trout to spinners was once very popular). The turning a homeward-bound salmon, to-
TAFF SUMMER 1990 5 An untitled watercolor of the Smoky Mountains by Charles Christopher Krutch (1849-1934). Courtesy Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The Mountain Painter Charles Christopher Krutch (1849-1934) is loved LeConte and Sugarland Valley, with considered to be the first artist of note to capture Chimney Tops also a favorite subject. Originally the mountains of Tennessee and North Caro- a watercolor painter, he later changed to oil for lina. Entirely self taught, he earned the es- many years, but returned again to watercolor teemed reputation among his fellow artists as and used both media with equal facility as he "the Corot of the South." perfected his techniques. As his reputation Born in 1849 in South Carolina, he lived most grew, many of Knoxville's finest homes boasted of his life in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he of having several of his landscapes. was employed as a photographic retoucher by In 1933, one year before his death, Krutch McCrarry and Branson in 1893 and then in received national recognition when he became 1904 until his death by Brakebill & McCoy Stu- the first artist commissioned under the Public dio. A quiet and gentle man, he loved music Works of Art Project, for which he painted at and was for many years an organist at St. John's least two large canvases, now in the collection Episcopal Church in Knoxville. of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Krutch early established his reputation as a When he died in 1934, his valuable legacy was "mountain painter." Never married, he often a record of the Great Smoky Mountains-the said his true love was painting the Great Smok- beauty of their form and color-in earlier days. ies, and he spent weeks at a time living with MARGOTPAGE friends and sketching in the mountains. He best
day's piscators have a wealth of angling much of the angling history and lore of the wide dissemination of information, opportunities that would astound many the Great Smokies, and certainly other we also recognize our parochial respon- of our forebears. Exploring new envi- parts of the country, is being lost with sibilities in preserving regional tradi- ronments and making the acquaintance time. It is my sincere hope that while we tions. To borrow a phrase from our of new species of Sabo are certainly a fly fishers enjoy the opportunities af- conservation-minded friends, fly fishin part of the enjoyment of fly fishing. Yet forded us through modern travel and is more than just catching fish. d Rod and Reel
from
Adventures in the Wilderness; or Camp-life in the Adirondacks
by William H.H. Murray
Throughout the early years of the "MR.MURRAY, WAKE UP!the pancakes are ily to that bourne from whence no trout 19th century, the lakes and moun- ready!" shouted John. returns. You lay hold of a quart pan full tains of the Adirondacks attracted the Aroused by the familiar cry, I arose, of liquid which has the smack of real attention of rui1dernes.r adventttrers, and, walking down to the shore of the Java to it, made pungent with a sprin- sportsmen, and the curious. At rto lake, waded out into its tide, and, plung- kling of Mocha; and the first you know time, however, during these early ing my head under water, held it there you see your face in the bottom of the years could the Adirondacb be con- for a moment, while the delicious sense dish. And the joke is, you keep doing so, ~idereda popular destination. That changed of coolness ran through my system; then right along, for some thirty minutes or in 1869 when a New England minister I raised it, turning my dripping face more, rising from each meal a bigger, if named William H.H. Murray pzrblkhed his straight toward the bright, warm sun. 0 not a better man. first book, Adventures in the Wilderness; the sweet experience of that moment! The meal was finished. It did not take or Camp-life in the Adirondacks (Fields, How cool the water; how fresh the air; long to wash the dishes; and over the Osgood V Co., Boston, 1869). Adventures how clear the sky; how fragrant the remnants of what had once been a feast attracted aJlood of tourists into the Adimn- breath of balsam and of pine! 0 luxury we sat in council. duck region from Boston, New York, Albany, of luxuries, to have a lake of crystal wa- 'John, what shall we do to-day?" and from as far away as Pitt.rburgh and ter for your wash-bowl, the morning "Well, I think," said John, "we'll take Cleveland. What made Murray's book .so suc- zephyr for a towel, the whitest sand for some trout. I told you, when we started, cessful was his presentation of usefi~linfor- soap, and the odors of aromatic trees for you should see a three-pounder before mation for anyone planning an excur.rion into perfumes! What belle or millionnaire we got back; and here we are within the Adirondack region. can boast of such surroundings? twenty miles of the Racquette, and my The second section of the book contains the Fresh as an athlete in training, I re- promise unfulfilled. I know a little lake, accounts of Murray's actu,al adz~enturesdur- turned to camp and to breakfast. Break- hidden away back of that hard-wood ing his travels in the regzon. His stories aboztl fast in the wilderness means something. ridge yonder, which is one huge spring- hunting, fishing and frivolity in the Adiron- No muttering about "those miserable hole; and when scouting through here dacb, amid the balsam-scented air and mir- rolls"; no yawning over a small strip of on my own account, some six years ago, rored lakes, lured thousands into the steak, cut in the form of a parallelogram, I took some fish from it such as you sel- wilderness that summer of 1869, and for an inch and a half by three; no lying dom see. I doubt if there has been a fly many years thereafter. about tawny-colored water by calling it on it since; and if the breeze will freshen "Rod and Reel," published herein in con- "coffee." No; but up in the woods you a little, you'll have rare sport." densed form, is one of the more entertaining take a pancake, twelve inches across (just Soon after, John shouldered the boat, chapters of Murray's Adventures. It ca,p- the diameter of the pan), and one inch and we started. Some forty minutes' lures theJlauor of the book that did so much thick, and go conscientiously to work to tramp, and we reached the shore and to popularize the Adirondacks a$an angler's surround it. You seize a trout ten or made our camp. From it the scene was paradke. D.McC. fourteen inches long, and send it speed- delightful. The lake was nearly circular,
TAFF SUMMER 1990 7 some half a mile across, its waters deep it was all right. The trout had made sad watching. At last, some fifteen rods and clear. Into it, so far as we could see, work with the flies. The largest and away, a magnificent fish shot up out of no water came; out of it no water went. strongest came out of their mouths bare the water after a butterfly which chanced It was, as John had called it, one huge to the shank. Five ruined flies lay with to be winging its way across the lake, and spring-hole; the mountains on all sides the five captured trout on the bottom of missing it by only a few inches, fell back sloped gradually up, an unbroken sweep the boat. with a splash into the very ripple he of pine and balsam, save where, at in- "Mr. Murray," said John at length, as made in rising. tervals, a silver-beech or round-leaved he sat looking at the mangled Hies; "hav- I pitched the coil into the air, and by maple relieved the sombre color with en't you something larger? These trout the time it had fairly straightened itself lighter hues. Thus secluded, seldom vis- are regular sharks." out the boat was in reach of the wake; ited by man, the little lake reposed, mir- "Nothing," replied I, I-unningover the and, obedient to the quick turn of the roring the surrounding hills in its cool leaves of my Hy-book, "except these wrist, the huge fly leaped ahead. It had depths, and guarded safely by them. We stepped into our boat and glicled out toward the centre of the pool. Not a mo- tion in the air; not a rippie on the water. At last the beeches along the western slope began to rustle. The mournful pines felt the pressure of airy fingers amid their strings, and woke to solemn sound. The zephyr at length reached the lake, and the cool water thrilled into rip- ples at its touch; while the pool, which an instant before shone ilnder the sun like seamless glass, shook with a thou- sand tiny undulations. "Now," said John, "if the fish haven't all drowned since I was here, you'll see 'em soon. When one rises I'll put yoi~ within casting distance of the wake, and if he likes it he'll take the fly. If one takes, strike hard; for their jaws are stout and bony, and you must hook them well or you'll lose them in the struggle." We sat and watched. "There!" sud- denly shouted John; "one isn't dead yet." And whirling the boat about, he sent it flying toward a swirl in the water, some twenty rods away, made by a rising fish whose splash I had heard but did not i,,t/,-lr/r rrr Ihr. :ldr,nf,dnrk. (t~clrl\.O\g
ing to the bottom, then came agdln ' to a a risk to save the game? I screamed to stand-still. He acted ~~gly.I felt that, lohn to shoot the boat one side; and high in mid-air, when the rush came, it woi~ldtry nerve when the last foot of silk was given I and tackle alike. Elljoining John to watch advanced the butt. The heavy fish and the fish and favor me all he could, and pliant rot1 were pitted one against the by no means to let him pass under the other. Three days later, in another he shook himself, boat, I gave a quick, sharpjerk. My arm struggle, the old rod parted; but this was still in the air and the rotl unstraight- time it triumphed. For a moment the ened, when I ca~~ghta gleam far down quivering tip rattled upon the bars of the crystal drops below me, ant1 bef0re I had time to wink the reel. The fish struggled and shook the huge fellow parted the water almost himself, but the tenacious fibres would within reach of my arm, and when high not p;n-t. He ceased to battle, came pant- LIPin mid-air he shook himself, the crys- ing to the surface, and rolled over upon were flung into tal drops were Hung into my very face. his side. The boat shot toward him, and Perhaps I shall live long enough to for- as it glided by John passed the landing- get the picture, as that trout tor an in- net beneath him, and the brave fighter stant hung in the air, his blue back and lay upon the bottom board. His tail, my very face." azure sides spotted with gold and agate, across its base, measured five inches; and his fins edged with snowy white, his eyes his length from tip to tip was srrrentren protruding, gills distended, the leader itzchrs cotrl lilrrc qtmrlrrs! hanging fi-on1 his jaws, while a shower ':john," 1 said, twisting round in my of pearly drops were shaken from his seat ant1 facing him-'John, I should quivering sides. He fell; but while still in have lost that fish or smashed the rod, air the boat glided I~ackward,and when if it had not been for your paddle." of lance-wood for a rod, ant1 two he touched the water I was thirty feet "Of course, of course," replied John; hundred feet of braided silk in your away and ready fi)r his rush. It came. "that's my business. Those Hy-rods are double-acting reel, and hook a trout And as he passed LIS, some hrty feet off', delicate things. Like women, they whose strain brought tip and butt to- he clove the water as a bolt from a cross- shouldn't be put to heavy work if you gether as you checked him in some wild bow might cleave the air. Possibly for can help it, but they are able to bear a flight, and tested your quivering line five minutes the frenzy lasted. Not a heavy strain if necessary. But with all I from gut to reel-knot? word was utterecl. The whiz of the line could do I thought it was gone once. I Well, as I said, I struck; and, as we through the water, the whir ofthe flying don't think I ever came so near breaking afterwards discovered, the huge salmon- reel, and an occasional grunt f'rom John this paddle as on that last sweep. It made hook was buried to the shank amid the as the fish doubled on the boat, were the my Hesh creep to hear the old rod creak. nerves which lie at the root of a troi~t's only sounds to be heard. When, sud- I really believe my own back would have tongue. Then came a fight for the mas- denly, in one of his wildest Hights, the snapped if it had parted." tery such as never before had 1 waged terribly taxed rod straightened itself out That afternoon we lay on the beach with anything that swims. Words should with a spring, the pressure ceased, the and watched the leaping trout sporting have life in them to depict the scene. line slackened, and the fish again lay on before us; or gazed; dreaming of absent Quick as a flash, before I had fairly re- the bottom. Wiping the sweat from my friends, into the deep blue sky, across covered my balance, partially lost by the brow, I turned to John and said, "What whose cerulean dome the snow-white energy with which I struck, the trout do you think of that?" clouds drifted, urged silently onward by started, and before I could get a pres- "Mr. Murray," replied John, laying the pressure of invisible currents. The sure upon the line, not twenty yards the paddle down and drawing the sleeve sun at last withdrew his beams. Throw- were left on the reel. A quick stroke of his woollen shirt across his forehead, ing some huge logs on the fire, and from John, and the boat shot one side; beaded with perspiration-"Mr. Mur- wrapping our blankets around us, we and bearing stoutly on him, tasking the ray, that fish is ugly; if he should get the stretched ourselves beside the blaze, rod to the last ounce of resistance, I line over his back, he'd smash the rod and, with malice in our hearts toward slowly swayed him about and recovered like a pipe-stem!" none, sank peacefully to our night's re-- a little slack. After a few short sweeps he "He won't get it over his back," replied pose. U
TAFF SUMMER 1990 9 An Early Illustration
by Paul Schullery
"The Brook Trout. Salmo Fontinalis," one of the earliest images of a rising trout published in the United state^, appeared in William Henry Herbert's (Fmnk Forester) American Game in Its Seasons which zuas published in 1853.
A SUBJECT THAT HAS CONCERNED several authors in heads so far from the water's surface in order to take a mayfly The American Fly Fisher over the years is the awareness (I assume the insect was intended to be a mayfly). of previous generations of anglers in the matter of The artist was possibly the author of the book in which the rising trout. The traditional view among fishing illustration appeared. Henry William Herbert, writing under writers was that until the late 18oos, few anglers ever the pen name of Frank Forester, produced a series of suc- bothered to fish anything but a wet fly. That view, cessful sporting books in the years before the Civil War. The now under attack from many quarters, seemed to sug- book in question here, American Game in Its Seasons, first gest that either these early fishermen did not notice that fish appeared in 1853, with later editions in at least 1854 and rose and fed on the surface, or noticed it but thought it 1873. unimportant, or noticed it and did not know how to do any- Herbert had an awful reputation for using other people's thing about it. work, and so it could be that this little engraving was in fact One way in which such awareness has been considered is copied and modified from some earlier work, perhaps a Brit- in illustrations of trout behavior. For example, in his very ish book. Maybe one of our readers will recognize the picture, important article "The Dry Fly and Fast Trains" in The Amer- and be able to tell us if it did actually originate with Herbert ican Fly Fisher (Volume lo, Number 1) Ken Cameron pro- or was older. duced two illustrations from British periodicals of 1832 and In either case, it is the earliest depiction of a rising trout I 1857, both unmistakably showing either artificial or natural know of published in the New World. Not that that is any fli&on the surface. great distinction, either for the picture or for me, but it does I offer here a similar case, this one perhaps a little more suggest that at least some New World fishermen were exposed interesting because it also shows a trout rising to a natural to the notion of surface-feeding trout some three decades fly on the surface. before Americans began to hear about the formal British The drawing is a bit fanciful; most trout do not stick their approach to fishing dry flies.
lo TAFF SUMMER 1990 of a Rising Trout
Above: A portrat! of Frank Forester (HPT~TWzlliam Herbert) by Gordon Ro~rruhzch appeared as !he frontzspzece 171 Forester's ?'routing Along the Catasauqua.
The tille page of Henry William Herbert's American Game in Its Seasons (Charles Scribner, Neru York, 1853).
TAFF SUMMER 1990 11 PART I1
the Rodmaker's Rod by James W. Schaaf with ~eraldS.. Stein, M.D.
Photographer unknown
In the second uf olcr tzoo installvtter~ts the blade for five inches. To repeatedly on "Lyle L. Dickerson and the Rod- pull the strips through the cutting sur- maker's Rod," James Schr~aLone of face required great strength and endur- the zuorld's finest rodmclkclrs, with co- ance. author Gemld Stein, M.D., explor~s The beveled strips were heat-treated the intricncies of Dicke?~ort'srod- to remove the moisture contained inside making techniqzre and s11perb style. the long cellulose fibers and to temper Ttre azrthors hope tha! (my comment and ad- them. The heat treatment was done K after the strips were tapered by hand ditional infomation on Lyle Dickerson, his lfe, rodmaking, and rods will be rlirrcted to planing because heat-treating them be- the editor. D.SJ. fore tapering made planing difficult and dulled the cutter quickly. Later, when using his milling machine, Dick took into consideration the shrinkage from heat ONEOF MY LIFE'S REGRETS that I met Michigan. The bamboo strips were hand treatment, the thickness added by the Lyle "Dick" Dickerson only once, when planed on a small steel and brass form glue, and the thickness of the power fi- Tim Bedford, who purchased the Dick- designed and fabricated by Dick in the bers on the outside of the cane in cal- erson shop in 1972, brought him to the early 1930s. Each strip was indexed culating the precise measurements casting ponds at the Golden Gate An- (marked at five-inch intervals on the required to make a perfectly fitted blank gling and Casting Club in San Francis- enamel side of the strip and planed to a of six strips, tapered at 60-degree angles, co's Golden Gate Park. If' I had only different thickness between each five- glued and wrapped into the tapered known at the time that I would later own inch mark) and pulled through the ad- blank (page 14). Dickerson's shop following his death in justable blade, or iron, of the form, Sometime between 1935 and 1940, 1981 and the untimely death of my good which has three Go-degree tapered Dick designed and fabricated a precision friend Tim in the fall of 1985, I would grooves milled in the plate. The strip is milling machine to cut tapers for two- have asked this gentle man a million held by means of a wood vise. Repeated and three-piece rod strips. He also used questions. placement down the full length of the this machine to make patterns from My first Dickerson fly rod, an 80161 1 indexed strip forms the taper (page 13). hard rock maple on which the butt, D made in 1936 and one of the finest This was tedious and most exacting work mid-, and tip sections would be milled, tapers in my collection, was purchased since only less than one thousandth of and to rough-cut the split strips, with from the granddaughter of its original an inch of bamboo was removed from their nodes dressed down, into Go-de- owner, Dr. Irving Condit of 'Glennie, the strip each time it was drawn through gree straight stock (page 13). Six glued
12 TAFF SUMMER 1990 Above: The rod, pl(~~1~ingfo~~ti, arzd lr(& prcge me co~tzf)o?~entsof the Lylo L. Dlckr? roll Collecl~onol [he Anie~zcnnM~treltrn (4 Fly Fz\h~?~g.R~glzt: Lyle L. Dzckenon at prototype rt~11lzngmachznr.
strips would finally compose a rod sec- taper his bamboo strips. His first cus- designed and fabricated the necessary tion, or blank. I can imagine the diffi- tomers were mostly doctors and bank- machinery and equipment-first the culty of indexing and repeatedly pulling ers, who could afford to purchase fly planing form and later the milling ma- the longer two-piece strips through the rods during the Depression. chine to cut his tapers. Special tooling original planing form. Even with the Dickerson made all his components was necessary to make his threaded, alu- new milling machine it required great except the bronze and tungsten snake minum reel seats. Dies and mandrils strength and concentration to pull the guides, stripping guides, cork specie, were made and hardened to draw pattern and strip, resting on the custom- nickel-silver stock, and brass stock. He nickel-silver tubing on a special screw- designed sliding carriage, through the fabricated his own aluminum rod tubes fed drawing machine so that he would 60-degree cutter head rotating at 5500 and fitted them with brass collars and have the various diameters of tubing to r.p.m. Because of the counter-clockwise screw-locking caps. He also used black- make ferrules, which he sold to Paul rotation of the cutter blades, the strip plastic threaded caps for a while; a num- Young for fifty cents a set. Dick made a had to be held tightly during the full ber of rods from the "black-plastic cap" set of inside cutters to mill the ferrule travel of the sliding carriage to the end era have replacement brass or alumi- stations on his blanks in diameters of of the pattern. Otherwise the strip would num tops which are different from those H/;;.lths to L'(%/;i.tth~of an inch. He ma- be pulled backward through the cutter Dickerson made. Bob Summers specu- chined and hardened dies and punches head and the razor-sharp edges of the lates that they disintegrated after a time for shearing, drawing, and finishing newly cut bamboo could slice the rod- and the owner found, or had made, nickel-silver hoods out of twenty-five maker's finger tips. In order to hold the knurled-edge cap replacements. Dick gauge, 20% sheet stock to enhance his strips firmly to the pattern, Tim Bedford made special hooded, cloth-compart- beautiful black walnut spacers for the added a pin to the face one and a half ment rod bags on a small portable sew- reel seats. inches from the butt end, then drilled a ing machine now owned by his Dick designed an ingenious, four- hole in each strip to fit the pin. After the daughter-in-law, Mrs. Charlotte Gloc- string rod-wrapping machine which six strips were cut they co~~lcleasily be zynski Dickerson. wound two strings in opposite directions aligned by placing the index holes side Dick figured o~~thow to build cane with a tension control for each string so by side before gluing. rods the hard way. No rodmaker in his that the force of the bound string could Dick's output of rods from 1932 until time, or earlier, shared his methods, be adjusted differently for butt or tip the start of World War I1 is astonishing techniques, design, or equipment with sections. The heart of the Dickerson when one considers the quantity and others. Rodmaking was strictly an in- wrapping machine was the differential quality he produced in his one-man shop house process. With the help of his gear from a Model T Ford. The six using only a hand-planing torm and brother Glenn, Dick developed his own straight-cut strips (prior to heat treat- prototype milling machine to cut and methods, calculated his own tapers, then ment) and glued-up strips could be
All photographs hy Jartic\ Mr.Sch;idl cxcept ;is nolrrl. TAFF SUMMER 1990 13 wrapped very quickly ancl have the cor- rect torque applied to press the excess glue out of the seams witho~~ttwisting the bundle prior to drying. There was no waste in the Dickerson shop. Dick saved the nickel-silver squares from which he sheared the cir- cles to make reel seat hoods. The corners of the squares were punched with his small punch and die press, and the discs were used as bulkheads fir his ferrules. Dickerson purchased no ready-made machinery or equipment. If a special tool was needed for the rodmaking pro- cess, Dick designed and built it. Dick used only the very best bamt)oo. His Tonkin cane (Arrtndinic~nmaDi1i.s) was ordered through a broker directly Srom China. Later, when an embargo was im- posed after the Communist Revol~~tion in the 1940s~all imports f'rom China had to be obtained indirectly. The standard Tonkin culms (the pole, or stem, ofthe bamboo) imported befiwe the embargo were twenty-four feet in length and cut into twelve-foot sections. They were usu- ally shipped in bundles of twenty-five culms. The post-embargo culms, which were obtainable indirectly from only a few bamboo supply houses, were eight feet in length. The best way to assure good quality culms was to go to a sup- plier and hand pick only the quality poles suitable for rodmaking, or have a broker do so on your behalf; otherwise only one-third of the cullns could be Dickenon mmsziring n glued-tip .section of bnmhou used. Dick liked tight fiber, two- to two- and-a-half-inch culms with good, un- blemished rinds (the outside enamel, or power fiber) free of water spots, f'~~ngus, or dimpled node stations. The main drawback in using Tonkin culms to avoid any straightening of the held in that position while cooling to cane (which is actually a grass) ['or rod strip itself. Then the node stations were room temperature. If the strip is of poor building is that it does not grow uni- sanded down Hush with the outside quality cane without closely spaced cel- formly. Each period of growth is indi- enamel (losing some of the enamel lulose fibers, or if it is diseased, or has cated by a node which swells out from power fiber). This is called "the fast pro- water or insect damage, it will not re- the wall of the culm. At each node sta- duction" method of strip and node main straight after heat treatment. It is tion the fibers are bunched up close to- preparation. Some of the power fibers of prime importance to use only the best gether, and protrude as a ring on the are cross-cut in this process and show quality cane and spend the extra, man- outside of the rind, sealing each growth prominently on the finished blank. hours required to produce quality rods. section on the inside of the culm. Most of the reputable rodmakers took Lyle Dickerson did just that. Nodes are a rodmaker's nightmare. additional time and effort to produce He also "compromised" the splitting First, the culm must be split, a task for straight fiber strips by light heat treat- and straightening procedure. First, he which each rodmaker has his own special ment and by pressing the nodes. They used very straight, very dry, rich straw- tools. Each section is split into a smaller paid extra attention to the "light" sand- colored cane of superior quality and size strip, which is rough-cut into a Go-degree ing of the node stations, just taking the with medium-thick walls and non-dim- form, and the node stations are dressed node protrusion clown Hush with the pled node stations. Dick already knew down before the final taper is milled. enamel of the rind. The strip was heated how to work wood and wood-like ma- The specially designed tools for the for straightening, which required many terial, such as Tonkin cane. His special splitting process include knives, chisels, hours of extra work for the rodmaker milling machine design and construc- splitting gauges, and veined splitting but produced an excellent blank when tion allowed him to accomplish rod fab- tools of various sizes (page 15).The split all the strips were treated in similar man- rication which other rodmakers could strips for butt sections are the widest, ner. not accomplish with their machines. 'Y3nnds to Xths of an inch; those for the When a strip of bamboo is heated to With help fi-om his brother Glenn, he mid- and smaller butt sections, Vwnds of the correct temperature using dry heat devised his method for making the pat- an inch; and the tip section width, or an alcohol burner, the cellulose fibers terns and milling the prepared strips on 5/3~ndsto %ths of an inch. become very plastic and the strip can the same machine. Dickerson used the Some large-production rod shops then be twisted, bent, or moved laterally. same node spacing as H.L. Leonard, made inexpensive Hy rods from strips As the temperature subsides after heat- termed a "three-and-three" node spac- sawed from the split, straight-sectioned ing, the strip will remain straight if it is ing pattern, which was different from
14 TAFF SUMMER 1990 ent rod actions can be made. Compli- cated compound tapers can be milled by placement of shims at specific sites un- der the pattern before it is bolted to the sliding carriage. Compound tapers gave other rodmakers headaches because they needed a separate pattern for each length rod taper they milled. Dickerson could make his models 8013, 8014, and 8015 tapers using the same by slipping andlor shimming to compound. After formulating the mill design lay- out, Dick and his brother Glenn worked in a foundry long enough to learn the fundamentals and theory of casting metal. They made the typical wood pat- terns for all the mill-cast parts and the bearing housing of the cutter spindle. Dick bartered with the larger shops for the time to machine and mill the cast parts, sometimes with rods in lieu of cash payment. He had previous experience in the art of machining, tool- and die- making, and wood-working, and with earlierjobs in various shops around De- troit. The bed of the Dickerson milling ma- chine was fabricated from two eight-foot pieces of cold-rolled, mild steel bar stock. Two sliding surfaces were coarse- milled, lapped, and welded to the top of the bar stock. They were separated by a set of machined, ground-steel blocks, at fixed spacing on seventeen-inch centers. After welding, the entire bed was placed in an oven and annealed. After anneal- ing, the four top surfaces and both in- side surfaces were precision milled and lapped to make compact sliding sur- faces. A heavy, welded steel frame was made and the bed was fastened on the that of other rodmakers. Jim Payne and remove moisture prior to beveling with top at waist height by a heavy hinge Fred Thomas used a random spacing the milling machine. mounted on the left side of the frame. pattern and Everett Garrison used a spi- When Lyle Dickerson began hand- The cutter head motor is located at mid- ral pattern. The "three-and-three" spac- planing his tapers, most rodmakers were point between the two sliding surfaces, ing pattern takes three strips from one using milling machines with standard and the spindle is on center line with culm and three strips from another, sim- 60-degree milling heads. Payne, them. On the right side of the frame, ilar culm and places them 120 degrees Thomas, and Edwards used two small under the bed, is a micrometer which from each other in opposition. Thus the radial saws with the cutting edges fixed can raise or lower the sliding carriage by nodes on adjacent strips alternate, yet at 30 degrees to cut a Go-degree strip. rotation of a calibrated knob. The cutter the alternate nodes line up in the same Edwards also used two radial saw blades head is located equidistant from the pi- plane. Dickerson felt that any inconsist- fixed at 45 degrees to cut go-degree vot and the micrometer. Thus, the angle encies in a milled strip would be offset strips for his four-strip "quad" rods. between the pivot point and cutter head by each adjacent strip and the strip lo- This type of mill used a cam to cut a can be raised or lowered in thousands- cated on the same 120-degree plane. rectangular strip, enamel side down. of-an-inch increments by adjustment of Dick experimented with different ma- The milled taper was peeled out of the the micrometer. This is the reason a terials before he chose carefully selected strip after cutting. taper can be milled. Once the correct Tonkin cane as his rodmaking material. The Dickerson milling machine was pattern is used, less bamboo is milled Two eight-foot culms were split into like none other in the late 1930s He de- from the left, or butt side (lesser angle) four sections. Each quarter section was signed a very simple but rugged mill that than the right, or tip side (greater angle) sawed into strips of equal width using a is still alive and well after fifty years of of the pattern. table saw with a guide against the split honorable and active service. The cutter head is comprised of two edge. Although the strips were not com- The versatility of his milling machine carbide side-milling cutters, 3 inches x pletely straight because of the "swells" is that several different tapers can be % inch x 1 inch x go-degree blades, at the node stations, they were straight milled using the same pattern by "slip- mounted side by side to cut (or mill) an enough to commit to his rough-cut, 60- ping" the strip on the pattern, which is inverted "V" form of 60 degrees. The degree cutter blades. After six strips four inches longer than the finished cutter head is mounted on a one-inch were cut, the nodes were matched and taper. By slight adjustments of the mi- spindle shaft. A one-horse-power mo- bundled by wrapping, then heat-treated crometer and by slipping the strip tor, which rotates at 5500 '.p.m., is con- in a gas furnace to temper the fibers and toward the butt or tip end, three differ- nected by a V-belt and pulley to the spindle housing. The spindle housing has a forward and backward ;ic!justment so that the cutter head can be locked at dead center line with the center line of the pattern and carriage. The motor, pulley assembly, and spindle housing are located on a base of the steel frame which carries the bed and sliding car- riage (page 16). Each arm ofthe sliding carriage is five feet long and fabricated from cast semi- steel, milled and lapped to slide on top of the fixed bed. The carriage is fitted with bolt holes located on ten-inch cen- ters by which the maple wood pattern is bolted to the carriage. The carriage slides under the cutter heat1 at a fixed angle which is set by micrometer ad- justment. The Dickerson tapers were all calcu- lated by use of the engineer's and ma- chinist's five-inch sine wave tal~les.With the pattern bolted to the carriage, a rough-cut 60-degree strip was placed enamel side down on the face of the pat- tern. The micrometer was set and locked at the correct setting fi)r the desired taper. With the cutter head rotating at 5500 '.p.m., the carriage and pattern were pulled through the hlatles by hand and the excess bamboo removed from the strip. Tim Bedford modified the car- versely proportional to the total amount lowed for the thickness of outer skin riage travel by the addition of a rack- of material (bamboo) which was left on which was to be removed (down to the and-pinion drive with a variahle speed the finished (tapered)bamboo strip. The outer power fibers), for glue thickness, control unit and a forwal-dlbackward op- pattern was then reversed, shimmed if and for shrinkage after heat treatment tion. This was more efficient than pull- necessary, and rebolted to the carriage. in producing the final taper of the blank. ing each strip through the cutter head Thus, when the strip was milled, more After heat treatment the strips were by hand. lx~mboowould be removed from the tip unbundled, the rough-cutter head re- Tim Bedford describes in detail the end of the pattern because it is at a moved from the spindle, and the base sliding carriage in his I 985 article in The higher point than the butt end, which and stage removed from the bed. The American Fly Fwh~r.He describes the sin- slides under the cutter head first in the precision cutter head was installed on gle bar carriage and the cross-shaped milling run. The micrometer adjusts the the spindle and locked. Spring tension cross section to which the pattern is angle of the taper for its particular mounts located on each side of the cutter bolted. The fit of the sliding carriage was length from the butt end to the tip end head held the strip flat on the pattern fine-lapped to exact tolerances so that in thousandths-of-an-inch increments. as the strip was being milled. The gibs (metal plates to afford a bearing Dickerson took great care in each step mounts had &-degree "Vs" milled into surface or to provide means of taking of tapering the bamboo strip. First, the the rollers to match the newly cut "V" up wear) seemed unnecessary. In 1974 node stations were removed, inside and shape in the strip as the carriage moved Bedford added gibs to compensate for outside, then dressed down to the sur- it through the cutter head. Tension was minimal wear to both sliding s~u-faces. Lice by fine sanding. A special cutter applied to each roller assembly via The versatility of the Dickerson mill- head was installed on the spindle hous- spring tension adjustment. The roller ing machine f'acilitated milling the pat- ing to rough-cut the rectangular strips mounts varied in size and width of the terns for the strip tapers. 'The first to an untapered 60-degree inverted "V" "V" proportional to the size of the strip patterns were made from hard rock ma- shape. Lyle made a special base and being milled: deep "Vs" and heavy ple (which I am still using) and backed stage fix this cutter. spring tension for large butt and mid- by %-inch x ]-inch steel, screwed to the Part of the sliding carriage was re- strips, shallow "Vs" and light tension for pattern on five-inch centers its entire moved, and the special base and stage small butt, mid-, and tip strips. If nec- length. Later Dick used micarta (a phe- were bolted to the bed under the cutter essary, shims were placed at the calcu- nolic-based material) and finally an alu- head. The cutter head was adjusted to lated positions between the carriage and minum alloy bar, %-inch x I%-inch x the move down into the stage to the correct pattern. The pattern was bolted to the length ofthe desired taper. Whether us- height. When the rectangular strip was carriage and checked for alignment. ing wood, micarta, or aluminum, pulled though the blades, enamel side Strip number one was placed enamel mounting holes were drilled and the down, it was milled into a 60-degree in- side down on the face of the pattern. blank pattern was bolted to the carriage. verted "V" shape, which is called the The micrometer was set to mill a larger The top edge was milled its entire length rough-cut strip and is not tapered. Six strip than necessary so that measure- to a 60-degree inverted "V" shape using strips were cut to the approximate size ments could be recorded after each suc- a standard 60-degree milling cutter. fin hnal milling. The node spacing was cessive milling pass and any corrections Then a Hat milling cutter was used to matched and they were bundled to- or adjustments made. Dick made several dress the top surface, or face. The total gether using the wrapping machine "light" successive cuts and recorded amount of material removed was in- (page 17), then heat-treated. Dick al- measurements between each, as the mi- until it cured. Some slight straightening was needed before placing the section in the drying box, which was accomplished by placing it on fresh newspaper and gently rolling it back and forth with the palms of the hands or fingers. Sighting down the section, any zigs or zags could be determined and that area given the gentle rolling treatment until it was true. The section then was referred to as "being in the string." After the section had cured, the string was removed (then referred to as a blank). Dick carefully removed all the excess glue with a dull scraper, which actually polished the outer power fibers. The blank was then lightly sanded with 220-grit garnet paper. He was especially careful to maintain the circular integrity of the round form of the dense, outer power fibers as these are subjected to the highest stress when the rod is cast. The blanks were hand polished with oooo steel wool, then bundled together for Rough-cut bamboo strips zurup{)rd for I~rcitti final polishing. Being a proficient machinist, Dick de- signed and fabricated a precision draw- ing machine for drawing nickel-silver tubing to make the various diameter sizes needed for ferrules. Hard-drawn nickel-silver in the sixteen to eighteen crometer setting (and the angle of the the tip end in even strokes until all the diameters needed could only be pur- pattern) was increased. He knew the exposed surfaces were coated. The chased in quantity, and such expense chord on the five-inch sine table for the glued strips were gently lifted from the during the Depression was out of the length of the strip being milled and its paper, butt first, and the uppermost tape question. Precision hard-drawn tubing is equivalent to Y~ooothsof an inch on the rolled in such a manner around the a requisite for the ferrules used in rod- calibrated micrometer dial. The control strips so that they formed a hexagon. making, and most of the tubing available strip (one) was marked every five inches The remaining two pieces of masking did not have uniform inside dimensions. on the enamel side and could be mea- tape were removed. By gentle rolling With Dickerson's precision machine, he sured at these points after each cut was with the fingers, each strip mated with needed only three sizes of soft annealed made. When strip one (the control) mea- the next until a complete hexagon was nickel-silver tubing: %-inch, %-inch, and sured out to the calculated value for that formed along the entire glued section. %-inch outside diameter. Using only particular taper length, the micrometer This was placed in the center hole of the these three sizes, he fabricated ferrules was locked and the remaining five strips wrapping machine and the masking tape of the highest quality in %i.i-inch incre- were milled at that setting. was removed. The proper diameter ments, from "Ymths of an inch to Dickerson was a perfectionist with re- strings were half-hitched around the 'I/ri.iths of an inch. gard to points of high stress on his section twice. The Dickerson precision drawing ma- tapers. He rechecked every milled strip Before the section was wrapped, the chine consists of a heavy metal frame to insure that each was within the cal- tension controls on the wrapper were and four-foot worm screw mounted in culated tolerances, especially his fin- adjusted to the correct tension for that babbit metal bushings. The screw is ished dimensions along the five-inch particular taper. Butt sections and some gear-fed by a one-horsepower motor to sine-wave calculations, both before and mid-sections required four strings; two deliver very high torque. Mounted over after the outside skin was removed to strings (at lighter tension) were used on the worm screw is a lever-type lock-nut expose the enamel of the power fibers. light mid- and tip sections. Glued-up assembly which, when engaged, runs on After milling, the six tapered strips were sections being wrapped had to be held the screw and draws the assembly laid out in numbered sequence with the firmly and gently pulled through the toward the back of the machine. "three-and-three" node spacing and center hole as the section was wrapped. Mounted over the lock-nut assembly is placed enamel side down on fresh news- The same flat had to be kept up at all a heavy scissor-type vice with serrated paper. One-quarter-inch masking tape times during the wrapping procedure so jaws and in front of the jaws is a block had been placed adhesive side up on the as not to warp or twist the section. Used which is bolted to the frame. Center line newspaper so the strips would stick as as designed, the Dickerson wrapper was in the block is a counter-sunk hole, ,850 they were placed on the newspaper. The without peer for wrapping glued-up sec- inch in diameter, which holds a hard- tape was placed approximately three tions. ened die with a hole sized to accom- inches from the butt end, at mid-point, After wrapping, the strings on each modate the outside diameter of the and approximately three inches from end of the section were knotted, made tubing to be drawn. the tip end. into a loop, and taped to the section, A set of hardened dies and precision- A urea formaldehyde glue, pre-mixed which served to hang the section on a ground, hardened mandrils are used to before the strips were milled, was ap- hook in the drying box. Sometimes a draw the soft annealed tubing to the cor- plied with a toothbrush to all the freshly weight was hooked to the loop at the rect sizes to make any particular ferrule cut surfaces from the butt end toward bottom of the section to keep it straight size. Three diameter sizes are needed to make each ferrule-size set of one female and two males: one size for the female ferrule and one size for the welt, or lip; the same size fi)r the barrel of the male as the barrel of the female; a smaller si~e for the slide of the male. By using the Dickerson drawing machine and its dies and mandrils, precision tubing coultl be drawn and elongated ant1 the tubing di- ameter reduced, while at the same time making it stiffer-thus the term "hartl- drawn." Approximately two feet ofthe tubing to be drawn was chucketl in the head- stock of the lathe and the diameter re- duced by shaving off several thousandths of an inch so that it would just fit through the hole in the die. Ap- proximately two and a half inches ofthe diameter were reduced so that it could be grasped by the jaws of the ~cissorvice as it protruded through the die. The precision mandril was fitted inside the ii~bingand the.jaws ofthe vice were held with the fingers. The motor was turned A 71i~7001 I111~ irll~riznlzo~r/ TAFF SUMMER ICjCjO 19 rodmaker who respects and admires and silent. Carefully, I run my fingers in this last decade of our modern and Lyle Dickerson as I do. over the cold, hard metal of the carriage sophisticated century I can slill do what In this day of space-age technology and the sofi wood of the pattern. I can the master did for so many years-per- and life in the fast lane, there are times, almost hear the gentle whine of the mo- haps not with the intense perfection he late at night, when I slip quietly into the tor as it drives the cutter head and smell achieved but with the same desire, ded- shop and turn on the light which illu- the sweet, burnt odor of cut bamboo, as ication, and purpose-try in my own minates the Dickerson milling machine the master, wearing his green eyeshade, small way to maintain the standard of and its wood pattern. ?'he shop is still mills a strip. It occurs to me that even excellence set by Lyle L. Dickerson. L. L. Dickerson Trout and Salmon Fly Rod Models THEDICKERSON LEDGER RECORDS the remarkable total of over 150 same model designation over the years. different rod designations or models. Other designations may have Earl Leitz clarifies that those rods with the inscription "Leitz" or been used prior to 1931when the ledger was started, and more were "Dickerson-Leitz," in addition to their model designations, had the used after 1960 when it was discontinued. Many of these models were same tapers as other rods of that model. Presumably the same is true made only once or twice. It is not clear whether such models are best for those rods designated "Bergman" or "R.B." (Ray Bergman). The considered unique, or oddball. large number of rods with these designations indicates that these were The ledger recorded the general type of rod which was discussed not Bergman's or Leitz' personal rods. with the customer, son~etinlesthe specific model to be made. The The following table does not take into account that the same rod actual model inscribed on the completed rod shaft was often differ- models were occasionally made using a "plain reel seat (slide band ent-and more varied-than what was recorded in the ledger when with a walnut spacer)," or an all-cork seat with a slide band, or a rare, it was ordered. uplocking reel seat, or had an extension butt. These variations dra- It seems likely that some tapers were designated with different matically increase the number of configurations possible in Dicker- model names during different periods of Dickerson's work. Mea- son's rods. surements indicate evolution of some tapers among rods bearing the J.W.S. & (;.S.S., M.D. FLY KOD MODELS 7 ft. & under 7% ft. 8 ft. HI% ft. q ft. over g ft. 3 ft. Banty (not made 761 1 Hollow 8 ft. 2 PC. X(i2 9 ft. 9320 1 3 Salmon to be used) 76 I 2 Xo I 8% ft. g ft. 3 pc. !I% ft. 6% ft. 3 PC. 7(5 1 3 Xon XV2 ft. Dry Fly g ft. Standard #A Kt. 6Y2 ft. 2:s oz. Light 7613 Hollow 803 8fi ft. :j PC. y ft. Dry Fly gV1 ft. Dry Fly Action 76 I 3 Special 8 ft. Xt/L. ft. Light Action g St. Easy Action !)'/L. ft. 6% oz. 601 1 7613 Stiff 8 ft. 4 oz. XI& ft. Stiff D g ft. 5 0" Dry Fly 9Y2 ft, 7 OZ. Salmon 661510 761g Heavy X ft. Stiff D XIA ft. 4 oz. g fi. 5% oz. 961812 7010 7(! 1 4 8 ft. HDH Stiff 8~~ ft. 4v1 ()z. g fi. rj5/t oz. 96 1 9 1 3 701 I 70 15 X ft. 3 PC. Xhft. Special g ft. Tournament g6 1 g 1 3 Steelhead 701 I Hollow 76 I (i Xo151o 4% oz. g ft. Tournament !)61g1g Salmon 7012 7(i I X 801510 E 8% ft. 4% 02. Stiff Dry Fly 9620 1 :j 701 2 Hollow 7 1/L' 8015 11) (Stiff) X1h 1'1. Special g ft. Salmon 13 7013 7Y2 ft. 2 IIC. 3 oz 801 5 10Stiff Butt XtiE goE gti I 8 7 ft. 2 PC. 7% ft. 2 pc. 181510D 8ti1511) go161 1 IO~~IO 7% ft. K.B. 801510D X(i161o 90171 I lolglg C light 7% It. XoI 5 1 o Parabolic 8(i I ti I I go1711D 1o1g13Salmon 7'/" ft. 2 PC. 3 1/L' OZ. 801 5 I I X(i161 I D 91x11 lo ft. Salmon 8 oz. 7% ft. 2 pc. S%I oz. Xo161o #ti171I go181 1 lo ft. Salmon Dry 7(i151o 80161 I X(i 1 7 I I Light Action !)I) I 8 1 2 1020 1 2 7615111K.B. 801611 D X(i1711 D go1812D 102013 76151310 8171 1 Xti1812 1)o I 8 1 a<; 102014 80171I XfilgqXSpecial ~)1)1812gVzoz. 10% ft. 8o 1 2 86I 4 OOI 8 1 2 5% oz. 1062114 gX 80 12 Mi I rj Tournament 13ft. 18oz. Salmon 801 2 Hollow X(i 15 Special !PI913 8013 X(i 1 5 Leitz Special <)OIg I 3 Tournament Xo I 3 Stock 8616 Distance 8013 Dry Fly 86 16 Special g ft. 2 PC. Xo I 3 Special X(i 16 Guide 90 15 80 1 :3 Special 86 1 7 go15 Special Butt Paral)olic X ft. g in. Dry Fly t)o16 801 3 Streamer go16 Standard 80 14 go I 6 Special 8014 Hollow :)o 16 Soo Special 81)I 4 Special 90 1 7 8014 Parabolic go18 8014 Guide 8015 Xo I 5 Special Xo I 5 Guide 80 I 5 Guide Special 20 TAFF SUMMER 1990 ly Fishing . , \! '1 What's the Real Cost? T\' 'b \ Rik Hnfrr, Profr.ssor c~f.Econo~rlics range of bamboo I-od prices from the sible, the approach chosen for this article at So~~thernIllinoi Unir~c~isify(11 Ed- late i8oos, adjusted fi)r increases in the is to use the prices of the top-grade zuarrtsz~illr,rrt~erru. this i.v.,sztezuith his general level of prices, overlap with the equipment offered by one company, Or- second nrlicle on tl~reconorrlic cl.s/)ecf range of prices today. Stated differently, vis. Two key factors dictate this choice. of fl?r fishing, "Tlie EEssrnlinL.srf Fly converting what a clo1la1- in 19oo would A primary factol- is the availability of his- Fishing: What's tlw Co.st?" The or- pul-chase at today's prices, there are toric price infin-mation. In gathering the 1ticle extend.^ Rik7.s m~lirrrrsenrck on hamboo rods available today that in real price data, I have made use of two tll~cost of cane mds which wr P~rbli.thrrlI~rrr terms cost no more than they did one sources, with the I 9 I o information taken in The American Fly Fisher (Surmzer, hundred years ago. from Melner and Kessler's Grcaf Fi.rhing 1989),by incor/)orating nfitll rung? uftncltlr Focusing only on the price of rods ig- T(tck1r Cnmlog of fhr Goldrn Age (1972). as zuell. The rrsntlts cf his real-pricr calcrc- nores the changes in the cost of being a Since the Orvis listings are incomplete lc~tionscrrr again, in nlany ir~.sf(~ncr.s,qlrifr complete fly fisher. Aftel- all, it takes fhr a specific year, however, the ig~o sz(rpr2Sing. 0.S.J more than a rod alone to partake in the prices actually represent prices from grand sport. With that in mind, the pur- around that year, which is especially true INAN EARLIER AR.rIcLE (Summer, 1989) pose of this article is to determine the for paraphernalia such as landing nets in Thr A~mcricnnFly Fisher, I explored the real cost of outfitting an individual with or wading boots. In contrast, the price behavior of bamboo rod prices over fly fishing essentials over the past eighty data for 1962 and 1990are taken directly most of the past century, which showed years. To keep this comparison man- from Orvis catalogs fi~rthose years. that the market prices of bamboo rods ageable, prices are reported for 1910, Another reason for using Orvis is be- have increased dramatically since the 1 962, and 1990. The choice of these spe- cause it offers a relatively complete line late 1800s. cific years was dictated primarily by of equipment. Thus, even in the early But simply comparing the price of an availability of price information. More- part of the century the Hy fishel- could Orvis rod in 1905 with one in 1989 is not over, it is desirable in a study such as this purchase rod, reel, line, flies, net, and economically meaningful. Only by es- to maintain comparability in quality. the other essentials from this one source. tablishing some benchmark price level Even so, top-grade equipment, except While choice of Orvis equipment may to which the diff'erent year's prices are perhaps for the bamboo rod, is un- not represent the most expensive avail- compared can we accurately gauge the rloubtedly better today than its counter- able in any one year, it arguably is rec- rise or fall in prices over time. As dem- part at the turn of the century. ognized as consistently dependable, onstrated in that earlier article, the Since strict quality control is not fea- high-quality equipment. 'I'AFF SUMMER 1990 2 1 an increase of about 4,000 percent. But, NOMINAL PRICE of course, the current-day reel is a much COMPARISONS more sophisticated tool. Such may not The essential equipment fbr our fly be the case, however, fbr other equip- fisher and the prices paid in I 910, 1962, ment. Consider, fi~rexample, the cost of and 1990 are listed in Table I. While a dozen dry Hies. They were hand tied some may argue that there are items in 1910 and are hand tied today, yet they missing from the list, remember that it cost about twelve times more today than REAL PRICE COMPARISONS lists only the essentials. <:onsequently, in 1910 and about three times as much items that some practitioners may feel as in 1962. Directly comparing the prices listed in are necessary, such as nymph seines, Although the magnitude of the price Table I Sails to account for the behavior stream thermometers, ph meters, fly increase varies across items, simply conl- of prices in general. If the prices of other threaders, and flexible-necked Hash- paring the nominal prices reveals a gen- goods have increased as much as the lights are excluded. (Adding these mar- erally large increase. The overall change equipment listed, then the price of being ginal items increases the total cost by is Sound by comparing the total price fi)r a well-equipped Hy fisher, relative to other almost $300 in 1990!) the list of essential fly fishing equipment. goody, is no more expensive today than Going through the price list will prob- While it cost an angler $46. I o in I 9 10 to it was in the past. To make such a com- ably corroborate what many already be adequately equipped with a top- parison it is necessary to establish a know: fishing equipment today is a lot grade Orvis outfit, the price jumped to benchmark price level, or base year, more expensive than it used to be. For $230.50by 1962andto$2,194.3oin 1990. from which to compare other prices. In example, relative to the simple alumi- But, as mentioned above, is it meaning- this article, I take the general price level num reels available for $3.50 in 1910, the ful to compare nominal prices across for goocls in 1989 to be the base year. Orvis D-XR reel currently sells for $I50, time? Put another way, how much could one have bought in I 9 I o or I 962 with dollars valued in terms of their 1989 purchasing power? To calculate the real prices of the equipment, the following procedure is a used. The items listed under the 1990 heading in Table I are priced in their nominal or current terms. A comment is in order: Although the prices are taken from the 1990 catalog, the general price level is known only fbr 1989 and before. I assume, therefore, that the I 1990 equipment prices also prevail in 1989 This allows me to use the general TABLE 1 price index for 1989 as the base year . .. from which to compare the other years. A Price List for the Complete Fisherman Since the general price level measure Nominal Prices: 191 0-1 990 used is an index, the value for the price index in 1989 is set equal to loo percent. Item Date For 191o and 1962, I make use of a c.1910 1962 1 990 general price index that is available from 1875 to the present. Using 1989 as the Rod $15.00' $ I 05.00~ $1,400.00:~ base year (= loo%), the value of the Reel 3.50: 26.75;' 150.00" price index fijr the other years can be Line 8.00' 12.50" qg.oo!' calculated. The value of the index for Leader (ea.) NA 0.50 2.95 1910 is found to be 7.3 percent and for Flies (doz.) 1.50 6.00 17.40 1962, 27.2 percent. In other words, if a Fly box 1 .251° 7.25" 25.00" dollar bought one hundred cents worth Floatant 0.55 I .25 7.95 of goods in 1989, it took only 7.3 cents Snips 0.30 0.75 I I .oo to buy the same amount of goods in 1910 Landing net 2 .ool:' 12.00" 65.00'~ and 27.2 cents to buy the same amount Wading boots 14.001" 46.50" 235.00~' in I 962. To find the real price-that is, Vest NA 1 2.001!' 23fj.00"' the 1989 price-f any item in Table I, Total $46. lo $230.50 $2,194.30 one need only divide the listed nominal price by the appropriate index value for that year. Thus, the 1989 equivalent l1 Wheatly, swing-leaf' construction price of the I 9 lo reel is calculated to be I' Wheatly Maximum Security ($g.501.073) or $47.94. Similarly, the ' Orvis $1~.00grade split ban~boo '" Orvis landing net comparable 1989 price of the 1962 reel ' Battenkill, g pc., 7V2-9 St. I' Orvis landing net is ($26.751.272) or $98.35. Since these Battenkill, g pc., 8 ft. Orvis "New Zealanti" landing net prices are now calculated using a com- I Improved Orvis aluminum reel It' 1897 Abbey and Imbrie Catalog: ' Hardy LKH Lightweight reel "Wading Trouser" mon base year (1989)~they are directly " D-XR reel " Hodgman "Wadewell" boothlot comparable. ' AYANEFCO Soft Enamel line, 40 ytls. wader Table 2 reports the results of con- ' Orvis Silk, :lo yds. In Orvis bootfoot neoprene verting all ofthe nominal prices in Table " Orvis SSS floating fly line I" Lee Wulff "Tac-L-l'ak" I into their 1989 price equivalents. No- It' Aluminum I,ox, fly hook '"Orvis "Vest for All Seasons" tice that once the behavior of the general 22 TAFF SUMMER 1990 level of prices has been accounted for, improved quality there are many more substitutes such as graphite. Moreover, the disparity between prices across time substitutes available on the market today that segment of the rod market may not is diminished. In 1989 dollars, that $15 than in the past. And since more sub- react very much to large increases in Orvis rod in 1910 would costabout $200. stitutes should lead to lower, not higher prices, which implies that increases in Glancing through the listing of real prices, why the increase in real prices? bamboo rod prices result in very little prices may reveal some surprises. For This suggests a second reason for the change in the quantity demanded. A example, note that the real price of line higher real price: market segmentation. similar argument can be made for other actually has fallen over time. While one The idea is that dealers are able to items ligted in Table 1. may argue that my choice for 1910 is a charge a range of prices by which they In conclusion, the evidence presented bit out of line, the 1962 and 1990 selec- capture the broadest possible segment of here indicates that the real price of a fly tions represent Orvis' best-grade line the market. Although there may be al- fisher's essentials, assuming the desire to available. Yet the price today is less than ternatives to the bamboo rod, those will- own top-of-the-line equipment, is, in what it was in 1962 in real terms. An- ing to part with $1,400 may feel that nominal or real terms, a much more ex- other decline in real price can be found owning such a luxury item outweighs pensive proposition in 1990 than in 19 1o by comparing the price of flies between any performance factors vis-a-vis close and 1962. 1962 and 1990. The next time ~OLIcringe at spending $17.40 for a dozen Hies, con- sole yourself with the thought that in 1962 someone was paying$zz.oG incom- parable dollars. Rather than discuss each item in the list, the real cost ofthe com- 3-2 plete outfit is presented for each year in Table -2. -. ,+ ~-' A useful comparison of the nominal- and real-price changes is made in Table TABLE 2 q. There I compare the percentage in- crease in nominal and real prices be- Price List for the Complete tween 1910 and 1962 and from 1962 to Real (1989) Prices: '191 0-1990 1990. In addition, the change for the complete list of equipment, for all goods Item' Date except the rod and for the rod only, are calculated. The first thing apparent is c.1910 1962 1990 that nominal prices have jumped dra- Rod matically across the two periods. In Reel terms of real prices, however, the big Line increase has come primarily during the Leader (ea.) past three decades when real prices for Flies (doz.) the complete set of equipment increased Fly box 159 percent. In other words, the price Floatant increase during this period far outpaced Snips the general rate of price increase for Landing net other goods. What accounts for this dra- Wading boots matic increase? The next two lines in Vest Table 3 provide the answer. The real price of non-rod items increased 72 per- Total cent between 1962 and 1990. The real price of a bamboo rod, however, rose NOTES about 260 percent, or at a rate over three times as fast as the other items. Between I See Table 1 for a listing of the items. The real price is calculated as (nominal 1910 and 1962, the percentage increase pricetprice index) x 100. See text for a discussion. in the real price of the bamboo rod is I I eleven times as great as that for the other items. This increase reflects, to some ex- tent, the impacts on the price of bamboo .--.. rods resultkg from the import restric- -==-- tions placed on bamboo following World War 11. -*---9 SUMMARY 63 Putting prices into a comparable framework indicates that being a well- TABLE 3 equipped fly fisher is not only expensive, but costs significantly more today than Percentage Price Increases: Nominal and Real it did eighty or thirty years ago. Why is this so? One obvious reason is that qual- 1910-1962 1962-1990 ity has improved and one pays more for Item Nominal Real Nominal Real higher quality equipment. But even with All goods 400% 34% 852% '59% illustrations from Grpnl Fikhing Tnrklr Cofnlqgs of Ihp Cold~n All except rod 304 8 533 72 As, edited by Samuel Melner and Hermann Kessler ((:rown Rod only 600 88 1>233 263 Puhlishers. New I'ork. 1972). A Treasury of Reels J The Fishing Reel Collection of The American Museum of Fly Fishing text by Jim Brown . photographs by Bob O'Shaughnessy Over 200 black and white photos Large 8?hffx11" format - over 285 pages of individual reels Four-color dust jacket More than 75 historic illustrations All proceeds benefit the museum Printed on acid-free paper Comprehensive bibliography and index The American Museum of Fly Fishing in Manchester, Ver- museum's substantial reel holdings. Each reel is fully identified, mont, has one of the largest and finest public collections of fly dated, and described, and more than 200 of the more important reels in the world. Its collection of more than 750 reels includes a examples are expertly photographed by Bob O'Shaughnessy. The significant number of baitcasting, surfcasting, deep-sea, trolling, result is a volume that should appeal to all anglers, interested in and spinning reels as well. Here for the first time this giant collec- the history of their sport and most particularly to the growing tion is brought before the public in its entirety. number of reel collectors. Antique, classic, and modem reels are all represented. Reels Jim Brown is a librarian who lives and works in Stamford, owned by presidents, entertainers, novelists, and angling Connecticut. His first book, Fislriirg RL.L./P~teirts of the United Stlztes: luminaries as well as reels owned and used by everyday anglers 1838-1940, is now widely accepted as a standard reference work are brought together in this richly diverse collection spanning in the field. nearly two centuries of British and American reelmaking. Bob O'Shaughnessy is a Boston-based photographer who has The book begins with a lengthy introductory essay on the worked in the advertising business for the past 30 years. He is history of the fly reel that traces the origin of the fishing reel and past president of the New England chapter of the American Soci- subsequent development and evolution of the fly reel from earliest ety of Magazine Photographers and a member of the Fly Casters times. This is followed by a comprehensive catalog of the of Boston and the Atlantic Salmon Federation. Yes! 1 do want to order A TREASURY OF REELS directly from the Museum. (order one for a friend, too!) signed and numbered limited-edition copies at $50.00 each Postage and liandling $5.00 Total M!y check to tlie American Museum of Fly Fishing is enclosed. Please bill illy Mastercard Visa American Express card. CARD Y EXP DATE SIGNATURE NAME ADDRESS CITY STATE ZIP and offering a "special one-piece Bam- boo Tarpon Rocl at $6.00 each." And we see that in 1894, the American Rubber Boat Company of New York was adver- tising its "Layman Pneumatic Sporting Boat," which looks suspiciously similar BOOK REVIEW to what we today call the popular "belly boat" or float tube. 'The Layman version came complete with fins ant1 a "Storm Cape." No price was given. From J. F. Masters of Brooklyn, New York, you I American Fishing Books by Charles M. fi)rm;~tionseldom fount1 in more tra- conld buy trout flies for 16c (that's Wetzel. Foreword by Charles K. Fox; In- tlitional bibliographies. right-I(? cents) per dozen or $1.75 per troduction by Colonel Henry A. Siegel We learn, fin example, that among gross, according to their ad in I 893. And (Meadow Run Press: New Jersey. I ggo. the very earliest references to spol-t fish- in ~<)oo,tackle dealer Thomas J. Conroy II 235 pages, hardcover, illustrated. $45.) ing were articles in Tlrr Amr~ricctn Con11xlny of New York incorporated in I I;romrr(~820- I 834) and an I 829 issue of its tl-atleniark the Kilbourne painting of Tlzr A ~trrrican TIIT[Rrgi,slrr rr~zd Sporli~ag a brook trout that was for years identi- As FLY FISHERMEN, we are sairl to be what Mrrgrrzinr. The lattel- piece was one of the tied with the Orvis Company. i we read. The cumulative lore of the earliest known recorcls pertaining to fly All the afol-ementioned is fonnd in the sport over the centuries is to be fi)itncl fishing. It advised that "the rod used is book's lirst part. The second part of between the covers of the literally tliou- fifteen or sixteen feet long, very delicate A~trrrict~trFi.shing Hooll~ features "A List sands of angling books that have I-olletl (!) antl throws f'ron~twenty to thirty feet of Pul~licationsPertaining To American off the presses since the Nolw uf Sf. Al- of line, and the fisherman is most srrc- Fish Antl Fishing," the section of great- bans, with its "Treatyse of' Fyssnge wyth cessf'ul with the ;~rtiticialHy." est interest to the seriorls collectol-. - - ---. - . an Angle," was publishetl in 1496 Antl We learn, too, that there is little men- Listed in this section are the authors, for nearly the same length of tinie, an- tion of tackle ant1 angling niethocls in AI~ 1,ook titles, pi~blishers,anrl dates and --.z+-----,glers have relied on books and other Arrthr7~licHisloriccrl124rmoir (~fllrrSrlttr~lkill places of'pitblication with titles arranged ?-T2- ; sporting publications fi)r guidance in Fi.clli?~gC)T~I~NII~ (fo~~~icledI 7:32), written alphabetically by author, from Ahbott to their sport. in 1829, by William Minor, .]I-., then Zern. Prior to Wetzel's book, the most Tho~tghthe English hat1 been pro- nlayol- ol' Philatlel1,hia. It was, I-ather, ;I recent volume on the subject was Angling ducing angling books since the I 5th cen- history of the oltlest club in the countl-y. 171 Ar~rricrr by Charles E. C;ootlspeed, tury, few if any such books appearetl in Wetzel relates the origin of'the "spoon publishetl in 193cj. America before I Hoo, ant1 probably riot bait," which in its refined fi)rrn sernains Most fly fishermen begin by acquiring prior to 1814. It wasn't illitil 1876 t11;~t one ol' fishing's most efftctive Iitres. Its ;I book or two, mainly of the "how-to" America's first I~ookexclusively on fly invention came in 1834 when .Julio .I'. variety, then another and another. By fishing, P1rcisrrrr.c rf A~lglirrgrilillr Rod ri~rd Buel of' Vermont accidentally tlroppetl the time we've acqi1i1-edtwenty or thirty Rrr@r Trot11rilrrl Srrl~tronhy George Darv- a teaspoon over1~o;ucl while eating his volumes, we begin reftl-sing cast~allyto son, was published. Not that the sport lunch one day on Lake Bonioseen. The "my angling library." From there, both had been neglected or ignol-etl by spoon twisted antl turned, fl;~shingas it the numl)ers of books and range of lit- writers of the clay; refel-ences and arti- sank. Ilelilre it reached bottom, a large erary interest grow. In addition to the cles appeared fi-equently in sporting pe- tish struck it. pitrely practical works-we still need all rioclicals. But Dawson's was the first In atltlition to this kincl of material, the help we can get on the stream-we between hard covers. Since then the flow A~no.iecr~rFishilrg Hoo1.r contains a nun]- now fintl e11,joymentin the more literary from angling presses continues una- ber of f':~csiniileheatlings of' early sport- works. Antl we become more interested bated. ing papers ancl title pages of early antl in what hooks have been published; we Charles M. Wet~el'sA~trcrico~t Fi,clril~g Iiistol-ic fishing books. Among the mol-e I~eginscanning the catalogs of' used Books, first p~thlisheclin 1950, was a se- interesting are title pages I'rom Thad sporting 1,ooks dealers, as well as those rious attempt at tracking clown and cat- Norris's 7'lzc A~trrricror A11g11tr:sHook, Tllr of current pitb1ishe1-s. aloging this spate of books. Not merely A11glrr:s Alnra~zrrcfir 1848 ant1 the I 847 And it is here that the value of Anlrr- a listing of books, authors ancl dates, Amel-ic;~nedition of Walton's Corrlplcl~ icrrlt Fi.slri~rg hook.^ reveals itself. And Wetzel's work included a bibliography 01' [sic] Anglrr edited I)y George Washing- while it's true that Iiundl-eds of angling American angling I~ooksthat amounts to ton Bethitne. I,ooks have been published in the years a history of the sport reflected in its lit- Equally fascinating at-e some of the since Wetzel offered his volume, it re- erature up to 1948. Departing from the early atlvertisements fol- fishing tackle mains a treasure for anyone seriously traditional "block" style of I~ibliogra- and accessories. It's interesting to note interested in the literature of fishing. phies, Wetzel's version is in narrative that in I 893, Dame, Stodclartl Xc Kendall Meadow Run Press is to be thanked for form, a style that allows him to incl~tcfe of Boston were pron~otingtiu-pon fish- once again making this book available. details, anecdotes, and other I~itsof in- ing as "?'he Best Recreation in Florida," JOE A. PISARRO 1 Museum 1 Giftshop GAININGMOMENTUM: the Museum tive "Time On the Water" exhibition launches a major fi~nd-raisingcampaign poster is now available for $10.00 each and garners another grant. Our travel- plus $2.50 for postage and handling. ing exhibits program grows and pros- Write or call the Museum at 802-362- pers while another art exhibition is 3300 to place your orders. opened to a packed house. Future in- house exhibitions are planned. Our popular t-shirts are made of 100'%1 Museum Awarded pre-shrunk cotton in the USA. Major Grant Specify color (navy or cream), and size (S, M, L, XL). $10 each, plus "The Campaign for the American $1.50 postage and handling. Museum of Fly Fishing; Preserving a Rich Heritage for Future Generations" got off to a brilliant start in May, when it was learned that AMFF had been awarded a $35,000 private foundation grant. The grant was made anony- These beautiful mously, and will be used for, among 10-oz. double other things, the accluisition of compu- old-fash~oned ter and auclio-visual systems. .;; .;; glasses are made The initial segment of this capital 1 of hefty 24% lead f~~ncl-raisingcampaign was launched in crvstal and June. Musetun members will receive a deeply etched with the museum's special campaign mailing later in the logo and slogan. $47.50 for a set of year. four, plus $4 postage and The ultimate goal of the can~paignis handling. $175,000, which will be usecl to renovate and expand the Museum galleries, ac- quire computer and audio-visual sys- terns. and create an AMFF Endowment. Jotrtt ,Y71~(111 (itr(1 ./oyc(, (,'(I~Itt(~l1 /)r(,/)(iritrg fi~rlltr of~ctritrg01' "Tinrr 0tz Ihc LVnlrr " "Time On the Water" Art Exhibition Opens at Museum Museum Launches "Time On the Water," an outst;~~lding New Publication exhibition of twenty-five paintings by Our pewter pin (left), nationally-known artist John Swan, In the late fall of 1989, the Museum measures 1"h x M"w and features opened to an overHow audience of 150 published "Lost Pool," a fine limited-edi- our logo in silver on an olive-green people at the Museum on the evening tion art print by nationally known artist background. Our fully embroi- of June 1. All agreed that John's oils and John Swan. This print was released just dered patch (3'/rwhx Yw), is silver watercolors of fresh- and saltwater Hy as our staff was finaliring plans to pub- and black on a Dartmouth Green fishing, and other sporting scenes (most lish A Trrrtstoy ofRrrls, the long-awaited twill background. Both are $5 of which were painted especially for the catalog of the Muse~rm'sI-eel collection each, plus$l postage and AMFF exhibition) were quite excep- by authorlreel expert, Jim Brown. Jim's handling. tional, and as a group representecl an engrossing book will soon be made avail- exciting new stage in John's develop- able to Museum members and the gen- ment as an artist of rare distinction and eral public. talent. Along the way the Museum gave birth Please make checks and money "Time On the Water" will remain to yet another publication, entitled orders payable to: The American open to the public until October 3 1, and Gr~rtzh~nrfGNZC~/P: "The American Mu- Museum of Fly Fishing, and send we'd like to encourage our ~r~embersand seum of Fly Fishing Newsletter." The to: AMFF, P.O. Box 42, Manches- friends to visit the Museum and view four-page Gnzr/tr, a companion publi- ter, VT 05254. Mastercard, Visa, some of the finest wildlifellandscapei cation to this journal, was designed by and American Express accepted. sporting paintings on exhibit in this Randall Perkins, and is being edited by Call 802-362-3300. country+)r in the worlcl-today. Margot Page, a writerlphotographer A stunning four-color commenlora- whose essays on angling and nature can be regularly found in magazines and newspapers across the country. Margot hopes that eventually the Ga- The zette will be published more frequently than bi-annually: "The Gazette has been American Museum exciting to dream up and to finally pub- lish because of its uniqueness. This one- of Fly Fishing of-a-kind newsletter is both a valuable Post Office Box 42, Manchester, museum tool to encourage membership VT 05254. 802-362-3300 vitality, with its friendly behind-the- scenes perspective, as well as a potential forum for some good writing from our JOIN! many talented fly fishing writertfriends. I am enthusiastic about the Gazette's pos- Membership Dues (per annum*) sibilities and look forward to being a part Associate* $25 of its growth." Sustaining* $50 The initial reaction to the Greenl~eart Patron* $250 Gazette from our members has been im- Sponsor* $500 pressive and we're hopeful that Margot's Corporate* $1000 dream of publishing the Gazette more G1rrs1.suiezu the Mu.se~~m:s"Hemin~p~ay In frequently will one day be realized. Michigan" tm-oeling exhibil displ(~ycd(11 the Life $1500 Members wishing to comment on or International Hen~in~qoayConferencp in Boston. Membership dues include the cost of a contribute to the Gazette should write subscription ($20) to Tltr American Fly Margot here at AMFF, P.O. Box 42, Fisher. Please send your application to Manchester. VT 05254. centage of our varied collections at any the membership secretary and include one time in Manchester, which is why your mailing address. The Museum is we place such great emphasis on our a member of the American Association traveling exhibits program. of Museums, the American Association Interest in this program is very high; of State and Local History, the New in just six months, our staff has pre- England Association of Museums, the pared exhibits, exhibit components, or Vermont Museum and Gallery Alli- Museum displays for a number of mu- ance, and the International Association seums and events in both the United of Sports Museums and Halls of Fame. States and Canada. A look at our ex- We are a nonprofit, educational insti- hibits log tells the story: the Atlantic tution chartered under the laws of the Salmon Federation dinner in Montreal, state of Vermont. Quebec; the Canadian Museum of Civ- AMFFJASF Co-sponsor ilization, Hull, Quebec; the Addison SUPPORT! Major Exhibit Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts; the Eastern Fishing and As an independent, nonprofit institu- Our Museum staff recently started Outdoor Exposition, Worcester, Mas- tion, the American Museum of Fly planning a major exhibition on the his- sachusetts; the Northeast Antique An- Fishing must rely on the generosity of tory of the Atlantic Salmon in North gler's Show, Marlborough, public-spirited individuals for substan- America and around the world. The ex- Massachusetts; the International Hem- tial support. We ask that you give our hibition, made possible in part by a gen- ingway Conference, Boston, Massachu- institution serious consideration when erous grant from the Atlantic Salmon setts. It's been a busy year at the planning for gifts and bequests. Federation, will be opened to the public Museum, and we expect it to get even in the spring of 1991. busier in the months ahead. VISIT! The exhibition components now Museum members can look forward being selected include period and con- to viewing "Anglers All," our major trav- Summer hours (May 1 through temporary works of art, lithographs, eling exhibit, at the Manitowoc Maritime October 3 1) are 10 to 4. Winter hours photographs, and a fascinating assem- Museum, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, in (November 1 through April 30) are weekdays 10 to 4. blage of fly boxes, lines, rods, reels, 1991 and at the Rochester Museum and clothing and ephemera from both pri- Science Center, Rochester, New York, in We are closed on major holidays. vate and Museum collections. AMFF 1992. The Museum is also playing a staff members are also hoping to present large role in developing "The History, BACKISSUES! a series of related educational programs the Science, and the Art of Fly Fishing," The following back issues of The to be held in coniunction with the exhibit a major exhibition at the New York State Anterican Flv Fisher are available at $4 through the spring and summer of Museum, Albany, New York, in 1991, per copy: 1991. and in a smaller, but no less interesting, exhibit at the Jimmy Carter Library and Volume 5, Number 3 Museum, Atlanta, Georgia, scheduled Volume 6, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 Getting the Word Out for Spring 199 1. Volume 7, Numbers 3, 4 AMFF's traveling exhibits program, Volume 8, Number 3 When an AMFF staff member or vol- much like our rotating in-house exhibits Volume 9, Numbers 1, 2, 3 unteer chats with a visitor in our Mu- program, is flourishing these days. Volume 10, Number 2 seum galleries, they usually mention that Again, we welcome member inquiries Volume 11, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 the collection components on exhibit are regarding traveling exhibits. We'll do Volume 12, Number 1 only "the tip of the iceberg." And it's everything possible to bring a quality ex- Volume 13, Number 3 true. We can only exhibit a small per- hibit to your community. Volume 14, Numbers 1, 2 Volume 15, Numbers 1, 2 CONTRIBUTORS Rik Hafer's enthusiasm fill- fly fisllit~gbegan on Nebraska farrn pontls ant1 continues totlay whel-ever the opl)ortunity arises to step into a trout streatll. He began contriljuting to Tlrc' A~trrricri~rFly Fislirr when the birth of' his tlaughter I-educetl the nrlrnber of' his fishing weekends. In atldition to his interest in the econotnics of Hy fishing, Kik is currently at work on the history of' trout fishing in Missort~-i.He is a ~xofkssorof economics in the Busitless School at Soitthern Illinois University at Etlwarclsville. Kik lives in St. L>or~is, Missouri, with his wift <;ail, claughter (;aitlirl, and an 8% porlntl 11-ophy Paul Schullery, a professional histot-ian with ;in M.A. in American history, practices his trade with the National I'ark Service basecl at Yellowstone Park in Wyoming. 11 111-olific writer, he is the author of sixteen I~ooks,including the lanclmark A~tr~ricri~~FIv Firhitlg: A Hi.vlor?. David R. Klausmeyer holtls degrees From 1977 to I 985, Schrtllery was in English (U.A.) ancl 1'olitic;ll Science executive director of the Arneric;~~i (M.A.) from Okl;~ho~n;~State Museum of Fly Fishing, where he was University. Formerly ;I nlxnagenlent etlitor and St-ecluent contributor to Tlrr tlevelopment spec:ialist with the Al~~ricrlt~Fly Fi,c.lr~r. Silbsequently, he University of' Tennessee, l);~venow was an editor of Cori~ll~yJo~rrtlril before makes line cane 1-oc1s or1 ;I I'LIII-time returning to the Park Service at basis, 211ntl is actively involvetl in '1'1-out Yellowstone Park. A research tecl~niral Unlimitetl. He regularly spe;iks to I'U writer at Yellowstone, and an active ant1 FFF ch;~l)ters,ant1 ;ippeal-s at fly conservationist, Schrtllet-y has servetl shops througho~rtthe eastern United with various environn~etltal Slates to talk ;~l)orltcane rot1 01-ganiz:~tio~ls,and serves on [lie constl-i~ction,Dave, wilk 13arl);u-a ant1 <:o~lncilol' Arlvisors of the National their two chilclren, Erik iuld Sandra, I'arks and <:onservation Associatio~i. live in Knoxville, 'l'en~lessee. In atltlitiotl to his tlrlties as the Mitseum's vol~rnteercoorclinator, Joe A. Pisarro also ~)rovitlesvalit;~I)le service as the Muse~~m'sreigning wit ant1 ~~I1ilosopher-i11-resitle11ce.A Worltl W;u- I1 veteran, Joe's ~)rofession:~l c:;treer spat~netlthree tlecatles, di~ring which time he worketl as a radio scriptwriter, journ;~list,ancl pul~lic 1.elations clirector. His I~ooksinclutle Tlrc Gorrlotr (;nrlotrri ancl A~trrriccor T,altl Fi.c.lii~rg.He is also a past ~)~-esitlentof The .l'heodore <;ortlon Fly Fishet-s, ;mtl a 101-~nereditor ol' Krrtrriottr Cn.rls ant1 7%~ Fl~/i.\lrrr.Joe now lives in East W;~llingfi)~-(I,Vernlont. James W. Schaaf was born in the mining town of Creede, Colorado, in 1927. After active duty in the Asia and Pacific theatres and undergraduate work at Atlanta's Emory University, he completed graduate work at the U.S. Public Health Center, at the University Wood engr;l\,ing by (;errrgc Cruikrli;~~lkwliirli 01-igin;~lly.~p~xaw(l 111 ~helune 1842 ishtlc III'/\I~L~Z~'~I~~~IMfi,qfrztnr. of Georgia, in 195 1. From 1951 ~~ntilhis retirement in 1985, Jim worked in California as a chemist for a number of nationally known oil and petroleum companies. In 1980, he went public with the Jim Schaaf Rod Company, and by 1986 he had purchased the Dickerson ant1 Bedford Anglers Rod Shop from the 7 .. I lm Bedford Estate. Building a Museum WE SPOKE of new priorities in our last issue. Lately, we've starting thinking about expanding our li- brary, which today holds some 2,500 volumes. We want to dou- ble the size of the library, and we think this is a distinct possibility it1within two to three years. The Museum's library is utilized by hundreds of people every year. It re- ceives heavy usage by our staff in pre- paring this journal, and in answering research inquiries. It is also used by writers, researchers, editors, students, and thejust plain curious. It's one of our greatest resources and a delightful, if somewhat crowded, place to visit these days. Gerald S. 'Jerry" Stein, M.D., is a Although we can soon look forward 46-year-old psychoanalyst in private to adding another 400-500 v~lumes practice in Colorado Springs, through some fairly large private do- Colorado. He is a member of the full nations, we would like to ask our readers faculty of the Denver Institute for to help in this mission. Herewith, we're ' Psychoanalysis and is an Assistant appealing to our members to donate an- Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the gling books to the Museum's library dur- University of Colorado Health Sciences ing 1991. With your assistance we will Center. develop the finest angling library in the ' As a boy in Colorado, Gerry was country. The donation process is fairly introduced to fly fishing and bamboo simple: just write or call and let us know rods by his grandfather, and he often the title of the book or books you wish fished the Gunnison River near James to donate. We'll take it from there. We Schaaf s boyhood home, although they look forward to hearing from you soon. did not meet until 1986. A fishing D.S.J. guide while in medical school, Jerry now has a cabin on the Roaring Fork.