A Mother Club, a Mystery, and Best of the Worsts

Man's life is but vain; For 'tis subject to pain, And sorrow, and short as a bubble; 'Tis a hodge-podge of business and money and ca re, and care and money and tro uble.

But we'll take no care when the proves fair; Nor will we vex now though it rain; We'll banish all sorrow and sing to tomorrow, and angle and angle again.

hus singeth Walton and friends as recorded in . Groups of anglers bonding over com- Tmon experience and common water is as old as . .. well, at least as old as Walton, with Thatcht-House being dubbed the Mother Club by author Richard G. Bell. In "Common Threads among the Gold: A Brief Discourse Regarding Common Characteristics of Clubs and Their Members," Bell begins with the and Berners for stories of fishermen, , and attitude. But, he claims, it is Walton who gives us "clubness." Bell's article, originally a presentation to the Lime- stone Club of East Canaan, Connecticut, is filled with stories and songs of anglers banding together for the sake of tradition to fish, eat, drink, be merry, exaggerate, and complain. This rather lively piece begins on page 2. About ten years ago, Frederick Buller found a collection of flies at a rummage sale in a box marked "Unusual Flies (circa 188o) ." Since then, he's been researching these flies and asking the opinions of others. The flies are, in fact, still a bit of a mystery. Buller recently sent some of these flies to John Betts, a frequent contributor to this journal, for his consideration as well. Betts's additional commentary can be found at the end of Buller's article, "A Hoard of Mysterious Salmon Flies;' which begins on page 13. We live in a culture that loves lists and that regularly issues lists of"best" and "worst" of almost anything. Given that, as well as the tendency of anglers to love anything written about their From 's The Compleat Angler, 7th ed. sport, Paul Schullery set out to create a list of bad fishing books, (London: Henry Kent, circa 1802), facing page So. of "'s Greatest Dogs." It turned out to be a tougher task than he imagined, even after eliminating all living writers from this criticism. He quickly discovered that among his well- out an opposing voice for balance; but these readers found read friends, there is little consensus out there as to which books Boyle's article not only praiseworthy, but challenging and are bad or why they are. "Crazy Coots and Mere Farragos;' inspiring. Read these letters, and write to us when you have therefore, is Schullery's list, and by the end, you'll be wanting to comments. read the bad books too. This survey begins on page 17. Of course, the progress on the new building is always the big Never in the years that I've worked on the journal has an story here. See Sara Wilcox's report, "Into the Homestretch," article received such positive and eloquent comment as Robert beginning on page 30 for the latest update. And fear not- H. Boyle's "'Flies Do Your Float': Fishing in Finnegans Wake," there's still time to buy a brick and be part of it all (see page 26). which appeared in the Spring 2004 issue. We include two let- ters, beginning on page 29. Yes, there is praise for the journal, KATHLEEN ACHOR which perhaps I shouldn't so boldly publish without searching EDITOR Time Amm (CCffiiiTl

THE AMERICAN MusEUM OF FLY FISHING Preserving the Heritage of Fly Fishing FALL 2004 VOLUME 30 NUMBER 4

TRUSTEES E. M. Bakwin Walter T. Matia Common Threads among the Gold: A Brief Discourse Michael Bakwin William C. McMaster, M.D. Regarding Common Characteristics of Fishing Clubs Foster Bam james Mirenda 2 Pamela Bates john Mundt and Their Members ...... Steven Benardete David Nichols Richard G. Bell Paul Bolinger Wayne Nordberg Duke Buchan Ill Michael B. Osborne A Hoard of Mysterious Salmon Flies ...... 13 Mickey Callanen Raymond C. Pecor Frederick Buller Peter Corbin Stephen M. Peet Blake Drexler Leigh H. Perkins Some Notes and Comment ...... 16 William j. Dreyer Allan K. Poole Christopher Garcia john Rano John Betts George R. Gibson III Roger Riccardi Gardner L. Grant Kristoph j. Rollenhagen Crazy Coots and Mere Farragos ...... 17 Chris Gruseke Wil liam Salladin Paul Schullery )ames Hardman Ernest Schwiebert Lynn L. Hitschler Robert G. Scott Museum News. 24 Arthur Kaemmer, M.D. james A. Spend iff Woods King III john Swan Contributors 28 Carl R. Kuehner TIT Richard G. Tisch james E. Lutton III David H. Walsh Letters ...... 29 Nancy Mackinnon )ames C. Woods

TRUSTEES EMERITI Into the Homestretch 30 Charles R. Eichel David B. Ledlie Sara Wilcox G. Dick Finlay Leon L. Martuch W. Michael Fitzgerald Keith C. Russell ON THE covER: "Jack Fishing- Lea " by artist Henry Heath Jr. William Herrick Paul Schullery (c. 1850) shows an angler playing a fish or "giving it the butt." The Victorians Robert N. johnson Stephen Sloan used long rods with enough whip in the top joint to allow them to point the rod back over the shoulder while playing a big fish. Frederick Buller references OFFICERS this practice in ''A Hoard of Mysterious Salmon Flies," which begins on page Chairman of the Board Robert G. Scott 13. Buller included this illustration in his book, Pike and the Pike Angler President David H. Walsh (London: Stanley Paul, 1981, p. 187), courtesy of Walter Spencer. Vice Presidents Lynn L. Hitschler Michael B. Osborne 'J'he American J-<'ly Fisher (ISSN 0884-3562) is published four times a year by the Museum at P.O. J3ox 42, Ma nchester, 05254. james A. Spendiff Publication dates are winter, spring, summer, and fall. Membership dues include the cost of the Treasurer james Mirenda journal ($15) and are tax deductible as provided for hy law. Membership rates arc listed in the back of each issue. Secretary james C. Woods AI! letters, manuscripts, photographs, and materials intended for publication in the journal should be sent to the Museum. The Museum and journal are not responsible for uniiolicited manuscripts, drawings, photographic STAFF material, or memorabilia. The Museum cannot accept responsibility for statements and interpretations that are Interim Executive Director Yoshi Akiyama wholly the author's. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot be returned unless postage is provided. Contributions to The American Fly Fisher are to be considered gratuitous and the property of the Museum unless otherwise requested Events & Membership Diana Siebold by the contributor. Articles appearing in this journal are abstracted and indexed in Historical Abstracts and America: Special Projects Sara Wilcox History and Life. Copyright © 2004, the American Museum of Ply Fishing, Manchester, Vermont 05254. Original Administrative Assistant Linda McWain material appearing may not be reprinted without prior permission. Periodical postage paid at Manchester, Vermont 05254 and additional offices (USPS 057410). The American Fly Fisher (ISSN 0884-3562) Art Director john Price EMAIL: [email protected] WEBSITE: www.amff.com THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The American Fly Fisher, P.O. Box 42, Manchester, Vermont 05254. Editor Kathleen Achor Design & Production john Price We welcome contributions to The American Fly Fisher. Before making a submission, please review our Contributor's Guidelines on our website (www.amff.com), or Copy Editor Sarah May Clarkson write to request a copy. The Museum cannot accept responsibility for statements and interpretations that are wholly the author's. Collllllon Threads an1ong the Gold: A Brief Discourse Regarding Collllllon Characteristics of Fishing Clubs and Their Men1bers by Richard G. Bell

"E'uening firelight stories ."

This friendly image appears in The Speckled Brook by Louis Rhead (: R.H. Russell, 1902, facing page 30 ).

ecause I'm a very amateur historian, and because I was BACK TO THE BEGINNING markedly influenced by a statement made by the late BJustice Oliver Wendell Holmes when I first read it many Where to start? Well, there is no shortage of material. I have years ago in law school, it seemed important to me to get at the been told that the volume of fishing literature alone exceeds subject of fishing clubs from a particular perspective. The the combined volume of the literature of all other sports. If Holmes statement to which I refer is this: this was last year, I would have had a different beginning. But now, with Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ playing at The life of the law has not been logic; it has been history.' every local theater, giving voice to a powerful religious reex- What Holmes was saying in this wonderful phrase was that the amination, maybe-to be safe- we ought to start with the law is not the way it is because that's what makes sense, and it's Bible. Just to be able to say we've done so. I recommend it. You not because that's how it's supposed to be, and God knows it's sometimes come up with surprising results. not because it's the best way to do it. No. The law is what it is There are, in fact, forty-five references in the King James because it has been shaped that way by historical forces, and to Version of the Bible to "" and to "fishing." Forty-five. understand it, yo u need to understand its history. I find this None, however, to fishing clubs specifically. But that's all right. true of a great many things besides the law-even fishing clubs. Remember, clubs are just clumps of fishermen; we can get at And so, to understand commonalities, I'm drawn to explore things indirectly by exploring commonalities among fisher- history-that is, the generic clubs. men. You might expect the Book of Job to be full of source mate- This essay is based on remarks to the Limestone Club, rial, but what's there is surprisingly thin and quite rudimenta- Eas t Ca naan, Connecticut, at its annual meetin g, 3 April2004.

2 THE AMERICAN FLY FIS H E R Biblical image of Christ and the miracle of the fish. Courtesy of St. Mina Coptic Orthodox Church, Holmdel, New Jersey.

ry. Job was a loner-you would be too if you had his bad But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: 6 luck- and his sense of fishing tactics was quite primitive. but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. They thought he was just some guy come down to watch. And Canst thou draw out Leviathan with a hook? Or his tongue with if you have been fishing for a long time and haven't caught a cord which thou lettest down? anything, there is always some guy who comes down to watch. Canst thou put a hook into his nose? Or bore his jaw through with a thorn? And he always asks the same question. Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? Or his head with fish Then Jesus saith unto them: "Children, have you any meat?" They spears? 2 answered him, "no."7 And he said unto them, "cast a net on the right side of the and ye shall find."S I confess that all I find there is that men have been trying to jig big fish for more than two thousand years. These guys who come down to watch always have free advice. Habakkuk, a lesser-known prophet, gives a hint of a fishing But in this case, it worked. industry, but tells us nothing of the fisher persons. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it [the net] They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their for the multitude of fishes.9 net, and gather them in their drag, therefore they rejoice and are glad.3 This is the first clear demonstration in our literature that, for some places, you simply have to have a good Guide. The "angle"-which we understand to mean "hook"-the None of this, however, has led me into the heart of the mat- "net," and the "drag" represent a sophisticated array of tools, ter. But I did find one heretofore unrecognized gem. In the indicating the importance of the business of fishing. But what Book of Isaiah at chapter 19, Isaiah is describing what of the sport? What of the fishermen? vengeance the Lord will wreck upon Egypt: it is awesome, and Maybe Peter will help. He was, after all, one of us. In John extends destruction to every corner of the land and even to 21, beginning with verse 3, he announces with great glee: every occupation.

I go a fishing. 4 And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fi sh.10 The other disciples decide to join him for a short cruise on the Sea of Galilee. Thus, even fi sh farming will be destroyed. But wait. They went forth and entered into a ship immediately; and that The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the night-they caught nothing.s brooks shall lament .. .U Well, that shows that night fishing is not all it's cracked up to There's-that word again: angle. A hook. And the description be. But there's always tomorrow. of the fisher as one who "casts"- gospel word-into "brooks."

F A LL 2004 3 Above is the frontispiece from A Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle by Dame Juliana Berners, first published in 1496. The Dame Juliana Anglers, a women's angling club, meets monthly in Phoenix, Arizona.

Think about that: the words angle, cast, and brooks are not THE DAWN OF LEARNING words you associate with for gigantic ; rather, we associate them with the trout streams of . So, let's take a look at Dame Juliana's little book. It was pub- This text in Isaiah was pretty much confirmed by one of the lished in 1496, 115 years before the King James Version of the Dead Sea scrolls; the original Hebrew has been translated to Bible and 157 years before the publication of Isaac Walton's Greek and then to Latin and eventually into the towering The Compleat Angler. Henry VII, Henry Tudor, was King of cadence of Stuart England in the King James Version. The England. Only eleven years earlier, Richard III was defeated at monk responsible for the line above, who chose the words fish- Bosworth Field. That's quite a while ago. What was Dame ers, angle, cast, and brooks, knew just what they meant. He was Juliana trying to do? Easy. Her book was a health and fitness moved toward them by the base translation from whence he pitch, like so many you can find at any retail bookstore today. worked, but he selected words of contemporary experience. Being the CEO of a nunnery, Dame Juliana had a particular Without doubt, he had read-for it was his kind who did most slant. She set out to prove a proverb of Solomon. of the reading-a little book by Dame Juliana Berners, her A A fine spirit causes a flourishing age.13 Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle,U which gave these words meaning to him. Were there trout in Egypt? I don't think so, Surely, if it were as simple as that, we would all want this "fine and even James Prosek has yet to find one. But were there fish - spirit." Where do we get it? Today, someone would flash a tele- ers who pursued fish for sport? On some small branch of a phone number on the TV screen and urge you to call with tributary of the Nile? The conclusion has to be yes. So, here we your credit card handy for some magic elixir or sophisticated find the germ of a progenitor as far back as Isaiah in the Old machine. But Dame Juliana did not promise instant gratifica- Testament, albeit one resurrected in the seventeenth century tion: she required you to work for it. How? By the physical by a nameless monk who was a disciple of the prioress of the pursuit of what she called "pleasing amusements and proper Sopewell Nunnery near St. Albans, England. Juliana Berners sports."14 She examines four of these, the most popular of her had been, after all, a colleague working for the same company. day: hunting, hawking, fowling, and fishing. She quickly deter- By the way, the word angle gives us, of course, the appella- mines that: tion angler, applied universally to fishermen and fisherwomen. The finest sport is fishing with a rod, line and hook.'5 I suppose we're lucky. If you think about it, we could have been called hookers. Her conclusion is that fishing is the superior means to gain a

4 THE AMER I CAN FLY FISHER Isaac Walton is best known as author ofThe Compleat Angler (1653), one of the three most published books in English literature (the other two are the Bible and the Complete Works of Shakespeare). The Compleat Angler has run to more than 300 editions. From The Compleat Angler, or the Contemplative Man's Recreation by Isaac Walton and (New York: Ward, Lock and Co., 1891).

"fine spirit;' which will lead eventually to longevity. In the ... [S]ince angling seems to augment his worldly goods, it causes process, she makes two startling conclusions. First, she recog- a man to become wealthy.'9 nizes that one doesn't always catch fish. Dame Juliana has surely got something backward here. We all Or he may catch nothing, but this is not a serious matter.'6 know that fishing costs. It takes a lot of money even to buy what you need, and "need" has never been an effective limita- Not a serious matter! What in the world is she talking about? tion on the acquisition of rods, reels, and other equipment. She tries to explain: But don't worry: you won't regret any of the money that you spend on good . . . . [T] he angler has had a healthy and easy walk, good air, the scent of meadow flowers and an appetite whetted. He has enjoyed the melodious singing of birds, he sees the Cygnet, Herons, Ducks, THE CONTEMPLATIVE ANGLER Coots and many other fowls with their broods.'7 The next great source is, of course, Isaac Walton. He was Here, at the literary inception of our sport, is a statement born in , England, in 1593, five years after the defeat of that there is more to fishing than fish. That is the context in the Spanish Armada. Elizabeth I was still queen and would which our sport must be seen, and profound and far-reaching remain so for ten more years. Walton began "in trade" as a dimensions of sensitivity and awareness flow from this. John linen draper and had half a shop on Fleet Street, corner of Gierach once said that he didn't know what fly fishing teaches Chancery Lane, in London. By 1640, however, he was devoting us, but he knew it was importanus That's pretty much where himself full-time to writing, beginning a series of biographies, I would leave it, except to emphasize the significance of what with one on the poet John Donne. Walton lived for the most Dame Juliana recognized. Our sport is not just a hobby. To call part in London, but he had to leave for a while in 1643. The fly fishing a hobby is like calling brain surgery a job. No. It's far civil war had broken out, and Walton was at some risk as a more than that, and because that's so, there is room for groups conventional royalist. Charles I lost his head, you will recall, in of anglers to come into existence and share the sport cooper- 1649. Walton published The Compleat Angler in 1653. The fifth atively, but not quite yet. edition, in 1676, was the first to include the second part, by I cannot pass over another statement by Dame Juliana that Charles Cotton, Walton's intimate friend and adopted son.20 really puzzled me. Walton knew everyone worth knowing; indeed, he made it a

FALL 2004 5 Charles Cotton collaborated with Isaac Walton on The Compleat Angler and was also the author of some poetry that was considered bawdy in its time. From The Compleat Angler, or the Contemplative Man's Recreation by Isaac Walton and Charles Cotton (New York: Ward, Lock and Co., 1891). point to do so. He was familiar and comfortable with people of The great Michigan judge and sage of Frenchman's Pond, John all stations and seems to have had a knack for finding some- Voelker, aka Robert Traver, also discarded his rose-colored thing good in everyone. John Major, one of his early nine- Waltonian glasses. teenth-century publishers, described him as a cultivated and The truth is that trout fish ermen scheme and lie and toss in their cultured man, "... with the soundest judgment, possessed of a sleep. They dream of great dripping trout, shapely and elusive as sweetness of disposition ever inclining toward the bright side mermaids, and arise cranky and haggard from their fantasies. They of things, a veracity not to be questioned, and a felicity of are moody and neglectful and all of them are a little daft. expression peculiarly his own."2 1 Jam es Prosek, writing almost Moreover, they are inclined to drink too much.24 two centuries later, describes him as"... a gentle and humble Okay. So what does Isaac Walton bring to the historical man of pious demeanor and [a] propensity for m aking table? Well, he gives us "clubness." And maybe the mother of 22 friends." all clubs. Listen to this. Does it sound familiar? Do they talk He sounds almost too good to be true. Here's a man who like this at your club? buried eight of his children, including two named Isaac, and VI ATO R: ... look you, sir, here are three brace of , one of them who had to hide for his life from a band of Cromwell's the biggest ever I killed with a fly in my life, and yet I lost a bigger Roundheads equally divided between hanging and burning than that, and my fly to boot ... 2 5 him. Yet he maintained all of his long life a genial, rosy outlook on human nature. He is, after all, the one who has impressed We've come to know that the big one always gets away. How upon our sport a gentle, pastoral, and contemplative overtone. about this? Sound familiar? On the fourth day, Piscator, stand- Indeed, the subtitle of his book is The Co ntemplative Man's ing outside a public house with Viator, notices Brother Peter Recreation. However, although there is great merit in the bliss- and Honest Coridon approaching. ful innocence of these Waltonian characteristics, we've learned PISCATOR: Well met gentlemen : This is lucky that we meet so just that the common attributes of fishermen run a far grimier together at this very door. Come Hostess, where are yo u? Is supper gamut. Nick Lyons, himself a Waltonesque figure, has it right. ready? Come first give us drink, and be as quick as you can, for I The life of a trout is not all an idyllic fluttering of believe we are all very hungry. Well Brother Peter and Coridon, to yo u both! Co me, drink, and th en tell me what luck of fi sh: we two ; it is a rat race. have caught but ten trouts, of which my Scholar caught three . .. It rain s. Yo u fall in, freeze, boil, hook yo urself, hook yo ur partner, PETER: And Coridon an d 1 have not had an unpleasant day, and yet lose your eq uipment, ca tch the weeds, catch pneumonia, snarl yo ur I have caught but fi ve trouts; for indeed we went to a good honest line, get bitten by fli es yo u ca n't see, miss the big one and hear, ale house, and there played at shovel board half the day; all the in ev itably, that yo u should have been here yesterday or last week or time it rained we were there, and as merry as they that fi shed. 26 next month. If you return alive and sane, no one believes a word A line like the following could come from m any fishing clubs yo u tell them; if yo u stay out too long or too often, yo u lose yo ur today: family or yo ur job. If you don't stay out long enough, he who did will taunt yo u unto death that "they began to bite like mad 10 min- Come now for your song, for we have fed heartily. Come, Hostess, utes after you left." 23 lay a few more sticks on th e fire, and now sing when you wilJ.27

6 T H E AMERICAN FLY FISHER The above letter was written by General Lafayette. In it he accepts an honorary membership to the Schuylkill Fishing Club. From A History of the Schuylkill Fishing Company (Philadelphia: The Members of the State of Schuylkill, 1889, facing page 92).

Now, where was all this drinking, tale telling, and singing at the sign of the Buffalo's Head, at the farthest end of taking place? We know where it was not. It was not that little Hoddesdon Town, on the left of the road in going toward house on the Dove River, Walton's favorite river, built for him Ware, about seventeen miles and a half distant from London. by Charles Cotton. That little house of stone suits merely two, But let Viator and Piscator tell you of it. and barely so, for intimate conversation. It is not our mother PTSCATOR: You are well over taken, sir; a good morning to you; I've club. Nonetheless, it is our shrine. James Prosek describes stretched my legs up Totnam Hill to over take you, hoping your approaching it in these words. business might occasion you towards Ware, this fine, pleasant, As an angler entering these sacred grounds where sports fishing as fresh May-day in the morning. a recreation had its popular genesis and resurrection, I felt as those VIATOR: Sir, I shall almost answer your hope; for my purpose is to on pilgrimages must, when they enter the Old City of Jerusalem be at Hoddesdon (three miles short of that town) I will not say through Jaffa Gate and walk the stone alleys through the Christian before I drink but before I break my fast: for I have appointed a Quarter to the Holy Sepulchre-through the Arab markets hung friend or two to meet me there at the Thatcht-House, about 9 of with rugs and sheep heads to the Dome of the Rock or through the the clock this morning, and that made me so early up, and, indeed, Jewish Quarter to the Wailing Wall .. . There it was, the shrine to to walk so fast. all fishermen and the object of my pilgrimage. To its stone facade I PJSCATOR: Sir, I know the Thatcht-House very well: 1 often make it clambered, and touched it, and through its small glass panes I saw my resting place, and taste a cup of ale there for which liquor that the round marble table where Piscator taught Viator to tie a fly, place is very remarkable . . .2 9 holding the hook in his hand for a vise .. . I sat at the end of the This is it. This long lost and forgotten Thatcht-House- clearing and watched the door to see if it might open.28 which heard the tall tales of Walton and his friends, which saw One is reminded of the comment attributed to Red Smith, them dine and drink in good fellowship, which heard the sports editor of the New York Herald Tribune and later the New music of their voices-is the Mother Club. All things that we York Times, about trout fishing's opening day. Smith was a fish- share in common as fishing club members, even down the erman of wide repute and a pillar of the Catskill establishment years to the present time, started here. in the Anglers' Club of New York in its heyday, just before and just after World War II. Spending opening day on the SING TO TOMORROW Beaverkill, according to Smith, was like spending Christmas in Bethlehem. The charm of the songs sung by Isaac Walton and his But it is not the temple we are after. The building we want is friends was quite innocent and certainly sentimental. They a structure long gone from its original location. It once stood reflect Walton's personality, and however vulnerable they may

FALL 2004 7 be to the ravages of time, they deserve to be saved. Here are the ness. Nonetheless, singing is singing, and there's much merit lyrics to the "Angler's Song." to a song that commemorated the political promise of a may- oral candidate to install public lavatories on the New Haven Man's life is but vain; For 'tis subject to pain, Green. And sorrow, and short as a bubble; We'll sing the glories of New Haven 'Tis a hodge-podge of business and money and care, 's pride and pearl; and care and money and trouble. Our Chamber of Commerce and our Railroad Station, Can't be beat in this corner of the World; But we'll take no care So join in our paen of adulation, when the weather proves fair; Hea rken to the trumpet's call; Nor will we vex now though it rain; The Ornamental Comfort Station, We'll banish all sorrow Will be on the Green by fall. and sing to tomorrow, and angle and angle again.3o We're proud of our City and our neighbors, We're proud of our Mayor, staunch and true; I can tell you that singing was an integral part of the But the inspiration of our labors, Angling Club during the nineteenth century. This Is that we're Yale men through and through; was a prestigious group of Scots with salmon water on the So join in illicit procreation, Tweed. Most members came from Edinburgh, but not all. I am And don't let the birth rate fall; the proud owner of copy number 79 of their book, Songs of the The Ornamental Comfort Station, Edinburgh Angling Club, published in 1879. It contains exqui- Will be on the Green by fall.33 site engravings and the complete text of fifty-six songs written by members. All are written to be sung to the tunes of songs of AYE SOMETHING WRANG the day. Some had as many as twelve verses. The brief histori- The Scots are legendary for two things: fishing and lament- cal note at the beginning of the book recites that the club was ing. To "lament" means to wail, to cry out in grief. That's founded in 1847. It occupied a modest place called Betty's exactly what a bagpipe does. They even call some of their Cottage at first, then moved to Colvenford's House, and then, songs laments. And they had plenty of reason: they only once in 1849, took out a long-term lease on a cottage simply called really beat the English; everything after Bannockburn turned the "Nest!' This much-loved place is the subject of many of out the other way. So they are very good at lamenting, and their songs, as is the terrible event of 1869 when they were that's only one step short of complaining. They're highly unable to renew its lease. They moved once more, but one has accomplished at that too, and this is an attribute they have the feeling that it would never be the same again. passed on to all fishermen and fishing clubs: it's too hot, too [A] cottage larger if not so snug as the "Nest" was built. It had not cold, too wet, too dry, too early, too late, too high, too low, too the honeysuckle covered porch of the "Nest"-it is not yet shaded soon, too late, too little, too much. All of this prevaricating pleasantly by trees as the "Nest" was; but the murmur of the river dither comes down to us directly from Caledonia. so unds as pleasantly to its indwellers, and every year makes the The Scottish inscription on the wall of an angler's hut on the growing shade more grateful. There, as of old, pleasant evenings Spey River says it all. crown days well spent by the river, and song an d jest and cheerful conversation sweep away the cobwebs which are apt to gather V\Thiles oer airly, when the world is too much with usY Whiles tae late; Whiles nae water, Typical of their songs is one titled "A Bonnie Stream's the Whiles in spate; Tweed;' written by William Graham. The following chorus is Whiles oer drumly, to be sung after each verse: Whiles tae clair: There's aye something wrang, A Bonnie Stream, A Bonnie Stream When I'm feshing here.34 A Bonnie stream's the Tweed; A far frae strife I'll end my life, CLUBLIKE ATTRIBUTES A-fishing on the Tweed. There are some peculiar or m arginal organizations, of mod- The last verse of the song is equally sentimental: ern origin, which have clublike attributes and deserve mention Then bring the Rod, the Reel, the Gaff, only to distinguish them. They are like distant relatives at the A merry time we'll lead; farthest reaches of the family tree. And lengthen out the pirn o life, One branch of these is the literary group, organizations per- 2 A-fishing on the Tweed .3 petuated in print-such as in Field & Stream or some such I was pleasantly surprised to find a direct contemporary magazine-for the benefit of a national readership. One thinks musical descendent of this spirit at the Limestone Club of East of Ed Zern and his Beaverkill, Schoharie, Willowemoc & Canaan, Connecticut. The chorus to their song "Old Tight Esopus, Small Mouth Bass, Wall-Eyed Pike, Fall Fish, Red Fin, Lines;' sung to the tune of"Auld Lang Syne," is: Mud Puppy, Snapping Turtle, & Chub Club-the only club of which he was ever a member. There is also the Madison And always tight lines, my dear, Avenue Dry Fly, Bloody Mary and Labrador Retriever Society, And always tight lines; and one organization created by author Corey Ford known as We'll take a walk at Limestone, dear, And always tight lines. the Lower Forty Shooting, Angling and Inside Straight Society. There are surely more. These are of course illusory, but fisher- The Walton Fishing Club of Cornwall Bridge, Connecticut, men have long cherished illusion. I mention them only to has long enjoyed an active group of opening night singers, make sure you understand they are not forgotten. whose songs tend to favor political satire or just plain bawdi- So, too, with the broader-gauged professional societies like

8 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER The Angler's Club-Weighing In by Louis Wain. From the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News (1898).

the Theodore Gordon Fly Fishers, the Izaak Walton League, FAITH OF OUR FATHERS and even the Anglers' Club of New York. These are less illuso- ry. But they are not fishing clubs, even though their members One function served by fishing clubs is the preservation of may be fishermen. The New York Anglers don't have any water such things as customs, morality, and tradition. Some go fur- of their own, so they announce their periodic visitations en ther than this and seek to preserve an environmental or attitu- masse to your place. dinal status quo: "We have been doing things right for a long Similar are the "mission" organizations: these seem to be time, so why change?" "This is the way it has always been." "If known as much for the alphabetical abbreviations as anything it was good enough for old what's-his-name, it should be good else: CRSA, CCA, ASF, TU, and the rest. They have some club enough for us." Some preserve everything, even their refuse. attributes, pretty well diluted, but the mission drives the agen- The model for this, if not the inventor, is the Fly Fishers Club da. They can be zealots and at times insufferable. Hear what of Brooklyn on the Little Beaverkill in the Catskills. For Howell Raines thought about while fishing years- before they finally had to change clubhouses-every through his midlife crisis. empty bottle of liquor consumed at the club, chiefly in the walk-up elevated first floor living room, was neatly stored You would think that anyone who belonged to an organization underneath the porch. I don't know if a count was ever made; with a name as stupid as "Trout Unlimited" would have a sense of humor about it. I certainly felt amused- well, actually embar- the practice started sometime after the turn of the nineteenth rassed-when I sent in $2o.oo for a family membership for me and century and extended well past World War II. In addition, the boys because Dick Blalock said we had to be members to be none of the furnishings, such as they were, were ever changed invited on the semi-annual fishing trips. It did not take long to dis- or ever even cleaned-at all, not one whit or for any reason. cover that if you were going to rename Trout Unlimited, you might That includes the rugs, which were so caked with mud, dust, go for Nerds, Dweebs and Wonks. It combines the dorkiness of the and assorted riverbed debris as to be positively alive. Alfred W. Audubon Society, the moral indignation of Greenpeace and the Miller, writing as Sparse Grey Hackle, describes this in "The political self-congratulation of the Sierra Club. The social Lotus Eaters" from Fishless Days. ambiance is a schizoid mix of Woodstock Nation and Skull & Bones.35 Aside from the fire, the sole artificial illumination in the cabin is an old-fashioned kerosene lamp, scroun ged from a country church. Let me hasten to add that I am a life member of TU, having Directly beneath it is a small table upon which each member, as he survived my own midlife crisis. enters, deposits his bottle. Additionall y, there is a pitcher of the icy

FALL 2004 9 Herbert Hoover receiving the 1931 Presidential Salmon from Walter Crossman. Courtesy of the Penobscot Salmon Club.

spring water that flows perpetually from a pipe in the yard-water William Howard Taft as a statement designed to emphasize the that is agony to the teeth and a frigid benediction to the palette. No city's honor and respect for him. After that, the competition one can recall clearly how long the lamp and table have been there, grew and was keenly encouraged among fishermen to catch the but all agree that the lamp has leaked kerosene upon the table- and first salmon for the purposes of presidential presentation. This into the pitcher-ever since it was filch ed. You may think that the fish would be bought from the angler who caught it, at first leak might be repaired, or that the table might be moved, or at least that the pitcher might be shifted, but that is because you do not either by local businessmen or by the Penobscot Salmon Club. know the Brooklyn Fly Fishers.36 It was then shipped to Washington with a delegation of local notables to be appropriately photographed and interviewed. It PRESIDENTIAL AMBITIONS became the club's tradition to take over this event. Unfortunately, it died out in 1954, but was, along with the club, It may be true, as Arnold Gingrich has suggested, that in fly revived in 1981 and continued through 1992. fishing, you will meet, if not a better class of people, a better President Herbert Hoover, in his charming little book, class of fishY Look at the Penobscot Salmon Club of Bangor, Fishing for Fun and to Wash Your Soul,38 describes the photo- . Historically, the first Atlantic salmon caught in the graphic hoopla that grew up around the event. He especially Bangor Salmon Pool in the Penobscot River became as much a remembers one fish he received that, before the photo-op symbol of spring as the melting of snows in that Maine commu- arrangements could be made, was decapitated by the chef and nity. Competition arose between two leading hotels to purchase cleaned, and the tail chopped off. When advised of his photo- this fish and offer it to their guests. In 1912, angler Karl Anderson graphic duties, the chef, unfazed, stuffed the carcass with cot- sent the second salmon caught that year to U.S. President ton and sewed its various parts together. It was carefully held

10 TH E AMERICAN FLY FISHER by President Hoover, and several good pictures were taken ers; trout streams gurgled around the roots of my family before the stuffing began to fall out.39 tree."44 And in the same vein, Grover Cleveland, twice presi- In 1981, the federal delegation included Maine Governor dent of the United States and the only one to have been elect- Joseph C. Brennan. He was having trouble holding the fish for ed to two nonconsecutive terms, once observed that "At the photographers, and one of them asked if he had had much outset, the fact should be recognized that the community of experience as a salmon fisherman. "The only fish I've ever fishermen constitute a class or sub-race among the inhabitants met," replied the governor, "were in poolrooms."4° of the earth."45 The year 1993 should have been the last year. Scott Westphal Now that's quite startling, when you think about it. A dis- caught the first fish on May 2. However, it was still in his freez- tinct race. On your next census questionnaire, instead of er in early August. The Clinton administration couldn't get the Caucasian, African American, or Latino, put down fisherman, chief to focus on this event-he had other fish to fry, so to and see what they do. speak-and it got palmed off on Vice President Gore. He and his I'm not at all surprised, however, because it explains a lot to staff showed no interest. Eventually, the Penobscot Club gave up me about fishermen, and hence fishing clubs. Why is the gen- trying to make arrangements with the White House, and eral public suspicious about the degree of honesty to be Westphal and his dog Clancy simply ate the presidential fish.4 1 expected from fishermen? It's basic to our nature-in our very genes. There's no malice involved. You see, as John Gierach has A BETTER CLASS observed, the things that happen between anglers and fish have always been open to interpretation. And whenever you have Some clubs have things others covet. For instance, the 188o interpretation, your judgment becomes clouded by your membership list of the Restigouche Salmon Club of expectations.46 That's why fishing club logs have never been Matapedia, Quebec, included these members: required to be under oath. In his little book, Fishing and Shooting Sketches, first pub- William K. Vanderbilt Howard Heinz lished in 1901, President Cleveland put it this way. Chester A. Arthur Thomas Lamont Of course, the notion must not be for a moment tolerated that Hugh Auchinloss August Belmont deliberate downright lying as to an essential matter is permissible. Robert Goelet Mark Hanna It must be confessed, however, that inescapable traditions and cer- Robert G. Dun Pierre Lorrillard tain inexorable conditions of our brotherhood tend to a modifica- William E. Dodge Percy Chub tion of the standards of truthfulness which have been set up in David M. Goodrich Sanford White42 other corners. Beyond doubt, our members should be as reliable in statement as our tradition and full enjoyment of our fraternity Any club treasurer facing a needed assessment can appreci- membership will permit.47 ate a membership list like that. Sanford White is an interesting guy; he was an architect and designer of country estates in the Adirondacks and in Quebec/New Brunswick for his fellow club members. He was a fly tyer and gave his name to a favorite fly of mine. One evening, a member of the Restigouche Salmon Club had varnished and doped a collection of flies he intended to use the following day. He put these on a string to dry and hung the string across the club dock on the Restigouche River. During the night, Sanford White couldn't sleep well, got up for a walk, and went out onto the dock. He stumbled into and through the line of flies without knowing what it was. The next morning, the other member was quite upset to discover that his flies were gone. White, without confessing his guilt, immediately sat down and tied the fellow a new fly: black and silver, with a small jungle cock feather on each side, and some red in the head. The other member used it that day and caught a huge salmon. He came back that evening, singing the prais- es of this new fly, and wanted White to tie him an even dozen. He also wanted to give it a proper name; what should he call it? White thought about that for a minute and then said, "Let's call it the 'Nighthawk."'43 Alas, White came to a bad end. He was gunned down in front of Madison Square Garden-part of which he had designed-by Henry K. Thaw, the jealous husband of White's mistress, actress Evelyn Nesbitt. This proves, I guess, that it may be safer to tie a Nighthawk than it is to fly like one.

PISCATORIAL RECTITUDE This sketch of Grover Cleveland appears in Fishing Let me say a final word about fishing clubs as the reposito- and Shooting Sketches by Grover Cleveland (New York: ries of not only our traditions but our standards of morality as The Outing Publishing Company, 1906, 17). well. This is especially true of honesty. John Burroughs, the great Catskill naturalist, once said, "I come from a race of fish-

FALL 2004 11 1939), Job 4I:I, 2, 7. All Biblical references herein are to the King James Version. 3. Habakkuk 1:15. 4. John 21:3. 5· Ibid. By 6. John 21:4. Grover 7· john 21:5. Cleveland 8. John 21:6. 9· Ibid. 10. Isaiall 19:10. Fishing and Shooting 11. Isaiah 19:8. Sketcl:!es 12. Dame Juliana Berners, A Treatise on Fishing with a Hook (New York: Thu.boal.elc>k North River Press, Inc., 1979). Reprint of the edition published by Van Reese ,,,.,j 1<11' Press, New York. Originally titled A Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle, it was ,, ... o ... first printed in the Bake of St. Albans by Wynken de Worde in 1496. It was S..(IQ('t&lll"M•IVJI. translated to modern English by William Van Wyck in 1933. References herein will be to the North River Press 1979 edition. 13. Berners, 13. 14. Ibid., 13. 15. Ibid., 17· Fishing and Shooting Sketches by Grover Cleveland can be 16. Ibid. found among the many titles in the Museum's library. 17. Ibid. 18. john Gierach, Sex, Death and Fly Fishing (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990), 2. 19. Berners, 18. 20. References to Isaac Walton, The Compleat Angler (1653), are from edi- tor John Major's 1889 edition (London: john C. Nimmo). 21. Walton, 13. Cleveland recognized certain vagaries in this standard. But 22. james Prosek, The Complete Angler (New York: HarperCollins he felt justified because at the heart of the matter was the Publishers, Ltd., 1999), 78. notion that a good faith belief in the correctness of a statement 23. Nick Lyons, Fishing Widows (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1974), on the part of the maker redeemed a great many minor sins. 17-18. His presidential conclusion was ".. . the matter seems to have 24. Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman (Santa Barbara and Salt Lake been finally adjusted in a manner expressed in the motto: In City: Perrigrine Smith Inc., 1978), 38. essentials-truthfulness; in nonessentials-reciprocal lati- 25. Walton, 305. tude."48 26. Ibid., 203. 27. Ibid., 204. One hundred years later, John Gierach has advanced our 28. Prosek, 124- 25. understanding of the problem. It's probably true, he says, that 29. Walton, 328-29; see note to text on p. 43 regarding the Thatcht House we understate the bad stuff. If it was raining all day, you in Hoddesdon. acknowledge it with "a little wet"; if you got no fish, they were 30. Ibid., 354-55. "few and far between"; one 3-inch infant would come out "just 31. Songs of the Edinburgh Angling Club (Edinburgh: privately printed, a couple of the usual7-inch natives I always put back." 1879), xii. But on the other side, with the good stuff, we get excited and 32. Ibid., 7-8. tend to overstate.49 Nine inches equals 13 inches; 13 inches 33. R. G. Bell, Whoops for the Wind (New Haven, Conn.: Tantivy Press, equals 17 inches; 17 inches equals 21 inches; a couple of trout 1999). 53· become six or seven. You get the picture. The point is, the 34· Bell, iv. 35. Howell Raines, Fly Fishing through the Midlife Crisis (New York: resulting distortion of truth is driven, by a more or less con- William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1993), 160. stant force adjusted seasonally, in two precisely opposite direc- 36. Sparse Grey Hackle [Alfred Miller], Fishless Days, Angling Nights (New tions. This should have produced a law of, if not physics, at York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1921), 209. least public speaking. It could be called, say, the principal of 37. Arnold Gingrich, The Well-Tempered Angler (New York: Alfred A. equivocating equilibrium. It provides an elegant and ambidex- Knopf, 1959), 7. trous proof that, in the long run and over time, it all evens out. 38. Herbert Hoover, Fishing for Fun and to Wash Your Soul (New York: This was in fact implicit in President Cleveland's sense of Random House, 1963). "reciprocity." But his unique early contribution has gone 39· Hoover, 79-80. unrecognized. This was his demonstration that as it takes two 40. Ed Baum, Maine Atlantic Salmon: A National Treasure (Hebron, Me.: Atlantic Salmon Unlimited, 1997), 68. to tango, so it does to recognize the truth. It does not lie sole- 41. Ibid., 68, 70. ly in the mouth of the speaker, but must be found also in the 42. Sylvain Gingras, A Century of Sport (St.-Raymond, Quebec: Les ear of the listener. Thus, a commandment of truly biblical pro- Editions Rapides Blancs Inc., 1994), 55- 56. Translated by R. Meredith. portions. Our duty, the president advised, is to follow"... the 43 · Ibid., 56-57. golden rule of our craft, which commands us to believe as we 44. Quoted in John Merwin, Well Cast Lines (New York: Simon and would be believed ..."so Schuster, 1995), 36. 45. Grover Cleveland, Fishing and Shooting Sketches (New York: Abercrombie & Fitch Co., 1966), 23. 46. John Gierach, The View from Rat Lake (Boulder, Colo.: Pruett ENDNOTES Publishing Company, 1988), 83, 136. 47· Cleveland, 105. 1. Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Common Law (Boston: Little, Brown and 48. Ibid., 106. Co., 1923), 1. 49· John Gierach, Standing in the River Waving a Stick (New York: Simon & 2. The Holy Bible, King James Version (Chicago: john A. Dickson Publishing Schuster, 1999), 112. Company, with license to print to William Collins, Son, and Company, Limited, 50. Cleveland, 113.

12 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER A Hoard of Mysterious Salin on Flies by Frederick Buller

Figure 1. Samples of flies (a-h) from the eight basic Palmer patterns that were included in the box marked "Unusual Salmon Flies (circa 188o)" together with two lures (i-j), i.e., a (i) and a beetle (j) . The one oddity in the hoard is the winged striped fly (k), which is dressed on a smaller hook. It is probably an imitation wasp. I have subsequently discovered that the items belonged to the late Tom Kenny, who had been a popular member of the Flyfishers' Club.

Figure 1a

n 1994, at a rummage sale at the Sandford reproduced in his The Best of As already noted, the lures that Flyfishers' Club, I bought a collection British Baits (1997). 1 Sandford's source Wheatley described were meant to be of some thirty or so flies (lot 25) in a was an illustration in T. F. Salter's The imitations of nymphs, cabbage I 2 box marked "Unusual Salmon Flies Anglers Guide (1825). "These Devils, or grubs, wasp grubs, cad baits ( stonefly (circa 1880) ." Since then, I have shown Artificial Caterpillars, are made of leather, nymphs), and other grubs. One suppos- these flies to many knowledgeable fly , etc., of various striped colours, and es that these were about 1s to about 2 tyers and quite a few collectors of anti- laced over with gold or , and silver inches long. The core of the baits had quarian tackle without finding anyone thread or wire .. . the swivels are to enable lead cast onto the shank of each hook who can say with any degree of certain- you to spin the bait ... " (Figure 2).3 (see 5 and 6 in Figure 3) and were vari- ty what they are. Indeed, I even sent a The nearest nonspinning lures with a ously dressed to provide different finish- few sample flies to David Zincavage, caterpillar look (Figure 3) that I can trace es to imitate the above. who, I was told, was the most likely per- in early published works are illustrated Wheatley had a high opinion of son in the United States to be able to on page 57 in Hewett Wheatley's The Rod "grub" fishing. identify them. Sadly, he too was unable and Line published by Longman, Brown, ... to succeed with these artificial baits, he to do so. Green & Longman (1849).4 In his book, [the angler] must use as fine tackle and In an attempt to classify the contents Wheatley gives very detailed dressings bring to bear quite as much skill as in the for all the grubs illustrated in Figure 3 successful use of the fly. Fix to the end of a of the box, I have divided them into a fly line and a half gut. In low water and and identifies them as follows: 1 is a group of eight (Figures 1a-h), which I bright withal, let at least the last two links, am bound to call flies because they have grasshopper, 2 is a cabbage grub, 3 is a next the bait, be of the finest and very hackles or wings, or hackles and wings. wasp grub, and 4 is a mayfly nymph-or, lightly coloured, just to take off the bright Two other items (Figures 1i and 1j), a as he calls it, "a Green Drake in its grub glare of white gut. A float,9 not much grasshopper and a beetle, must be state."S It is the only grub dressed with more than an inch long, merely made of a classed as lures. hackles and therefore bearing a resem- crow's quill, and a bit of the white shaft of All the items are tied on twisted gut- blance to the mysterious salmon flies, so any feather that will fit it, must be so eyed Limerick japanned hooks of I include Wheatley's dressing here: "The adjusted as to be very little below the sur- body is made of pale, dirty-yellow silk face of the water when the bait touches the superb quality, some of which are bottom. weighted (with lead?). The dressings on chenille, ribbed with brown silk, or a fibre from the common cock pheasant's And thus is that bait to be managed. nearly all of the flies give them the char- Wherever you have reason to suspect acteristic humpty-backed segmented tail. The wing is the usual mallard's the presence of fish, whether in streams or body that we can readily identify with feather stained a greenish yellow. Wind still water, drop the bait as lightly as may caterpillars, and I suspect that the users on a speckled ginger feather for legs."6 be, and when you feel it touch the bottom, imagined them to be attractive to Interestingly, all Wheatley's lures are communicate to it, by means of very slight salmon in an age when most fishermen dressed on normal-eyed hooks, whereas jerks of the wrist, that momentum which believed that salmon would take baits or my collection of flies and lures are all will cause it to jump three or four inches flies in order to assuage their hunger. tied with gut-eyed hooks. Wheatley was, at a time. Never allow it to remain still; yet let the jerks, though sharp, be short-pro- Eleven of tlle flies are dressed with of course, as David Beazley points out in his introduction to the reprint of the ceeding from the wrist, not the whole arm, pairs of sea-green-colored bead eyes. My as the arm would be liable to drive the bait first success in finding a likeness to earli- 1849 edition published by the Flyfishers' too far at once. Watch the action of the er patterns that might lead me to discov- Classic Library (2002),7 an early user of float with the greatest care; and, on the er their provenance was an illustration of eyed hooks. Indeed, W. H. Aldham in his slightest deviation you observe from its a spinning bait with a segmented caterpil- Quaint Treatyse (1876)8 readily accepted direct course, strike, not hard, but with lar body, called a Devil, which Chris Wheatley as their inventor. great quickness.10

FALL 2004 13 Wheatley then goes on with a little hom- ily on "striking." I must put the reader in possession of a fact, which does not appear to be general- ly known to anglers; yet it is of consider- able importance as an auxiliary to success. Most fishermen strike upwards-exactly contrary to what ought to be practised. If the motion of striking be upward, the first play of the top of the rod is downward, which slackens the line, and gives the fish an opportunity of shaking the fly out of Figure 1b Figure 1c his mouth. But in striking downward, the first play of the top of the rod is upward, which clearly, by tightening the line, fixes the hook instantly. I may mention, in proof of this being no mere theory, that I have often killed fish, when others were complaining that they came so short as to be scarcely felt:-a feat I consider attribut- able to this method of striking. In striking upward, watch the point of your rod; you will see its first inclination to be down: strike downward, and you will see it spring up;-a secret worth knowing.U In his introduction, David Beazley Figure 1d Figure 1e doubts the wisdom of striking down- ward, but before the advent of carbon fiber, the users of long, I4- or Is-foot match rods (usually English competition anglers, or match anglers as we call them) required tile stiffest rods so as to transmit the "strike" at the greatest pos- sible speed. Their rods were made with a Spanish reed butt, a middle joint of reed spliced with Tonkin cane, and a top joint of Tonkin spliced with a built cane tip. They knew all about the down move- ment or "bounce" of a rod and would Figure if Figure 1g actively test rods12 before purchase, so as to choose one with minimum bounce. The Victorians, on the other hand, used long rods with enough whip in the top joint to allow them to point the rod back over the shoulder (hence the term "giv- ing it the butt"-Figure 4) while playing a big fish. Whereas Wheatley used his grubs to catch trout and grayling, and Salter's Devil baits were designed to catch trout, it is interesting to note that these pat- terns, altllough they had the same body shape as the circa I88o "salmon flies," Figure 1h Figure 1i were with one exception bereft of the latter's prominent wings and hackles. Was the dressing of the well-estab- lished but "naked" grubs and Devils with wings and hackles an attempt to create a more successful series of salmon flies that failed to catch on? I do not know the answer, but in Scotland, the method of salmon fishing with a Is -foot fly rod and fly line fitted to a lightly weighted bouncing paternoster tube-fly is still practiced by a few highly skilled anglers, Figure 1j Figure 1k Photos by Frederick Buller

I4 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER Figure 2. Salter's Devils. From T. F. Salter, The Anglers Guide (1825), facing page 1. "These Devils, or Artificial Caterpillars, are made of leather, silk, etc., of various striped colours, and laced over with gold or brass, and silver thread or wire; and the tail is the shape of a Fish's tail . .." (p. 109).

Figure 3. From Hewett Wheatley, The Rod and Line (London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longman, 1849), page 57·

sometimes with spectacular success. On 4· Hewett Wheatley, The Rod and Line (London: 10. Wheatley, Rod and Line, 49· what is probably Scotland's best spring Longman, Brown, Green & Longman, 1849). 11. Ibid. salmon river, the North Esk, Ken , 5· Ibid., 57· 12. Testing a rod involved holding it 2 or 3 inch- the most successful practitioner of this 6. Ibid., 63. es above a shop counter before "striking" to see if art and a professional , wanted to 7- David Beazley, introduction, in Hewett it touched the counter as a result of a strike. If it Wheatley, The Rod and Line (Moretonhampstead, did, the rod would be raised 1 inch at a time, until call his special the President, but Devon, England: Flyfishers Classic Library, 2002, tlle tip failed to touch the counter, at which point his friends, much to his chagrin, nick- reprint). tlle bounce could be measured. named it the Bogbrush! 8. W. H. Aldham, Quaint Treatyse (London: 13. In my ten-year quest to document all the Despite the unending thrust of tech- John B. Day, 1876). images of fish and fishermen in English medieval nology and its effect on angling, those 9. This little sliver of float is not the tradition- church wal l paintin gs, I have discovered a clear who study angling history realize that al kind of float that supports a bait and is so image (a detail in a St. Christopher wall painting) there are very few new ways or methods weighted as to leave its brightly painted upper end of what appears to be a five-limbed stringer com- of tricking fish into taking our baits or vis ible. Wheatley anticipates the modern strike plete with fishes in the village church at Oaksey in lures, because in principle, these meth- indicator-the beloved gadget of many contempo- the English county of Wiltshire. ods are nearly always as old as the hills. rary fly fish er. As we have just witnessed, Wheatley's diminutive (he called it a float) has now, after one and one-quarter centuries, been reinvented to assist fly fishers, who prefer to call it a strike indi- cator. And would you believe I have recently discovered that the stringer (that all-American device to keep fish fresh until packing-up time) was first illustrat- ed during the fifteenth centuryN

ENDNOTES

1. Chris Sandford, The Best of British Baits (Esher, , England: Chris Sandford, 1997). 2. T. F. Salter, The Anglers Guide, 6th ed. Figure 4· Literally "giving it the butt," from a painting by the Irish painter Francis (London: Sherwood & Co., 1825 ). Walker, Salmon Fishing. Prints of this painting were published by Hildesheimer Co. 3· Ibid., 109. Ltd. in London and Manchester in 1896, and printed in Austria.

FALL 2004 15 S 0 ME NOTES AND COMMENT by John Betts

Frederick Buller sent some of his "Unusual Salmon Flies" to John Betts, a frequent contributor to this journal, for his consideration. A few of his thoughts and comments follow.

I

The two figures from Milward's 1856 catalogue (above left) closely resemble Frederick Buller's figures 1i and 1j on page 14.

n Chris Sandford's The "normal" -looking flies are, of the ones I have, tied by Mil.,..'lrd Catalogue·1856 book, The Best of Brit- someone of considerable ability. Creating a body of that size I ish Baits, there are (diameter) and shape is very hard to do and possibly the rea- citations that Frederick son for the use of the leather and not wool or cord. These lat- Buller mentioned in his ter two are hard to work into this shape and size and keep it article. One is from T. F. that way. A similar technique was used by John Harrington Salter's The Anglers Guide Keene in his book, Fly-Fishing and Fly-Making (New York: (1825), and others are Forest and Stream Publishing Co., 1898, 3rd edition), to build from Hewitt Wheatley's up tlle body using cotton batting (e.g., see page 91 of that edi- The Rod and Line (1849). tion). Both of these men look at How could one cast them? Spinning and bait were fat-bodied flies. Others still a long way off, and once soaked, these flies would be even include tllem but do not heavier. A possible answer is that they were not cast but trolled. explore them in the same Could it be that Fred's flies are hybrids? detail. Reasons why these flies weren't more prevalent could include: I think these flies are older than the date They needed a lot of material and skill to tie. marked on the box. First, • They were hard to cast, and if trolled, it meant that they glass-bead eyes were in were only really useful in this less popular form of fishing. use in the 1850s. William • They may not have worked very well. Blacker was using blue beads like these on pike flies before 1855. Such a heavy body, once it got soaked, would have taken a I have even found mention of the use of black and blue beads long time to dry out and eventually rusted the hook. on pike flies in Samuel Taylor's Angling in All Its Branches (18oo; • At a subjective level, they are impressive, but not really very page 168). Second, in Sandford's book, there is a picture of a pretty. page from an 1856 Milward's catalogue (shown above). On the lower part of the page is a grasshopper and beetle tllat are exact- I think that it may be a mistake to lump the "normal" flies ly like Fred's Figures 1i and 1j (shown at top next to enlargements with the hopper and beetle. Just because they showed up in the from Milward's catalogue). He sent me one of each, and there is same box doesn't mean they are necessarily related. Even no doubt. These flies are therefore at least as old 1856. If this though the workmanship of the hopper and beetle flies is not Milward catalogue shows these two flies, what about the other what it is found on the "normal" ones, they could still be flies, and why don't we see more of them? Are they tlle same assigned to the same period. age, or were they merely in the same box when Fred got them?

16 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER Crazy Coots and Mere Farragos by Paul Schullery

Arnold Gingrich's The Joys of Trout (New York: Crown Publishers, 1973). Within the pages of this book is Gingrich's take on one of the "bad" books offly fishing, W. C. Prime's I Go A-Fishing.

N THE PAST COUPLE YEARS, I've enjoyed reading several less than great. That's fine, in fact, it's wonderful, as long as we articles that summarize this or that list of the best fishing don't expect the rest of the world to be very impressed. I books-the best stories, the best entomological treatises, Here in the western hemisphere, mention of lists of great that sort of thing. This is a long-honored tradition in fly-fish- fishing writers inevitably leads to the late Arnold Gingrich, ing writing: we've always been fond of praising not only our American fly fishing's congenial toastmaster of the 1970s. betters but our pals, and that's one of the many civil things Gingrich (I never met him, but so collegial are his books that I about the sport that attracts me. always think of him as "Arnold") specialized in such lists, Yet even a good thing can be carried too far. We should try culled from his voluminous reading. He was American to keep our balance amidst all the self-congratulatory preening angling's foremost guide through the sport's literary about our great writers. In fact, we need reminding of how labyrinths, even if most of us couldn't afford to buy-or even genuinely wretched angling writing can get when it is under- travel far enough to see-copies of a lot of the books he men- taken by someone with special gifts for the work. tioned. The question we should begin with is this: If angling writing I came to fly fishing during Arnold's reign as the sport's is so great, why hasn't anybody else noticed? Imagine that principal commentator, and it took me a long time to catch on Walton had not existed, and that about half a dozen other to the darker side of what he accomplished. Being fundamen- major-league writers (Hemingway, for example) had not hap- tally well mannered, he avoided offering much in the way of pened to go fishing. Where would our self-perceived literary criticism. This might seem to have been an odd position reputation go? for the founding editor of Esquire, for many years among Truth is, we elevate our writers because they write about America's most literate and discriminating magazines. But I what we love. We think fly fishing is great, so we are nearly suspect that one of the reasons that Arnold enjoyed being part incapable of regarding a book about fly fishing as being much of fly fishing's little world was because it was so undemanding

FALL 2004 17 John Waller Hills's A History of Fly Fishing for WC. Prime's I Go A-Fishing Trout (London: P. Allen & Co., 1921). Hills gave (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1873). 's Northern Memoirs a bad review. This book could have had the subtitle, But don't expect to read about it here.

that way. In the angling world, he could take it easy and just A BAG OF WIND have fun. Besides, being who he was in the big world of American letters, any judgment he did choose to offer on fly- But I found it a surprisingly tricky list to compile. fishing writing instantly went right to the top among the opin- Everybody knows that there have been countless undistin- ion makers, so there was no pressure on him to compete for an guished fishing books, all perfectly forgettable. But that doesn't audience. Why be unpleasant? make them bad, does it? They provided anglers with lots of Anyway, in his lists and other commentary, Arnold pretty useful information, and then they became out of date, or were much limited himself to the happy story of the great books, the replaced by better books, or just faded away. Fishing books, ones we could generally agree on as essential if not immortal. like mysteries, economics tracts, travel books, cookbooks, and This worked well for most of us, but it also meant that he campaign biographies, naturally tend to have a short life either left out or said too little about some of the most inter- expectancy. Failing to earn their authors immortality is hardly esting stuff, which has, of course, also been some of the worst. a useful measure of their practical worth. Only one of us gets After noticing this, I wondered if we need a list of Fly to be Walton. Fishing's Greatest Dogs-the "classic" (to employ angling writ- No, if you want to write an authentically terrible fishing ing's most overused literary adjective) worst books. After all, book, mediocrity isn't good enough. You have to stand out most people enjoy watching other people's failures. Here in the somehow. You have to really stink, and the aroma must remain United States, the "Darwin Awards;' given annually to people potent across many generations. so erring in their ways that they eliminate themselves from the Still, it's a tough list to compile even on those terms. gene pool, are big news. People conduct that same sort of neg- I started poorly, assuming this was a subject on which I ative-celebration exercise with cars (Edsel fans aside), fashion could easily get advice. So I asked some very well-read friends (when I look at the pictures of this year's "best-dressed" and to name a few older angling books that they thought measured "worst-dressed," I can't tell them apart), and all manner of up to this high standard and that might be considered gen- other categories of endeavor. Clearly, it seemed to me, we need uinely deathless junk. Their responses were kind of helpful, a list of these awful angling books.1 but it was also a shock, because they despised a couple of

18 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER 3o1 BffiUOTHECA PISCATORIA.

[PortiOJU of this wor1c. \\'ere reproduced in " Angling, or how to angle, and where to go," r8S+) --- The angler's oomplete guide to the and lakes of England. London, Whittaker, r853; Phil!f, BIBLIOTHECA PISCATORIA J:fl ; second edition, revised aod enlarged. London, Lpnnted at] Winchester, (859. pp. xviii. 184. SO. --- The an g; ler's guide to the rivers and lochs of Scotland. A CATALO(;UII:OY London, Bogue, [Qther copies) Murray, 1854. fronL, pp. viii. zos. 12°.; 2nd edit. J859· 12° - --- H istorical sketches of the angling literature of all BOOKS ON ANG LI NG, T HE F IS H E RIES nations, to which is added a bibliography of English writers on angling. London, j . Russell Smith! 1856. t zO ... AND F ISH-CULTURE, (A slip-shod and negligent work, or :all re;tl A mere f.1rrogo of m:tUer relevant and uTeleva.nt, O:f s"•eepingll from miscellaneous sources, of quot3tiOTT!I gi\-en anJ of so-c11\ed original p.uuges the 1•agueness and unccrtamty ()f which rob them of all weight and nlue. Namt.'tl and d:stes are seldom gi\'l!n, or are given inMX:Uratelr: thus, '' Gowe.!'·s Conmione

13ibliorrrapbical .®ores ann an Uppenllit 1656; Fletc:hcr's "Purple Is\:lnd" and "!'!§Catone 16: 1, for 1633: "Country !,7J.J, for 161_,1; ... by lfay of culmination, Walton's ";\ngler,' 1613 for 1653! . But the crowning blunder of the book occunat llP·. 101-4 C£tatirms touc/Jing on angling and jisliiug from. the author dcterihe!t at some length what he coneCi\"t'l tO be the old Eng(islt authors. known,'' and then prQCeeds:to inft1rm U8 that they arc nmt: 1n I He gh·cs the suhjt'ct of each cxtrnCUl, :tt. pp. 179-t8_r I the aubjeets, but, th1s .Mr. Ulake,•'s ,·olumc, it is hut fair to :tdd, is redeemed from utter b,·thee:tcellent ;, Hibllogrn;phical c:nalogue?£ writen; •. appended to it by the pubhsher, Mr. T . WESTWOOD & T. SATCHELL . - -- T he angler's 50ng book. London1 Cox; Edinburgh, Oliver and Boyd, 1855· pp. xv. 276. SO. ( Thirty copies were printed on b.rger sheets of paper, of colour&, and thC."W were mixed in the binding.]

[printed znd edit. London j

Lo:oiDON Angling ; or, how to angle and to go ...,Vith W. S AT CHELL, .l illustrations. London, 1854. SO. ; otlter London, Routledge 1855, 1858, J86o, 1865 and r ewn 'IICII [1 871). 8°. 19, TAV !STOC K STREET, CQVfo:NT GARDEN Old faces in new masks. London. 1859. 8°. r8ll 3. .. " A few wor

L Title page to Westwood and Stachell's Bibliotheca Piscatoria, and the page that includes the review of Blakey's Historical Sketches of Angling Literature of All Nations, which begins: ''A slip-shod and negligent work, devoid of all real utility."

books that I always thought were pretty swell. Rather than try Even the congenial Gingrich (a devout Walton reader), called to figure out which of us was the Edsel fan, I backed off and Franck a "crazy coot."3 decided to go it on my own, following the trail of some earlier On the other hand, Franck contributed some of our earliest critics who have singled out this or that book for its especial expert writing on Atlantic salmon fishing. N. W. Simmonds, in awfulness. Early Scottish Angling Literature (1997), captured the ambiva- The earliest book to get this kind of attention may have been lence we must feel about Franck, when he wrote that "he was a Richard Franck's Northern Memoirs, written in 1658 but not Cromwellian trooper, a religious bigot, a bag of wind and an published until1694 (the delay should be a clue, I suppose; did abominable writer but he was clearly a real angler who fished the rejection letters just take a really long time to get delivered in Scotland and possessed much knowledge."4 Readers willing back then?). As angling historian John Waller Hills, writing in to plow through his prose could learn a lot. This sort of A History ofFly Fishing for Trout(1921), put it, Franck was a ter- authoritative usefulness kind of compromises the classic rible writer. awfulness of Franck's book. Let's try another. [P] assessor of the most turgid and pedantic style with which mor- tal was ever afflicted . .. . The style of the book may be judged from SLIP-SHOD WORK its title: Northern Memoirs, Calculated for the Meridian of Scotland. Wherein most or all of the Cities, Citadels, Seaports, Castles, Forts, And let's skip the 1700s- hastily passing over some writers Fortresses, Rivers and Rivulets are compendiously described. Together whose only distinction was that they had the good taste to with choice Collections of Various Discoveries, Remarkable know whom to plagiarize-to a singularly annoying little book Observations, Theological Notions, Political Axioms, National 2 by another British writer, Robert Blakey's Historical Sketches of Intrigues .... Angling Literature of All Nations (1856) . This book was so full The title goes on like that for a long time. After a while, it even of mystifying information and apparent lies that Thomas mentions that there's fishing in the book. And, not content Westwood and Thomas Satchell, in Bibliotheca Piscatoria with his vile writing style, Franck took time to insult and (1883), delivered against it my all-time favorite literary slam: "A ridicule Izaak Walton himself, further alienating many readers. slip-shod and negligent work, devoid of all real utility. A mere

FALL 2004 19 Cover of George M. Kelson's (London: Geo. M. Kelson, 1895). Among the rulers of the British salmon scene for many years, Kelson was eventually done in by his goofy natural history, his passionate devo- tion to absurdly obscure details, and his willingness to take credit for patterns apparently developed by others. Louis Rhead's American Trout -Stream Insects (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1916). Rather than being judged merely bad, it has become thought of as the great literary tragedy of angling en tomology.

farrago of matter relevant and irrelevant, of indiscriminate read, if you don't care that yo u're not reading about a guy who sweepings from miscellaneous sources, of quotations incor- actually did go a-fishing. rectly given and of so-called original passages the vagueness George Kelson's magnificently produced and encyclopedic and uncertainty of which rob them of all weight and value."5 The Salmon Fly (1895) has gotten its share of votes, too. Kelson And yet for his day, Blakey wasn't all that bad a writer. As was among the rulers of the British salmon scene for many long ago as 1894, Fishing Gazette editor R. B. Marston, while years, and his big book has experienced occasional reprinting admitting that Blakey "made some very curious blunders in to satisfy the recent need for authoritative information on dates, etc.," said that he deserved our "critical indulgence."6 those grand old patterns. But as Andrew Herd explained in The Besides, Blakey produced several other works on angling that Fly (2001), Kelson eventually got thoroughly and deservedly were well regarded. Vexing man, but I'm not sure his book crosswise of his fellow anglers, and in a devastating published measures up to our criteria. Hardly any modern fly-fishing debate with the same R. B. Marston mentioned above for his readers have ever heard of it, and that doesn't indicate the kindly defense of Blakey, "Kelson's credibility was shattered."8 Edsel-grade level of immortality we're looking for here. His general arrogance (Herd refers to Kelson's "breathtaking Some have singled out W. C. Prime's I Go A -Fishing (1873) chutzpah"), his goofy natural history, his passionate devotion as a true turd in the literary punchbowl. It was Gingrich who to absurdly obscure details, and his willingness to take credit for noted that the title itself is something of an error, and indeed, patterns apparently developed by others eventually did him in. the book could have had a subtitle, But don't expect to read But people still cherish his book. I'd love to own a copy about it here. As Gingrich said in The Joys of Trout (1973), "try- myself. Atlantic salmon fly tyers with an interest in the tradi- ing to get to the fishing in Prime is like the proverbial attempt tional Victorian-era patterns admire it with near-scriptural to pick flyspecks out of pepper with boxing gloves on."7 So intensity despite Kelson's ditherings. If a fishing book has this I'm not sure if this makes it a bad fishing book, or just makes long and hearty a life, even if it does so despite the author's it not a fishing book at all. It's easy and enjoyable enough to arrogance, can it really be all that bad?

20 T H E AMERICAN FLY FISHER A GLORIOUS FAILURE Herter was an outsider, of course, a boisterously self-promo- tional, unpolished, and belligerently confident writer from Louis Rhead's American Trout Stream Insects (1916) occupies America's uncosmopolitan upper Midwest. He was socially the most peculiar position of all in angling . Rather remote from the refined sensitivities of the East centers than being judged merely bad, it has become thought of as the of angling leadership. He also was inclined to take broad cred- great literary tragedy of that field. Rhead, a gifted, widely hon- it for a lot of stuff, and to verbally dump all over competing ored commercial artist and illustrator who wrote or edited sev- credit-takers whom had long been sainted by the angling eral other excellent fishing books, studied the stream insects establishment. None of this would have helped endear him to and forage fish in eastern American streams (well, those near the sport's literary chroniclers.10 New York, anyway) for several seasons. His book contains live- Whatever Herter's offense may have been, it resulted in a ly and convincing color portraits of them, as well as his often strange professional isolation that seems more mystifying to somewhat bizarre fly patterns. But he ignored scientific me as the years pass. It is mystifying because someone-in fact, nomenclature in his hatch catalog and completely abandoned quite a lot of someones-still managed to find and buy the several centuries-worth of existing fly patterns. By thus cutting book. In 1953, for example, Herter claimed that 400,000 copies himself off from the known traditions and wisdom, he com- had already been sold, a fabulous rate for any book in any cat- mitted both literary and commercial suicide. As Gingrich put egory, much less for a book in a field in which the sale of it, "Rhead's remarkably original work, perceptive almost to the 2o,ooo copies is a pretty big deal even today. point of divination and augury, was too generally shrugged off Do I believe Herter that it really sold that many copies? as the amateurish fancy of a dilettante, or dismissed as a sales Maybe, maybe not. Having a widely distributed (and equally gimmick for specific flies of his own creation ...." 9 (There was outspoken) catalog in which to steadily promote a book makes more to Rhead's failure, by the way. The New York angling a huge difference for sales, no question about that. I do know establishment of his day apparently had it in for him, and it that the book had more reprintings than almost all other mod- isn't fully clear why. But it cost him.) ern fishing books, and even if the printings were small, it must So is this book of Rhead's authentically bad, or just misguid- have sold a lot of copies. ed, or the victim of circumstances? His failure was so spectac- So for all his irritating, opinionated, and sometimes off- ular that it alone has guaranteed a sort of perverse immortali- track pronouncements, Herter seemed to have a huge reach ty for him, as an object lesson for later writers. But is that among anglers, at least before the fly-fishing renaissance that enough to make our short list of fly- fishing flops? I'm not sure. began in the 1970s (the 1974 Herter's catalog included testimo- Gingrich was right; there was something very like genius at nials for the book by Herbert Hoover, Ted Trueblood, and oth- work in Rhead's book, and if it went wrong, it still had things ers). His book, like his opinions, was fairly homemade (as were to teach us. It was, as the saying goes, a glorious failure. And his his other books, such singular titles as the Bull Cook Book, in illustrations of angling scenes made him the Dave Whitlock of three volumes, and his manual on life, written with his wife his time. Rhead's distinctive pen-and-ink portrayals of fly fish - Berthe, How to Live with a Bitch). He displayed the worse traits ers on the stream are still among my favorite; I am very pleased of many of his predecessors in this little junk-book sweep- to have one on the cover of my history of American fly fishing. stakes I'm running here. He was Franckian in his self-impor- (Rhead's career ended in a fittingly quirky way. According to tance. He was Kelsonian in that he claimed to have originated the obituary in the New York Times, 30 July 1926, Rhead died a lot of things that the mainstream writers saw as having other from heart failure some days after a Herculean struggle land- originators. He was Rheadian in his creation of his own name- ing a 30-pound turtle with hook and line. The turtle had been brand flies, perhaps most notably showcased in his series of "devastating trout ponds on his place.") laughably unrealistic color drawings of his own streamer pat- terns. NINETEEN - PLUS EDITIONS On the other hand, he was, at least by his own account, vast- ly experienced in fly fishing, and he mixed relentless cranki- One last problematic expert demands our attention. I con- ness with a startling awareness of environmental issues. And clude my list with a toward my personal favorite "bad" his book is undeniably full of really useful information and book, Minnesota tackle merchandiser George Leonard Herter's advice. Maybe that mixture of combativeness, sensitivity, nearly monumental Professional , Spinning and Tackle expertise, and weirdness was just too much for our more gen- Making Manual and Manufacturer's Guide, first published in teel writers to deal with. But they should have tried. 1941 under a slightly different title (see illustration on page 22). Enough. Others come to mind and demand their turn. I My copy is the "revised nineteenth edition;' published in 1971. At could exercise my moods on Frank Forester or Charles 584 pages of small print, it is one of the longest and most infor- Southard or several others, but I think a pattern has already mation-packed fishing books by any single author, ever. And I emerged. This isn't working very well. Despite the occasional include it here for one reason only: his conspicuous absence literary outrage in our history, it's hard to make a good list of from conversations on the subject of angling literature in the bad books (and, yes, I've chickened out entirely when it comes sport's more urbane and proper circles. Except for Montana to dealing with the books of living writers). We each may recall writer Charles Brooks, who mentioned Herter's book fondly a a few books that we disliked, but as a group we fly fishers just couple of times in his own books (but who would never have haven't been directed toward systematic disapproval the way characterized himself as urbane or proper), and who, I think, some other passionate specialists seem to be. Even the few sensed a kindred spirit in Herter's brusque pronouncements, the books that past generations have gone out of their way to revile literary authorities in angling-writing's mainstream seem usual- haven't been without merit and friends. ly to have pretended that this apparently very briskly selling We seem to cherish our cranks and our crackpots almost as book didn't exist. Herter or his book apparently somehow so much as we adore our geniuses, and on our more lucid days we offended Gingrich and the other modern tastemakers that they have to admit that the line between these types is probably effectively eliminated him from their consciousness, and, thus, pretty thin. from the consciousnesses of their readers. As a writer, and as a believer in the free speech that is the

FALL 2004 21 George Leonard Herter's Professional Fly Tying and Tackle Making Manual and Manufacturer's Guide, second edition (Waseca, Minn. : Brown Publishing for Herter's, Inc., 1941 ). Illustrated by Le Roy Miller. This is the author's personal favorite "bad" book.

only hope for writers and readers anyway, I have trouble with 2 . jo hn Wall er 1-lills, A History of Fly Fish ing for Trout (Rockville Center, the very concept of a "bad book." There are books by stupid N.Y.: Freshett Press, 197 1 reprint of a book o riginall y published in 1921 ), 57· authors, misguided authors, painfully untalented authors, dis- 3. Arnold Gi ngri ch, The Fishing in Print: A Guided Tour through Five honest authors, brilliant but twisted authors, pedestrian Centuries of Angling Litemture (New York: Winchester Press, 1974), 53· authors, and authors who are genuinely bad people. But none 4· N. W. Simmonds, Early Sco ttish A11gli11g Literature (Shrewsbury, of that is ever the book's fau lt, is it? England: Swan Hill Press, 1997), 11. s. Thomas Wes twood and Thomas Sa tchell, Hibliot.h eca Piscatoria I It may not be true that never met a fishing book I didn't (London: W. Sa tchell , 1883), 34· like, but I've only met a few that were irritating enough to get 6. R. B. Marston, Walton and Some Earlier Writers 011 Fishing (London : seriously worked up about. As much time as we fly fishers have Ell iot Stock, 1894), 56. spent disagreeing about this or that theory or technique, most 7. Arnold Gingri ch, The Joys of Trout (New Yo rk: Crown Publishers, 1973), of us do seem to have maintained a healthy tolerance for our 171. writers. They're probably about as good as we deserve, and 8. Andrew Herd, The Fly (Ellesmere, England: The Medlar Press, 2001), there seems little question that they're as good as we want 339· them to be. 9. Gingrich, The Joys of Trout, 177. Gin gri ch also quotes angling historian Austin Hogan, who had similar thoughts about what Rhead tried to accom- pli sh: " In retrospect, it seems strange to find that the finger pointed by Louis Rhead, th e off-beat designer of curio us imitatio ns, was the fin ger o f a prophet. Nymph, streamer and bucktai l have ki cked the old-fashioned wet fly into the ENDNOTES curio cabinet. And th e dry fl y, so ably presented by th e ge ntle Theodore Gord on, and so full of promise, has beco me just a status sy mbol" (Joys of 1. Before rea lizin g that there were some interesting pat terns to be Trout; 178). Gingrich, of course, was writing more than th irty years ago, so he observed in the historica l popularit y or notoriety of angling books, and before was quoting a n unnamed article by Hogan that must have been even older. organizing thi s essay, I discussed some of these same books a nd authors in The "old -fashioned" wet fly has never really disappeared, and th e dry Oy has previous publications: Anzerica 11 fly Fishing: A 1-/istory (New York: The Lyons gone on to experi ence countless new permutations. But Hogan's points arc still Press, 1987) and Roya l Coachman: The Lore and Legends of Fly Fishing (New importa nt; Rh ead was often on th e right track. York: Simon & Schuster, 1999). 10. I provide basic background o n Hert er in American Fly Fishing, 183.

22 TH E AMER I CAN FLY F ISH E R PRIVATELY PRINTED FINE LETTERPRESS BOOKS ON SALMON FISHING

Dean Sage, Ten Days' Sport on Salmon Rivers (1997) Intro by David Ledlie. Illus with 7 original etchings by Gordon Allen. Bound and boxed by Gray Parrot. Edition: 55 copies (only 9 still available) $2750

Susan Agnes Macdonald, On a Canadian Salmon River (2003). Intro by Peter Thomas. Available in two editions: Regular, 100 numbered copies on Mohawk Superfine, slipcased, $300. Deluxe large paper, limited to 50 numbered copies on finest quality paper handmade by Katie MacGregor, bound in half morocco, gilt, slipcased, by Gray Parrot. $1200

Stanford White, A letter from Stanford White to Robert Goelet concern- ing Salmon Fishing on the Ristigouche, 19 August. 1897. Printed as a keepsake on the occasion of an evening at the Anglers' Club of New York, 6 May 2004. 7 page pamphlet in wrappers, limited to 25 special large paper numbered and signed copies on a gorgeous paper handmade by Katie MacGregor. $150

Booksellers please inquire about trade discounts on the Sage and Macdonald; the Stanford White pamphlet is net to all.

CHARLES B. WOOD III PO Box 2369 , Mass 02238 617-868-1711 [email protected]

A Treasury of Reels Available once again from the American Museum of Fly Fishing, A Treasury of Reels chronicles one of the largest and finest public collections of fly reels in the world. Brought together in this richly diverse and popular book, which includes more than 750 reels spanning nearly two centuries of British and American reelmaking, are antique, classic, and modern reels; those owned by presidents, entertain- ers, novelists, angling luminaries, and reels owned and used by everyday anglers.

Accompanied by Bob O'Shaughnessy's expert pho- tography, author Jim Brown details the origins of this fascinating piece of technology, from a 13th century Chinese painting depicting a fisherman using a rod and reel to later craftsmen like Vom Hofe, Billinghurst, and Leonard.

Out of print for almost ten years, A Treasury of Reels is a must-have for collectors and enthusiasts alike. It can be ordered for $29.95, plus postage and handling, either through our website at www.amff.com or $29.95 plus shipping by contacting the Museum at (802) 362-3300. Proceeds from the sale of this book directly benefit the Museum. Call (802) 362-3300

FA LL 2004 23 The American Museum Museum of Fly Fishing Box 42, Manchester,Vermont 05254 Tel: (802) 362-3300. Fax: (802) 362-3308 EMAIL: [email protected] WEBSITE: www.amff.com }OIN! Membership Dues (per annum) INDIVIDUAL Associate $35 Sustaining $60 Benefactor $125 Patron $250 GROUP Club $50 Trade $50

Membership dues include four issues of the American Fly Fisher. Please send your payment to the Membership Director and include your mailing address. The Museum is a member of the American Association of Museums, the New England Museum Association, and the Vermont Museum and Gallery Alliance. We are a nationally accredited, nonprofit, educational institution chartered under the laws of the state of Vermont.

SUPPORT! As an independent, nonprofit institution, the American Museum of Fly Fishing This year's Manchester Dinner and Sporting Auction was relies on the generosity of public-spirited held at Hildene, the historic home of Robert Todd Lincoln. individuals for substantial support. We ask that you give our museum serious consideration when planning for gifts and Manchester Dinner/Auction attended this year, and our auctions and bequests. raffle did very well. This was our third On Friday and Saturday, June u and 12, year at Bromley, and Peter Hand and his BACK ISSUES! our trustees gathered in Vermont for their staff once again did an excellent job of Available at $4 per copy: annual meeting, a welcoming cocktail party, ensuring that our guests went home full Volume 6, Numbers 2, 3, 4 and our annual Manchester Dinner and and happy. Volume 7, Number 3 Sporting Auction. Some notable items in the auction Volume 8, Number 3 The activities began with a cocktail this year included guided fishing trips Volume 9, Numbers 1, 2, 3 party on Friday night at Hildene, the his- with author and guide Tom Rosenbauer, Volume 10, Number 2 toric home of Robert Todd Lincoln. It David Deen of Strictly Trout, and Bill Volume n, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 was evident from the gasps I heard as I Cairns, known throughout the world as Volume 13, Number 3 greeted everyone that we had made the one of the finest fly casters. New Trustee Volume 15, Number 2 right decision in having our party on the Kris Rollenhagen donated his home on Volume 16, Numbers 1, 2, 3 terrace behind the house. The estate is Nantucket for a week. Romi Perkins and Volume 17, Numbers 1, 2, 3 Volume 18, Numbers 1, 2, 4 known far and wide for its formal gar- cane rod builder Fred Kretchman were Volume 19, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 dens and magnificent views of the each vying for the win, so Kris gracious- Volume 20, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 Manchester valley. The peonies were in ly donated a second week so both parties Volume 21, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 full bloom, along with an array of other could enjoy Nantucket. Thank you, Kris! Volume 22, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 floral species, and to top it off, it was a The Museum wishes to acknowledge Volume 23, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 perfect summer night in Vermont! The our dinner sponsors: Gardner and Ellen Volume 24, Numbers 1, 2 Museum would like to thank Hildene for Grant, Lawrence and Carolyn Ricca, and Volume 25, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 donating the use of their facilities for Mr. and Mrs. Kristoph Rollenhagen. A Volume 26, Numbers 1, 2, 4 our little soiree. thank you also to our donors: Patricia Volume 27, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 On Saturday evening, our annual Dupree, Allen Jezouit, and Randall M. Volume 28, Numbers 1, 2, 3 Manchester Dinner and Sporting Auc- Timberdoodle. Volume 29, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 tion was held at Bromley Mountain's We are also grateful to our many auc- Volume 30, Numbers 1, 2, 3 Wildboar Restaurant. About sixty guests tion donors. The Manchester communi-

24 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER .. ·-. ··- ' ·• -

Zl} THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF FLY FISHING GRAND OPENING May 27, 28, and 29, 2005 Manchester, Vermont Details are in the works for our event! We will update our members in the next issue of the journal. Look for us:

October 7 January 7-9 Philadelphia Dinner Auction Denver Fly Fishing Show Merion Cricket Club Denver Merchandise Mart Haverford, Pennsylvania Denver, Colorado

October 19-20 January 21- 23 Friends of Corbin Shoot Marlborough Fly Fishing Show Hudson Farm The Royal Plaza Trade Center Andover, New Jersey Marlborough,

November 4 January 28- 30 Hartford Dinner Auction Somerset Fly Fishing Show Avon Old Farms Inn Garden State Exhibition Center Avon, Connecticut Somerset, New Jersey

November 5-6 February 3 Trustee Weekend New York Dinner Auction Manchester, Vermont Anglers' Club of New York New York, New York November 13 Annual Winery Dinner February 11-13 MacMurray Ranch Vineyard Seattle Fly Fishing Show Healdsburg, California Meydenbauer Center Bellevue, Washington November 20-21 International Fly Tyers Symposium April1- 3 Doubletree Hotel/Ballroom Great Waters Fly Fishing Expo Somerset, New Jersey Sheraton Bloomington Hotel Minneapolis, Minnesota

FALL 2004 25 DONOR BRICKS An opportunity to make a difference and become part of the new home of the American Museum of Fly Fishing.

The peonies were among the flowers in full bloom at Hildene in June.

ty is very generous to us, and along with Brian Clarke's The Stream. Viking sent us donors from outside the area, the Mark Kingwell's : Museum had a very good night. We raise Trout Fishing and the Meaning of Life our glasses to the 1811 House, George (2003). From Stackpole Books came Cliff Angstadt, Arlington Inn, Barrows House, Hauptman's How to Fly-Fish. Basketville, Battenkill Canoe, Battenkill Countrysport Press sent us copies of Inn, Battenkill Outfitters, Bistro Henry, Kevin Tracewski's A Fisherman's Guide to Bill Cairns, Claire Murray, Thomas A. Maine and Norm Zeigler's Rivers of Daly, Dansk, Decorative Interiors, David Shadow, Rivers of Sun: A Fly-Fisher's Deen and Strictly Trout, Equinox Valley European Journal. Frank Amato Publica- Nursery, Inn at Ormsby Hill, Inn at tions, Inc. sent us Arthur J. Ingren's Willow Pond, Ira Allen House, Mel Kispiox River. Krieger, Robert Lewis, the Lyons Press, Manchester Hot Glass, Manchester View Motel, Mistrals, Motller Myrick's, Mulli- gans of Manchester, Northshire Book- Upcoming Events Bricks are $100 each. store, tlle Orvis Company, tlle Perfect October 7 Wife, Petcetera, Porter House of Fine Philadelphia Dinner and Sporting Bricks may be purchased Crafts, Reluctant Panther, Kristoph Auction singly or in a series that Rollenhagen, Tom Rosenbauer, Tom The Merion Cricket Club Stoneback, Stonefly Vineyards, Village Haverford, Pennsylvania can be placed together Florist, and Charles B. Wood. to create a larger message. October 19-20 -DIANA SIEBOLD The American Museum of Fly Purchasers are free to put Fishing Friends of Corbin Shoot A Donation, and Short Hills, New Jersey anything they like on their Call for more information bricks (no profanity). New in the Library November4 G. William Fowler of Odessa, Texas, Each brick is 4" x 8" and Hartford Dinner and Sporting donated his collection of fly-fishing Auction has room for three lines of labels used to illustrate his article Avon Old Farms Inn text of up to 20 characters "Angling Art: The Winemaker's Label," Avon, Connecticut per line. That does include which appeared in the Spring 2004 issue November13 spaces and punctuation- of the journal. Annual Winery Dinner and Auction for example, putting "fly Thanks to the following publishers MacMurray Ranch Vineyard fishing rules!" on a brick and authors for their donations of recent Healdsburg, California titles that have become part of our col- 18 For information, contact Diana would be characters. lection (all titles were published in 2004, Siebold at (802) 362-3300 or via unless otherwise noted): e-mail at [email protected]. Call (802) 362-3300 The Overlook Press sent us a copy of

26 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER FALL 2004 27 C ON T R IBUTORS

Dick Bell, a retired Connecticut lawyer, is a member of the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority, vice chair of Yale- New Haven Hospital, vice president of the Connecticut River Salmon Association, Fishing • Hunting and a trustee of the Atlantic Salmon Federa- tion. He has authored law review articles on Specializing in rare and such disparate topics as "Acid Rain" (1983); out-of-print sporting poisoned air in the northeast United States and maritime Canada from Ohio Valley power books with one of the largest plants in "The Cross of Gold" (1997); an inventories in the U.S . unsuccessful will contest in Connecticut by William Jennings Bryan; and "The Court Martial of Roger Enos" (1999, 2000 ), a serious Fresh and salt water defection from Benedict Arnold's 1775 march to Quebec. His book, Whoops fly fishing • Fly tying for the Wind and Other Tales of the Walton Fishing Club, appeared in 1999 through Tantivy Press. He contributed to this journal's Summer 2003 issue Upland game • Big game with "Mary Orvis Marbury and the Columbian Exposition." He is currently Sporting dogs • etc. working on another fishing club history for the Potatuck Club in Newtown, Connecticut. Two 72-page catalogs issued each year with no Frederick Buller, a retired London gunmaker, has spent most of his spare time during the last ti tie repeated for three forty years researching angling history. In 2002 catalogs. Subscription he was awarded Country Landowners Associa- price is $5.00 for two years. tion Lifetime Achievement Award for Services to Angling (and is pictured here immediately afterward at the Game Fair at Romsey on the We are always interested ). He is the author of nine books, the in buying single books most recent of which-Dame Juliana: The Angling Treatyse and Its Mysteries, or entire sporting libraries. coauthored by the late Hugh Falkus-was published in 2001 by the Flyfishers Classic Library. His most Appraisals done for recent contribution to this journal was "Fly estate and insurance Fishing for Pike in Britain and Ireland;' which appeared in the Winter 2003 issue. purposes. Paul Schullery was executive director of the Judith Bowman Books American Museum of Fly Fishing from 1977 to 1982. He is an adjunct professor of American 98 Pound Ridge Road Studies at the University of Wyoming and an Bedford, NY 10506 affiliate professor of history at Montana State (914) 234-7543 (phone) University. His many books include American Fly Fishing: A History (1987), Mountain Time (914) 234-0122 (fax) (1984), Searching for Yellowstone: Ecology and Wonder in the Last Wilderness (1997), and : The Lore and Legends of Fly Fishing (1998). His work as an ecological historian has most recently resulted in Real : Finding Our Way in the Wild Country (2001), and Lewis and Clark Among the Grizzlies: Legend and Legacy in the American West (2002). For this journal, he most recently con- tributed a "Downstream Dries: Thoughts on Surviving the Historical Process" (Summer 2004).

"The Uncaged Woman"

28 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER es a goodly section of a Canto that is itself a total of seventy LETTERS lines in length. Whether considered stealing, borrowing, recy- cling, or intertextual signifying/sampling, the fact is that thiev- ery was a standard mode of operation for some Modernist poets. In Canto LI, Pound relies heavily on information appro- priated nearly verbatim from Charles Bowlker's The Art of Angling, Greatly Enlarged and Improved, Containing Directions for Fly-Fishing, , , Making Artificial Flies, etc. etc. (Ludlow, England: Proctor and Jones, 1829) . As nearly as can be determined, this was the fourth (or maybe fifth) edi- tion of The Art of Angling (originally published in 1758 by Charles's father, Richard Bowlker, who died in 1779). More read with rapt attention and unabashed envy Robert H. than thirty years ago in the treasure-laden Daniel Fearing Boyle's essay, '"Flies Do Your Float': Fishing in Finnegans Angling Collection at Harvard University, I tracked down the I Wake," which appeared in the Spring 2004 issue of the 1829 edition Pound had used, and my happy discovery became American Fly Fisher. This is an absolutely stunning, first-rate the basis for an essay, "Ezra Pound and Charles Bowlker-A piece of interpretative textual detective work, and it reminds Note on Canto LI," that appeared in Paideuma: A Journal me why-as a person who wears two hats (lifelong fly fisher- Devoted to Ezra Pound Scholarship (Winter 1972), an academic man and English professor)-the American Fly Fisher has journal published at the University of Maine. become my favorite among all the fifteen or so academic, pro- Granted, as Boyle claimed, Pound "botched" the transposi- fessional, and angling journals I regularly receive. To my mind, tion of Bowlker's "March Brown" to his own "brown marsh in its discipline and deportment, your journal weds the meth- fly." He also mistakenly pegged Bowlker's Blue Dun as a "num- ods and substances of both of my vocational and avocational ber 2 in most rivers;' which of course would have made it an lives, which is to say, it represents nothing less than a pinnacle absurdly large fly for what I am guessing was supposed to be of glorious crossover achievement. As John Keats might have an Ephemerella or Baetis imitation, when in fact the number 2 said, "The American Fly Fisher is a thing of beauty and a joy came not from Bowlker's printed text but from the frontispiece forever." I don't mean to be high-handed, but I suspect only of numbered colored illustrations of artificial flies, among other angling English professors (Ted Leeson, Nick Lyons, them the Blue Dun and the Grannom (no. 6, the other fly that Gordon Wickstrom, and the ghosts ofW. H. Frohock, Norman figures prominently in Canto LI). I suggest in my antediluvian Maclean, and Louis Owens come to mind) can-or did- fully essay, however, that these errors become less significant or sub- appreciate the connection, though I am willing to entertain ject to dismissal when we consider that Pound's interest in fly convincing points of view from others who wear two different fishing and in the creation of artificial flies summarized in hats on their noggins. Bowlker reflected his larger intellectual concerns in the Cantos Speaking as both fly fisher and literature teacher, however, I regarding the absolute necessity of embracing positive histori- do have a quibbling footnote (streamnote? mend?) to add to cal traditions and the importance of meaningful individual, Boyle's estimable work. Initially, though, some background: organic craftsmanship that, ideally anyway, resists exploitation Boyle writes that American expatriate poet Ezra Pound, James and relies on skilled presentation and effective marshaling of Joyce's Modernist literary peer, "[w]rote about fly fishing in abilities. Pound glimpsed the poetry of fly fishing, and in Canto LI, but he botched it by calling the March Brown the Canto LI it became another example of a creative endeavor 'brown marsh'" (p. 18). In a sense, this statement is true, but it that "hath the light of the doer, as it were/a form cleaving to it." also requires qualification, as I will get to a bit later on in this In this way, Pound and Joyce may have been closer brothers of letter. But first I wonder if I detect here some (perhaps uncon- the angle than anyone thought. scious, even unintended) hostility toward poetry, some privi- But readers not tuned into the rarefied world of academic leging of the work of the novelist over the poet? Surely what is scholarship need not despair-in one of those glorious good for the salmon is good for the trout: if Boyle can crossover moments I mentioned earlier, the Paideuma essay embrace- even honor-the fact that Joyce's stock-in-trade in was reprinted in the Early Season 1977 issue of Fly Fisherman. Finnegans Wake is experimental word play of every shape, Its appearance in that august magazine (one of my other fif- type, and hue, then surely he can accept Pound's own mispri- teen or so current periodicals) represented the pinnacle of my sions as something more than a "howling blunder," to use professorial career; it is painfully obvious to me that it has Joyce's assessment of Old Ez that Boyle quotes as a kind of been all downhill since then! Anyway, this has become a rather deathblow in dismissing Pound's efforts. long and circuitous response occasioned by Robert Boyle's Yet there is "the little lower layer," as Herman Melville said in excellent article. But I hope it reveals that my enthusiasm and his great fishing book: it isn't my intention to defend Ezra regard are boundless: Viva the American Fly Fisher! Viva Pound (his politics were execrable), or to be an advocate for Robert Boyle! High Modernism (which was often too elitist for my taste), but RoBERT J. DEMOTT rather to indicate that there is a deeper story behind Canto 51. EDWIN AND RUTH KENNEDY DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR (For those unfamiliar with Pound's poetry career, the Cantos OHIO UNIVERSITY were, in a sense, his life's work, and he wrote his fragmented ATHENS, OHIO epic continuously over a period of forty-five -plus years. Number 51 appeared in The Fifth Dead of Cantos XLII-LI 've read with the greatest delight and profit Robert Boyle's [1937) and was collected in the complete The Cantos of Ezra '"Flies Do Your Float: Fishing in Finnegans Wake."' It's top- Pound [1971)). As I say, the story behind the story might be of I of-the-line stuff and a great coup for the journal. It proves interest to readers of the American Fly Fisher. The section conclusively how angling is- and probably always has Robert Boyle refers to is a good deal longer than his brief men- been-an integral part of our intellectual, moral, and aesthetic tion leads us to imagine-it is eighteen lines in all and compris- life. Angling becomes a vital critical trope for the examination

F ALL 2004 29 of human experience in and out of literature. Seldom does one feel that a writer has exactly the sensibility or temperament for his subject. Boyle is Into the Hoinestretch certainly just the right guy to write about James Joyce and to find that fi sh-salmonids in particular, their by Sara Wilcox waters, their tackles, and stories-are at the heart of Joyce's grand scheme of things. Boyle's breadth of knowledge of both Joyce and fishing is as stunning as "That's quite a building you've got there." Over the summer that his love of this great work of art, Finnegans Wake, is comment, or variations thereof, is the one I've heard most frequent- obvious. ly from Manchester residents. They're absolutely right. The siding is I'd read, I think, all of Joyce except the Wake. I'd on and painted, the roof is finished, and the interior walls are in and even read from Ulysses and Portrait of the Artist as a undergoing their first coat of paint. We also have a beautiful set of Young Man in public. I'd written about his one play, steps at our front entrance, and the installation of the hardwood Exiles. And I'd tried the Wake a couple times and given floors is halfway complete. In short, the promise of blueprints, two- up after a couple of sessions. I couldn't keep focused, by-fours, and plywood is rapidly becoming the reality of a new concentrated. I forgave myself for my failure by forget- building and worthy showcase for our extensive collection of art and ting about it. To think about it was to feel guilty as hell artifacts. I think I speak for all of the staff when I say the Museum's for failing the great book. reopening can't come soon enough. I think I see a way to wrangle with it, though, now that I have Boyle's compelling model in front of me, showing how, if I have a point of view of my own, if I can find a "destiny" in my reading, then I can do it. I must be pre-prepared as with no other piece of writ- ing. My wife Betty and I think we'll get two new copies of the book, and every morning after breakfast, one of us will read aloud while the other follows in the text for exactly ten minutes. No stopping to struggle, won- der, or discuss. The reading must go relentlessly ahead, even if it takes a year to get it read. "Stumble ever on!" must be our motto. If one of us notices something par- ticular, we will mark a caret in the margin and maybe gloss it later on our own time or not at all. On top of all that, I can't help but feel more justi- fied in my own more modest efforts on behalf of angling and Cervantes in Don Quixote and Richard Brautigan in his Waltonian Trout Fishing in America. Angling is itself one of the great tropes. And now, a story. I was reading away in Boyle's arti- In mid-May, workers began putting cle, as deeply engrossed as can be, when Betty called to the siding on the gallery exterior. lunch. I was to carry the tray out onto the deck. As I was doing so, I noted that the casserole defied any pos- sible description, and so I casually asked Betty what it was made of. She began to recite the various leftovers in its constituency. But I heard none of the ostensible meanings in what she was saying. Her words became for me, were transformed into, a Joycean riff of purest, dashing language, the rhythms and all. Her recitation of ingredients even took on a strange sort of Joycean "paragraph" structure for me. I was really taken, or rather hearing, aback. I think that what I heard was the truth ofJoyce in everything we say all the time, the ori- gins of all discourse in playful, or the play of, words and sounds into which we reach to make meaning. One of Boyle's invaluable lessons fo r us is that we must keep on "reaching" -as he does-for connection (meaning) all the time. Reach! And reach even farther! Some article! Some magazine! Some editor! Some Boyle! But even more the man himself, some James Joyce! GORD ON M. WICKSTROM A LUMNI PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH B ELLES L ETTRES By the beginning of June, the gallery AN D LITERATU RE, EMERITU S siding was in place, as was the shingle siding. FRAN KLIN AN D MARSHALL CoLLEGE LANCASTER, P ENNSYLVANIA Photographs by Sara Wilcox

30 THE AMERI C AN FLY FISH E R In early June, stone steps marked where Inside the gallery during June after dry walling was complete. the Museum's front entryway will be.

The future library as it appeared in early June. By mid-June, the front entryway was shaping up nicely.

The Museum's exterior as of 16 July 2004. The library space in mid-July, with the The siding is on and painted, as are the doors and trim. walls primed and the flooring in place.

FALL 2004 31 More people live between Boston and landings in Montana are getting so crowded that Washington, within an hour's drive of saltwater, traffic cops are needed. The Opening Day than lived in the entire United States when my celebrations near Denver and Salt Lake City and father was born. It is difficult to digest such San Francisco are getting hopelessly crowded too. velocities of change. Solitude itself is endangered. Or their profound impact on us all. Fly-fishing still offers moments of quiet felicity, The beauty and solitude of trout fishing are still a sense of serenity and introspection, and the time a welcome antidote to discontent. But solitude to sort through things. Fishing is the least itself is difficult to find. Public water is getting important thing about fishing. Solitude is dearly crowded. Anglers are forced to share with throngs more important. of other fisherfolk, and with kayakers and float One can still find such things on the riffiing tubers and canoes. Such traffic is perilous and shallows of Spruce Creek, the still reaches of scatters the trout like quail. Many rivers have Warrior's Mark Run, the crystalline headwaters of become a carnival of bad manners. Penns Creek, and the big sycamore-shaded flats of We are losing our trout streams to unplanned the Espy Farm. I have come to love these reaches urban sprawl, sewage, industrial effiuents, of the Litde Juniata, with the trees like pale-trunked pesticides, herbicides, dear-cutting, and pavement. ghosts in the gathering darkness, and the three- Such troubles are not confined to eastern waters. star belt of Orion in the twilight sky. Upstream in The Au Sable in Michigan is plagued with a daily the gathering darkness, with spent flies pinioned parade of rented canoes, and the Bois Brule in in the film, there are circles in the water. is not far behind. Popular And solitude.

Preserving private access to over seven miles of blue ribbon limestone spring creeks in the mountains of Central Pennsylvania. A limited number of memberships are still available. A Meeting, a Moment

ermont was in full bloom when twenty- spring. Other topics of discussion included a six members of the American Museum capital campaign and future programming. V of Fly Fishing Board of Trustees met for After the meeting, the group walked through an equally fertile meeting June 12 at the the Museum construction site to observe the Equinox Hotel in Manchester Village. Two new progress. We've been thrilled with the commu- trustees were unanimously elected and wel- nity's response to the look of the building. But comed to the board: Trey Pecor of Charlotte, just wait until we open: we intend to be even Vermont, and Kris Rollenhagen of Short Hills, more impressive. New Jersey. With the completion of our new home, our We discussed many important issues, includ- thoughts will naturally turn toward the future ing, of course, the Brookside project: construc- of the Museum as an institution. The possibili- tion of the new Museum. A report was made by ties are endless, and the future is bright. We Building Committee Chair George Gibson and hope to soon have a new director in place to supported by financial reports given by add to the energy of our dedicated staff, volun- President David Walsh. Things are going very teers, members, trustees, and friends. well, and we expect to have a soft opening in Y OSHI AKIYAMA late September, with a grand opening next INTERIM DIRECTOR THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF PLY FISHING, a nationally accredited, nonprofit, education- al institution dedicated to preserving the rich heritage of fly fishing, was founded in Manchester, Vermont, in 1968. The Museum serves as a repository for, and conservator to, the world's Ia rgest collection of angling and angling-related objects. The Museum's col- lections and exhibits provide the public with thorough documentation of the evolution of fly fishing as a sport, art fo rm, craft, and in- dustry in the United States and abroad from the sixteenth century to the present. Rods, reels, and fli es, as well as tackle, art, books, manuscripts, and photographs form the ma- jor components of the Museum's collections. The Museum has gained recognition as a unique educational institution. It supports a publications program through which its na- tional quarterly journal, The American Fly Fisher, and books, art prints, and catalogs are regularly offered to the public. The Museum's traveling exhibits program has made it possi- ble for educational exhibits to be viewed across the United States and abroad. The Museum also provides in-house exhibits, related interpretive programming, and research services for members, visiting schol- ars, authors, and students. The Museum is an active, member-orient- ed nonprofit institution. For information please contact: The American Museum of Fly Fishing, P. 0. Box 42, Manchester, Vermont 05254> 802-362-3300.