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rhe Journal of the American M FALL lggg VOLUME 25 NUMBER 4 Illustration by Alex and Charles Jardine fiom The Essential G. E. M. Skues. A Saint, A Scout, and Skues FIRST ENTERED THE BASILICA of San Zeno Baden-Powell and his daughter, Heather. The paper's several years ago. My husband was doing business research was completed as part of Precourt's advanced I in Verona, and I took time to visit Italy and get a scout leader training. city f~.The twelfth-century church dedicated to the The Essential G. E. M. Skues, edited by Kenneth city's patron saint (a previous church of San Zeno at the Robson, was published in 1998 by the Lyons Press under site had been destroyed in goo A.D.)was the first of half a special arrangement with A & C Black (Publishers) a dozen churches I visited, and I was most taken with it. Ltd. Robert Berls, editor of the Bulletin of the Anglers' Did it make the deepest impression on me because it Club of New York and the American correspondent for was the first impression? Or was it the fourteenth-cen- the Flyfishers'Journal, wrote the afterword to the book. tury marble statue of a laughing San Zeno that won my We are pleased to include that afterword in this issue, heart? San Zeno, with a fish hanging from the staff in beginning on page 2. Berls kindly chose some excerpts his left hand? of Skues's writings that were included in Robson's book; Alvaro Masseini discusses the importance of a partic- these appear with his brief introduction at the end of ular depiction of San Zeno in the history of fly fishing the article. The excerpts offer examples of Skues's then- in this issue's Notes & Comments piece, "Fly Fishing in original thinhng about the nymph and nymph fishing Early Renaissance Italy? A Few Revealing Documents." on chalk streams. Considering the Valsesian-style rod that appears in a From the stacks of our library, we bring you Andrew 1538 painting of the saint by Jacopo da Bassano, Lang's "The Confessions of a Duffer," a humorous look Masseini theorizes the historical significance of da at the everyday perils and frustrations of fly fishing. Bassano's interpretation in light of the biographical This piece, which begins on page 21, is a part of Lang's information at hand about the artist. His article begins 1891 book, Angling Sketches, a collection of his experi- on page lo. ences fishing in his native Scotland. And on pages 12 and It has been delightful working with Douglas R. U, Executive Director Gary Tanner shares some photos Precourt over the last several months. His article, from the Museum's first-ever fly-fishing saltwater tour- "Fishing with Baden-Powell: Stories of the Chief Scout nament. and His Love of Angling," begins on page 14. Having So welcome to the Fall lggg issue. It's a good one. Be personally led a scouting-free existence, this history-no prepared. doubt familiar to many-was new to me. Precourt has focused on Lord Baden-Powell's fly-fishing life, culling various stories and quotes from the writings of both THEAMERICAN MUSEUM OF FLYFISHING Preserving the Heritage Flv Fisher of Fly Fishing Journal of dthe American Museum of Fly Fishing FALL 1999 VOLUME 25 NUMBER 4 TRUSTEES E. M. Bakwin Wayne Nordberg Michael Hakwin Michael 13. Osborne The Importance of G. E. M. Skues: Foster Barn Leigh H. Perkins Paul Bofinger Allan K. Poole An Angler-Writer for Today ...................2 Donn Byrne ST. John Rano Robert H. Berls James H. Carey Roger Riccardi Roy I>. Chayin Jr. Pamela R. Richards Thomas N. Davidson Tom Rosenbauer Notes & Comment: William J. Dreyer Ernest Schwiebert Fly Fishing in Early Renaissance Italy? Charles Ferree Robert G. Scott Reed Freycrmuth Janlcs A. Spendiff A Few Revealing Documents ................lo Duncan Grant Arthur Stern Alvaro Masseini Gardner L. Grant John Swan James H. Hunter Richard G. Tisch Arthur Kaemrner David 14. Walsh Museum Photo Album: Worth Their Salt .......... 12 Woods King 111 Richard J. Warren Gary Tanner Walter T. Matia James C. Woods Fishing with Baden-Powell: Stories of the TRUSTEES EMERITI Chief Scout and His Love of Angling ............ G. Dick Finlay David B. Lcdlie 14 W. Michael Fitzgerald Leon L. Martuch Douglas R. Precourt William Herrick Keith C. Russell Robert N. Johnson Paul Schullery Off the Shelf: The Confessions of a Duffer 22 Stephen Sloan ......... Andrew Lung OFFICERS President Richard G. Tisch Museum News ..........................24 Vice Presidents Arthur Stern Pamela B. Richards David H. Walsh Contributors ...........................25 Robert G. Scott Treasurer James H. Carey o N T H E c ov E R : Lord Baden-Powell fishing the Waikato River in New Secretary James C. Woods Zealand. Photo courtesy of the Auckland Weekly News. STAFF Executive Director Gary Tanner Events &Membership Paula M. Welch Art Director John Price The America!, Fly Fisher is published four times a year by the Museum at PO. Box 42, Manchester, Vermont 052%. Special Projects Sara Wilcox Publication dates are winter, spring, sunimer, and fall. Membership dues include the cost of the Administration Toney Pozek journal (530) and are tax dcductible as provided for by law Membership rates are listed in the back of each issue. All letters, manuscripte, photographs, and materials liltended for publication in the journal should he sent to the Museum. The Museum and journal are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, drawings, photographic THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER material, or memorabilia. The Museum cannot accept resyonslbility for statements and interpretations that are wholly the author's. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot be returned unless postage is provided. Contributions to The Editor Kathleen Achor Amencan Fly Fiiiier are to be considered gratuitous and the property of the Museum in less otherwise requested Design &Production John Price by the contributor. Articles appearing in this journal are abstracted and Indexed in Historical Abstracts and Anterica: Copy Editor Sarah May Clarkson History and Life. Copyright O 3999, the American iMuseum of Fly Fishing, Manchester, Vermont 05254. Original material appearing may not he reprinted without prior permission. Second Class Permit postage paid at Manchester, Vermont 05254 and additional offices (USPS 057410). The Antericart Fly Fisher (ISSN 0884-3562) POSTMASTER:Send address changes to The American Fly Fisher, P.O. Box 42, Manchester, Vermont 05254. EMAIL:[email protected] wessrra: ~vww.arnff.com FALL 1999 The Importance of G. E. M. Skues: An Angler-Writer for Today by Robert H. Berls IN 1998, the Lyons Press, by special arrangement with A & C Black (Publishers) Ltd., published The Essential G. E. M. Skues, edited by Kenneth Robson. The collection includes some of the best of Skues's writings from his books, articles, unpublished manuscripts, and correspondence. Robert Berls, editor of tke Bulletin of the Anglers' Club ofNew York and the American correspondent for the Flyfishers' Journal, wrote an ajierword to the book that we would like to share with you here. Additionally, Mr. Berls has chosen a few passages from the book, which follow. -EDITOR Fishirlg on the Itclzen by VVinnal gas works, 19j'j. This was a favorite reach of Skues, and his ashes were scattered nearby. E. M. SKUES may be drifting from our ken; this is not as Sporting Life (1934), that he bought Halford's Floating Flies in it should be for the most important fly-fishing writer 1886: "I do not know how often I read it. I believe I knew it by G. of the twentieth century. This essay sets out his funda- heart. So clear was the writing, so unimpassioned, so convinc- mental importance to fly fishing for trout at the end of the ing that I, like most others, took it as gospel." Hills added "no century. angler of this age can realize the effect Halford's books had In 1947, Skues was corresponding with a French angler and upon our generation." Of Halford's 1886 book, he said it "was wanted to send an experimental beetle pattern to him. Skues a revolution and a revelation." Skues wrote of Halford's sec- delayed replying while he combed the meadows along the ond, 1889 book, Dry Fly Fishing: "I think I was at one with most River Nadder, where he was then living, hoping to find a spec- anglers of the day in feeling that the last word had been writ- imen of the actual beetle to send along with his imitation. He ten on the art of chalk-stream fishing." noted at that time of year, the small thistles with pale pinkish Skues later lamented that "one result of the triumph of the flowers that bloom in the meadows should be covered with the dry fly. was the obliteration from the minds of men . of insects, but he thought that cold weather must have killed all the wet-fly lore which had served many generations of chalk them off at an earlier stage. "For I have hunted the meadows stream anglers well." Anglers thought that only the dry fly for six days since the thistles were in bloom and have not could be effectively used on chalk streams. Halford asserted found a single specimen." Skues was then a month short of his that the wet fly was not successful on chalk streams and that it eighty-ninth birthday. The anecdote reveals the man: the was hopeless on hot, bright, calm days. He believed that the observant eye, the persistence, the inquiring mind, the experi- wet-fly angler who fished the chalk streams with an open mind mental angler. Though no longer able to fish or tie flies, he was would become a convert to the dry fly.