Journal of the American Museum of Fly Fishing

The American Fly Fisher Journal of the American Museum of Fly Fishing

SUMMER 2013 VOLUME 39 NUMBER 3 Mayfly Muse

CATCH AND RELEASE THE SPIRIT OF FLY FISHING

Our Mission: The American Museum of Fly Fishing is the steward of the history, traditions, and practices of the sport of fly fishing and promotes the conservation of its waters. The museum collects, preserves, exhibits, studies, and interprets the artifacts, art, and literature of the sport and uses these resources to engage, educate, and benefit all.

FRIENDS OF THE MUSEUM From Genio C. Scott, Fishing in American Waters (New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1869), 197. E. M. Bakwin Thomas Belk Jr. Harold Brewer A. S. Cargill T’S THE END OF May in Vermont, and assured that whitefish don’t compete with Gary Grant it’s rainy, and there’s a mayfly clinging trout—turn to “What’s Happened to the Tim Hixon Ito the screen of my office window urg- Whitefish?” on page 20. James Houghton ing me to write this introduction and put But, you may ask, what’s happened to the Peter Kellogg the summer issue to bed already. good ol’ history and tradition? We’ve got Charles Lee Jr. Last summer, Jerry Gibbs, who’s been that too. Back in January, New York Melvyn Harris working with Deputy Director Yoshi Aki - writer/publisher Nick Lyons brought to my Stephen Myers yama on the museum’s saltwater exhibit, attention the 1994 edition of fly-fishing the- Joseph R. Perella began a series of saltwater history articles orist J. C. Mottram’s Fly Fishing: Some New Walter Shipley for us. That first installment, “Pioneers and Arts and Mysteries (1915), particularly the Pioneering: The Allure and Early Days of introduction written by London publisher Saltwater Fly Fishing,” reviewed the sport David Burnett. “It’s the best essay I know on STAFF from the 1700s through the middle 1900s. Mottram, who is still underread and under- Catherine E. Comar This time around, Gibbs continues with estimated,” Lyons said. It is hard to disagree. Executive Director what he calls the developmental years With flies tied by Malcolm Greenhalgh and (1920s–1940s) and the explosive years photographed by Andrew Herd, Burnett’s Yoshi Akiyama (1950s–1980s), discussing tackle develop- “J. C. Mottram” (page 14) makes a fine sum- Deputy Director ments, leaders in the field, record holders, mer addition. Christina Cole and conservation efforts. “Saltwater Fly Keepers of the Flame, which usually pro- Coordinator of Events Fishing Comes of Age” begins on page 2. files a person, this time features a group of Sarah Foster More recent conservation efforts are fea- people and a place: the Golden Gate Angling Development Assistant tured here as well. American Rivers, the & Casting Club. Having grown out of the leading organization working to protect San Francisco Fly Casting Club, which was Laura Napolitano and restore the nation’s rivers and streams, founded in 1894, the GGACC is the second- Coordinator of Membership and Operations is one of several groups with whom we’ll be oldest casting club in the country. Begin - Patricia Russell working on conservation-related programs. ning on page 18, John Mundt praises its his- Account Manager In “American Rivers: Celebrating Forty tory and accessibility. Years of River Conservation” (page 23), Some of our spring activities are noted Sara Wilcox Devin Dotson discusses the mission, begin- in Museum News (page 26), but the biggest Director of Visual Communication nings, and success stories of this group of news is the opening of our new exhibit, The river conservationists as they reach their Wonders of Fly Fishing. Turn to the back THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER four-decade milestone. And Richard inside cover, and let Executive Director Kathleen Achor Lessner, executive director of the Madison Cathi Comar tell you all about it. Editor River Foundation, reports on the recent Now, back to that mayfly. crash of the mountain whitefish population Sara Wilcox on the Madison and the foundation’s role Design & Production in a multiyear study of the species in that KATHLEEN ACHOR Sarah May Clarkson river. To read more about it—and to be EDITOR Copy Editor TRUSTEES Michael Bakwin Bradford Mills Foster Bam David Nichols Pamela Bates Erik R. Oken Jane Cooke Stephen M. Peet Peter Corbin Leigh H. Perkins Deborah Pratt Dawson William Platt E. Bruce DiDonato, MD Frederick S. Polhemus Patrick Ford John Rano Ronald Gard Roger Riccardi Journal of the American Museum of Fly Fishing George R. Gibson III Eric W. Roberts James Heckman, MD Kristoph J. Rollenhagen SUMMER 2013 VOLUME 39 NUMBER 3 Arthur Kaemmer, MD Philip Sawyer Karen Kaplan Franklin D. Schurz Jr. Saltwater Fly Fishing Comes of Age ...... 2 Woods King III Robert G. Scott Jerry Gibbs William P. Leary III Gary J. Sherman, DPM 14 Christopher P. Mahan Ronald B. Stuckey J. C. Mottram ...... Walter T. Matia Richard G. Tisch David Burnett John R. McMahon David H. Walsh Keepers of the Flame: William C. McMaster, MD Andrew Ward The Golden Gate Angling & Casting Club ...... 18 Peter Millett, MD James C. Woods John Mundt Nancy W. Zakon Notes and Comment: TRUSTEES EMERITI What’s Happened to the Whitefish? ...... 20 Charles R. Eichel Richard Lessner James Hardman American Rivers: Celebrating William Herrick Forty Years of River Conservation ...... 23 David B. Ledlie Devin Dotson Leon L. Martuch Paul Schullery Museum News ...... 26 OFFICERS Contributors ...... 28

David H. Walsh ON THE COVER: From bonefish to billfish, international angler Billy Pate Chairman of the Board pursued every game fish in salt water. Tarpon were his passion, and he set James Heckman, MD multiple records to prove it. Read more about saltwater fly fishing on President page 2. Photo by Jerry Gibbs. Gary J. Sherman, DPM Vice President We welcome contributions to the American Fly Fisher. Before making a submission, Richard G. Tisch please review our Contrib utor’s Guidelines on our website (www.amff.com), or Vice President write to request a copy. The museum cannot accept responsibility for statements and James C. Woods interpretations that are wholly the author’s. Secretary The American Fly Fisher (ISSN 0884-3562) is published four times a year by the museum at P.O. Box 42, Manchester, Charles R. Eichel Vermont 05254. Publication dates are winter, spring, summer, and fall. Membership dues include the cost of the journal Clerk ($50) and are tax deductible as provided for by law. Membership rates are listed in the back of each issue. All letters, manuscripts, photographs, and materials intended for publication in the journal should be sent to the museum. The muse- Philip Sawyer um and journal are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, drawings, photographic material, or memorabilia. The Treasurer museum cannot accept responsibility for statements and interpretations that are wholly the author’s. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot be returned unless postage is provided. Contributions to The American Fly Fisher are to be considered gra- tuitous and the property of the museum unless otherwise requested by the contributor. Copyright © 2013, The American Museum of Fly Fishing, Manchester, Vermont 05254. Original material appearing may not be reprinted without prior per- JUNIOR COMMITTEE mission. Periodical postage paid at Manchester, Vermont 05254; Manchester, Vermont 05255; and additional offices (USPS 057410 0884-3562 EMAIL: WEBSITE: Parker Corbin ). The American Fly Fisher (ISSN ) [email protected] www.amff.com POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Bailey Hallingby The American Fly Fisher Woods King IV P.O. Box 42 Casey Knoll Manchester, Vermont 05254 John Neukom Albert Nichols David E. Nichols Jr. space for FSC info Ben Pastor Jason M. Scott Jeff Yates Saltwater Fly Fishing Comes of Age by Jerry Gibbs

HE SUMMER 2012 issue of the we’ll later see. Still, during the early ous equipment problems. The still-in-use American Fly Fisher introduced 1920s—and even into the 1930s—there silk fly lines and linen Cuttyhunk backing T the first of a series of articles tracing was serious need for better fly-fishing required daily stripping from the reel and the development of saltwater fly fishing in equipment. drying after use. Often Hill and his father North America. “Pioneers and Pioneering: would wind the backing around chair The Allure and Early Days of Saltwater The Need for Better Tackle backs at the dining room table, with his Fly Fishing” described the nascent days of mother demanding the stuff be removed the sport and the experimental angling Dr. Gordon Hill, orthopedic surgeon before breakfast the next day. Silkworm and generative discoveries by its earliest and eventually Keys flats-fishing afi- “gut” leaders were the rule. Fly hooks practitioners from the 1700s through the cionado, remembers stories of his grand- began rusting in two days. Bamboo rod middle 1900s. In this offering, “Saltwater father Clifford Hewitson arriving in New finishes peeled, metal ferrules corroded, Fly Fishing Comes of Age,” we turn first to York from Liverpool in the early 1900s, and the rods would quickly take a scolio- the period from the 1920s through the soon to begin fly fishing the salt waters of sis-like set in the salt air if not hung ver- post–World War II years, during which Long Island Sound. Hill’s father, Edmond tically from ceiling hooks. One saving saltwater fly fishing enjoyed nicely paced “Pop” Hill, followed in his footsteps in tool was Hill’s grandfather’s stout green- growth, followed by the decades encom- the 1920s, and Gordon Hill began fly fish- heart rod. It was stiff enough for surf use passing the late 1950s through the 1980s, ing there in 1938. Still without access to and had brass tubular line guides and an when the sport experienced a spurt of more modern tackle, Hill recalls numer- agate/brass tip-top that resisted corrosion. unprecedented development and rising popularity. Increasingly, saltwater fly fishers broke from traditional approaches of their freshwater brethren, inventing new ways of casting, embracing the rapid ad- vance ments in tackle spawned by new technology, and adapting to new fish species and environmental challenges previously never imagined. Today, of course, freshwater and saltwater fly fishing benefit one another through a bipartisan exchange of methods, tackle innovation, and willing- ness to explore without bias.

THE DEVELOPMENTAL YEARS: 1920S–1940S

Despite decades of volatility—from the ebullient 1920s through economic depression and a world war—intrepid fly fishers continued to probe the possibili- ties in salt waters. They were aided on several fronts. New infrastructure, such as the 1928 opening of the so-called Tamiami Trail, which connected Florida’s west coast to Miami, allowed anglers to easily access the tremendous variety of fish on both coasts of that state.1 The 1929 founding of the Rod & Reel Club of Miami Beach, though initially weighted toward big-game tackle, included a fly- fishing division.2 In 1930, the Islamorada Fishing Guides Asso ciation (later Florida Keys Fishing Guides Association) was established.3 It furthered technical devel- opments in marine fly fishing and helped visiting anglers locate profession- al guide service. The later 1930s and 1940s occasioned industrial breakthroughs From James A. Henshall, Camping and Cruising in Florida with direct application to fly fishing, as (Cincinnati: Robert Clark & Co., 1884), frontispiece.

2THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER With most commercial fishermen at war, Rods vel oped a process that slit bamboo cane there was little competition for the fishery in half, dried the pieces, tempered them resources, and Hill remembers the fly Although fiberglass began making over an open gas flame, then painstak- fishing as superb.4 inroads, bamboo was still king—espe- ingly split them into several strips that cially in fly rods—despite the inherent Jordan glued back together using phenolic Dawn of Synthetics drawbacks Gordon Hill previously noted. resin-based cement. The reconstructed However, an improvement in the fabri- cane was then impregnated under con- Although new material technologies cating method kept bamboo in the salt- trolled heat with a Bakelite phenolic began appearing that would enable fly water game far longer than imagined. resin. The next step was curing in an fishers of both salt and fresh water to solve Here’s what happened. oven, allowing the bamboo pores to problems limiting their sport, anglers were Somewhere between the mid-1930s completely fill with resin, rendering it slow to embrace them. And despite advan- and 1940, master outdoorsman Harold moistureproof, color fast, and resistant tages, the new synthetics were not without Gibbs began fishing for striped bass, to extreme heat and cold. The process problems. Nylon (patented by E. I. du mainly in Rhode Island’s Barrington and turned the rods a rich mahogany, which Pont de Nemours and Company in 1937 Palmer river estuaries and on Cape Cod. was further enhanced by sanding and and introduced in 1938), which would Gibbs—who had been appointed admin- buffing to a beautiful luster.8 slowly replace silkworm gut leaders, was istrator of fish and game for the state of The first rod Jordan made for Gibbs, stiff, subject to holding memory, and did Rhode Island in 1939 by Governor who called it “The Original,” was in all not form secure knots.5 Fly-line improve- William Vanderbilt—was also a gifted probability the first bamboo specifically ment would wait until the 1950s. Tra- miniature bird carver who sold his work designed for salt water. It was 9 feet long ditional mind-set played a part, of course, to the Orvis Company of Manchester, and designed for today’s equivalent of a when it came to new fiberglass versus Vermont. On one visit to the company 9-weight line. Gibbs broke the rod in the bamboo rods. Bias aside, early fiberglass some time in the 1940s, Gibbs spoke with summer of 1946 and returned it to Orvis had its problems, too. The first fiberglass owner D. C. “Duckie” Corkran about de- for repair. At some point, Gibbs had rods were simply lacking in aesthetics. veloping a rod specifically for stripers. Orvis built him a second rod of 8½ feet They were heavy and their actions were Corkran brought in his designer/builder for 8-weight-equivalent. The two rods graceless—either clublike or overly flexi- Wes Jordan. Jordan had been experiment- eventually led Orvis to create a series of ble. It was not until the Shakespeare Com - ing with impregnating bamboo with saltwater-specific bamboo fly rods.9 pany’s 1947 Howald process produced Bakelite (an early plastic), and here was an Wes Jordan submitted a patent appli- tapered tubular rod blanks that fly fishers excellent application for the process.7 cation bearing his name for his inventive (some grudgingly) began accepting fiber- Although the Bakelite Corporation impregnation process on 13 April 1946. glass material.6 In the main, most saltwa- had tried impregnating bamboo strips in The patent was granted 15 December 1950 ter fly anglers of the 1920s and 1930s con- their test labs, Jordan found that assem- and assigned to the Orvis Company. By tinued to rely on their salmon (and some- bling those strips resulted in a poorly 1954, all Orvis bamboo rods were impreg- times even trout) tackle. performing rod. Determined, Jordan de - nated.10

Harold Gibbs’s relationship with the Orvis Company, outlet for his hand-carved miniature birds, led to development of what was likely the first bamboo rod specifically designed for saltwater fishing. From the collection of the American Museum of Fly Fishing.

Right: Orvis rod designer from 1939 to 1970, Wes Jordan created the painstaking impregnation process that rendered bamboo rods moistureproof and highly resistant to heat and cold—desirable attributes for use in the marine environment. From the collection of the American Museum of Fly Fishing.

SUMMER 2013 3 Sara Wilcox tating various insect hatches. Simple streamers of saddle hackle, bucktail, or a combination thereof soon became the norm, although some early tiers added favored adornments here and there— jungle cock eyes, for example—for their aesthetic qualities. Generic streamers of white or combinations of easily obtain- able primary colors were good enough when saltwater fish were feeding on various baitfish, excited by chum, or prowl- ing during low-light conditions and not particularly cautious. As the sport developed, though, astute anglers soon real- ized that general attractor patterns were frequently refused. Flies that were more suggestive of forage species on which game fish were or had recently been feeding were usually more effective. This was especially true during periods when fish were less aggressive. Harold Gibbs’s suggestive Gibbs Striper Fly, which imi- tated a silversides baitfish, a bucktail fly first tied in the 1940s, is a good early example of intent to imitate key forage. Early hooks were wanting for use in salt water. During the early 1900s, they were still non-eyed. Tiers created hook eyes as desired, first with gut, then switching to nylon as it became available, then switching to eyed hooks. During the mid-1900s, hooks used in salt water were primarily Z nickel and tin plated. They The headplate on this Pflueger Medalist is a conversion kit held up for awhile before stainless steel addition to make it a multiplier for saltwater use. From appeared, becoming the standard until the collection of the American Museum of Fly Fishing. high-carbon steel (alloyed with vanadi- um or stainless steel) models appeared in later years. Today, quality hooks are plat- Reels disc, along with the spool, would eventu- ed, commonly with black nickel, cadmi- ally disintegrate. Well-known Keys guide um, or zinc. Carbon steel hooks tend to As more fly anglers explored salt Jimmy Albright told of punching rivets be stronger but less corrosion resistant water, they soon learned that the reels of in the Medalist frames to hold them than stainless steel. Carbon steel alloys the day were as problematic as most together.12 Californian Harry Kime took allow hooks of finer diameter for the nonimpregnated bamboo rods. None of a page from Zane Grey’s big-game reel same or greater strength than high stain- the components—from the frame and design, affixing a piece of belt leather to less composition. spool (except for some early brass British the lower brace of the Medalist and reels) to drags, screws, springs, and other obtaining drag by pressing the leather Lines parts—stood up to the effects of salt against the spool rim. Lefty Kreh, always water. Line capacity was also lacking. the innovative tinkerer, cut out an oval- Oil-impregnated braided silk fly lines Some top anglers successfully used the shaped opening in the side of the frame, were trouble enough used in fresh water; better salmon reels—Vom Hofes were enabling the thumb to reach in and they did not float well and required fas- excellent, and Joe Brooks favored the apply pressure to the spool.13 tidious maintenance. In salt water, deteri- top-quality Otto Zwarg Saguenay oration accelerated. Hopes that braided model—but midlevel salmon reels, espe- Flies nylon might supplant silk faded when cially those with an abundance of mov- various oil finishes were tried on the syn- ing parts, were not practical. Salmon and trout flies were still being thetic. It took until the early 1950s for true Although they were never designed fished in salt water, but some anglers technological breakthroughs to change for salt water, single-action Pflueger were beginning to create patterns aimed fly lines forever (we’ll examine this sub- Medalist reels were the average angler’s specifically at marine species. It had ject further). However, one significant standby for years and were constantly become evident that those often intri- event in the assembly of line systems modified. In the 1930s, the largest cately feathered and delicate freshwater occurred in 1946. It was pure serendipity. Medalist was model 1496. A 1496½ fly creations were doomed to short lives California Golden Gate Angling & appeared in the 1940s. (It wasn’t until when fished in the salt, even when not Casting Club members Jim Green and 1958 that the largest, most saltwater- ravaged by tough, often toothy fish. It Phil Miravalle were practicing for the favored model 1498 was added.11) The seemed less necessary for patterns to annual distance event of the National original Medalist spool was made of fair- closely suggest specific forage, which Association of Angling & Casting Clubs ly soft aluminum, and the simple drag freshwater anglers had learned to do imi- (now the American Casting Association).

4THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER The usual system among distance casters It happened down on the Texas Gulf Kukonen of Worcester, Massachusetts, consisted of 50 feet of heavy braided-silk Coast where Jack Sparks, who’d been designed numerous saltwater patterns fly line spliced to a length of 15-pound- named to the All-American Fly Fishing and was an early advocate of using short test bait-casting line. That in turn was Team in 1941 and 1948 (and who also fly 4- to 6-inch wire tippets for bluefish. spliced to a polished, size-I fly line, which fished salt water for redfish), was assist- Farther down the Atlantic coast in New acted as the working shooting line of the ing Joan Salvato, acting as her gillie, tend- Jersey, veteran outdoors writer and Salt - system. During the cast, the bait-casting ing Joan’s shooting line. By all accounts, water Journal host Mark Sosin remem- line was held in coils (the holding line). Jack was a glamorous character who bers fly fishing in salt water during the Green and Miravalle, seeking to increase sported a dashing Errol Flynn pencil 1940s. His father would chum using live cast distance, decided to try nylon mustache and typically appeared wear- grass shrimp on outgoing tides along jet- monofilament in place of the size-I fly ing a bandanna over his sleek black hair. ties at Barnegat Inlet, and once fish were line. In their first effort, the nylon mono “I was practicing my distance casting,” in the slick, cast and retrieve a freshwater was tied to the holding line, which broke Joan remembers, “and came back hard Mickey Finn streamer for both weakfish during a strenuous cast. Next, they tied for a left-hand haul and hit Jack in the and striped bass.17 the monofilament directly to the heavy head and knocked him right over! I was Along the North Carolina coast in the fly-line head. The next cast fired out as twenty-one then, Jack was in his forties. I 1930s, a few anglers were catching small though rocket propelled. The small- was living on the East Coast. He asked if bluefish on trout tackle, the flies being diameter mono reduced friction and he could court me—all the way from typical wets or even bass bugs. The June obtained greatly increased distance.14 Waco, Texas!”16 1930 issue of the National Sportsman car- Word of the breakthrough was shared Joan smiled sweetly, but said no. ried a story on this saltwater fly sport with a few Golden Gaters, but Green and penned by Rupert West, according to fly- Miravalle kept the secret into competi- Development Along the East fishing historian Paul Schullery, who tion and swept the distance fly events at maintains that lacking the instantaneous the national. Refinements on the basic Coast: Stripers and Blues networking of today’s anglers, the North design are still used by tournament cast- Carolinians “thought they were the first ers, including multiple world champion Harold Gibbs was not the only angler to do it, suggesting that it was still easily Steve Rajeff. Soon mono-backed shoot- fishing for striped bass and bluefish in possible to be unaware of other saltwater ing tapers would find their way into New England. Through the 1940s, char- fly fishermen.”18 The Tar Heel State anglers practical fishing applications.15 ter captain Phil Schwind of Cape Cod hadn’t a clue as to what was going on in Tournament casting competition using was using large, white-and-yellow and the Chesapeake Bay. those multisection shooting-head systems white-and-green bushy streamers with Chesapeake Bay angler Tom Loving is gives us one little-known amusing story. great success. In the late 1940s, Paul best known for creating tidal-water large- mouth bass flies, such as the Gerbubble Bug and Marsh Hare, but he and his friends were pioneers in fishing for striped bass and American shad in the bay in the 1920s and 1930s. Loving introduced soon- to-be-famous angling author Joe Brooks to the area’s largemouths and stripers by 1928.19 Brooks, who calls Loving one of his mentors, describes bay fishing with Tom like this: “[Loving] tied a big bucktail for striped bass and he also tied a two-hooked shad fly which he used in brackish water for shad. We fished the grassy flats of Ches apeake Bay, casting to the banks and islands along sandy bars. . . . In those days we had the whole place to ourselves and fish were everywhere.”20 According to Brooks, Loving’s simple white bucktail with hackle on the shank is believed to be the first fly specifically tied for striped bass.

The Bonefish Question While anglers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic were focused on striped In the June 1930 issue of National bass, bluefish, and weakfish, down in Sportsman, Rupert E. West described Florida activity was building around one fly fishing for channel bass and blue- of the soon-to-be glamour species for fly fish off the coast of North Carolina. fishers, especially those intent on sight fishing. Early catches of bonefish were accidental, the first recorded (1924) being that of retired legislative lobbyist/conser- vationist Holmes Allen of Miami. Using a white crippled minnow fly in Card

SUMMER 2013 5 Sound, he was wading hip deep The club was responsible for for snook. His rod was an inex- establishing, in 1935, the Miami pensive bamboo. The streamer, Metropolitan Fishing Tourna- white with red hackle, was tied ment (now the South Florida to a 5-foot leader of 2-pound- Fishing Tournament), which ad - test gut.21 Interestingly, Allen’s hered to the same rules. For description of his fly indicates it years, leading fly fishers would was originally designed to float follow the club-established or at least remain in the surface “book,” which relegated the tak- film. Allen describes the fly as ing of very large or toothsome “nearly going under each time fish to extremely difficult or you moved it. Then this crazy nearly impossible. Although fish [Allen and his fishing part- many anglers ignored such self- ner, Hayes Armstrong, routinely limitations, leading traditional- called them that] shot out of ists continued to stick with the nowhere, grabbed the fly and regulations. Joe Brooks was one took off.”22 Many years later, Field such adherent. A classic tale & Stream angling editor A. J. involves Brooks, who was fish- McClane would write of pur- ing tarpon with Jimmie Albright posefully fishing bonefish with in 1948.29 a dry fly despite the fish’s inferi- Brooks hooked an estimated or (downturned) mouth, obvi- 50-pound tarpon, and an hour ously designed for feeding on into the fight, Albright suggest- the bottom.23 ed that the angler better bear Colonel L. S. Thompson of down on the tarpon or they’d be Red Bank, New Jersey, was regu- there all day. Brooks replied that larly fishing for bonefish off he thought he was using as much Long Key in 1926 with guide J. T. pressure as the 6-pound tippet Harrod, who chummed the fish Captain Bill Smith sent this photo to the museum in 1991. could take. (One can imagine using shrimp pieces. He used His handwritten caption reads: “1939 Capt. Bill Smith Albright rolling his eyes heaven- both fly and bait, believing any using Orvis Rod & Regulation Fly Tackle First Bonefish ward.) Of course, there was no bonefish caught on a fly at high- ever taken, Weight 8 lb Caught at Islamorada, Fla.” heavier shock tippet. Albright er-tide stages was simply an acci- relates that they had the fish on dent (he concentrated on baby tarpon berating Smith, asking him why he hadn’t for six hours, following it across Florida then) and that bonefishing consistency tied on some of the pig’s feet, too, and Bay until the skiff’s motor ran out of gas. could only be had by fishing lower tides.24 used the entrails for chum. The 6-pound tippet was not up to the job Honors for the first specifically target- Withering under the dressing down, of towing a boat. End of story.30 ed, sight-fished fly-rod bonefish tradi- Smith knew there was only one way to In 1955, the Rod & Reel Club’s rules tionally go to Keys guide Bill Smith. recuperate his standing in La Branche’s were amended to allow 12 inches of heav- Smith and his wife, Bonnie, built a top- eyes. A couple of months later, using a ier shock/abrasion material between the celebrity client list through the 1930s and proper fly he’d tied himself, Smith took a class tippet and fly. The result was the 1940s (including baseball great Ted good bonefish that was witnessed by establishment of two fly-rod categories: Williams), but the first bonefish to which guide Bert Pinder and his client, a man fly light (no heavy shock/abrasion tip- Bill guided his client George Crawford named Norfleet. The year was 1939. As pet) and fly heavy (allowed shock/abra- (composer of the then-official Army Air for George La Branche, it was after the sion tippet). Many traditionalist fly Corp song) brought humiliation.25 war that Frankee Albright (Bonnie’s sis- anglers were unhappy, but a new era in Smith’s “fly” was built using fine stain- ter) guided him, an elderly man by then, saltwater fly fishing was opened.31 less-steel wire wrapped around the hook to his first bonefish on a fly.27 shank, a red-and-white hackle wound Stirrings on the Left Coast behind the eye, the ends of the wires jut- The 12-Pound Curse ting out behind. These twin wire tails were Saltwater fly fishing on the West Coast used to attach a piece of trimmed white Although pioneering anglers had had yet to catch fire, but Joe Brooks’s pork rind. Crawford took two bonefish on been catching (mainly small) tarpon on September 1948 catch of a 29-pound, 6- the creation. Smith and Crawford were flies since the late 1800s, with A.W. ounce striped bass in Coos Bay, Oregon, weighing them in at an Islamorada gro- Dimock and son Julian having double- began to kindle interest. With that catch, cery store when George La Branche teamed on what was surely the largest Brooks established the 12-pound tippet (author of The Dry Fly and Fast Water) fly-caught tarpon by 1911,28 as yet no record for the species, one that would happened in. La Branche was a tradition- standards had been established on what stand nearly twenty years.32 Brooks was bound trout/salmon angler who regular- should be considered fair play in the salt- “less interested in the record . . . than in ly wintered in south Florida and who water branch of fly-fishing sport. On 1 the fact that he’d caught the fish on a was convinced that bonefish were far too March 1929, the Rod & Reel Club of balsa-wood popper made to order by Bill skittish to be taken casting a proper fly. Miami Beach was founded. Rules were Upperman of Atlantic City, New He asked to see Smith’s fly pattern and written regulating all angling categories, Jersey.”33 At that time, Brooks would not instantly exploded. “You call this thing a including fly fishing. No leader heavier have used a heavier shock/abrasion tip- fly?” he roared. “A fly is made from wool, than 12-pound test was to be used. No pet even if the rules had already been silk, feathers, hair! You can’t use pork protective wire or heavier shock/abra- amended, but by 1958, in his Complete rind on a fly!”26 La Branche continued sion monofilament tippet were allowed. Book of Fly Fishing, Joe was suggesting

6THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER 100-pound nylon shock tippets for bill- charters and seeing firsthand troubling spigot ferrules and weighed in at 9 fish and tarpon, and wire for heavily indications of the exploitation of their ounces. It beat fish but was an arm killer toothed species.34 fishery. The association is re spon sible for for any extended casting. The Great Brooks was well acquainted with wet many conservation initiatives, including Equalizer was not part of Scientific head lines and shooting heads favored by the eventual closing of Everglades Na - Anglers original System glass rods intro- West Coast salmon and steelhead anglers, tional Park to commercial fishing.36 duced in 1969 but came several years but it is international tournament caster later. Outdoors writer/TV host Mark Myron Gregory who is credited as first to THE EXPLOSIVE YEARS: Sosin, responsible for the rod’s name, regularly use lead-core shooting tapers in was also responsible for keeping the salt water. He assembled his systems 1950S–1980S fighting grip above the fore grip, primar- incorporating monofilament shooting ily to indicate that this was indeed a new line, fishing them not only for San From the late 1950s through the 1980s, breed of fly rod.37 Francisco Bay striped bass but also for saltwater fly fishing experienced run- In 1973, Fenwick introduced HMG— kelp bass along the rocks and jetties on away development. Communication— the first high-modulus graphite rods— the California and Oregon coasts, begin- first in print, then through electronic in spinning and casting models; fly rods ning in the late 1950s or very early 1960s.35 media—sparked new ideas. Rising-star appeared shortly thereafter. Graphite was Sinking shooting tapers—initially anglers appeared: writers, educators, all the buzz when shown at the American assembled by anglers and eventually showmen, guides, and some who made Fishing Tackle Association’s (now Amer - available in various configurations from their presence known in all categories. As ican Sportfishing Association) trade manufacturers—influenced saltwater fly they had embraced freshwater fly-fishing show that summer.38 fishing wherever the sport is practiced. subjects, artists and photographers began Despite justifiable enthusiasm, it soon In the early days, though, they were the producing beautiful and exciting works became evident that all was not happy in primary arrows in the angling quiver of reflecting the unique world of near-shore graphite land. The high-modulus carbon West Coast anglers who took the lines and offshore saltwater angling with the fiber material being used in early rod inland for anadromous fish and south to fly rod. Exchange of knowledge led to manufacture often broke under heavy fish Central America’s saltwater venues. development of new and ever-better pressure. It was even more susceptible to tackle, and new ways of doing things, breakage from the angler error of “high Early Conservation Efforts from tying knots to casting. sticking” (raising the rod to near vertical position), which put excessive strain on Forward-thinking anglers like James Rods the tip section. A happy exception was Henshall, A. W. Dimock, Mary Orvis found in the lower-modulus material Marbury, and George Trowbridge were Tackle continued to improve from the from which Orvis produced its early already releasing fish and speaking to late 1950s onward. Fiberglass rods graphite rods, making them more durable resource conservation in the 1800s, but in became the norm, but some anglers con- and forgiving. Better resin systems were 1930, a band of professionals struck a tinued using their treasured bamboos. A developed and continue to be improved powerful note for marine fish conserva- number of the earlier fiberglass fly rods to this day. New generations of carbon tion at what was ground zero for the were overly parabolic for use on truly fiber material were introduced. Together, sport. That year, the Islamorada Fishing large fish. The use of stiffeners to be those two factors allow using less fiber Guides Association (later the Florida Keys inserted during the fighting were tried without strength reduction. The result is Fishing Guides Association) was founded. but obviously impractical. Thankfully, extremely light, yet powerful rods—ideal Captains who would become famous in designs were improved. The Great for saltwater applications. For some fish- the development of the sport in the Equalizer rod made by J. Kennedy Fisher ing, graphite (and occasionally boron) is Florida Keys were already fishing there for Scientific Anglers was the first and blended with fiberglass to produce com- before the organization of the group, best-for-its-time fish-fighting tool. The posite rods where extra strength is need- working odd jobs when they did not have two-piece fiberglass rod had fiberglass ed, notably in the butt sections.

Sara Wilcox

The Fenwick HMG fly rod was introduced in 1974. The company’s launch of graphite rods in 1973 ushered in a new era of rod construction. From the collection of the American Museum of Fly Fishing.

SUMMER 2013 7 Reels attachment and fewer loose parts after price than the top-end brands were com- the spool was removed. Emery died manding. While he was a consultant for Reels with truly effective drags and before the new model was finished. His Scientific Anglers, veteran outdoors writer excellent corrosion resistance and line son, John Jr., completed the new reel in Bob Stearns suggested to then–Scientific capacities came in the 1950s: Gar Wood the early 1980s, following Emery’s speci- Anglers Division Manager Howard West Jr.’s Wedding Cake reel, picked up by the fications. There were plans for a bone- that there was need for such a reel, one Tycoon Fin-Nor Company, and Bob fish-size model that never saw fruition.42 that would sell for $100. One day West sug- McChristian’s Seamaster of 1953 were the Also in 1976, Keys guide George gested they sit down and design one when leaders. These reels were expensive and Hommell and Billy Pate brainstormed the two were finished tarpon fishing. At usually difficult to obtain because of lim- with master machinist Ted Juracsik (the his kitchen table, Stearns provided specifi- ited production.39 More moderately man who eventually designed the Tibor cations for a simple, direct-drive reel with priced reels came in the 1970s. The reel series) about building a reel based plenty of backing capacity, a counterbal- Pflueger Supreme 577 and 578 and the on Pate’s concepts. Juracsik created the anced spool, and a reliable drag system. Shakespeare equivalents were models antireverse Billy Pate Reel in tarpon and Several sizes were worked up, small 4–5- with good drags and spools that enabled then bonefish size. For a time, the World weight-line models all the way to 12–13- them to stand up to large fish. The Wide Sportsman shop in Islamorada was weight-line models. To keep the price Supreme had a flip-lever switch for strip- the only source for them.43 down, molded aluminum—no machining ping out line, bypassing the drag, after Between 1977 and 1991, Frank Catino, or anodizing—would be the only option. which you again flipped the lever to fully who currently guides from Florida’s The finish would be flat black.46 engage the drag.40 Space Coast to the Keys, offered two The early 1980s saw the first produc- In 1976, after Fin-Nor stopped pro- models of excellent saltwater reels in tar- tion models, but over Stearns’s objec- ducing the Wedding Cake design,41 pop- pon and bonefish size. They had to be tion, the company used Teflon for the ular Florida guide John Emery introduced ordered in either right- or left-hand drag material. If it became wet, it would an exposed-rim, ventilated-spool, bar- retrieve styles. The reels were made in hydroplane, and the drag would slip. stock reel for tarpon. It was big, heavy, and Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.44 Eventually, the material was changed. strong, with a massive drag. It was silent With the Pflueger and Shakespeare The System 2 reels were rugged and well both going out and cranking in. Emery reels discontinued in 198245 and anglers built, and they worked. By preference, was encouraged to build a slightly smaller still tinkering with the Medalist, the mar- Stearns continues to use them for every- model, which he began designing with ket seemed ready for a simple, solid, reli- thing from bonefish to tarpon, billfish, some improvements, such as the foot able saltwater fly reel at a more reasonable and tuna. The System 2 reels continue to be produced, but prices have climbed Sara Wilcox since the 1980s. Today they run from approximately $150 to $200, depending on size—still a bargain.47

Lines Fly lines advanced with the discovery that polyvinyl chloride (PVC) would adhere as a thin coating over tapered braided nylon line core. In 1953, the Cortland Line Company introduced the first line using this technology, marketed as the 333 and billed as the “unsinkable fly line.” Still, manufacturing the tapered braided core of these lines was a slow, tedious process. To make a standard 30- yard double-tapered line, the braiding operator was required to make 96 thread changes. An operator could produce only eight such tapered cores during an eight- hour shift.48 That soon would change. With a background in chemistry from association with the Dow Chemical Company, Leon P. Martuch devised a method for tapering the PVC coat over a more easily constructed, level-braided nylon core. Martuch, throughout the 1950s, had been experimenting with cores and coatings in his kitchen. Coating durability was tested initially by dragging sections of line behind cars while driving to and from fishing waters. Fin-Nor’s Wedding Cake reel was one of the earliest designs Martuch was granted a patent for his with truly effective drag and excellent corrosion resistance. process in 1960. Tapered coatings, From the collection of the American Museum of Fly Fishing. extruded through a diaphragmlike opening to specific diameters, were not only

8THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER Sara Wilcox ming regimen for sharks quickly found its way to the East Coast.54 Then there was the incomparable Harry Kime, whom natives of Baja’s Loreto called “Unga” after a Mexican Tarzan-like cartoon character. The Orange, California, angler became a legend from the 1960s on for his over-the- top fishing antics that put to rest any thoughts of limitations to the sport of saltwater fly fishing. For example, he successfully fished out of Escondido Bay south of Loreto, Mexico, in a float tube (belly boat) until cautioned about the area’s plentiful sharks. He’d regularly fish alone for virtually any large saltwater fish from small aluminum boats in the open ocean. He once hooked and boated twelve tarpon on twelve casts. He fought his fish relentlessly, commonly on straight, extremely heavy, non–International Game Fish Association (IGFA) leaders. He caught billfish alone. Once, off Loreto, Dan Blanton’s Whistler fly, dubbed for the sound generated by the pinhole eyes again alone in a 15-foot boat, he cast to as it sailed through the air, is typical of the more densely tied West Coast saltwater and hooked a 13-foot, estimated 200- patterns. From the collection of the American Museum of Fly Fishing. pound striped marlin that gave him twenty-seven (by Kime’s count) leaps along with body-length wallows. He beat the fish in an hour and a half, but had it far more cost-efficient, they provided Gregory and who grabbed the West alongside the boat with no way to bring more flexibility in producing a broad Coast limelight as an innovator and it in. He was bare-handed; billing the fish range of specialized tapers for different communicator at the start of the 1960s, would have resulted in serious hand fishing situations. Other manufacturers has arguably done more to popularize injury. Gaffing, alone like that, was also a soon developed their own methods for Pacific-side saltwater fly fishing than bad idea, but Kime began to try it. He producing tapered coatings, and through anyone. The Morgan Hill, California, failed on several attempts until a piece of the 1960s and 1970s, line manufacturers outdoor writer-photographer and web- sargassum wrapped his leader (for once dueled fiercely for market share.49 site host also pioneered Central American not a heavy connection because he had West Coast–favored shooting tapers, fly fishing, hosting trips on which fly- been fishing for dorado). The leader especially with the head section of lead fishing luminaries from both coasts par- parted. He was sixty-five years old at the core, led to another concept that was less ticipated. Del Brown was one of those. time.55 complex and therefore found greater Designer of what is surely the most pop- acceptance by more anglers. In the 1970s, ular permit fly, Brown only became angler Jim Teeny convinced a major line enthralled with Keys fishing for the Angling Leaders: East Coast manufacturer to create a fly line that species after his wife asked him to find The Teacher. In ancient Greece, an ora- incorporated both the head and a fine- another venue less dicey than some of cle was consulted for wise counsel on all diameter shooting line as one unit. The the Central American destinations he’d important matters: opinion, prediction, concept became what we know today as been visiting. Brown went on to take precognition. Fly fishers of every age the integrated line. These lines became more than 500 permit before he was have essentially cast Lefty Kreh into such widely popular on both coasts, but inter- done. Blanton originated several fly a role, whether he likes it or not. From changeable looped shooting heads, both series for West Coast needs, more dense- modest beginnings, and having survived homemade and commercially manufac- ly and fully tied patterns than typically fighting in World War II’s Battle of the tured, continued to be used.50 used in the East. His Whistler series is Bulge, Kreh’s career spans that of news- classic.52 paper columnist, magazine and book West Coast: Anglers and Inroads Other West Coast anglers contributed author, exhibition caster and shooter, greatly to the sport: author/painter Russ lecturer, inventor, and raconteur of a Sinking shooting tapers increased in Chatham was first to break Joe Brooks’s seemingly endless supply of jokes. It is use along the California coast. Angling striped bass record in 1966 with a 36- likely that he would prefer, above all else, author Nick Curcione describes outings pound, 6-ounce fish.53 (Chatham was to be thought of as a teacher. (Kreh was with the earlier-mentioned Myron honored for his artistic vision and writ- honored by the American Museum of Fly Gregory, who pioneered fishing from a ings by the American Museum of Fly Fishing on 6 March 2013 for his iconic 14-foot cartop skiff, casting the surf and Fishing on 30 September 2010.) Chatham and innovative contributions to the swells around rocks at Point Lobos, cut a wide swath across California salt world of saltwater fly fishing and the California (now a preserve). “We took waters and rivers for anadromous fish. angling industry as a whole.) our lives in our hands,” Curcione says, “It Lawrence Summers and Bob Edgley pio- Joe Brooks introduced Kreh to fly was like Victory at Sea.” 51 neered fly fishing for large blue sharks fishing, igniting a career that spans six Dan Blanton, who also enjoyed (with the always possible bonus mako) decades, during which his unique tech- Victory at Sea–style forays with Myron in Monterey Bay. Their effective chum- niques and tackle innovations quickly

SUMMER 2013 9 advanced the sport. Ever the tinkerer searching for better ways, Kreh took issue with centuries-old casting style. In the 1950s, he began teaching a radical new approach to fly casting—one that markedly increased distance, helped counteract wind effects, and made the process far easier—all to the good of saltwater sport. Perhaps the most personal look at Kreh’s career is found in his autobiography, My Life Was This Big.56

The Bionic Poler. In 1957, a Navy-trained jet fighter pilot and just-furloughed PanAm third officer decided to do what he loved best: go fishing—but profes- sionally. Stu Apte, age twenty-six, moved into a one-room shack in Little Torch Key Trailer Park to launch his business. By 1962, Apte’s reputation as angler and guide was soaring. He was on the water 330 days a year and fishing for himself on the days he had off. Apte brought a fighter pilot’s acumen, aggressiveness, no-quit mind-set to his fishing. Add to that the visual acuity that combat pilots like Apte (and his eventual pal Ted Williams) possess, and you have a wicked predator. Apte’s growing guide reputation from the lower Keys—regularly winning the Miami Metropolitan Fishing Tournament tarpon fly division Stu Apte was flipped three times into the water before he in the 1950s and 1960s with client Ray succeeded in gaffing Joe Brooks’s 1961 world-record tarpon. Donnersberger, and doing it on a radical A decade later, Apte took the record himself. From the new fly design—began to stick in the collection of the American Museum of Fly Fishing. craws of veteran guides. “I just worked harder; I had something to prove,” Apte ken three times and finally set by Joe managed a 148-pound striped marlin off will tell you. “I was willing to pole hard- Brooks with a 148-pound fish that held Salinas, Ecuador. He used an inexpensive er. I became known as the bionic poler.”57 the mark for ten years, Stu Apte was the fiberglass Garcia rod and a reel with Apte’s fish-fighting style was radical, guide. The fish flipped Apte into the essentially just a clicker for drag. It was too. Rather than typically bending the water three times as he tried to gaff it. one of the longest-standing records in rod by raising it upward, he pointed the Apte himself broke Brooks’s record in the annals of saltwater fly fishing,62 final- tip to the fish’s side, sometimes even 1971 with a 154-pound fish.60 ly being broken by Tom Evans in 2004 thrusting the rod a couple feet beneath with a 153-pound, 12-ounce fish.63 the surface, pulling the opposite way Blue-Water Trailblazers. In the mid- Although tarpon were Billy Pate’s all- from the direction the fish was headed. 1960s, the thought of taking a billfish on time passion, at one point the interna- At close range, pulling toward the tail, a fly rod seemed impossible—but not to tionally acclaimed angler launched a run attempting to move the fish backward or Dr. Webster Robinson and his wife to be first to take Atlantic and Pacific to roll it, increased fighting effectiveness. Helen, who were experimenting with sailfish and all marlin species on a fly. He The method eventually became known flat-bottomed poppers with top guide almost made it. A Pacific blue marlin, the as “down and dirty” and is used by top Lefty Reagan. Reagan had developed the last in his quest, was hooked off Quepos, anglers worldwide.58 bait-and-switch teasing game for other Costa Rica. Pate fought it at least seven Apte’s tarpon fly also became a stan- species. Initial attempts on Atlantic sail- hours late into the day, when the captain dard. The design with hackles tied in at fish failed. The Robinsons traveled to demanded it be broken off or they’d the hook bend to flare outward greatly 18 Piñas Bay, Panama, and on January never reach port in the coming darkness. reduced fouling of the feathers. It 1962, with Helen on the teaser rod, Web The story goes that Pate offered to buy debuted in 1958. Also, Apte began using Robinson cast to, fought, and boated a the boat in cash if they continued letting ever-smaller flies, especially in clearer 74½-pound Pacific sailfish, the first bill- him fight, but in the end, the skipper waters—a trend that has continued to fish to be caught on a fly. Robinson went refused.64 That marlin was estimated at this day. At the time of his 2005 induction on to manage a 145-pound striped mar- 400 pounds. Pate was first, however, to into the IGFA Hall of Fame, Apte had set lin in 1965. Top light-tackle/fly angler Lee win all the major south Florida tarpon forty-four light-tackle and fly-fishing Cuddy took care of the first Atlantic fly- tournaments (only Andy Mill has dupli- world records,59 but was also responsible rod sailfish, catching it in 1964.61 cated that as of this writing). for guiding at least one other well-known Proving that both angling and boat- angler to his own record-setting marker. handling skills can compensate for New England’s Pacesetters. Although a During the week in May 1961 when underwhelming tackle, in May 1967, Lee handful of well-known anglers were the world fly-rod tarpon record was bro- Wulff, guided by the Keys’ Woody Sexton, sometimes fly fishing (along with using

10 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER spinning and bait/plug-casting tackle) for Growth was remarkable. The organi- respects, it followed the tenets of the old striped bass, bluefish, and other inshore zation sent information kits to interested Saltwater Fly Rodders of America, espe- species, especially along the shores of anglers. It also pioneered a series of edu- cially in eschewing politics and conser- Cape Cod, two anglers stand out as pio- cational clinics, spotlighting celebrity vation battles to focus totally on the neers in fly-rod sport in the Northeast. anglers like Lee Wulff, Lefty Kreh, Mark exchange of knowledge and the educa- During the 1960s through the 1980s, Sosin, Charley Waterman, Leon Martuch, tion of anglers in every aspect of saltwa- Connecticut angler Lou Tabory, largely Stu Apte, and others. The group’s newsletter fly-fishing sport.70 fishing from shore for striped bass, ter, the Double Haul, ran nearly fifteen Popovics, who has been fly fishing in inspired countless enthused fly anglers years. In fewer than eight years, the orga- salt water for more than forty years, while proving that expensive boats, nization boasted 3,400 members from played a key role not only in founding guides, and exotic trips weren’t needed around the world. At maximum size dur- the new club, but sharing innovative fly- to experience the finest kind of fly fishing the late 1960s, the organization had tying techniques and patterns that have ing in salt water. His regular two-hand thirteen chapters from Florida to New taken saltwater flies to a dynamic new line retrieve and use of a stripping basket England (including the District of Co - level. The originator of both new epoxy- for virtually all his fishing (many times lum bia) and California. There were indi- and silicone-based flies, Popovics is for tarpon on occasional trips south) vidual members in twenty-seven states known for groundbreaking baitfish-imi- became almost de rigueur for saltwater fly and in Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Libya, tating patterns like the late-1970s Surf anglers on all coasts. Tabory’s 1992 book, Mexico, and the Virgin Islands.68 Candy, as well as Siliclone, Ultra Shrimp, Inshore Fly Fishing (Lyons Press), became In 1974, Fred Schrier fell seriously ill. Bob’s Banger, Cotton Candy, Shady Lady the early go-to for striped-bass anglers.65 No one could be found to devote the Squid, Pop Lip, and 3-D. Later innova- Also in Connecticut, Captain Jeff time and work needed to keep the orga- tions were his Bucktail Deceiver and Northrop, founder of Northeast Saltwater nization functioning as it had, and sadly, Hollow Flies. All collectively come under Flyfishing, began stalking the flats of the it disbanded. In 1986, IGFA accepted salt- the umbrella Pop Fleyes, which spawned state’s eighteen Norwalk Islands as early water fly-fishing world records from Bob’s two tying videos and a book, Pop as 1968. Based at the mouth of the Mark Sosin and began administering Fleyes, coauthored with Ed Jaworowski. Saugatuck River in Westport, Connect- them. But the impetus of the organiza- Bob is a frequent seminar speaker at icut, Northrop opened the first flats-boat tion continued to expand the sport in an national sport shows and is on the adviso- dealership north of Florida in 1987. His ever-widening gyre worldwide.69 ry staff of many top manufacturers of fly- use of those shallow-water skiffs opened Then, in 1987, former Chapter One fishing equipment. Lefty Kreh calls him a previously ignored regional fishery. president and board member of the old the most innovative fly tier he knows.71 Northrop fishes migrating striped bass organization began opening his home on around the mouths of seven rivers flow- Tuesday nights to anglers seeking to The Once and Maybe Future ing toward the Norwalk Islands begin- exchange knowledge, tie flies, and swap Tarpon Kingdom ning in early spring, follows up later with stories. Eventually, attendees at the open large bluefish, and ends his year with lit- house session grew too large for Bob If there is a Camelot in the world of tle tunny and sometimes bonito.66 Popovics’s home to contain. In 1992, tarpon fly fishing, it must be Homosassa Popovics rounded up those enthusiastic on Florida’s west coast. Although the area Salty Fly Rodders anglers into a newfound organization: figures in the very early history of North the Atlantic Saltwater Fly Rodders, based American fly fishing from the 1800s on, Saltwater fly fishing’s profile was in Seaside Park, New Jersey. In many the modern era of fishing in the area greatly raised with the founding of the Jerry Gibbs Saltwater Fly Rodders of America, launched in 1964. The brainchild of Fred Schrier (an ad sales rep for Salt Water Sportsman magazine) and Cap Colvin (tackle shop owner in Seaside Park, New Jersey), the organization’s mission was to teach anglers and expand the sport nationally, even internationally. A motley crew from New England to Maryland, including Frank Woolner (editor of Salt Water Sportsman), Lefty Kreh, Mark Sosin, Joe Brooks, and many more formed the first chapter, humorously called the Choon Gum Chapter, meaning duffer or rank beginner. At a board meeting in 1965, key proposals were raised to estab- lish rules and ethical guidelines of the sport. Mark Sosin volunteered to write rules for saltwater fly-rod world records, which were presented in April 1966 at the club’s first get-together. Gentleman that he is, Sosin acknowledged input from Joe Brooks, Kay Brodney, Charles Waterman, Stu Apte, Lefty Kreh, Lee Wulff, Jim Bob Popovics’s innovative fly-tying techniques and use of epoxy Green, mechanical wizard Louis “Bub” and silicone in numerous groundbreaking baitfish-imitating Church, and other members.67 patterns has cast him as one of the finest saltwater tiers of our age.

SUMMER 2013 11 Jerry Gibbs with his father before heading to a summer internship, was fishing from the boat of local Cedar Key guide Captain Steve Kilpatrick. When the fight with that big fish was over, so was a quest of many years. The tarpon, the Big Mama that glided so long through the dreams of so many anglers, had been caught. She weighed in at 202 pounds, 8 ounces.75 Theories abound as to why the numbers of huge fish stopped coming to the area. High on the list is reduced flows from the copious springs feeding the Homosassa ecosystem, thus reducing salt and fresh water mixing and altering forage bases—especially blue crabs. Flo - rida’s limited aquifers have been under assault by exploding human population for years. Increased shrimping along the coast could have added to the forage decline. And simple increased boat traf- fic in the area has certainly not been good. Could the great tarpon schools return? Fly anglers everywhere dream Billy Pate about to release a bonefish on Behring Point, Andros Island, and keep a watchful eye. Today, more Bahamas, March 1986. Pate was staying at Charlie’s Haven, than rumor, word from those who are Charlie Smith’s (inspiration for the Crazy Charlie fly) first lodge. fishing the area again say that more fish are coming. began in the early 1970s and is as fleeting books as they were broken daily. as that idealistic dreamland of Arthurian Numerous 200-pound fish were swim- SWELLING TIDES legend. Plug casters Harold LeMaster and ming in the schools of thousands of fish, Kirk Smith of L&S Lure Company (mak- and of course Big Mama was the grail all There are some who say that saltwater ers of the famed MirOLure) were probing the anglers sought. Many are certain they fly fishing reached its zenith in inventive the waters north of the area’s Pine Island, hooked such a great fish, but something equipment design and technique by the where they ran into huge schools of tar- always went wrong. May was the high end of the so-called explosive decades pon. The duo introduced Lefty Kreh to month of the season, with the fishing spanning the 1950s through the 1980s. their secret area, and Lefty became the first extending somewhat into June. Those years inarguably produced a to take tarpon on flies there in contempo- Like other tarpon-obsessed fly anglers, blitzkrieg of equipment advancement rary times. Another mutual friend of the Pate spent every May for years seeking never before seen, as well as innovative L&S anglers, rod maker Gary Marconi, the elusive 200-pound fly-rod tarpon in approaches to all phases of fly fishing in became privy to the fishery and began Homosassa, setting 16-pound tippet marine environments, but saltwater fly working it with another dedicated Florida records there twice, the latter mark stand- fishing today continues to enjoy steady saltwater fly fisher, Norm Duncan. Guides ing for twenty years. He was proudest of refinement and occasional startling Steve Huff and Dale Perez learned about the fish he hooked, fought, and lip gaffed changes in every facet of the sport. it from Duncan. Huff brought interna- alone. That tarpon taped 2 inches wider Equipment is undergoing ceaseless tional fly angler Tom Evans to the place. than his then–world record, but sadly, it improvement. New fishing grounds con- Stu Apte learned about Homosassa from was slightly short to break the 200-pound tinue to be explored—both exotic and his client Ray Donnersberger but says it mark. Pate was sixty-eight at the time.73 closer to home. A new cast of young was Kreh who really excited him over the But the great Homosassa fishing did anglers—many of them women—are area’s potential. So enamored was Apte not last. pushing the sport to new levels of per- over the incredible numbers of truly huge The 1970s saw the finest fishing. formance: ever-larger fish are being fish there that he refused to guide, opting Numbers of fish caught began declining caught on the fly, and anglers are con- to fish and trade off poling duties with markedly in the 1980s and were terribly triving new wrinkles to improve success friends. The word was out, and shortly the down after the 1990s. This is not to say in the game, especially on more demand- great fly anglers and guides descended.72 big fish were absent. The gathering of the ing and difficult-conditions fish. Since Billy Pate became a regular, as did Al stars of fly fishing’s tarpon world, the the 1990s and now into the second Pflueger, Carl Navarre, Ted Williams, and camaraderie, and the celebratory parties decade of the new millennium, saltwater Captains John Emery, Bill Curtis, Dale Billy Pate regularly threw at the Riverside fly anglers and the numerous organiza- Perez, Steve Huff, Jim Brewer, Cecil Keith Inn had gone, but hopeful anglers still tions and businesses relying on the sport Jr., Eddie Wightman, Hank Brown, and came, casting their flies to what fish were and its enthusiasts are increasingly Lee Baker. They were joined by local there and into that wonderful part of shouldering the responsibility of con- guides like Captains Earl Waters, Steve history.74 And then on 11 May 2001, off serving the marine resources and com- Kilpatrick, John Bazo, Jimmy Long, and Chassahowitza, one huge tarpon was municating the knowledge, culture, and Billy Hampton. During the area’s hey- inspired to engulf a fly that had been pre- history that will keep saltwater fly fishing days, Apte remembers boating two sented by a twenty-five-year-old law stu- thriving. The American Museum of Fly IGFA-record fish in one day. Other dent: James Holland of Vancouver, Fishing ranks high among them. potential records never made it to the Washington. Holland, while on vacation ! 12 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER ENDNOTES and Pioneers (Gainesville, Fla.: University with author, 27 April 2011. Press of Florida, 2011), 78. 55. Ibid. 26. Dick Brown, Fly Fishing for Bonefish: 56. Lefty Kreh with Chris Millard, My 1. “Tamiami Trail,” https://en.wikipedia A Comprehensive Guide to the Fish—and to Life Was This Big (New York: Skyhorse .org /wiki/Tamiami_Trail; last modified on 18 the Tackle, Flies, Skills and Techniques Needed Publishing, 2008). December 2012. Accessed 4 January 2013. to Catch It (New York: Lyons Press, 2008), 6. 57. Dan Reed, “Mom’s Worry,” FlyTyer 2.Jack Samson, Saltwater Fly Fishing 27. Rick Ruoff, “Old School,” Fly Fishing .com, www.flytyer.com/index.php?option=com (Mech anicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 1991), in Salt Waters (March/April 2006), 67. _content&task=view&id=1491&Itemid=90. 21. 28.Jerry Gibbs, “Pioneers and Pioneer ing: Accessed 20 November 2012. 3. Rick Ruoff and Jim Trice, “Revisionist The Allure and Early Days of Saltwater Fly 58. Ibid. History: Islamorada Fishing Guides Asso - Fishing,” The American Fly Fisher (Summer 59. Ibid. ciation,” www.flatsguide.com/historyoffkfga 2012, vol. 38, no. 3), 15. 60. Dunaway, “Race for the Records,” .html. Accessed 8 November 2012. 29. Dunaway, “Race for the Records,” 38. 44–45. 4.Dr. Gordon Hill, Big Pine Key, 30. Ibid., 44. 61.Vic Dunaway, “Fly Fishing for Billfish,” Florida, conversations with author, 15 March 31. Ibid., 40. Florida Sportsman, www.floridasportsman 2011 and 5 January 2013. 32.Bob Veverka, Innovative Saltwater .com/2012/04/23/sportfish_sailfish_s_7302 5. Patricia Hysell, “Nylon Was Patented,” Flies (Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, _marlin_sailfish/, posted 23 April 2012. Examiner.com, 16 February 2010, www 1999), 8. Accessed 11 November 2012. .examiner.com/article/nylon-was-patented. 33. George Reiger, Striped Bass Chronicles 62. Combs, Bluewater Fly Fishing, 78. Accessed 19 November 2012. (New York: Lyons Press, 1997), 65. 63. IGFA World Record Game Fishes 6.The Shakespeare Company, “Shake- 34.Brooks, The Complete Book of Fly Fish - (Dania Beach, Fla.: IGFA, 2012), 298. speare Fishing Tackle—Over 108 Years of ing, 38. 64. Dan Reed, “The Worldwide Sports - Excellence in Fishing Tackle,” www.shakespeare 35. Blanton, “History and Development man,” Fly Fishing in Salt Waters (March/April -fishing.com/history/index.shtml. Accessed of the Shooting Taper in America.” 2009), 68. 19 November 2012. 36.Ruoff and Trice, “Revisionist His- 65.Lou Tabory, e-correspondence and 7.Ed Mitchell, “Harold Gibbs,” Fly tory.” conversation with author, 25 and 30 May 2011. Fishing in Salt Waters (May/June 2007), 75–78. 37. Leon L. Martuch and Mark Sosin, e- 66.Jeff Northrop, interview with author, 3 8. Gloria Jordan, “Wesley Jordan, Legen - mail correspondence with author, 3 May 2011. June 1988; and www.northeastsaltwaterflyfishing dary Rod Builder, Takes Over Orvis Rod 38.“Our Rich History,” www.fenwickfishing .com. Accessed 5 December 2012. Production,” Orvis/Bamboo Information .com/about_history.php. Accessed 8 Novem - 67.Editorial: Legends, “The Salty Fly Page—Wesley D. Jordan Biography. www.orvis ber 2012. Rodders,” Fly Fishing in Salt Waters (May/June .com/intro.aspx?subject=499. Accessed 11 39. Trey Combs, Bluewater Fly Fishing 1995), 71–74; and Bob Popovics, Mark Sosin, June 2012. (New York: The Lyons Press, 1995), 216. and Lefty Kreh, conversations with author, 9. Mitchell, “Harold Gibbs.” 40. Sand, Salt-Water Fly Fishing, 42. May/June 2011. 10.Jordan, “Wesley Jordan, Legendary Rod 41. Ed Pritchard, e-mail correspondence 68. Ibid. Builder.” with Yoshi Akiyama, deputy director of the 69. Ibid. 11. Richard Komar, “Pflueger Medalist American Museum of Fly Fishing, 6 Decem - 70.Jerry Gibbs, “The Candy Man,” Reels—A History,” www.flyanglersonline.com ber 2012. Outdoor Life (April 1995), 100. /features/oldflies/part287.php (originally pub - 42.Jim Williams, in reply to inquiry on John 71. Ibid., 101. lished on Tim Mullican’s Fly Reels Online; no Emery Flyreels, Dan Blanton Bulletin Board 72.Rusty Chinnis, “History of Homosassa,” longer available). Accessed 8 November 2012. Archives, www.danblanton.com/viewarchive.php Fly Fishing in Salt Waters (March/April 2009), 12. Vic Dunaway, “Race for the Records,” ?id=120556&archivefile=/arch200904.php, 54–55. Florida Sportsman (May 1993), 41. posted and accessed 14 April 2009. 73. Pat Ford, “Billy Pate,” Fly Fishing in 13. Lefty Kreh, Fly Fishing in Salt Water 43. Combs, Bluewater Fly Fishing, 216. Salt Waters (July/August 2011), 12. (New York: Nick Lyons Books, 1982), 33–34. 44.Frank Catino, phone conversation 74. Chinnis, “History of Homosassa,” 14. Dan Blanton, “History and Devel - with author, 21 May 2012. 56–57. opment of the Shooting Taper in America,” 45. The Shakespeare Company, “Shake - 75. Joe Julavits, “Record Tarpon Caught Tackle and Techniques Magazine (6 October speare Antique Products,” www.shakespeare on Fly,” Jacksonville.com; Florida Times- 2012), 2, www.danblanton.com/blog/category -fishing.com/antiques/model.shtml. Ac cessed Union, 20 May 2001, http://jacksonville.com /tackle-and-techniques. Accessed 19 Novem - 8 November 2012. /tu-online/stories/052001/spo_6218883.html. ber 2012. 46. Correspondence between Bob Stearns Accessed 11 January 2013. 15. Ibid. and author, 27 July 2011. 16. Joan Salvato Wulff, telephone inter- 47. Ibid. view with author, 27 July 2011. 48.Cortland Company History, www 17. Mark Sosin, “Brushing the Dust Off .cortlandline.com/content.asp?id=706. Saltwater Fly Fishing,” World Record Game Accessed 5 December 2012. Fishes 2007 (Daytona Beach, Fla.: Inter na - 49. Scientific Anglers/3M Fly Line His - tional Game Fish Association), 73. tory, http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M 18. Paul Schullery, American Fly Fishing: /en_US/Midland/Plant/Facility/History. A History (New York: Nick Lyons Books, Accessed 31 December 2011; http://flyanglersonline 1987), 161. .com/features/readerscast/rc150.php. 19.Joe Brooks, Complete Book of Fly Accessed 15 April 2011. Fishing (New York: Outdoor Life, 1958), 39. 50. Jim Teeny, conversation with author, 20. Joe Brooks, Saltwater Game Fishing 9 September 2008. Teeny Company website, (New York: Harper & Row, 1968), 20. www.jimteeny.com/index.html. Accessed 10 21. George X. Sand, Salt-Water Fly Fish - January 2013. ing (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1969), 8. 51. Nick Curcione, telephone interview 22. Ibid. with author, 17 May 2011. 23. A. J. McClane, “Dem Dry Bones,” 52.Dan Blanton, telephone interview Field & Stream (February 1986), 59, 108, 110. with author, 27 April 2011. 24. Brooks, Saltwater Game Fishing, 288. 53. Veverka, Innovative Saltwater Flies, 8. 25. Doug Kelly, Florida’s Fishing Legends 54.Dan Blanton, telephone interview

SUMMER 2013 13 J. C. Mottram by David Burnett

Caddis nymph.

J(ames) C(ecil) Mottram (1879–1945), known has ever seen, the palpitating ingenue is erature, he has remained in barely ac - for his studies of cancer and radiology, also waiting impatiently on the bank when: knowl edged obscurity ever since it was wrote four fishing books and articles for sport- published. Arnold Gingrich gave Mottram ing journals. In 1994, the Flyfisher’s Classic My attention was arrested by the sight a chapter in The Fishing in Print, but Library published a fine edition of one of of a small, slight man in a disreputable nobody seems to have paid much atten- those books, Fly-Fishing: Some New Arts tweed suit, with an ancient cap on his tion, and to make things worse, Gingrich and Mysteries, with an introduction by pub- head and a rod in his hand coming very got his name wrong. It was not John, but quietly up the stream, scrutinising the lisher David Burnett, which we share here. water as he came. . . . The small man was James. Writer Malcolm Greenhalgh tied examples very quiet. He had something about Mottram’s modest approach may have of Mottram’s flies for us, physician/angling him of the stillness, the unhurried calm been dictated by good sense as well as by his tor ian/writer/photographer Andrew Herd of the woods and fields. Withal, he had his dislike of display. He had the bad luck photo graphed them, and we’ve paired his a quiet, thoughtful eye with a twinkle to be born in 1879, at the absolute heyday photographs with illustrations of the same lurking at the back of it. He might, one of fly fishing in Britain. The mighty pow- flies from the second edition of Mottram’s felt, be fun.2 ers of George Selwyn Marryat were at book. their height. F. M. Halford’s first book, Although I have had the pleasure of Floating Flies and How to Dress Them, N HER MEMOIR Back Casts and Back - corresponding with J. C. Mottram’s son, was published when young Mottram was chat (1936), Joan Clarkson de scribes a Jim Jr., this is the only personal glimpse six; Dry Fly Fishing, when he was nine. In Iriverside meeting with J. C. Mottram. that I have found in any book of the bril- 1910 G. E. M. Skues sounded the subver- Already excited by her uncle’s description liant author of Fly-Fishing: Some New sive trumpet which blew down the walls of him as “quite the best fisherman”1 he Arts and Mysteries. (My thanks to book- of poor Halford’s Jericho with Minor seller and scholar, Ron Coleby, for point- Tactics of the Chalk stream. It was not per- ing the way.) haps a good time to rush into print with Flies tied by Malcolm Greenhalgh. Photographs by Andrew Herd. Jim Mottram Sr. seems to have been a a theoretical fly-fishing book. All page images from J. C. Mottram, Fly-Fishing: retiring man. He never sought the lime- Mottram began by publishing articles Some New Arts and Mysteries, 2nd ed. (London: light, and though his book is one of the in The Field, in the Flyfisher’s Journal, The Field Press Ltd., 1921). most original contributions to fishing lit- and in the Salmon & Trout Magazine. He

14 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER Midge pupa. did not rush. He was cautious, as befitted Of the important nineteenth-century topics as the color sense of fish, the stress a scientist. He was trained to examine, to trout-fishing books, none (so far as I curves of rods, the behavior of New experiment, and to verify. His field of know) was written by a scientist. Neither Zealand beetles, the way trout see, the flies study was radiology, and he worked on Stoddart, Stewart, Ronalds, Francis of the future (a crucial chapter—turn to it new cancer treatments being developed Francis, or Halford had scientific train- immediately if you want a brilliant in the thrilling technological hothouse of ing. One of the most imaginative fly- demonstration, years ahead of its time). the new century. fishing experiments of the time was con- In one amazing experiment, he taught His first published writings appeared ducted not by scientists, but by a Scottish a captive roach to discriminate between under the pseudonym “Jim Jam” in The laird with a sharp mind (and a great the colors red and blue, proving that fish Field in 1912. Like Skues, he does not sense of humor), Sir Herbert Maxwell. could indeed see colors, maybe not like seem to have relished writing a book He it was who demonstrated the appar- us, but somehow. from the outset, but as his pieces accu- ent flaws in the “exact imitation” theory He kept nymphs in jars and studied mulated, he collected them for eventual by catching trout using floating mayflies their lifestyle, which enabled him to pro- publication in 1915. Fly-Fishing: Some colored bright red and bright blue. duce in Chapter XXII of this book an New Arts and Mysteries seems to be the This was the kind of experiment that authoritative résumé of nymph-fishing first book on trout fishing by a scientist. Mottram enjoyed, but he was no maver- tactics which makes F. M. Halford look Years before, in the days of Jane Austen ick joker (which Sir Herbert was, in part) like an antique, although he was still alive and Lord Byron, another scientist–angler but a serious, dedicated, and methodical and publishing at the time the chapter had taken up the pen, but Sir Humphry investigator. He did not seek to show that was written. (Halford kept nymphs too— Davy chose to write about salmon fish- the trout is a fool, but tried to compre- but he didn’t reach the right conclusions, ing, one of the most unscientific pastimes hend its perceptions. Mottram’s book is considering them impossible to imitate.) on earth, and furthermore, he adopted an the first scientific inquiry into matters of It takes quite an effort to accept that archaic literary style based on Walton. interest to trout fishers. He discusses such this book was mostly written in 1912 and

SUMMER 2013 15 1913, and published in 1915. It is amazing- body. To John’s vast amusement, I pointed At the present time I am endeavouring ly modern, and what it prefigures is not out to him (at a dinner of the Flyfishers’ to imitate by means of a very soft feather the peculiar undulations of the progress in the chalkstreams—but in still Club where I was a guest, so it was perhaps 4 water. Mottram fished imitative patterns inappropriate) that this fly is illustrated in abdomen of a swimming nymph . . . both wet and dry at Blagdon with great Chapter XIII of Mottram’s book. So is success from 1914 or so when the reser- Geoffrey Bucknall’s famous Footballer, These examples will I hope be enough voir was first opened and most anglers forty-odd years before it was “invented”! to persuade any fly fisherman that this were using salmon lures like Durham Those anglers who think marabou is a neglected work is important, thought- Rangers or large Scottish wet flies. His modern material might be surprised by provoking, and surely worth reprinting. cork midge larvae and pupae imitations, Mottram’s Fry Fly. He writes: his fry patterns, his smuts, his silhouette " nymphs, all these pointed the way for- In this, motion in particular is chosen Following Fly-Fishing: Some New Arts ward to the reservoir fishers of the future. for copying—the quivering of a little and Mysteries, Jim Jam published three fish swimming against the current. If a But it was forty or fifty years before very soft down feather be held in a further books, none of them important. Mottram’s lead was followed, and I have stream or be drawn rapidly along in still In 1923 Sea Trout and Other Fishing yet to meet a still-water trout fisher who water, it will be seen to quiver very like Studies, in 1928 Trout Fisheries: Their has read this book. A very fine modern a small fish.3 Care and Preservation, and finally in 1945 fisherman–entomologist, John Goddard, Thoughts on Angling, which has a most recently described a smut pattern he had And, as a last example of his futuristic poignant farewell to angling, and to life, invented, with a tiny ball of peacock herl mind, how about this, from the chapter as its concluding chapter. Why he never at the head, a short black hackle, and no on nymphs and bulgers: recaptured the brilliance of his early

Smut, long-hackle version.

16 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER work is a mystery. Perhaps, he fell over eighty, but he still had sharp claws. The ENDNOTES his own fence—that challenging opening nymph debate (which can be found in sentence to his introduction here: “It is Donald Overfield’s book The Way of a 1.Joan Clarkson, Back Casts and Backchat useless to argue the question as to Man with a Trout) makes painful reading (London: Game & Gun Ltd., 1936), 80. whether, or no, fly-fishing is worthy of for admirers of Jim Mottram’s work. He 2. Ibid., 81. serious thought.”5 Maybe it ceased to be, limped away, and never wrote on contro- 3. J. C. Mottram, Fly-Fishing: Some New for him. Perhaps, angling became in J. W. versial subjects again. His last collection, Arts and Mysteries (London: The Field & Dunne’s cruel phrase, a “mere recrea - Thoughts on Angling, contains mostly Queen [Horace Cox], Ltd., 1915), 140. tion.”6 travel stuff, Norwegian salmon, and 4. Ibid., 250. Mottram turns up, quietly and unim- coarse fishing episodes. He died in the 5. Ibid., xiii. pressively, in the spiteful 1938 debate at year it was published. 6. J. W. Dunne, Sunshine and the Dry Fly (London: A. & C. Black, 1924). the Flyfishers’ Club, when the ancient but Yet, though the giant shadows of formidable Mr. Skues faced his critics Halford and Skues hung over J. C. who claimed that nymph fishing was Mottram all his career, right to the end, detrimental in chalkstreams. Jim had by his probing mind threw light into dark The fine edition of J. C. Mottram’s Fly-Fishing: then turned into a one-fly dry-fly man, places which those two great figures Some New Arts and Mysteries is available from abandoning his earlier eclectic approach. failed to illumine, and he indicated paths Coch-y-Bonddu Books/The Flyfisher’s Classic He spoke against nymph fishing in the to progress which have led much further Library, Pentrerhedyn Street, Machynlleth, Powys debate, and found the withering scorn of than theirs. This book is his testimony. SY20 8DG, U.K. Phone: (+44) 1654 702837, fax: Mr. Skues turned full upon him as a Long may it be read. (+44) 1654 702857, www.anglebooks.com, £69 + turncoat. The fierce old legal eagle was ! shipping.

Transparent Jenny spinner.

SUMMER 2013 17 KEEPERS OF THE FLAME

The Golden Gate Angling & Casting Club by John Mundt

An oasis of expertise, inspiration and camaraderie, the Golden Gate Angling & Casting Club is also the home of the world’s premier fly casting facility. A special place where many of us have learned to love learning. —Mel Krieger (1928–2008)

GGACC members at the clubhouse, circa 1939. Photo courtesy of the Golden Gate Angling & Casting Club.

HE GOLDEN GATE Angling & Cast - come. People popped in and out all publishes the GGACC Bulletin to keep ing Club is a place I’d wanted to morning, and by noon, a businessman in their international membership of sever- Tvisit for some time. It’s an historic jacket and tie was stringing up a rod for al hundred informed of club activities institution bearing a name that is well some practice during his lunch hour. and weekend events, which numbered known even to those of us who grew up The membership criteria is straight- fourteen in 2012. entrenched in the eastern dry-fly tradi- forward. The club states that “any person Attempting to capture the history of tions. This past October, I finally had the evidencing an interest in casting as a such a grand organization is beyond the chance to stop by one weekday morning sport or in sport fishing is eligible to scope of this column, but here are a few and was surprised to find a number of become a member.”1 Initiation is a milestones to consider. The GGACC is the GGACC members tying flies and drink- whopping $10, and annual dues are $40 second-oldest casting club in the United ing coffee in their Anglers’ Lodge, casting per person or $50 per family. Junior States. It grew out of the San Francisco Fly Spey rods in the three large casting memberships are available for children Casting Club, which was founded in 1894 pools, and casually kibitzing about what- younger than eighteen for $6 (1.6 cents (they are preceded only by the Chicago ever came to mind. One can immediate- per day). Not bad for entrée into 120 Angling & Casting Club, founded two ly tell that this is a vibrant and active years of fly-fishing history and innova- years before). Major tackle innovations— community that makes visitors feel wel- tion. The club offers instruction and also such as the hollow-built bamboo rods of 18 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER R. L. Winston Rod Co., numerous rod Author Thomas McGuane made a pil- The members of the Golden Gate tapers, standardization of fly-line sizes, grimage to the club in 1966 and recounted Angling & Casting Club are true keepers and use of shooting-head fly lines for fish- the experience in The Longest Silence: A of the flame, and the heritage of our ing—were developed there. Legendary Life in Fishing. McGuane exclaimed that sport is preserved and enriched by them. member Steve Rajeff won his fortieth the GGACC “had bred a school of casters For more information about the club, Grand National Champion title in 2012. who are without any doubt the finest there visit www.ggacc.org, or just drop in The Anglers’ Lodge is a gem. It was has ever been.”2 He referred to the setting whenever your travels bring you to the constructed along with the ponds as part as “distinctly otherworldly.”3 Nearly half a Bay Area. of a federal Works Progress Admini - century later, that’s still the case, and just ! stration initiative in 1938. The pinewood being there inspired me to work on lockers were brought over from the orig- improving my casting this spring. ENDNOTES inal San Francisco Fly Casting Club on It is interesting to consider that tourna- Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park. There’s a ment casting had been extremely popular 1. “Join the Club,” The Golden Gate Angling & Casting Club, http://www.ggacc communal table with vises and fly-tying on the East Coast, especially in New York .org/p/p.aspx?mlid=6. Accessed 22 April 2013. materials strewn about, a small kitchen City, from the Civil War era until the 1920s, 2.Thomas McGuane, The Longest Silence: area, and a large conference room with a when it faded into the Central Park sunset. A Life in Fishing (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, stone fireplace, shelves of books, and For whatever reason, such competition 1999), 40. numerous framings of photographs and continues to thrive in California, with 3. Ibid., 36. flies. From there, one can look out over other active clubs in Oakland, Long Beach, the casting ponds only steps away. It is an and San Jose. Fly casting remains one of John Mundt is a former trustee of the inviting and comfortable place. the oldest contested sports in America. American Museum of Fly Fishing.

Kiley Melicker

The GGACC casting ponds and clubhouse today.

The interior of the clubhouse. Photo courtesy of the Golden Gate Angling & Casting Club.

SUMMER 2013 19 NOTES AND COMMENT What’s Happened to the Whitefish? by Richard Lessner

All photos by Richard Lessner

Mighty whitey: long the object of angler disdain, the mountain whitefish is native to the Madison River and plays an integral role in the ecology of a healthy river. The Madison whitefish stream team: the three-year study is a partnership of the Madison River Foundation; Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks; and Montana State University, all represented on this hard-working crew.

HITEFISH HAVE always had a It seems clear from anecdotal angler hard data and research, however, no one problem with respect: like evidence and some preliminary elec- really knows for sure what is happening. WRodney Dangerfield, they don’t troshocking by Montana Fish, Wildlife In 2009, a “whitefish summit” that in- get any. Mountain whitefish were once and Parks (FWP) that the mountain cluded fisheries biologists from Mon tana, abundant in the rivers of the northern whitefish (Prosopium williamsoni) popu- Colorado, and other western states met to Rockies. In fact, there were so many lation in the Madison has crashed. The share information and discuss the appar- whitefish that anglers openly disparaged whitefish have gone from abundance to ent decline in the species across the region. them for getting in the way of the more scarcity in just a few years. They appear Montana FWP biologist Dick Vincent highly prized trout they were trying to to be in some trouble all over Montana (since retired) reported that gill-netting catch. The ubiquitous whitefish were and indeed the Rocky Mountains. What’s data for Hebgen Lake on the Madison often victims of the infamous “Montana going on? from 1975 to 2008 showed whitefish num- handshake”—squeeze ’em and toss ’em Whirling disease is one suspected cul- bers in decline since 2000, with low num- up on the banks! prit. (Myobolus cerebralis is a parasite bers of juvenile fish resulting from inade- When they weren’t cursing them, trout that attacks juvenile fish and inflicts quate spawning the most likely suspect.1 anglers never bothered paying much skeletal and neurological damage, caus- (Vincent was the biologist whose ground- attention to the lowly whitefish. Nor did ing the fish to swim erratically—that is, breaking research on the Madison in the fisheries biologists and managers give “whirl” in an awkward corkscrew-like 1960s and early 1970s led Montana to cease them much consideration. Whiteys were pattern. Of European origin, whirling dis- stocking hatchery trout in the state’s rivers so numerous that they received scant ease is especially lethal to rainbow and and streams and to manage solely for wild attention. Much less was any limited cutthroat trout and whitefish. Brown trout reproduction.) research money wasted studying them. trout, which evolved with the disease in While Montana FWP has more than Now anglers are scratching their heads Europe, are less susceptible.) But whirling forty years of electroshocking data on and asking, “Where have all the whitefish disease has been present in the Madison trout in the Madison, whitefish numbers gone?” Longtime fly fishers on Montana’s since first identified in the early 1990s, and sizes were not recorded because the Madison River have noticed for several and the whitefish crash seems to be a species was never the subject of research seasons now that they’re not catching more recent development (after an ini- interest. Indeed, whitefish once were so nearly as many mountain whitefish as they tial plummet, the rainbow population in abundant that the bag limit in Montana have in years past. Some have gone several the Madison has made a remarkable and was 100 fish per day! Provisional test years without catching a single one. unexpected recovery). In the absence of shocking on the Pine Butte section of the

20 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER A Montana FWP electroshocking crew captured whitefish for the study. Because whitefish are more sensitive to electroshocking than trout, the fish were captured in early May while water temperatures were colder. Montana FWP Region 3 fisheries biologist Travis Horton nets a whitefish from a holding cage.

Measuring a healthy adult whitefish, a prime candidate for a radio tag.

Madison in 2008 and 2010, however, ferent times of the year. Hence, there was these predators are not eating whitefish, turned up very low numbers of juvenile little research conducted on whitefish then they’re probably dining on trout. whitefish, but relatively healthy numbers when the annual trout census was taken. Trout, too, depend on whitefish. of larger, older fish. But because white- Yet as Dick Vincent pointed out to me Juvenile whitefish are an important part fish are long-lived (fifteen to twenty during an interview, whitefish are an of the trout diet. If whitefish are not as years), these larger fish represent oldsters important part of the river ecology. If abundantly available to trout as a food that were spawned a long time ago. It their numbers have declined, then the source as they have been historically, then appears the older whitefish are not being implications for a healthy river environ- this may account for the slower growth replaced and that, for reasons unknown, ment must be considered. Contrary to rates some biologists see in Madison recruitment of young fish is slumping. what many anglers believe, whitefish do rainbows. The whitefish’s survival strate- Until recently, few people cared much not compete with trout. The species gy is to reproduce in very large num- about whitefish. Let’s face it, the lowly occupy different niches in the river. FWP bers—much larger than trout. The aver- whitefish is not as highly valued as a fisheries biologist Travis Horton recently age female whitefish lays several times as game fish as trout (although catching a told me, “If whitefish didn’t belong in many eggs as a similar-sized trout, and few whitefish has salvaged many a slow the river, then nature would not have put their eggs are smaller. Whitefish females day on the river). And they are kind of them there in the first place.” Fewer produce on average 7,000 eggs per pound goofy looking. There wasn’t much of a whitefish do not equate to more trout. In of fish.2 Whitefish do not build redds as constituency clamoring for whitefish fact, quite the opposite may be true: do trout and salmon, but broadcast their research, so little was done. Even though fewer whitefish may mean fewer and eggs over suitable gravels. Trout feed on Montana FWP has more than four smaller trout. these eggs as well as whitefish fry and fin- decades of population data on trout in Mountain whitefish, a salmonid cousin gerlings. Take this source of protein out the Madison—probably the best such of the trout, are native to the Rockies and of the river’s food chain, and the larger documented river in North America— the Madison. They were here long before ecological impacts could be significant. data were not collected on whitefish dur- the first rainbow and browns were intro- This is why the Madison River Founda - ing the annual trout census. Whitefish are duced. Whitefish are an important food tion, a nonprofit conservation organiza- more sensitive to shocking than trout and source for osprey, bald eagles, heron, and tion based in Ennis, Montana, took a require different handling methods at dif- otters. If their numbers are down and leadership role in a new partnership to

SUMMER 2013 21 launch a multiyear study of whitefish in searchers from MSU’s Cooperative this species augur something disturbing? the Madison. At present, we do not have Fishery Research Unit surgically implant- Or is this a natural phenomenon? We good baseline data on Prosopium ed seventy adult whitefish with radio don’t know. But perhaps the research williamsoni. What is needed is basic transmitters, which will track the fish project under way will help us learn more research into the life history of the over a period of two years to acquire about this underappreciated cousin of species, population data, habitat and basic information about the species’ the trout. spawning requirements, stream flow and spawning habits and habitats, migration temperature impacts, water quality, and patterns, and juvenile behavior to better Richard Lessner is the executive director of disease issues. The foundation is work- understand their life history. Only then the Madison River Foundation. ing with Montana FWP, the Cooperative can we begin to identify possible causes Fishery Research Unit at Montana State for their decline. ENDNOTES University (MSU–Bozeman), and Trout John Muir once noted of nature that Unlimited to undertake just such a study, “when we try to pick out anything by 1. R. E. Vincent, “Whitefish Population the first of its kind on the Madison River. itself, we find it hitched to everything Declines in Montana,” Conserving Cold Water 3 Fisheries, Proceedings of the 2009 Whirling With funding from the Madison River else.” So it is with whitefish. Their appar- Disease and Invasive Species Symposium, 4–5 Foundation’s Dick McGuire Memorial ent decline could have unknown and February 2009. Fund, the C. Walker Cross Charitable unpleasant ripple effects throughout the 2.Craig Springer, “Mountain Whitefish,” Foun dation, PPL Montana, and Madison- Madison River system and beyond. Northwest Fly Fishing (March/April 2012), 59. Gallatin Trout Unlimited, the study was Is the lowly whitefish the canary in the 3. John Muir, My First Summer in the launched in the spring of 2012. Re - coal mine? Does the apparent decline of Sierra (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1911), 110.

Dr. Christopher Guy of the Cooperative Fishery Research Unit at MSU weighs and measures a whitefish before implanting a radio transmitter. MSU graduate student Jan Boyer examines an adult whitefish to determine its sex. More females than males were implanted with radio transmitters to track their spawning movements.

Volunteers from the Madison River Foundation assisted in capturing fish and implanting radio transmitters. Here MRF volunteer Jim Van Osdell keeps water flowing over the fish’s gills while Jan Adult whitefish were surgically implanted with these Boyer prepares to implant the radio transmitter. radio transmitters to track their movements over a period of two years, beginning in the spring of 2012. 22 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER American Rivers: Celebrating Forty Years of River Conservation by Devin Dotson National Park ServicePark National Elwha Dam (Washington) during deconstruction, 2011.

ORTH CAROLINA’S New River is The country was losing its best rivers rivers permanently protected. They not one of the oldest rivers in the world at an alarming rate. only killed the dam on the New River, Nand one of our country’s natural “We were energized, on fire, ready to they also succeeded in securing Wild and treasures. Boasting beautiful scen ery, act. We just needed money,” recalls Mike Scenic designation for the river. This canoeing, and fishing, this unique river was Fremont, founder of Rivers Unlimited in precedent-setting success proved river threatened by a huge reservoir project in Ohio and a participant in the Denver conservationists could stop harmful 1975. A dam would have destroyed the meeting. water projects and score big wins on a area’s natural heritage and local farmland, Somebody threw $20 on the table. national level. and devastated fish and wildlife. It did not More people chipped in. American Rivers, In its first five years, American Rivers make economic sense and would have the national conservation organization, boosted the number of Wild and Scenic been an environmental disaster. was born. Rivers from eight to forty-three. Rivers It is exactly the kind of project “We had to move fast or we would like Pennsylvania’s upper Delaware, American Rivers was founded to fight. lose our best rivers,” remembers Brent Washington’s lower Skagit, Michigan’s Blackwelder, one of the cofounders of Pere Marquette, and Texas’s lower Rio DEDICATED TO SAVING RIVERS American Rivers. “[The early 1970s] was Grande flow free today because of the the golden age of dam building, and we advocacy made possible by supporters. Just two years earlier, a group of pas- needed to fight back.” Forty years later, American Rivers is still sionate river conservationists had founded Bill Painter, the organization’s first the leading voice for Wild and Scenic American Rivers (then known as the president, said, “Those dams were like Rivers, safeguarding wild rivers and American Rivers Conservation Council). vampires. We would stop them, they streams for future generations. They met in Denver in 1973 to confront would go into hibernation for a while, the fact that unnecessary dams were but then they would pop up again.” BROADENING IMPACT silencing many of the nation’s last wild, free-flowing rivers. These river advocates EARLY SUCCESSES Over the past forty years, American were also concerned that Congress had Rivers continued to fight harmful new failed to grant federal protection to any Working in a tiny Washington, D.C., dams and became the leader in restoring rivers since the original Wild and Scenic office, Painter and Blackwelder fought rivers by removing outdated dams. It was Rivers Act passed in 1968. unnecessary dams and lobbied to get not long ago when taking down a dam

SUMMER 2013 23 was considered radical—and downright Further, American Rivers has im - for rivers. It is stronger and more effective impossible. American Rivers changed proved river health by establishing broad- than ever, with a seventy-nine-person staff that, working with partners to set free reaching programs like the National River working out of its Washington, D.C., rivers like Maine’s Kennebec and Cleanup®, which has seen the work of headquarters and in offices around the Penobscot, Virginia’s Rappahannock, and more than one million volunteers country. American Rivers is strong Washington’s Elwha and White Salmon. remove more than sixteen million because of its passion for rivers. It is strong Thanks to the efforts of river supporters, pounds of trash from more than 225,000 because of its dedicated partners and the communities across the nation have re- river miles. In addition, the organiza- scores of anglers, boaters, and families moved more than 1,100 dams. American tion’s national voice draws attention to who value healthy, free-flowing rivers. Rivers continues to build support for river its annual list of America’s Most En- Learn more about the history and restoration in communities every day. dangered Rivers®. This listing has helped conservation work of American Rivers at In the last four decades, the organiza- to save beautiful fishing rivers such as the www.AmericanRivers.org. tion has also advocated for clean water, Hoback in Wyoming, the Penobscot in ! the lifeblood of rivers and communities. Maine, the North Fork of the Flathead in It has fought to uphold Clean Water Act Montana, the Elwha in Washington State, safeguards on Capitol Hill, and helped and the Klamath in California. Devin Dotson is associate director of com- neighborhoods and businesses use rain munications at American Rivers in Wash - gardens and green roofs to stop polluted SUPPORTERS MAKE THE ington, D.C. For more information on how runoff. American Rivers has also helped DIFFERENCE American Rivers helps fishing and fish broker water supply agreements that habitat or how to support their work, please keep enough water flowing in rivers to Today, with more than 100,000 mem- contact Steve White, associate director of safeguard river health while meeting the bers, activists, and volunteers, American development, the Anglers Fund, at swhite water needs of farms and cities. Rivers remains the nation’s leading voice @AmericanRivers.org or 919-720-2901.

Scott Bosse

The Hoback River in Wyoming, designated Wild and Scenic.

24 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER Laura Craig Fisherman on Darby Creek, Pennsylvania, immediately after dam removal.

Highlights from Forty Years of Success 1973: Thirty-three conservationists meet in Denver and 1,000 miles of river will be accessible to spawning fish thanks form the American Rivers Conservation Council. to this project. 1980: American Rivers supports Wild and Scenic designa- 2005: Arizona’s Fossil Creek, a beautiful desert stream tion of thirty-three rivers in Alaska, protecting more than with rare travertine deposits, is brought back to life after 100 3,000 river miles. years by removal of an outdated hydropower dam. 1984: American Rivers launches the America’s Most 2006: American Rivers wins a 9-0 U.S. Supreme Court Endangered Rivers® report, which spotlights threats to rivers decision requiring hydro dams to comply with the Clean and focuses public attention on the need to protect rivers. Water Act. 1992: American Rivers establishes the Hydropower 2006: In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, American Reform Coalition to restore river health by improving dam Rivers begins a successful campaign to close Mississippi operations. River Gulf Outlet (MRGO), the canal that led to levee fail- 1992: American Rivers helps pass the Michigan Scenic ures, killing people and destroying property in New Orleans. Rivers Act, the most comprehensive national river protection 2009: American Rivers surpasses its goal of designating bill ever for a state east of the Rockies, and the Arkansas Wild forty rivers for the fortieth anniversary of the Wild and and Scenic Rivers Act, the most comprehensive for a south- Scenic Rivers Act with a new law protecting eighty-two rivers ern state. in the system. 1994: American Rivers wins a U.S. Supreme Court victory, 2009: American Rivers “Natural Security” report is ensuring that states can require minimum river flows to pro- released with a congressional briefing that focuses on sus- tect the river’s water quality and maintain the river’s uses as tainable water strategies to prepare communities for a designated by the state. changing climate. 1996: American Rivers helps kill a gold mine that threat- 2011: After twenty-five years of advocacy by American ened the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River and Yellow - Rivers and partners, the world’s largest dam removal begins stone National Park. on Washington’s Elwha River. Combined with the removal of 1999: After years of advocacy by American Rivers and its part- a second dam on this river, the project is expected to support ners, Edwards Dam on Maine’s Kennebec River is removed, giv- a population of more than 400,000 spawning steelhead. ing dam removal national mainstream attention. 2012: The Hoback River, named twice as one of America’s 2003: American Rivers serves as official conservation part- Most Endangered Rivers, is permanently saved through a gas ner of the National Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Council, lease buyout agreement brokered by a coalition including highlighting efforts to restore rivers like the Missouri, Snake, American Rivers. and Columbia. 2012: American Rivers launches the Anglers Fund, a new 2004: A landmark agreement is made to remove two dams program to connect its conservation work with the fishing and improve operations at a third dam on Maine’s community. Members have access to fish rivers we have Penobscot River. These efforts will bring back Atlantic saved with the staff that saved them. Learn more at salmon, striped bass, and other fish and wildlife. More than www.AmericanRivers.org/AnglersFund.

SUMMER 2013 25 Spring Tying Events Thank you to the volunteer fly tiers who helped to make our annual Fit to be “Tyed” series a great success in January and February: Peggy Brenner, George Butts, Paul Sinicki, and Kelly Bedford. This year, each tying session focused on a particular category of patterns: saltwater, streamers, trout, and terrestrials. Thanks also to Paul Sinicki for again participating in April’s Spring Training to teach more saltwater patterns. Yoshi Akiyama Yoshi Kelly Bedford teaching a terrestrial pattern at our recent Fit to Be “Tyed” program.

William Michael Fitzgerald. Annual Members-Only Event Image courtesy of Frontiers International. We welcomed members to the museum on May 4 to enjoy our second annual members-only event. Visitors were not only William Michael Fitzgerald (1938–2013) treated to a light breakfast and store promotions but also had Longtime museum trustee William Michael Fitzgerald the opportunity to be among the first to view our new exhibi- passed away on April 7. Cofounder of Frontiers International tion, The Wonders of Fly Fishing, through a private, guided with his wife, Susan, he was a member of the American tour. The executive director and staff are grateful for the Museum of Fly Fishing Board of Trustees from 1982 to 1991 and chance to thank members for their support one on one. We was among the first six trustees emeriti recognized on this hope to see you at this event next year. (If you’re not yet a journal’s masthead (Spring 1992). A former dentist, Fitzgerald member, join today at www.amff.com!) is considered by many to be a pioneer of the sporting travel business, setting new standards in the industry. He was highly Museum Receives Funds for Exhibit regarded by all who knew him, and, according to his family, “will be remembered best for his active mind, his gentle nature, We are pleased to announce that The Wonders of Fly Fishing his inimitable sense of humor, and his passion for Duke bas- exhibition has received funding from the Champlain Valley ketball, the Ohio State Buckeyes, and the Pittsburgh Steelers.” National Heritage Partnership (CVNHP) and the Orvis He will be missed. Company. The Wonders of Fly Fishing highlights the remarkable history of American fly fishing through the display and interpretation of the finest artifacts in the museum’s extensive Southern Exposure collection. This exhibition tells the stories of the people, events, AMFF spent some time at the end of February in Key Largo, and innovations that have shaped the sport. Florida, introducing our mission and programs to a group of The funds will help underwrite the production and installa- avid anglers at the Key Largo Anglers Club and the Ocean Reef tion of the museum’s 2013 exhibition. CVNHP offers grants for Club. Attendees were treated to a presentation about the muse- funding research and interpretation projects of the arts and um’s history and exciting future initiatives, including our humanities, with a specific category for recreational and/or American saltwater fly-fishing project. The museum is apprecia- commercial fishing. The Orvis Company, whose flagship store tive of our hosts for the event, Trustee Nancy Zakon and her is next door to the museum, has sponsored the exhibit as well. husband Alan. Steve Hemkens, Orvis’s divisional merchandise manager for

26 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER Sara Wilcox Upcoming Events Events take place on the museum grounds in Manchester, Vermont, unless otherwise noted.

July 21 Celebrate National Ice Cream Day! Fly-fishing activities and free ice cream

August 10 Fly-Fishing Festival

September 18 Heritage Dinner New York City

October 1-31 Online Auction

December 7 Gallery Program Hooked on the Holidays 1:00–4:00 p.m.

Always check our website (www.amff.com) for additions, updates, and more information or contact Christina Cole at (802) 362-3300 or [email protected]. “Casting About,” the museum’s e-mail newsletter, offers up-to-date news and event information. To subscribe, look for the link on our website or contact the museum. Longtime museum member Pen Reed Jr. peruses one of the rod cases during the members-only event in May. B ACK I SSUES! rod and tackle, noted, “Each and every day, the intricate and exhilarating world of fly fishing touches the lives of our Vol. 1: Nos. 3, 4 Vol. 20: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 employees and inspires them to innovate, create, and learn; Vol. 2: Nos. 1, 3 Vol. 21: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 this is why Orvis is proud to be a sponsor of the Wonders of Fly Vol. 3: No. 1 Vol. 22: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 Fishing exhibit. We hope that its presence in the American Vol. 4: No. 2 Vol. 23: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 Museum of Fly Fishing will bring this same sense of wonder to Vol. 5: Nos. 1, 2, 3 Vol. 24: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 any and all who view it.” Vol. 6: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 Vol. 25: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 Vol. 7: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 Vol. 26: Nos. 1, 2, 4 Vol. 8: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 Vol. 27: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 Vol. 9: Nos. 1, 2, 3 Vol. 28: Nos. 1, 2, 3 Vol. 10: Nos. 1, 2, 3 Vol. 29: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 Vol. 11: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 Vol. 30: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 Vol. 12: Nos. 1, 3 Vol. 31: Nos. 1, 2 Vol. 13: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 Vol. 32: Nos. 1, 2, 3 Vol. 14: Nos. 1, 2 Vol. 33: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 Vol. 15: Nos. 1, 2 Vol. 34: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 Vol. 16: Nos. 1, 2, 3 Vol. 35: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 Vol. 17: Nos. 1, 2, 3 Vol. 36: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 Vol. 18: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 Vol. 37: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 In the Library Vol. 19: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 Vol. 38: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 Thanks to Skyhorse Publishing for their donations of 2013 Vol. 39: Nos. 1, 2 titles that have become part of our permanent collection: Paul Back issues are $10 a copy for Schullery’s The Fishing Life: An Angler’s Tales of Wild Rivers and nonmembers, $5 for members. Other Restless Metaphors, Ronald Weber’s Riverwatcher: A Fly- To order, please contact Laura Napolitano at Fishing Mystery, and Nick Lyons’s 1,001 Pearls of Fishing (802)362-3300 or via e-mail at [email protected]. Wisdom: Advice and Inspiration for Sea, Lake, and Stream.

Jim Heckman of Manchester, Vermont, donated a collec- Recent Donations tion of vintage fishing prints by H. M. Bateman and books Carmine Lisella of New City, New York, donated a Walton illustrated by Bateman: H. M. Bateman’s The Evening Rise Powell Hexagraph fly rod. Elise Robinson of Denison, Texas, (Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd., 1960), George Brennand’s gave us a collection of flies in memory of her late husband, Walton’s Delight (Michael Joseph Ltd., 1953), and R. D. Peck’s Tom Robinson, and his grandfather, Gus Robinson. Fly Fishing for Duffers (Adams & Charles Black, 1941).

SUMMER 2013 27 CONTRIBUTORS

David Burnett spent fifty years in book publishing, starting with a stint behind an editorial desk at William Heinemann Ltd. in London. A serious interest in fly-fishing literature and practice led to friendships with well-known fishermen —authors such as Charles Ritz, Frank Sawyer, John Ashley-Cooper, Arthur Oglesby, Fred Buller, Nick Lyons, and Hugh Falkus, among many. In 1990, on the retirement of Antony Witherby, David Burnett arranged the takeover of H. F. & G. Witherby, the specialist publisher of fishing books, whose assets included Hugh Falkus’s famous books Sea Trout Fishing and Salmon Fishing. He became editorial consultant to the Flyfisher’s Classic Library at this time and developed further interest in the literature and history of the sport. In 1993, Burnett quit London and set up Excellent Press in rural Shropshire, publishing classic reprints of fishing and country books, as well as some new titles, such as Speycasting by Hugh Falkus (1994). Now retired, Burnett is hoping to continue tying flies and fishing for Shropshire brown trout and sea trout in Norway for as long as Fate allows. Alison Alison Morton

Jerry Gibbs served as Outdoor Life’s fishing editor for thirty-five years, having filled the position in 1973, following the death of Joe Brooks. He is the author of several technical fishing books as well as the award-winning short story collection Steel Barbs. He was recipient of the American Sportfishing Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005 and Johnson Outdoors’ Fishing Journalist of the Year in 2006. He has presented position papers to federal fisheries agencies and state fish and wildlife agencies. His work has won top honors from the Outdoor Writers Association of America, including the prestigious Excellence in Craft award in 2008. His stories and photos have appeared in most of the nation’s salt- and freshwater fishing journals, to which he continues to contribute. Gibbs has fished in salt and fresh water across the United States and Canada, and in Europe, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Russia, New Zealand, and Australia. He lives on the Maine coast with his wife Judy and their French Brittany, chasing striped bass and fly rod–manageable bluefins while scheming ways to head south when the fish do. Dennis Dennis Welsh

Second Annual AMFF Online Auction

October 1 –31

Visit www.amff.com for more details.

28 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER The Wonders of Fly Fishing

An iconic angling image of Maxine Atherton, wife of twentieth-century artist John Atherton, fishing the Battenkill near Arlington, Vermont. From the collection of the American Museum of Fly Fishing.

T THE AMERICAN MUSEUM of Fly Fishing, our mission ning stages of our major traveling exhibition, On Fly in the is to collect, preserve, interpret, and promote the histo- Salt: American Saltwater Fly Fishing from the Surf to the Flats. Ary of all aspects of fly fishing: the equipment, people, Wonders has also given the museum the opportunity to con- events, conservation, science, art, wildlife, photography, litera- tinue our partnership with Vermont’s President Calvin Coolidge ture, and more. Our current exhibition, The Wonders of Fly State Historic Site (located in Plymouth) by installing a special Fishing, brings all of these topics into a single, enlightening case documenting President Coolidge’s angling life. Yoshi presentation. worked with the Coolidge site staff in 2010 and 2011 to identi- The exhibition comprises six separate, yet associated, themed fy and catalog parts of their collection for their special exhibi- sections. The first section is the sport’s timeline, from its tion, Gone Fishin’ with the President. Many of these items are European origins to its introduction to America. Other sections now on loan to AMFF so that our visitors can see how Silent take a closer look at the evolution of flies, innovations in rod Cal equipped himself for this pastime. making, advances in reel design, high-profile and celebrity The museum is grateful to the Orvis Company and to the anglers, and the history of American saltwater fly fishing. Each Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership for their gen- section includes treasures from the museum’s permanent col- erous support of this exhibition. We also appreciate the many lection, and “the best of the best” is on view. Acquisitions since lenders, artifact donors, contacts, and fly tiers who readily sub- 2007 have also found an important place in the exhibition. mitted a fly for display. With so much of our programming resources dedicated to Whether you want to see the 1874 Orvis patent reel, Babe the new saltwater history initiative, we decided that Wonders Ruth’s fly rod, Maggie Merriman’s fishing vest, fish tags used to offered the perfect occasion to share some of our saltwater track migration patterns, or The Horror (Pete Perinchief’s salt- documentation. Deputy Director Yoshi Akiyama worked with water fly pattern named in fond remembrance of his daughter’s Jerry Gibbs, retired fishing editor of Outdoor Life magazine, to behavior as a child and teenager!), plan a trip to Manchester for recognize the people, equipment, events, and conservation a look at these things and so much more! organizations who have made an impact in the saltwater story. CATHI COMAR The saltwater section in this exhibition represents the begin- EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR The American Museum of Fly Fishing 4070 Main Street • PO Box 42 Manchester,Vermont 05254 Tel: (802) 362-3300 •Fax: (802) 362-3308 E-MAIL: [email protected] WEBSITE: www.amff.com

THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF FLY FISHING, a or place an advertisement in this journal. We nationally accredited, nonprofit, educational encourage you to give the museum con - institution dedicated to preserving the rich sideration when planning for gifts, bequests, heritage of fly fishing, was founded in and memorials. Manchester, Vermont, in 1968. The museum serves as a repository for and conservator to the world’s largest collection of angling and JOIN! angling-related objects. The museum’s collec- Membership Dues (per annum) tions, exhibitions, and public programs pro- vide documentation of the evolution of fly Friend $10,000 fishing as a sport, art form, craft, and indus- $5,000 try in the United States and abroad from its $1,000 origins to the present. Rods, reels, flies, tackle, Sponsor $500 art, books, manuscripts, and photographs Business $250 form the basis of the museum’s collections. Benefactor $100 The museum provides public programs to Associate $50 fulfill its educational mission, including exhi- The museum is an active, member-oriented bitions, publications, gallery programs, and nonprofit institution. Membership dues special events. Research services are available include four issues of the American Fly Fisher; for members, visiting scholars, students, edu- unlimited visits for your entire family to cational organizations, and writers. Contact museum exhibitions, gallery programs, and Yoshi Akiyama at [email protected] to special events; access to our 7,000-volume schedule a visit. angling reference library; and a discount on all items sold by the museum on its website and VOLUNTEER! inside the museum store, the Brookside Angler. To join, please contact Laura Napol - Throughout the year, the museum needs volun- itano at [email protected]. teers to help with programs, special projects, events, and administrative tasks. You do not have to be an angler to enjoy working with us! Contact Laura Napolitano at lnapolitano @amff.com to tell us how we would benefit from your skills and talents. SUPPORT! The American Museum of Fly Fishing relies on the generosity of public-spirited individuals for substantial support. Please contact us if you Scan with your smart- wish to contribute funding to a specific pro- phone to visit our gram, donate an item for fund-raising purposes, collection online!