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

       Sir Herbert, Jock Scott, William E. Andersen Bradford Mills Foster Bam David Nichols Peter Bowden Robert A. Oden Jr. Mickey Finn Jane Cooke Erik R. Oken Peter Corbin Stephen M. Peet Deborah Pratt Dawson Anne Hollis Perkins E. Bruce DiDonato, MD Leigh H. Perkins Patrick Ford Frederick S. Polhemus Ronald Gard John Redpath George R. Gibson III Roger Riccardi James Heckman, MD Franklin D. Schurz Jr. Arthur Kaemmer, MD Robert G. Scott Karen Kaplan Nicholas F. Selch Woods King III Gary J. Sherman, DPM William P. Leary III Ronald B. Stuckey James Lepage Tyler S. Thompson Anthony J. Magardino Richard G. Tisch Christopher P. Mahan David H. Walsh Walter T. Matia Andrew Ward William McMaster, MD James C. Woods Peter Millett, MD Nancy W. Zakon Martin Zimmerman From George M. Kelson, The Salmon Fly (London: George M. Kelson, ), .   James Hardman David B. Ledlie   to this teenth-century gillie, with no other known William Herrick Leon L. Martuch journal, the late Gordon M. patterns to his name, created “the most Paul Schullery AWickstrom, once wrote me to point famous full-feathered pattern ever tied”— out that there was not one image of a fly one that has never fallen out of favor.  within the pages of our most recent issue. And a year ago, we ran an article by For the American Fly Fisher, this was a Willard P. Greenwood II, “A Personal and Richard G. Tisch Gary J. Sherman, DPM disgrace, and we should make it our goal Natural History of the Mickey Finn” (Fall President Vice President never to go to press without at least one , vol. , no. ). The ongoing questions Karen Kaplan James C. Woods fly boldly displayed somewhere. about the origin of this pattern sparked Vice President Secretary I don’t remember which issue prompt- the interest of folklorist Jan Harold George R. Gibson III ed this remark, and I don’t doubt that Brunvand, who researched the matter Treasurer when it comes to this crime, we’re repeat himself. Brunvand shares his own theo- offenders, what with needing to illustrate ries and dead ends in this issue’s Notes ’  some articles with rods and reels and fish. and Comment piece, “More on the But I think Gordon would have approved Mickey Finn” (page ). Parker Corbin John Neukom of this issue. Fall  is full of some good As usual, museum staff has had an Bailey Hallingby Albert Nichols ol’ classic flies. event- and program-packed summer, much Woods King IV David E. Nichols Jr. Sir Herbert Maxwell—Scottish politi- of which is covered in Museum News (page Alexander Kinsey Ben Pastor cian and natural historian, originator of ). We had a particularly delightful Fly- Robert Longsworth Jason M. Scott the eponymous Sir Herbert salmon fly— Fishing Festival (page ) on a particularly kept a fishing journal detailing his gorgeous day. In other delights, Com -  angling expeditions over thirty-seven munications Coordinator Peter Nardini   Catherine E. Comar years ( – ), including record of visited Fenway Park in June to interview fly- Executive Director every trout, sea trout, and salmon that he fishing Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello. He’ll caught. In “The Fishing Book of Sir tell you all about that adventure in this Yoshi Akiyama Herbert Maxwell,” Peter O. Behan and issue’s Batten Kill Beat, “Red Sox in Fly Deputy Director Simone Hutchinson take a look at this Fishing Past and Present” (page ). Sarah Foster diary, which, in addition to statistics, Near the end of spring, our museum Development Associate includes photographs, marginalia, news- lost one of its own: Jerry Karaska, whose paper clippings, flies, and fishing permits. volunteerism and work in our library was Peter Nardini The authors offer up a bit of Maxwell’s invaluable. For several years—in addition Communications Coordinator background as well, noting, for example, to full-length articles he wrote for this Samantha Pitcher his scientific contributions to the under- journal—Jerry wrote a regular “Notes Membership and Events Coordinator standing of piscatory hearing and vision. from the Library” column, in which he Patricia Russell You can find the article on page . reviewed books donated to our collec- Account Manager Andrew Herd and Kenneth Cameron tion. Executive Director Cathi Comar note that Jock Scott “appears to have been pays tribute to our friend on page . Becki Trudell the all-time one-hit wonder of salmon-fly Public Programs Coordinator dressers.” In “Reflections on the Jock K A Sara Wilcox Scott” (page ), they consider how a nine- E Director of Visual Communication ’  E. M. Bakwin Robert McGraw Foster Bam and Sallie Baldwin Bradford and Pamela Mills Austin and Meg Buck David and Margaret Nichols Mark Comora The Orvis Company Jane Cooke Leigh and Anne Perkins Jon and Deborah Pratt Dawson Eric and M. C. Roberts Gardner Grant Jr. Robert and Karen Scott Tim Hixon Nicholas and Jean Selch Summerfield Johnston Richard G. Tisch Karen Kaplan Ted Turner Journal of the American Museum of Fly Fishing Peter Kellogg Paul Volcker Robert Kleinschmidt David and Jade Walsh       George Matelich Alan and Nancy Zakon Laurie Zimmerman The Fishing Book of Sir Herbert Maxwell ......  Peter O. Behan and Simone Hutchinson   Reflections on the Jock Scott ......  Will Andersen Bill and Francesca Leary Andrew Herd and Kenneth Cameron William E. Andersen Christopher Mahan Michael Bakwin William and Lynn McMaster Notes and Comment: More on the Mickey Finn......  Dick Beattie Peter Millet, MD Jan Harold Brunvand Peter Bowden Teresa and Robert Oden Jr. Tom Davidson Erik and Jennifer Oken The Batten Kill Beat: E. Bruce and Denise DiDonato Henry M. Paulson Jr. Red Sox in Fly Fishing Past and Present......  Chris Dorsey Stephen and Roberta Peet Peter Nardini David Ford John Redpath George and Beth Gibson William Rowley Fly-Fishing Festival ......  Tim Grell Franklin Schurz Jr. Jim Head Ronald and Joan Stuckey In Memoriam: Jerry Karaska ......  Intercontinental Exchange Tyler and Francis Thompson Catherine Comar Paul Tudor Jones Andrew and Elizabeth Ward Museum News ......  Arthur and Martha Kaemmer Larry Wright Woods and Wendy King III Contributors ......  ’    : A Jock Scott tied by Alberto Calzolari, based on the recipe that appears in George M. Kelson’s The Salmon Fly. Photo by Andrew Herd. Josh Alexander Hollenbeck Club Stu Apte Fred and Oli Kambeitz Bill Ayers Charlie Kaplan We welcome contributions to the American Fly Fisher. Before making a Gregg Belldock Kharlovka Company Limited submission, please review our Contrib utor’s Guidelines on our website Robert and Debbie Brucker Anne Lovett and Steve Woodsum (www.amff.com), or write to request a copy. The museum cannot Anthony Davino Walter and Pam Matia accept responsibility for statements and interpretations that are wholly Tom Evans Joseph R. Perella the author’s. Jon Fisher Jack Pittard Jon Gibson South Holston River Lodge The American Fly Fisher (ISSN -) is published four times a year by the museum at P.O. Box , Philip Hansteen George Van Hook Manchester, Vermont . Publication dates are winter, spring, summer, and fall. Membership dues James and Susan Heckman Pat Welsh include the cost of the journal () and are tax deductible as provided for by law. Membership rates are Harry Hill Ken Wilson listed in the back of each issue. All letters, manuscripts, photographs, and materials intended for publi- cation in the journal should be sent to the museum. The museum and journal are not responsible for James Wolfensohn unsolicited manuscripts, drawings, photographic material, or memorabilia. The 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 con- sidered gratuitous and the property of the museum unless otherwise requested by the contributor. Kathleen Achor Copyright © , The American Museum of Fly Fishing, Manchester, Vermont . Original materi- al appearing may not be reprinted without prior permission. Periodical postage paid at Manchester, Editor Vermont ; Manchester, Vermont ; and additional offices (USPS ). 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space for FSC info The Fishing Book of Sir Herbert Maxwell by Peter O. Behan and Simone Hutchinson

Simone Hutchinson

Figure . Part of Sir Herbert’s sketch of the North Tyne, in “Sir Herbert Maxwell’s Fishing Book,” private collection.

 H M (–)— works in the Scottish Naturalist. Now we cess befell you. Memory is not only per- the Rt. Hon. Sir Herbert Maxwell, wish to bring to light remarkable material ishable but treacherous. . . . It is not Bart., KT, PC, FRS, FRGS—of found in his fishing book. Previously agreeable to imagine what a blank S  would be created if my fishing book Monreith is remembered for his unique unpublished, the book is a richly annotat-  contributions to natural history and for ed journal of his angling expeditions were lost or destroyed. his work as a politician. When he died, across the United Kingdom, Ireland, and his grandson, Gavin Maxwell (author of Norway over a period of thirty-seven years The footnote also belies characteristics of Ring of Bright Water [Longmans, ]), and includes a record of every trout, sea his personality. His focus on keeping an described him this way: trout, and salmon that he caught. David ordered history inside a professional Burnett previously gave a brief overview notebook indicates his interest in scien- [Sir Herbert] . . . after an interminable of its contents in a postscript to the beau- tific principles, whereas, at variance with and distinguished, though perhaps over- tiful reissue of Sir Herbert’s Salmon and science, his romantic tendency is deployed, public career as politician Sea Trout (The Flyfisher’s Classic Li brary, revealed in the euphemistic phrasing of (sometime Secretary of State for ). Here, we wish to complement and “how good and ill success befell you.” Scotland and a Lord of the Treasury), add critically to Burnett’s summary. Contemplating the disappearance of the painter, archaeologist, historian, natural- ist and writer of stupendous output, In a footnote within the first edition of fishing book, he anxiously imagines the departed this life as a Knight of the Salmon and Sea Trout, Sir Herbert em - loss of many personal memories, as well phasizes to his readers the enjoyment and as a lifetime’s worth of angling research; Thistle, Privy Councillor, Fellow of the  Royal Society, Lord-Lieutenant of the satisfaction of recording one’s angling such data set the book apart from County of Wigtownshire and Grand Old practice: notable others that are more artistic or Man of Galloway; . . . he had formed a autobiographical. collection of flowering shrubs and trees The pleasure of fishing is greatly Despite the diary’s purpose to gather among the finest in the British Isles. increased by keeping a regular log. Don’t make your record on scraps of important statistical information, it is far paper, or in perishable note books: have from a dry read. Sir Herbert demon- In , with invaluable assistance a substantial, well-arranged tabular strates creativity in his use of the ledger, from the late Jack Gibson, we wrote ledger, which will show in after years resulting in an inspiring as well as fascinat- about Sir Herbert’s long life and prolific when, where and how good and ill suc- ing document. Numerous photographs of      family, friends, and landscapes bring an Simone Hutchinson element of narration to many of the trips. A few items of paraphernalia saved from some journeys—one as far afield as Norway—are pasted into certain pages, as are a much larger quantity of newspa- per cuttings relating to pressing angling matters of the day. Given his artistic training and lifelong practice of botani- cal watercolor painting, it is surprising that there are only two sketches in the book. The largest and most detailed is of the Hargrove beat on the North Tyne that he often fished (Figure ); neverthe- less, personal touches, such as jokes and private comments, enrich the diary entries by adding color to his angling life. Some of the angling data available includes a vari- ety of actual flies annotated with names and their anglers, thereby illustrating indi- vidual ventures. Additionally, details of salmon, grilse, and trout are carefully enumerated and commented on when conditions of the day mattered. At around the same time as Sir Herbert was writing his fishing diary, the former manager of the River Tay fish- eries, P. D. Malloch, had begun his classi- fication and study of the salmon, pub- lished as Life History and Habits of the Salmon Sea-Trout and Other Freshwater Fish. He noted, among other factors, the time at which the smolts entered the sea and the proportion of fish that returned  as grilse. It is easy to see that Malloch Figure . Photograph of Sir Herbert’s pseudonymous letter on the hearing began to answer similar questions as Sir powers of fish, in “Sir Herbert Maxwell’s Fishing Book,” private collection. Herbert; they were both early practition- ers of a scientific approach to studying archaeology, and even architectural and pond in Logan, near the Mull of fish in Scotland. cultural heritage studies. Therefore, it is Galloway, where captive fish learned to Over the following pages, we hope to with pleasure that we come across the associate feeding times with the sound of spotlight various contents from the diary original descriptions of Sir Herbert’s their keeper’s footsteps on the wooden that bring to life the worldview of a observations and experiments relating to staircase leading down to their pond. The devoted angler. The diary has been kept salmon and trout in his fishing book. fish were cod and coalfish that had been by an individual with a deep appreciation The fishing diary reveals the origins of line caught and then kept to be fattened of natural history who gives us an astute Sir Herbert’s interest in the hearing pow- up for the table. He writes: “[T]hey insight into the world of angling at and ers of fish, his early accounts of which became so tame and accustomed to their during a very different time, and inspires were first widely published in Post Mer - keeper as not only to feed out of his hand, us to further study the gentle sport. idiana: Afternoon Essays () and were but some of them allow themselves to be later found, revised slightly, in the fourth lifted out of the water.” Indeed, so much series of Memories of the Months (). so, apparently, that one large cod in par- GOOD SENSES IN SALMON Originally, he recorded these particular ticular who was “more than an ell long” AND TROUT accounts in the fishing book before send- would be lifted out by an old woman who ing them as letters and later publishing sat it on her knee to fill its mouth with Readers of Sir Herbert’s natural histo- them in book format. Both the newspaper mussels and limpets before returning it ry writings will be acquainted with his letter (Figure ) and some of the diary to the pond. Being witness to such events, idiosyncratic analyses and appreciation comments are presented here. Sir Herbert was able to observe firsthand of flora and fauna. His career was on the As can be seen in Figure  (a cutout that fish have sensitive listening organs ascent simultaneous to the Victorian clipping pasted into the fishing book), (and in the case of the cod and coalfish, enthusiasm for the fieldwork of amateur Sir Herbert wrote up the first incident as good memories, too). scientists, so that Sir Herbert’s many a pseudonymous letter (“Salmoniceps,” Interestingly, in Memories of the revised and republished observations of possibly to The Field). He describes the Months, he also writes that the cod living animals and plants might be thought of reaction of small fish to the sound of in the pond at Logan became blind over as stemming from his desire to con- gunshot from a shooting party, almost  time: “It invariably happens that the cod, tribute to the nascent literature. From mile away from the river, causing some accustomed to the green twilight of the such amateurs’ journal articles and tire- perch fry to dart from shallow waters deep sea, suffer from excess of light in less studies developed a variety of disci- into safer depths. Sir Herbert’s second their prison, and become blind if kept plines, such as botany, geology, zoology, observation was witnessed at a tidal fish- there long enough. You may notice that

   their eyes exhibit every stage of opacity. death, the original complaints should conditions. For instance, it is well recog- . . . The coal-fish, I fancy, do not suffer in remain in the book. Sir Herbert was nized that if you are fishing for sea trout the same way, being inhabitants of shal- usually meek and mild mannered, but or salmon at night, there is a period of an lower water.” Happily for the reader, the here he displays a vigorous righteousness hour or two when fish will not take. This fishing book contains the original hand- seldom expressed elsewhere. Whether reflects the diurnal rhythms of these written notes from his experiments on laudable or foolish, it demonstrates that species. Having no eyelids, a fish instead the receptivity of trout to color. Sir Herbert aimed to develop a scientific has a pigment that traverses the retina at Burnett refers to those studies as “the sensibility regarding angling. night, partially covering the receptor cells, notorious experiments in Hertfordshire Illustratively, he demonstrated the so that the fish moves to the bottom of the with red and blue mayflies by which Sir same perspicacity in his judgment of his darker water where it stays until the light Herbert proved that trout are not quite tutor’s character. Sir Herbert’s tutor at conditions change, stimulating its pig- so fussy as the dry fly purists of the age of Oxford was the Reverend Charles ment to move back to its original loca- Halford supposed.” The diary entry Lutwidge Dodgson (better known by his tion. Hugh Falkus called this period “half- shows that in early June , Sir Herbert pen name, Lewis Carroll, the author of time,” to use a sporting metaphor drawn was fishing in Hertfordshire, where he Alice in Wonderland). Sir Herbert writes from soccer football. He refers to the first “landed  trout altogether, and two that the man was unappealing, with a period of the fishing night, the first half, chub. Only one trout [was] under a cold personality, and was extremely “dry and claims that  percent of the night’s pound. Most were hooked on scarlet and repellent.” In light of recent revela- catch will be taken in the first half,  per- mayflies and blue ones, which I used as tions regarding Reverend Dodgson’s cent in halftime, and – percent in the an experiment on the colour sense second half. In Through the Fish’s of fish.” Using dyed wool to create Eye (), Mark Sosin and John a likeness of the mayfly, these tests List of Flies Referenced in the Diary Clark described the effect of light on are referred to not only in the fish- these cells: “At night, or when the ing book, but also in Sir Herbert’s Sir Herbert Maxwell mentioned these flies light level falls below one foot-can- introduction to The Sport of Fishing in his diary, sometimes annotated with the dle, fish change over to the rod cells, by John MacKeachan (). The fish caught. Of this list, we discuss only the which are the super light-sensitive diary entry corresponds to the Silver Secretary here. receptors. . . . they detect and record details given in MacKeachan, where only black and white.” The period Sir Herbert writes that on the first The Brown and Mallard during which the fish eye adapts to day of fishing the “Gade at Cassio - The Jock Scott the darker conditions of evening can bury, I hesitated to start with the The Silver Secretary last for up to three hours, so the dyed flies,” but he succeeded in land- The Blue Doctor angler might be cautious in his or ing “thirty-four good trout before The Baker her use of artificial lights when fish- evening” using the scarlet and blue The Butcher ing at night: “If you throw a sudden dyed flies, and then “two days later The Silk Butcher light directly on a fish, they will flee [he] repeated the experiment on Mr. The Sir Francis Sykes in fear more times than not.” In Abel Smith’s part of the Bean, above The Claret accord with such reports, the best Hertford,” testing out a more mature The Tricolor taking time on the Dee occurs in the and “worldly wise” brown trout, The Policeman dimsey, a word that fascinated Sir where he met with about half the The Hoynder Herbert, as in this passage from his success he’d had with the younger The Childers memoir: “Now well into the dimsey, fish. Based on the behavior of those as Devonshire folk term the twilight trout in the clear chalk streams, Sir . . . ” (The Scottish equivalent is the Herbert was persuaded that “it does not relationship to the real Alice and her sib- gloaming.) Despite the change in behavior matter one hayseed” what color the fly is lings, as published in British newspapers, of salmon and trout at night, they do still “provided that it is of suitable size and is Sir Herbert’s conclusion reflects his reli- feed, especially trout, which are attracted given life-like motion; the predatory habit able powers of judgment as well as his to the fresh hatches of insects that appear of the fish will do the rest.” characteristic loyalty to truth. on the surface of the water during dusk. Clearly, Sir Herbert’s opinion is quite Sir Herbert was aware of the basic Knowing this, the angler can rely on sil- strong, and it reveals something of the physiology of the fish’s eye, wherein houette rather than color and pattern fiery aspect of his character that was (broadly speaking) rods detect illumina- when selecting a fly. The early observa- often hidden from public view. At times, tion levels (flash and brightness), where- tions by Sir Herbert on piscatory hearing his acute statements of judgment appear as cones are sensitive to the light-wave and vision, and his interpretation of almost hostile to their object of cri- spectrum (i.e., color). (See his essay on them, have been confirmed by scientists tique—for example, in the MacKeachan salmon flies in Post Meridiana.) His over the course of time, thereby under- introduction. Although he makes several deduction in  that the size and move- scoring the value of patient study and positive comments about MacKeachan’s ment of salmon flies are more influential methodical record keeping. text, Sir Herbert inserts three paragraphs than subtle variations of color or banding that hotly and painstakingly redress is, of course, now shown to be true. SALMON FLIES MacKeachan’s inaccuracies and attitude Since the advent in the early s of toward particular fishing methods. This microspectrophotometry, a number of As Patrick R. Chalmers so eloquently act of surprisingly bitter reproof is made detailed studies of individual species put it, “Even a Shah is not so bejeweled to more conspicuous by the fact that when have revealed an astounding variety of see as is a salmon river. Topaz, pearl, MacKeachan died as the book was going visual processes found within different amethyst and clearnesses of clear and to press, Sir Herbert appended an apolo- fish. These have helped us to understand courageous brown, are all for a man’s gy to his introduction in which he stated the variation in sensitivity to color and imagining in the movement of a river that, despite the sad event of the author’s light among various fish under diverse that runs to the sea.”      Sir Herbert has given us many gems in day, who fished using each fly, and how Despite my incredulity as to various the diary’s record of his fishing days, par- successful they were. The diary names a merit in different flies, I have been ticularly with regard to different salmon large number of patterns (see box on page greatly impressed by the apparent pref- flies, which are as pearls amid the vari- ); however, some are only described as erence of these fish for the Gordon. ous lures for fish. Like many anglers, Sir “own pattern” or that of his fishing com- This is well shown in the harling with  two flies out, as a great deal of the fish- Herbert took his hobby of fly tying seri- panions (e.g., “Wright’s pattern”). Two ing is here. On th [April ] every ously, and the diary allows us to see, first- of the flies mentioned in the diary are of one of the rises was to the Gordon, the hand, traditional salmon flies done well. particular interest to us: the Gordon and other fly being completely neglected. As well as storing the actual flies used on the Silver Secretary. the day, the diary contains detailed On the page for some fishing at the Sir Herbert mentions harling, which in descriptions accompanying most of the Tay, Dunkeld, during April , Sir Scotland is carried out on the River Tay, fishing trips that include the names of the Herbert writes a note on his experiences because a large river is necessary to cope flies, whether they were modified on the with the Gordon (Figure ): with the method. Modern harling requires an outboard motor, and the boat is moved from bank to bank against the current; from the back of the boat, two rods are used, each of them with either a large fly or a lure such as a Kynoch Killer. The line from each reel is held on the floor of the boat by a stone, its purpose being to sink the hook when the salmon takes the fly. It is a passive exercise on behalf of the angler, whose only job is to position the rods and play the fish. Often, two anglers will sit in the boat together with the boatman (and a noggin of whiskey is customary!). In Sir Herbert’s time, there being no outboard motors, one or two men rowed; classically, two men are required in certain Nor - wegian rivers. While harling is carried out in large rivers, trolling is usually only done in large lochs, where the boat travels along the edge of the water, out by about  or  feet, depending on the depth. In Loch Tay, trolling with large bait is the fishing of choice. This is commonly carried out in the early spring where the golden or silver sprat was, not so long ago, the bait of choice; it is still used as a lure as well as bait, with its movement in the water being aided by the addition of various attachments. A voluminous literature exists on the supposed and genuine abil- ity of such lures to catch fish. The exam- ple of the sprat acting as both bait and lure underlines the importance of shape and action over details of color, which are more pleasing to the angler than to the fish. However, as well as pleasure, the art of fly dressing can offer a worthwhile education in a surprisingly wide range of natural history subjects, such as the biol- ogy of different fish species, the livery of birds, and the lives of insects. One fea- ture that is not mentioned often enough is the belief and confidence the angler has in the fly: if you have confidence, your technique will improve. Just as the literature is replete with arguments over the effects of various fly techniques, Sir Herbert’s own output is no different. He pasted numerous clippings Figure . Illustration of the Gordon, the Wilkinson (Silver Wilkinson), the into the fishing book, many grouped into Sir Herbert, and the Mar Lodge salmon flies in Francis Francis’s A Book on conversational threads; on flies, there are Angling: Being a Complete Treatise on the Art of Angling in Every several letters. If we compare some of Sir Branch (London: Herbert Jenkins, ), . Herbert’s comments from angling books

   with the clippings in his fishing log, we two grilse, and two trout, amounting to The “fiery creature with a body all gold can appreciate his views all the more.  pounds. He describes the water as tinsel and a magenta beard” he christened Starting with changing flies, we know being heavy; he broke his rod three times with his own name. This fly is illustrated that in his editor’s introduction to the and spliced it, and lost two fish at night on Plate XVI (see Figure ) in Francis,  reissue of A Book on Angling by from the reel not running. and Sir Herbert gives instructions to Francis Francis, Sir Herbert explains his At this point, we must mention the fly dress it in a footnote in his preface: opinion on the merits of changing a fly named after Sir Herbert. He first came up when experiencing a difficult day. with the pattern when considering how to Tag and body all in one, gold tinsel ribbed tease the Tweedside gillie who had so keen- with gold twist, orange hackle over; tail, a topping. Three turns of scarlet mohair, I was fully under the spell of Francis’s ly insisted on using the Silver Wilkinson: precepts about a change of fly. Fishing picket out, next the wing, crimson hackle just above high tide mark in the Water at shoulder. Wing two slips of dark turkey I became so bored by [the gillie’s] insis- with white tips over two tippet feathers; of Luce, I raised a small fish five times tence that, before returning to that without touching him, changed the fly blue chatterer cheeks or kingfisher, red water in the following year, I devised a macaw horns, black chenille head. every time and killed him, seven fly quite different from the everlasting pounds, at the sixth rise. I cannot think Wilkinson, and determined to fish with that the result would have been any dif- The Sir Herbert was “gorgeous” and was no other. Without consulting the boat- “invented to annoy conservative ghillies ferent had I made no change, which is man, I put up the new fly, a fiery crea- the course I should follow now in the on the River Tweed.” Sir Herbert’s diary  ture with a body all gold tinsel and a unromantic light of experience. magenta beard. . . . “What fly’s that ye demonstrates the extent of this golden have on?” asked the tyrant. “I never seen fly’s success firsthand in its use on diverse Not only does Sir Herbert not believe in the like o’ that used here.” “Oh, well!” I rivers, where it helped catch numerous changing the fly as a solution to a bad replied with all the nonchalance I could salmon. Three of the flies in Figure  illus- day’s fishing, he neither believes in the assume, “it is a fancy of my own I want trate some of those mentioned so far: the concept of one fly being suited to one river to try.” “I don’t think it’s the proper fly at Gordon, the Wilkinson, and the Sir on all occasions. Sir Herbert became aware all for this water,” rejoined the other. Herbert. The picture is taken from Francis of the rigid insistence by lowland gillies of “Have ye not got a Wulkinson in your Francis and shows how beautiful are these using one particular fly on the Tweed. Sir box?” It required all my stock of resolu- tion to persist; but I did. . . . The new fly miniature works of art, but it is easy to Herbert comments on the prestige grant- accounted for seven fish from eight rises agree with Sir Herbert that differentiating ed to this particular fly, which was known . . . I have used it on many other rivers them, particularly in fast-flowing water, is as the Silver Wilkinson: “I was fishing the since that day, and found it just as good nigh impossible. An example of a Silver Bemersyde water some years ago; my as any other pattern and no better! Secretary is featured in Figure . attendant was even more tyrannical than the average of local experts, perpetually Barry Grewcock prescribing a change of fly and specially insisting upon a Silver Wilkinson (Plate XVII), which at that time was the fashion- able fly on Tweedside.” In a clipping from Sir Herbert’s fish- ing book signed P.S.W., we can discover some further detail about the Silver Wilkinson. The author explains that:

The fly known on the Tweed and other rivers as the “Wilkinson” was named by its author the “Silver Bell,” and is a very clear, bright, silver-bodied fly . . . I am told that Farlow ties another fly under the same name (“Wilkinson”) for Norway anglers, but this is a perfectly different pattern, by the same author, and is . . . almost entirely black, yellow, and red. This fly was originally named by its inventor the “Cock of the Wark” from its success on the water of that name.

Thus, we can assume that the Cock of the Wark became known as the Wilkinson in Norway, whereas the Silver Bell became known as the Wilkinson on Tweedside. Of no relation to Silver Wilkinson, the diary contains many references to and a few actual examples of a fly called the Silver Secretary, which helped Sir Herbert catch seven salmon at the Hargroves beat (on the North Tyne) on Saturday,  October . In pounds, the salmon weighed , , ¼, , , , and ¾. In total that day, he caught eight salmon, Figure . A Silver Secretary tied by Barry Grewcock.      Simone Hutchinson fishing book does Sir Herbert mention sturgeon, however, and the photograph of the fish is merely captioned (Figure ), not annotated. A second fantastic catch in his diary is preserved on an  page, where a letter to the editor on “The Portree Salmon” describes a mystery sur- rounding a -pound salmon on the Isle of Skye. Buller’s comprehensive catalog of large salmon in The Domesday Book of Giant Salmon does not mention the Portree catch. The humongous salmon was originally reported using the Gaelic word braddn, which can also be spelled bhradáin, as is seen in the following well- known Irish toast: Sláinte an bhradáin: Figure . The -pound sturgeon caught in the River Tay, June , croí folláin agus gob fliuch. This translates in “Sir Herbert Maxwell’s Fishing Book,” private collection. as “The health of the salmon: a robust heart and a wet gob.” According to the  CATCHES ever known” ) and  across Scotland, website of language consultancy firm Fios which he states was “The worst fishing sea- Feasa, an explanation might be that a Arguably the principal resource in the son on record. No water.” These com- salmon requires a robust heart “to do all book is its documentation of Sir ments help to contextualize his recorded the leaping it does; it definitely has a wet Herbert’s catches, thus offering a unique statistics. Malloch was a contemporary of gob, although not with the same liquid record of salmon and trout angling on Sir Herbert’s who, like Sir Herbert, is implied in this toast. ‘And death in some of the best British fly-fishing rivers famous for his contributions to the study Ireland’ is a common reply or addendum over a period of thirty-seven years. of British freshwater fish. Malloch’s pio- to this toast; naturally, the salmon dies in Inserted between the opening pages of neering, comprehensive, and detailed Ireland, too.” Sir Herbert’s fishing book is a copy of a observations of salmon on the Tay were Enclosed within the marbled endpa- typewritten preface that indicates the based on his work counting and sorting pers at the back of the fishing book is general trend of Sir Herbert’s results: the massive runs of fish on that river (see stored a much smaller and very different “The book covers the years – his Life History and Habits of the Salmon kind of fishing log in a pamphlet format. and records a total of , fish caught of Sea-Trout and Other Freshwater Fish). Privately published, with Sir Herbert’s which  were salmon. . . . The largest Unusual reports of other one-off name in pencil written in large letters at catch in one day was recorded on the mag nificent catches are also saved in the the head of the cover, this fishing record Tweed in  when Sir Herbert caught  fishing book. In June , Sir Herbert covers the years  to  and is titled fish totaling ½ lbs.” The fishing book records landing a -pound sturgeon— Spring Salmon Angling on the River tells us about the beats and flies involved a fish that was once native and abundant Thurso, Loch More and Loch Beg. A pref- in that catch—Sir Herbert’s largest of any in British waters. The sturgeon’s history ace to the tables of data (Figure ) day—on  November . Sir Herbert in Britain is beautifully commented on describes the context: notes: “Lost  others. Water in fine trim. by the angler and historian Fred Buller in Nine fish on ‘Sir Herbert,’ one on ‘Jock his study of the drawings depicting stur- The Fishery comprises the River Scott,’ two on ‘White Wing.’ All in the geon found on the walls of English Thurso, and Lochs Beg and More; the House Stream and Willowbush.” The medieval churches. Nowhere else in the former loch being a very small loch catch was landed in Mertoun Water on the Tweed; eleven of the fish were Simone Hutchinson salmon, and the twelfth was a sea trout. That is his largest catch of a single day recorded in the fishing book, but there was a more remarkable result in October : Sir Herbert documents that he killed ninety-nine salmon and grilse weighing in total ,½ pounds during a period of eighteen consecutive days. These are good catches, indicative of the time of the year when the salmon occur at the back end. October is usually the prime month, not only for the size of the fish but for their silvery condition and number as well. Although the catches may be large in November, by that time, the fish are usually gravid. Like all rivers, the number of catches on the Tweed is dependent on the condi- tions. There were two terrible years for Figure . Data display the number of fish killed each year, their total weight, and Sir Herbert:  for his local rivers (“The their average weight; Spring Salmon Angling on the River Thurso, Loch More and very worst season on Cree and Minnick Loch Beg, pamphlet in “Sir Herbert Maxwell’s Fishing Book,” private collection.    through which the river flows on leav- Simone Hutchinson ing Loch More. . . . The best part of the spring season is generally from the mid- dle of March to the third week in May. From the end of March, and in early seasons occasionally sooner, the greater part of the angling takes place on Loch More, and with the exception of the two highest beats ( and ) the river affords little regular sport. These conditions remain more or less the same today. The River Thurso is in the northeasternmost area of Scotland, and it runs through Lochs More and Beg. In Gaelic, these names mean big and small. Although fish are occasionally caught in Loch More, the majority are caught on the river between the loch and the sea. The slow rate of flow on the river neces- Figure . Sir Herbert’s Latin covertly expresses regret at the demise of the Fishing Club sitates fishing by a technique called of Cree and Minnick, in “Sir Herbert Maxwell’s Fishing Book,” private collection. “backing up.” This is accomplished by the angler casting the fly as usual but then slowly walking up against the cur- Simone Hutchinson rent so as to make the fly speed up. From July to the end of the season is the best time to fish the Thurso. As well as the Thurso, Sir Herbert enjoyed fishing two rivers much closer to his home: the Minnick and the Cree. In the fishing book, there is a Latin passage handwritten in ink on a piece of white paper, pasted into the page (Figure ). A reliable translation reveals the meaning to express his regret at losing free angling on these two waters:

 In this year died the Fishing Club of the rivers Cree and Minnick, in the flower of its youth greatly to be mourned: because that supercilious Ranulfus, sheriff of Galloway, driven by petulance and at the instigation of the devil, took legal action before the court and annulled a right that had been granted by his brother, recently deceased: whereby we have lost those most beloved rivers.

This note is telling of the attractiveness in owning a stretch of salmon water; indeed, the word rivalry stems from the argu- ments arising between owners of oppos- ing riverbanks. The freedom to fish is held with great feeling, and this is seen in the fishing rights of the local rivers. The mes- sage encrypted in the Latin note above suggests that Sir Herbert did not dare openly criticize the sheriff of Galloway. His fanciful, melodramatic romanticism, Figure . A license to fish, granted by Algernon Percy, Duke of at times, as in this example, was a comfort Northumberland, in “Sir Herbert Maxwell’s Fishing Book,” to him. (However, he could sometimes be private collection. aggressively pedantic, as we have shown his review of John MacKeachan’s book to demonstrate.) Relating to fishing rights, of these quaint notices is signed Algernon Chollerton Parish lying to the north of the diary contains a number of permits George, Duke of Northumberland, giving the Greenford and Falstone Parish, and and receipts for the fishing that he took Sir Herbert leave from  February  to the River Banks of the Reed in Bellingham from the Duke of Northumberland. One  November  to fish “that part of and Elsdon Parishes” (Figure ).      EQUIPMENT the course of a day’s fishing with this clipping illustrates by tabulated data the equipment, so Sir Herbert prefers to use highest altitudes at which freshwater fish The principles and the methods of a greenheart rod by Farlow “for heavy are found across Europe. One particular- casting a fly have not changed, but mod- work in the spring.” He compares the ly interesting letter shares a formula for ern angling equipment has developed merits of the spliced with the ferrule- estimating the weight of a fish: “Four out of all recognition from the time jointed rod. In Salmon and Sea Trout, Sir thirds of the length, in inches, multiplied when Sir Herbert was fishing. Except for Herbert comments on the old pattern of by the square of the girth, in inches, and flies, his log does not provide details as to socket joint using Messrs. Hardy’s spiral divided by one thousand, gives the weight the equipment he used on his expedi- lock fast joint. He also mentions that the in pounds.” Given that the article is tions. And yet he wrote a detailed chap- greater strength is obtained by the use of signed off with just an S, it is hard to guess ter in Salmon and Sea Trout on equip- a hardened steel spring center. Indeed, the source, although, because the nom de ment that is worth remarking on here to he quotes the Hardy brothers as stating plume Salmoniceps is without doubt Sir help bring events documented in the that “a salmon rod built in this way is Herbert, perhaps we can indulge in fur- fishing book to life. practically indestructible.” Casting ther speculation that he may have abbre- Starting with the rod, Sir Herbert’s with a heavy rod using a silk line and a viated it to S in some letters. remarks indicate that even in the nine- heavy fly gave rise to painful shoulder Indeed, there are several clippings teenth century, there was a wide variety of muscles and demanded expert tech- signed Salmoniceps. One concerning rods available in differing equipment is titled “The materials, constructions, and Simone Hutchinson Bend of Hooks.” In this, Sir so on, all clamoring for the Herbert shares his experi- money of the budding an - ment recording the use of gler. He writes, “[T]he diffi- three popular hook forms, culty is not to find ad mirable revealing that the sproat material for anglers [to con- was the most successful. “I struct their own rods], but have continued to use [the to recommend a selection sproat] in preference to any from a number of ingenious other, and have recom- in ven tions. No one man can mended it to many friends, make use of them all.” not one of whom have had While on one hand advising the least reason to complain that the rod must suit the about it.” A number of angler’s own strength and in other readers’ responses to size be suitable for the water that letter are pasted onto that he or she is to fish, on the same page so we can fol- the other he recommends a low the conversation. Two rod length of not more different writers complain than  feet. He claims that that they could not achieve he only uses a smaller rod good results with the in the smallest of rivers, in sproat, and each writer which cases, like on the favored a different hook: “rough-and-tumble” Min - Figure . A Norwegian catch displayed, complete with the one uses the O’Shaugnessy nick, he cast with a - or weight of each fish in Sir Herbert’s hand, in “Sir Herbert and the other uses the -foot grilse rod, as well as Maxwell’s Fishing Book,” private collection. Limerick. The writer who with his friend’s -foot dismisses the sproat also split cane. The original rods were very nique. One can appreciate this using dismisses the Limerick, but the second long and varied between  and  feet. today’s tackle with specifically weighted responder to Salmoniceps tells us differ- Modern scientific analysis has revealed lines, surface-resistant coatings, and pre- ently. In summary, it is clear from read- the modern rod to have evolved enor- cise specifications (weight forward, dou- ing these clippings that fishing is so vari- mously. In Sir Herbert’s day, he used an ble tapered, and sink tips with lighter able and unpredictable that trying to sci- -foot rod made of greenheart oak. flies). Advances too have been made in entifically attribute success to a particu- Anyone who has fished with this instru- protecting the angler against the cold lar fly or hook is very difficult. ment will be familiar with the kind of using special waders, whereas summer backache that it produces. To attain such fishing is conducted using light waders NORWAY length, the rod is made up of spliced sec- with separate boots. Although the basic tions. The defects of a greenheart rod are techniques have not altered, modern Sir Herbert fished in Scotland mostly, well known and are illustrated by Sir equipment makes for longer casting, ease but sometimes in the northeast of Herbert when he recalled in his diary (on of casting, presentation of the fly, and England, Ireland, and Norway. The Saturday,  October , and men- general lightness. largest salmon caught listed in the book tioned earlier) that he had broken his rod Other elements of angling equipment is  pounds, which was caught by a on three occasions on the same day. are touched on in the fishing book Norwegian colleague with whom Sir The greatest challenge posed by a rod through a variety of newspaper clip- Herbert fished during his visit there. You to the fly fisher is managing its weight pings. Some examples include an editor- can see this in a photograph of a group when using very large flies and conse- ial section titled “Fishermen’s Fallacies,” of men displaying their catches together quently heavy tackle. To cast such a fly which contains one brief article looking (Figure ); Sir Herbert has written the well, “the rod must be made so powerful at myths “Concerning Lines and Wheels” weight of each fish underneath the in the top joint as to feel top-heavy in and another analyzing “Some Fallacies in photo. He clearly documents the success hand.” Fatigue can easily set in during Critical Points of Practice.” A different of visiting anglers to Norway and extols    Simone Hutchinson pounder. The biggest one I could trace scaled sixty and a half pound.” This was caught in  by Lord Davenport. There is an account of an angler who caught in a morning’s fishing ten salmon, their weight being  to  pounds each, and his colleague landed one of ½ pounds. Fish less than  pounds were contemptuously dismissed as “litel lax.” Ashley-Cooper notes: “What was unusual however, even for Norway, was the mighty strength of the Rauma current. Often one was carried down half a mile of river, by a fish of any size; and many a big fish was lost because slowly, but inexhaustibly he drew the struggling angler downstream, till, in spite of every effort, the curtain fell on his final exit into the awaiting jaws of  Figure . A Norwegian receipt for housekeeping services, in Nedre Foss.” “Sir Herbert Maxwell’s Fishing Book,” private collection. Sir Herbert’s numerous photographs from Norway are telling of his enjoy- the virtues of the Rauma and Sundal According to the traveling angler Roy ment there, even if his diary lacks rivers. These beats are fished as eagerly Flury, Norway’s Alten boatmen were embellished entries for those trips. His today as in his time and still give the regarded as among the best gillies in the prolific writings on nature, as epito- angler a very good chance of catching a country: “The Alten boatmen are one of mized by Memories of the Months, makes large fish. the greatest assets of the river and are a one suspect that he was enthralled by the He visited the Rauma during early part of the whole experience of fishing wild drama of salmon fishing in Norway, July  and caught his first fish in there. Their knowledge and traditions which, in the early twentieth century, Norway using the Bulldog fly. A curi- are passed from father to son and they before air travel and lightweight equip- ous piece of memorabilia he saved from are experienced fishermen themselves.” ment, must have entailed tiring expedi- this trip was a handwritten receipt from Sir Herbert appreciated fully the special tions in severe conditions. The signifi- a “Norwegian Washerwoman” (Figure bond he had with gillies. His respect for cance of Norway to a Victorian angler ). Next to the note, he writes, “I never and kindness to gillies and those who such as Sir Herbert lay in its appeal as the knew before that I wore ‘snippers’ or worked with him was legendary. He vis- most difficult and adventurous salmon- used Lorntor Klede!” Both of these items ited a number of gillies in their homes fishing experience available at that time. remain untranslatable by our own efforts and took a personal interest in them, Lack of good transportation in Sir (suggestions are welcome!). occasionally traveling a long distance to Herbert’s era meant that Alaska was not Buller writes of salmon fishing in see a favorite gillie on his deathbed. an option. Only the most ardent anglers Norway: “Exceptional salmon fishing was Likewise, he was aware of the fish he and would go to Norway, making it a source discovered in Norway in the s and for his colleagues had caught for their of some of the most dramatic angling decades anglers visited that country each amusement and which were denied to anecdotes. In Norway, one could find the year in search of peace, quiet, clean air, the locals; he often distributed and largest salmon, the most testing condi- challenging rivers and big fish.” In an shared his catch with them. tions, and beautiful landscape. entry for  July , Sir Herbert writes One of the main aristocratic patrons that he caught one salmon “In Langhol who regularly fished in Norway was the EPILOGUE on ‘Black Dove.’ Raised another in Duke of Roxburghe. Several examples of Aarnhoe. River getting low from cold the magnificent fish he caught can be Sir Herbert’s diary reflects the work of weather. Fresh snow.” For the entry seen in his hotel (The Roxburghe), locat- a serious angler and one who lived for dated  July , he mentions that he ed near a small border village called his angling days. The fishing book gives caught the smallest salmon ever recorded Heiton, which is by Kelso. The freshness us an authentic overview of the condi- from the Rauma when using the Sir and cleanness of the air and surround- tions that prevailed for the late-nine- Herbert. His accounts in the diary pro- ings, where the rugged, uneven land is teenth- and early-twentieth-century an - vide a little detail as to conditions of the crowded with spruce, larch, and fir, make gler. Although today we recognize that trip, but we can color the picture in more such angling irresistible. The Nor- there have since been many advances in by reading the accounts of Buller and wegians are noted for their hospitality. knowledge, the diary yet captures the John Ashley-Cooper of the same waters. According to Ashley-Cooper, “they had spirit and excitement with which every For Ashley-Cooper, the Rauma “fulfilled few faults, possibly sobriety was not one fly fisher identifies. The personal and all one’s wildest expectations of what a of their strong points, but who could social touch made by the inclusion of perfect Norwegian river should be like.” blame them for this in view of their long photographs, marginalia, newspaper However, the Sand was more exciting, drawn out winter and its dark days?” clippings, actual flies, fishing permits, especially when salmon heavier than  Norway would have been as Mecca to and suchlike enlivens the bare statistics pounds were not so unusual. Sir Herbert a salmon fly fisher like Sir Herbert, given that tally the total fish caught per fished Herebacher, on the Sand (Sundal) that the average weight on the Namsen annum. Contemplating all that the book River, Norway. (The difference in name River was  to  pounds. Ashley- contains and inspires, “Sir Herbert appears to be a consequence of early non- Cooper reports that “Forty pounders Maxwell’s Fishing Book” can be consid- standard translation.) were common with an odd fifty- ered a significant historical document,

     which, by its example, demonstrates the . Sir Herbert Maxwell, “Salmon Flies,” in . Diary entry,  November , “Sir potential merit and delight to be found Post Meridiana: Afternoon Essays (Edinburgh Herbert Maxwell’s Fishing Book.” in all fishing diaries; sadly, they number and London: William Blackwood and Sons, . Diary entry,  October , “Sir too few. ), –, , ; and Memories of the Herbert Maxwell’s Fishing Book.”    Months, Fourth Series (London: Edward . Diary entry, page covering April– Arnold, ), –. August , “Sir Herbert Maxwell’s Fishing . Maxwell, “Salmon Flies,” . Book.” . Ibid. . Diary entry, page covering  May–  . Maxwell, Memories of the Months, November , “Sir Herbert Maxwell’s . Fishing Book.” The authors wish to thank Sir Michael . Burnett, “Extracts from Sir Herbert . P. D. Malloch, Life History and Habits Maxwell, Bart., for lending us his great- Maxwell’s Fishing Diary,” . of the Salmon Sea-Trout and Other Freshwater grandfather’s fishing book. We also wish . Diary entry,  June , “Sir Herbert Fish (London: Adam & Charles Black, ). to thank those with whose help we have Maxwell’s Fishing Book,” private collection. . Diary entry, June , “Sir Herbert been able to include obscure and illumi- . Sir Herbert Maxwell, introduction, in Maxwell’s Fishing Book.” The photograph of nating material from Sir Herbert’s fish- John MacKeachan, The Sport of Fishing the sturgeon is on the page starting  ing book: Barry Grewcock, who tied the (London: Herbert Jenkins Ltd., ), xi. October ; the photo must have been Silver Secretary fly and provided a very . Ibid. glued in retrospectively, because it’s clearly fine photograph of same for our use, and . Ibid., x–xii. captioned June . Alan Milligan, head of classics at the . Sir Herbert Maxwell, Evening Mem - . Fred Buller, Fish & Fishermen: In English ories (London: Maclehose & Co., ), . Medieval Church Wall Paintings (Ellesmere, High School of Glasgow, who provided . Maxwell, “Salmon Flies,” . U.K.: The Medlar Press, ), –. the translation of Sir Herbert’s Latin. . Microspectrophotometry is a tech- . Letter to the editor (likely The Field), nique by which an absorbance spectrum can page for  June– October , “Sir be recorded from an individual photorecep- Herbert Maxwell’s Fishing Book.”  tor on the retina of the fish’s eye. . Fred Buller, The Domesday Book of . James K. Bowmaker, “Visual Pig- Giant Salmon (London: Constable, ). . Monreith is an estate in southwest ments of Fish,” in Ron H. Douglas and . Although one of the authors remem- Scotland in the county of Dumfries and Mustafa B. A. Djamgoz, eds., The Visual bers this proverb from his own Irish back- Galloway. System of Fish (London: Chapman and Hall, ground, we wish to acknowledge our source . The quotation is from Gavin Max - ), . for the detailed explanation of the meaning: well’s autobiography, The House of Elrig . Hugh Falkus, Sea Trout Fishing, rev. Fios Feasa, www.fiosfeasa.com/proverbs.asp (London: Longmans, Green & Co.,  [first nd ed. (London: Victor Gollancz, ), . ?cid=. Accessed  September . published ]), . . Mark Sosin and John Clark, Through . Spring Salmon Angling on the River . Peter O. Behan and Simone Hutchin - the Fish’s Eye (New York: Harper & Row, Thurso, Loch More and Loch Beg, privately son, “Sir Herbert Maxwell (–),” The ), . published brochure, , stored in “Sir Herbert Scottish Naturalist (vol. , ), –. . Ibid., . Maxwell’s Fishing Book.” . David Burnett, “Extracts from Sir . Maxwell, Evening Memories, xiii. . John Ashley-Cooper, A Salmon Fisher’s Herbert Maxwell’s Fishing Diary,” in Sir . Ibid., . Odyssey (London: H. F. & G. Witherby, Ltd., Herbert Maxwell, Salmon and Sea Trout . Patrick R. Chalmers, Where the Spring ), –. (Devon, U.K.: The Flyfisher’s Classic Library, Salmon Run (London: Philip Allan & Co., . For this translation, the authors kind- ), –. ), . ly thank Alan Milligan, classics master of the . Sir Herbert Maxwell, Salmon and Sea . Diary entries, the last page for the High School of Glasgow. Trout, The Angler’s Library, Vol. , ed. by Sir year , “Sir Herbert Maxwell’s Fishing . Maxwell, Salmon and Sea Trout, . Herbert Maxwell and F. G. Aflalo (London: Book.” . Ibid., . Lawrence and Bullen, Ltd., ), , footnote . . Diary entry, page for  March– . Ibid., . . Today, anglers can exploit the digital April , “Sir Herbert Maxwell’s Fishing . Ibid. technologies of the Internet to make their Book.” . Ibid., . personal fishing records part of the national . Sir Herbert Maxwell, editor’s intro- . S., letter to the editor, “Weighing picture: The Angling Diary website set up by duction in Francis Francis, A Book on Salmon,” on the page for  May– June , the Scottish Fisheries Coordination Centre Angling: Being a Complete Treatise on the Art in “Sir Herbert Maxwell’s Fishing Book.” (SFCC) is one part of the SFCC’s strategy to of Angling in Every Branch (London: Herbert . Salmoniceps, “The Bend of Hooks,” promote and facilitate the collection of fish- Jenkins, ), ix. on the page for  May– June , in “Sir eries data for fisheries management purpos- . Ibid., vii. Note that Sir Herbert mis- Herbert Maxwell’s Fishing Book.” es. See www.anglingdiary.org.uk/. Accessed  takenly gives a reference to Plate XVII instead . Diary entry, page covering  May– September . of Plate XVI here. On the subsequent page, July , in “Sir Herbert Maxwell’s Fishing . Muriel Foster’s Fishing Diary (Lon - viii, in a footnote marked by an asterisk, he Book.” don: Michael Joseph, ) by Muriel Foster gives the correct reference (Plate XVI). . Buller, The Domesday Book of Giant (but published posthumously by her niece . P.S.W., “Colour of Salmon Flies,” clip- Salmon, . Patricia King) is now a classic example and ping at undated page preceding that for . Diary entry,  July , “Sir Herbert spans –. A lesser-known yet equally June– October , “Sir Herbert Maxwell’s Maxwell’s Fishing Book.” sought-after fishing book, albeit a memoir Fishing Book.” . Diary entry,  July , “Sir Herbert rather than a technical log, is Our Fishing .Diary entry,  October , “Sir Maxwell’s Fishing Book.” Diary, Hampton Bishop – (Altrin- Herbert Maxwell’s Fishing Book.” . Ashley-Cooper, A Salmon Fisher’s cham, U.K.: Sherratt and Hughes, ) by . Maxwell in Francis, A Book on Odyssey, . Arthur J. Hutton. Both are examples of fish- Angling, viii. . Roy Flury, quoted in Buller, The ing books compiled by English anglers. . Ibid. Domesday Book of Giant Salmon, –. . P. D. Malloch, Life History and Habits . Burnett, “Extracts from Sir Herbert . Ashley-Cooper, A Salmon Fisher’s of the Salmon Sea-Trout and Other Freshwater Maxwell’s Fishing Diary,” . Odyssey, . Fish (London: Adam and Charles Black, . Typewritten preface inserted between . Ibid., . ). opening pages, “Sir Herbert Maxwell’s . Ibid. . Malloch, Life History, v, –. Fishing Book.” . Ibid.

   Reflections on the Jock Scott by Andrew Herd and Kenneth Cameron

Andrew Herd

The Jock Scott original dressing tied by Alberto Calzolari.

  F , an obituary like that less-famous fly, it is known to us It is fascinating to reflect that despite appeared in the Field, the maga- in its extreme form from Kelson: the extraordinary fame of the pattern, Ozine of the British sporting gentry. piecing together the history of the Jock The man whose life was chronicled was J S Scott is not as easy as it might seem. Many neither a captain of industry nor a titled Tag.—Silver twist and yellow silk. stories of the fly’s genesis—of varying landowner, and he had lived his entire life Tail.—A topping and Indian Crow. degrees of credibility—have ap peared, in the service of others. Yet the notice of Butt.—Black herl. but the meat of the tale lies in a series of his death was a sign that he had achieved Body.—In two equal sections: No. , of articles published in the Fishing Gazette yellow silk (buttercup colour) ribbed a kind of immortality by the simple with narrow silver tinsel, and butted shortly after Jock Scott’s death, which device of dressing a salmon fly—an idea were summarized in a piece published in with Toucan above and below, and  that would have been inconceivable fifty black herl; No. , black silk, ribbed with this journal some twenty years ago. The years previously. His name was Jock Scott. broad silver tinsel. essence of the story is that Jock Scott, The Jock Scott, without any exaggera- Hackle.—A natural black hackle, from who was gillie to Lord John Scott on the tion, is the most famous full-feathered centre. Makerstoun beat of the Tweed, tied the pattern ever tied. Even in America, it was Throat.—Gallina. fly in approximately , but the pattern rated first by Henry P. Wells in The Wings.—Two strips of black Turkey did not reach a wider audience until the American Salmon Fisherman (), and with white tips, Golden Pheasant tail, early s. The reason this happened Mary Orvis Marbury (Favorite Flies and Bustard, grey Mallard, Peacock (sword was that after he retired from Lord John  feather), Swan dyed blue and yellow, red   Their Histories, ) cited a Fishing Macaw, Mallard and a topping. Scott’s service in – , Jock Scott Gazette survey that put it on seventeen of Sides.—Jungle. spent a couple of years dressing salmon nineteen must-have lists returned by flies for a living, and a copy of his inven-   Cheeks.—Chatterer. tackle dealers. Like the Duchess, the Horns.—Blue Macaw. tion found its way into the hands of John Jock Scott was created on the Tweed, and Head.—Black Herl. Forrest, the tackle dealer, who had a suc-      cessful day with it when all else had head keeper at Makerstoun, Robert Kerss. Lord John Scott, when the latter was out failed. Forrest was so delighted with the In the two years that he spent with Kerss, walking the banks of the river. It is said fly that he put it on sale in his Kelso Scott learned watercraft and the art of fly that the peer asked Jock his name, and shop, before the dressing gained lasting dressing, and it is likely that he tied tradi- when he was told, responded, “I’m Jock fame after he sent a sample to Francis tional Tweed flies with dressings like this: Scott mysel’,” and engaged him on the Francis, who published it in : spot. The employment lasted twenty- Wings.—Mottled feather from the back seven years, and Jock accompanied his Jock Scott.—Tag, g. [gold] twist; tail, of a drake. employer wherever he went fishing. one tg. [topping] and one Indian crow Head.—Yellow wool, with a little hare’s The key to understanding the Jock feather; body, in two joints, gold- fur next to it. Scott phenomenon lies in the motivation coloured floss the lowest, and black Body.—Black wool. floss the upper; from the joint is tied, End of body.—Fur from hare’s ear; next and circumstances of the man who after the fashion of the Popham, two or to the hare’s ear crimson wool. designed it. One of the drivers for the three short toucan points, and over the Tail.—Yellow wool. pattern’s creation appears to be that it buts [sic] of them, at the joint, two Round the body.—Black-cock’s hackle. was tied in preparation for a fishing trip turns of black herl; s. tt., [silver twist] a End of the body.—Red-cock’s hackle. in Norway, or at least that was the story black hackle over the black joint, and Round the body.—Gold twist, spirally. according to a piece by Charles Alston, speckled gallina at shoulder; wing which was published in the Fishing mixed, a white tip tur. [turkey] slip in By coincidence, this pattern was called Gazette in . In Scott’s time, Norway the middle, fibres of bust. [bustard], the Michael Scott, but unfortunately, was the place for salmon fishers to see pintail, or teal, bn. mad. [brown or bronze mallard], yellow, rd., and gn. William Scrope, who gives us the dress- and be seen in, a rather more glamorous pat. [parrot], one tg. [golden pheasant ing, says nothing about its provenance. version of today’s Kola peninsula, a place topping] over all, blue macaw ribs, a Although relatively colorful, this fly is where the aristocrats of salmon fishing kgfr. [kingfisher] on either cheek. Any definitely of the old Tweed school. The went and caught huge fish. They went size to suit the water from  to  or . telltale signs are the use of a single mate- there partly because it offered an escape rial for the wing, the body and head of from the increasingly crowded waters of It is, on the face of it, surprising that a wool rather than silk, the use of other Scotland, partly because it offered the border-country gillie who lived an insu- materials that could be sourced locally chance of catching good numbers of big lar life could have come up with such an (such as the drake’s feather for the wing), fish, partly because it was very fashion- internationally renowned creation. The and the general simplicity of the pattern. able, and partly because there were good young Jock came from the village of The Michael Scott shows us the idea steamer connections—in , it was as Branxholme in Roxburghshire and at of a fly that the young Jock Scott would easy to travel to Scandinavia as it was to thirteen () was employed by the have carried in his head when, in the visit Scotland, which was not particularly Marquis of Lothian as an assistant to the early s, he came into the employ of well served by rail.

Andrew Herd

The Michael Scott tied by Alberto Calzolari.

   Andrew Herd

The Kelson Jock Scott tied by Alberto Calzolari.

The first mention of salmon patterns names like the Pride of Aberdeen, the Scott would have been well aware per- for Norway was in the -page  edi- Baronet, the Rainbow, and the Stunner, haps not of that exact quote, but very def- tion of Blacker’s Art of Angling. This and, as presented by Jones, they shrieked initely of the principles on which the groundbreaking work featured a total of of exclusivity. The Rainbow, for example, mixed wings of the new standards were a hundred salmon-fly patterns, gaining used no fewer than five golden pheasant built, which involved mixing feather the distinction of being the only book of toppings, a material that was so rare and fibers from different species together, salmon-fly patterns ever to double the expensive that it was only to be seen in without “zipping” the barbules, so that total of salmon flies known in print. This the fly wallets of the most fashionable each component fiber was left to move particular issue of Blacker’s book is rare fishermen. Clearly, if the new fly was to individually (unlike a married wing, now, but it was widely available then, be fished in such exclusive company, it where the barbules are zipped, and the included two salmon flies for Norway, had to make a lasting impression to avoid wing moves as a unit). He might well and Scott would possibly have had access becoming yesterday’s favorite. The Jock have been aware of the system advocated to it through his employer. Five years Scott would almost certainly have been in Blacker’s book, in which the author later, Jones’s Guide to Norway was pub- featured by Jones, but it was not, which described a method for creating Shannon lished, this being a thinly veiled adver- would fit very well with John Forrest’s flies that let the dresser mix and match tisement written to alert Jones’s clients to version of the fly’s story. materials to his heart’s content and to the possibilities the new location offered Given access to new and expensive create one pattern after another. The and to the tackle they would need to buy materials, and a library of books to fire his only fixed feature in the early Irish gaudy from him should they decide to go. The imagination, how did Jock choose to cre- mixed-wing salmon-fly tradition that print run of this book was very small, ate his fly? Turkey was indispensable to a Blacker brought with him from Ireland perhaps as low as a couple of hundred Tweed pattern, so Jock would have drawn was the body tying, and in dressing any copies; nonetheless, the Guide attracted it from his lordship’s box. But what to add particular pattern, Blacker’s compatriots a great deal of attention. Few of the read- to it? There is a clue in Thomas Tod more or less put on whatever wing suited ers could have realized that neither Jones Stoddart’s book. In the dressing for the them on the day. Where the new wave of nor Frederic Tolfrey, the editor of the Doctor, Stoddart remarks, “Mixtures are Scots dressers differed greatly from the Guide, had ever been to Norway, but that generally composed of golden pheasant Irish pioneers is that they began to fix hardly mattered, because all eyes then, as tippet, ditto tail feather, bustard, brown the order and specification of the mate- now, skate over the text to the glorious mallard, capercailzie, &c. &c., along with rials used to tie the wing, and—crucial- plates of salmon flies that Jones had on macaw slips, which latter are deemed ly—they named their patterns. Ulti- sale. These were jewel-like creations with indispensable.” mately, this would ensure that the Scots      patterns were remembered, whereas the and yet we have only this one pattern Practical Anglers to Inquiries Concerning How, Irish were not. from the man. Thanks to a letter pub- When, and Where to Use Them (Boston and The gillie would have had access to lished by Charles H. Alston in the Fishing New York: Houghton Mifflin, ), . abundant supplies of mallard, teal, and Gazette in , which quotes George . Andrew Herd and Ken Cameron, pintail that had been shot on the estate’s Forrest, we know that Forrest’s father, “The Duchess and the Tweed,” The American flight ponds. All the patterns in recent John, thought Jock Scott to be no more Fly Fisher (Fall , vol. , no. ), –. . George M. Kelson, The Salmon Fly fashion used macaw, bustard, and golden than a “fair” fly dresser, which puts him (London: George Kelson, ), –. pheasant, so he would have laid those on well out of the class of Blacker and his  . J. David Zincavage, “The ‘True’ the desk, and finally added kingfisher, peers. Scott appears to have been the all- Original Jock Scott . . . All Three of Them,” which was common enough on the new time one-hit wonder of salmon-fly The American Fly Fisher (Summer , vol. , breed of mixed-wings in his time, but dressers. It seems possible that he might no. ), –. would be superseded in years to come by have created the pattern by borrowing . Francis Francis, A Book on Angling feathers from the group of species collec- components from elsewhere, and if he (London: Longmans, Green and Co., ), tively known as blue chatterer. These had been brimful of ideas, they would . materials would be used to build a surely have inspired him to dress other, . William Scrope, Days and Nights of matching wing after he had decided how no-less-famous patterns. Or did Scott cre- Salmon Fishing in the Tweed (London: Murray, to design the body, but the one message ate other flies that had the ill fortune to ), ; also given in Francis (), although we would like readers to take away is that return, unrecorded, to the dust that blows much adapted, even though ascribed to the pattern as Jock Scott created it did along the riverside paths at Makerstoun, Scrope. . The Field ( February ), . not have a married wing, for such things leaving us with this single surviving mas- . Charles H. Alston, “The Jubilee of the were unknown in the s. terpiece? ‘Jock Scott’ Salmon Fly,” The Fishing Gazette If we assume that Jock was conscious- The final question we are left to ask is ( December ), . ly creating a “new age” fly, that would why the pattern’s popularity has never . William Blacker, Blacker’s Art of have shut him out of using a body built waned when the waters have closed over Angling (London: William Blacker, ), . purely out of wool or fur. It was at this flies like the Duchess and the Rainbow . Frederic Tolfrey, ed., Jones’s Guide to point that his pride and ability as a fly with such finality? The feature that Norway (London: Longman, Brown, Green dresser may well have come to the fore. appears to have played the greatest part in and Longman, ). There was a fly in Jones’s Guide known as saving the Jock Scott is its name, which . Much prized even at the time, suspi- the Popham, which was notoriously dif- has the twin advantages of being instant- ciously few copies of Jones’s Guide to Norway ficult to tie because of the Indian Crow ly memorable with vague nationalistic survive. The book was published late in the veilings at the joints in the body. This overtones. Our belief is that there isn’t year, Jones died of drink shortly after, and was in fact a new variant on an old anything particular about the pattern that Longman didn’t promote it at all after the first year. Despite auction prices hovering at Tweed technique, described by John guarantees success in catching fish; its £,–£,, the book remains fabulously Younger in his dressing for an unnamed achievement lies in catching men, and if a rare, and maybe only three or four dozen salmon fly, in which the body was picked newly independent Scotland ever chose a  copies are known to exist. out to obscure the rib. The ability to tie national fly, then surely it would have to . Andrew Herd and Hermann Dietrich- in veilings was the mark of a first-rate fly be this one. The ironies are that the name Troeltsch, “The Bird with the Golden Cape,” dresser, and there can be little doubt that of the fly we love so well was given to the The American Fly Fisher (Summer , vol. Scott threw in the feature as much to pattern by John Forrest and that it is more , no. ), –. show off his ability as to enhance the than probable that if the Jock Scott’s . Thomas Tod Stoddart, The Angler’s overall appearance, and very possibly the inventor had been left to his own devices, Companion to the Rivers and Lochs of Scotland cost, of the pattern. It is one of the most the unidentified pattern would almost (Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood distinctive features of a very distinctive certainly have disappeared into obscurity. and Sons, ), . fly, but ironically, in Marbury’s book, the By all accounts, Jock Scott was not a . Blacker, Blacker’s Art of Angling, . veilings were deleted, very probably with big man, but he has thrown a long shad- . Tolfrey, Jones’s Guide to Norway, .  . John Younger, On River Angling for the aim of simplifying the pattern. ow across the centuries. In writing his Salmon and Trout: More Particularly as The last few paragraphs provide one obituary, “Punt Gun” wrote: “I was very Practised in the Tweed and Its Tributaries model of how the Jock Scott might have fond of him; and it was a labour of love (Edinburgh: William Blackwood & Sons, been created, but there is another possi- to me to write all I knew of the poor old ), . bility, and it is here that the most intrigu- fellow. . . . With ‘Jock’s’ death has passed . Marbury, Favorite Flies and Their His - ing questions lie. It was quite common for away another link with the old days, tories, plate D, opp. . early Scots fly dressers to borrow com- when to be a sportsman was, at any rate, . Charles H. Alston, “How the ‘Jock plete wing designs from one pattern, graft to be a man . . .” Scott’ Came by Its Name,” The Fishing Gazette on a different body, and create a “new” fly, Punt Gun was too pessimistic. Jock ( February ), . a perfect example being the Stevenson, Scott may be dead, but his spirit lives on in . Punt Gun, obituary of Jock Scott, The which is nothing more than a Durham his fly, and hairwing adaptations of it con- Field ( February ), . Ranger with a different body. Given that tinue to be fished even into the twenty- the Stevenson is popularly accredited to first century. Jimmy Wright, it remains a possibility that the Jock Scott was conceived using a similar process, borrowing and improv-  ing on earlier patterns that are now lost. Why do we raise this heresy? The pecu- . Henry P. Wells, The American Salmon liar thing about Scott’s fly is that it has a Fisherman (London: Sampson Low, Marston, reasonably well-substantiated early date Searle & Rivington, ). and is the equal of anything that Blacker . Mary Orvis Marbury, Favorite Flies created or that Jones featured in his book, and Their Histories; with Many Replies from       More on the Mickey Finn by Jan Harold Brunvand

Sara Wilcox

This Mickey Finn was one of many patterns tied by Harry Geron as photographic reference for the book Fly Patterns of Alaska () by the Alaska Flyfishers Club. From the collection of the American Museum of Fly Fishing.

 P. G II’s arti- , also rightly credits Knight, “old-time “the man deserves a much more promi- cle, “A Personal and Natural outdoor author and promoter of solunar nent place in fishing history than he has WHistory of the Mickey Finn” (vol. tables,” for popularizing the Mickey Finn, been given.” Writing in the New York , no. , Fall ), raises questions about then goes on to declare, with no source Times in , Paul Collins called atten- the origin and development of this classic citation, that, “The pattern was made by tion to such oddities in Herter’s book bucktail pattern, concluding that the in - Gerald Van Norten, a fly fisherman that Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes ventor cannot yet be identified. John Alden tied flies only for his own use and not to and Practices ( and subsequent edi- Knight, an early proponent of the Mickey sell,” and that “a bartender in Toronto tions) as the Virgin Mary being fond of Finn, renamed the fly from simply “yellow named Tom Kensworth” gave the fly its creamed spinach and that Johannes and red bucktail” to the Assassin; in a letter name. Neither of these names appears Kepler is best remembered not as an to Joseph D. Bates, Knight credited the anywhere else than in Herter’s manual in astronomer, but as the inventor of liver- Mickey Finn moniker to Toronto journal- connection with the Mickey Finn. Herter wurst. Summing up, Collins dubbed ist Gregory Clark, evok ing, supposedly, a includes no illustration of the pattern, Herter “an unreliable narrator who sold Chicago bartender named Michael Finn. but he gives a standard recipe (silver tin- reliable gear.” But the creator of the original is still sel body ribbed in silver, black head, Far from George Leonard Herter in unknown. etc.), and he specifies that the top bunch time and distance, Danish fly angler Is the name of the inventor of the of yellow bucktail should be larger than Martin Joergensen makes a competing Mickey Finn truly unknowable at this the bottom bunch and that a shoulder of claim on his website, The Global late date? Perhaps not, given that several jungle cock should be included. FlyFisher. He states quite firmly that “it writers and websites have made some It is easy to dismiss Herter’s claim as was originally tied by Québec fly tier quite positive claims as to the inventor’s to the origin of this fly when considering Charles Langevin sometime in the th identity. all the other unsourced claims made in century” and that it was known then as George Leonard Herter, for example, his catalogs and various books marketed the Langevin. The same information is in his quirky Professional Fly Tying, therein, but, as historian Paul Schullery given in a  book by midwestern Spinning and Tackle Making Manual and writes, because of the wide readership American angler Joseph D. Cornwall, Manufacturer’s Guide, first published in and popularity of Herter’s publications, who reports that “this fly has helped me      The  Canada Post Fishing Flies series of four stamps came in a brochure containing two copies of each stamp with information, in English and French, about the stamps and their tiers, as well as the artists who created the background illustrations. Images scanned by Jan Harold Brunvand.

catch two catfish over thirty-six inches the Mickey Finn? Actually, other online about the origin and typical use of each long.” The Global FlyFisher website sources repeat the same information, pattern. The waters where Charles provides tying instructions for the origi- and likely even more websites or books Langevin used the fly are named in an nal pattern, incorporating the jungle also credit Charles Langevin of Québec extended note on the Canada Post web- cock feathers as “eyes,” followed by sever- as the creator of the fly. This is not sur- site: “the Jacques-Cartier River in the al variations to illustrate “the land of prising, because none other than the Québec City area.” Commemorative ‘Mickeyfication.’” These include the Canadian national post office (Canada stamp issues do not come with footnotes, Polar Mickey, the Mickey Jiggy, the Post/Postes Canada) provided this infor- so we can only hope that Canada Post Clouser Mickey, the Thunder Creek mation in February  along with the researched those four stamps and got the Mickey, the Salmon Mickey, the Carrie issue of a four-stamp Fishing Flies facts right. I have not found any rebuttal Stevens streamer pattern called the (Mouches Artificielles) set. The other to their information, but neither have I Mickey Doodle, and two concoctions three flies pictured on these fifty-cent found ironclad proof that it is reliable. I called the Bird Fur Mickey and the postage stamps were the Jock Scott, the did find a set of the original stamp issue Mickey Biplane. The consistent element Alevin, and the P.E.I. Fly. Each stamp for sale online, and I acquired it for illus- in these and all other versions of the showed a large image of the fly pattern tration here. Mickey Finn is the layered red and yel- against the background of a fishing scene Charles Langevin (–) of low bucktail used for the wing. painted by Montreal artist Alain Québec was a prominent person of his How does it happen that both a Massicotte. The names of the tiers of the generation and served for a time in the Danish and an American angler offer the flies shown on the stamps were included Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. same information about the inventor of with the release, along with information He was also a salmon fisherman of some    confused the all-yellow feath- er streamer with a yellow and red bucktail. Or perhaps there was another favorite fly of Charles Langevin’s that was the predecessor of the Mickey Finn, and both of them were sometimes re- ferred to by the name of their inventor. Or maybe there is no connection of a yellow and red bucktail to Langevin at all. My query to Library and Archives Canada about whether any further docu- mentation of Langevin’s sal - mon-fishing career could be located returned a negative reply: nothing showed up in their collections. My own guess (and hope) is that even- tually a Langevin fly from the nineteenth century resem- bling the early Mickey Finn pattern will turn up to vali- date the Canada Post stamp issue and to justify all the claims of Langevin having invented the fly that became the Mickey Finn—claims repeated as gospel truth with- out any supporting chap ter Title page and frontispiece of William Agar Adamson’s Salmon-Fishing and verse. in Canada () edited by Colonel Sir James Edward Alexander, Returning to pattern var - from a copy in the Harvard College Library (see note ). iations for the Mickey Finn, consider some others. The Seed Bead Mickey Finn is renown. Richard Nettle, in his  book was published in . The title page of tied with a body consisting of eleven to The Salmon Fisheries of the St. Lawrence Salmon-Fishing in Canada states that it fifteen white beads. The (Mylar) and Its Tributaries, in a chapter about the was written “by a Resident” whom the Mickey Finn illustrated in Jack Dennis’s Jacques-Cartier River, quotes figures opening chapter characterizes as a young  Western Trout Fly Tying Manual has extracted from the journal of “Charles Irish clergyman in eastern Canada. a body of silver Mylar tubing puffed out Langevin, Esq.” on the number of When I ordered a facsimile copy of the at the bottom with a piece of aluminum salmon he caught from  to . But book in the Harvard College Library, it cut from the flip top of a soda pop or Nettle does not mention either the yel- came bound in a cover with the name beer can pushed inside the tube under the low and red bucktail nor a fly called the William Agar Adamson printed as hook shank. The design of aluminum Langevin; in fact, he refers to only a few author, and, indeed, “the Rev. William drink cans has changed since that time, so salmon flies by specific names, usually Agar Adamson, D.C.L.” is cited as the flip tops are no longer flat nor easily merely commenting that various fishers source for the first appendix, titled “The removed, but Dennis does not update or prefer their own favorite flies. Decrease, Restoration and Preservation even mention this variation in later edi- That a fly called the Langevin did of Salmon in Canada.” The Langevin fly tions of his manual or in his other books. exist, however, is proven by a reference in is number  of a series of “good killing Bruce Staples, in Trout Country Flies Thaddeus Norris’s classic opus of , flies” described, and most interesting is a from Greater Yellowstone Area Masters, The American Angler’s Book, wherein a further comment on the fly that includes the Wyoming Mickey Finn list of flies from “Dr. Adamson, in Thaddeus Norris did not quote: “This marked “Originator: Unknown, s,” ‘Salmon-fishing in Canada’” includes a latter is indigenous, I believe, to Québec but said to have been “popularized by fly by that name, described as follows: . . . the gentleman whose name it bears John Atherton.”  Staples’s recipe calls for “Wings, body, tail, hackle, legs tip all yel- seldom fishes with any other, and he red thread, a flat gold tinsel-wound low; made of the dyed feathers of the manages to hook as many fish in the body, mixed red and yellow bucktail white goose; the head of black ostrich Jacques Cartier as most other people.” instead of the stacked three layers in clas- and the twist of black silk.” This fly has So we have a reference to Charles sic descriptions, and both jungle cock one of the two colors associated with the Langevin’s favorite fly bearing his name, “cheeks” and red and white eyes painted Mickey Finn, but it is made of feathers, but, unfortunately, it is not the yellow on the enameled head. John Atherton not bucktail, and lacks the silver body. and red bucktail that would seem to be mentions the Mickey Finn only once in Dr. Adamson’s book is better known as the true ancestor of the Mickey Finn. his book, referring to it (without an illus- the work of his editor, Colonel Sir James If this is where Canada Post got its tration or recipe) simply as “old and Edward Alexander, under whose name it information, then someone may have trusty” and so successful, especially with      brook trout, that it seems “almost mur- tying the pattern and the success many fly . A brief biography is provided on the derous.” This was perhaps a nod to its anglers have had with it. And the mystery National Assembly of Québec website: “assassin” reputation in earlier days. of the pattern’s origin may have been set- “Charles Langevin (–),” April , Even in producing more standard ver- tled about a decade ago by Canada Post. Dictionnaire des parlementaires du Québec de sions of the Mickey Finn, fly tiers some- Now if only we could discover where the  à nos jours, www.assnat.qc.ca/en/deputes times tweak the pattern. G. Randolph post office got its information! /langevin-charles-/biographie.html. Accessed  February . Erskine, for example, recommends select- . Richard Nettle, The Salmon Fisheries ing and evening the three bunches of of the St. Lawrence and Its Tributaries bucktail for the wing (two yellow, one (Montreal: John Lovell, ), . red), then securing the butt ends of each . Thaddeus Norris, The American segment with Duco Cement and tying  Angler’s Book (Lyon, Miss.: Derrydale Press, them in together while the cement is still  [facsimile edition of original  edi- tacky. He includes no jungle cock ele- . This paragraph sums up what is gen- tion; vol. XX of the “Fly Fisherman’s Gold” ment, but he sticks with the traditional erally accepted about the background of the series]), –. silver tinsel and rib body, and specifies a Mickey Finn as documented in the recent . [William Agar Adamson], Salmon- white eye painted on the black head. sources cited by Willard P. Greenwood II and Fishing in Canada, ed. Colonel Sir James Tom Rosenbauer’s version suggests fine elsewhere. But there is one curious anomaly. Edward Alexander (London: Longman, silver Mylar tubing as a body variation Joseph D. Bates Jr., in his comprehensive Green, Longman, and Roberts; Montreal: B. book Streamer Fly Tying and Fishing (), Dawson and Son, ). This is a charming, and illustrates the pattern tied with a red while stating in the text that Knight got the tag and a black head without a painted rambling little book in which the initial letter  original pattern from another fisherman in of each chapter is formed by a small line eye. A. K. Best, in his “ Minute Ties” , captioned the feather streamer version drawing of a fishing scene that incorporates column in Fly Rod & Reel magazine (June of the Mickey Finn (Plate VII), “Originated the needed capital letter. ) recommends weighting the fly, by Mr. John Alden Knight.” In the  . Adamson, Salmon-Fishing in Canada, then overwrapping the lead-substitute reprint of the book, a second set of color . wire with a woven gold Mylar tinsel plates was added, and again the Mickey Finn . Joe J. Warren, Tying Glass Bead Flies strand as a body. Best specifies (in con- (Plate , now the bucktail version) was cap- (Portland, Ore.: Frank Amato Publications, trast to Herter’s pattern) that the top tioned, “Originated and dressed by John Inc., ), . layer of yellow hair should be smaller Alden Knight.” Knight died in  and Bates . Jack Dennis, Western Trout Fly Tying than the bottom layer of yellow. in , so perhaps Bates’s heirs and the edi- Manual (Jackson Hole, Wyo.: Snake River There’s another bit of folklore related tors of the later edition simply repeated much Books, ), –. to the Mickey Finn cited by, among oth- of the caption information from the earlier . Bruce Staples, Trout Country Flies from ers, John Merwin, in a short piece titled color plate. Greater Yellowstone Area Masters (Portland, . George Leonard Herter, Professional Ore.: Frank Amato Publications, Inc., ), . “The Mysterious Long Life Span of the Fly Tying, Spinning and Tackle Making Manual . John Atherton, The Fly and the Fish Mickey Finn” for Field & Stream (  and Manufacturers Guide, revised th ed. (Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications,  February ). Merwin names no can- (Waseca, Minn.: Herter’s, Inc., ), . [reprint]), . Originally published in . didate for the invention of the fly, but . Paul Schullery, American Fly Fishing: . G. Randolph Erskine, Mastering the after mentioning the roles played by A History (New York: The Lyons Press, ), Art of Fly Tying (Camden, Me.: Ragged John Alden Knight and Gregory Clark in . Mountain Press/McGraw-Hill, ), –. the later history of the pattern, he states . Paul Collins, “The Oddball Know-It- . Tom Rosenbauer, The Orvis Guide to that the fly got its name “in supposed All,” New York Times,  December , Small Stream Fly Fishing (New York: Universe honor of film star Rudolph Valentino— www.nytimes.com////books/review Publishing, ), . who was allegedly killed by mickey finns /Collins-t.html. Accessed  January . . Included in Joe Healy, ed., Fly Tying: [meaning drugs, not flies] that were . Martin Joergensen, “Mickey Finn,” 30 Years of Tips, Tricks, Patterns (The Best of slipped into his cocktails.” Valentino The Global Flyfisher,  March , Fly Rod & Reel) (Rockport, Me.: Down East http://globalflyfisher.com/patterns/mickey Enterprise, Inc., ), –. actually died from complications follow- -finn. Accessed  January .  ing emergency surgery for gastric ulcers . John Merwin, “The Mysterious Long  . Joseph D. Cornwall, Fly Fishing Warm Life Span of the Mickey Finn,” The Lateral and a ruptured appendix. Snopes.com, Water Rivers: Lessons Learned on Ohio’s Great Line, Field & Stream ( February ), the legend- and rumor-debunking site, Miami (Cincinnati: The Quiet Sportsman www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/fishing does not mention the Mickey Finn Publications, ), . ///mysterious-long-life-span-mickey- (either the fly or the drug) in connection . For the Mickey Doodle, see Graydon finn. Accessed  January . with the death of Valentino, but does R. Hilyard and Leslie K. Hilyard, Carrie G. . Ibid. refute another story that the film idol Stevens: Maker of Rangeley Favorite Trout and . Gilbert King, in “The ‘Latin Lover’ died “from eating food prepared in alu- Salmon Flies (Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole and His Enemies” (Smithsonian.com,  June minum cookware.” Books, ), –. ), provides a concise and well-document- Merwin was skeptical not only about . For example, the Gaspé Salmon Guides ed account of Valentino’s life and death. the story of Valentino’s death (writing site calls the Mickey Finn “a classic streamer Rumors at the time concerned “the gun of a “supposed” and “allegedly”), but also that was created in Québec by Charles jealous husband or scorned lover”; the Langevin” (see “How to pick the right wet fly about the claimed great success reported Mickey Finn theory came later. See www for Atlantic Salmon?,”  December , .smithsonianmag.com/history/the-latin-lover for this simple attractor streamer. He http://gaspesalmonguides.com/flies-for-the -and-his-enemies-/?no-ist. Ac cessed wrote, “What I find most surprising -atlantic-salmon/). Accessed  February .  February . about this pattern is that sometimes it   . The stamp note is quoted from . “Rudolph Valentino,” Snopes.com, actually works.” And he asks, “So why Canada’s Stamp Details (vol. XIV, no. , www.snopes.com/movies/actors/valentino.asp, has the Mickey Finn persisted for more January–March ) at “Fishing Flies,” last updated  December . Accessed  than half a century?” He answers his own issued  February , www.canadapost.ca January . rhetorical question, “Darned if I know.” /cpo/mc/personal/collecting/stamps/archives . Merwin, “The Mysterious Long Life The supposed mystery of the Mickey //_feb_flyfishing.jsf. Accessed  Span of the Mickey Finn.” Finn’s popularity must lie in the ease of February . . Ibid.        Red Sox in Fly Fishing Past and Present

Ted Williams. From the collection of the American Museum of Fly Fishing. Boston Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello in action against the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards,  April . Photo by Keith Allison. https://www.flickr.com/photos/keithallison/ /in/album-/. Accessed  August .

   time at Fenway Park with an avid fly instant gratification and that instant action . . . with fly fishing, fisherman who happens to pitch every fifth day for the you just have to work at it a bit. It’s not something that comes IBoston Red Sox. Rick Porcello was acquired in the  off- easy, but it’s a lot of fun, especially when you start going after season from the Detroit Tigers and signed to a long-term deal, the big migratory species like steelhead and salmon—that’s a ensuring that he will be able to enjoy fly fishing in New lot of action and a lot of excitement.” England’s trout and salt water for a while. Indeed, both sports have a lot to do with the process: you must After spending only an afternoon with Porcello, it became take your lumps and lose your fly in the elm tree or give up three abundantly clear that he’s not wired like some of today’s super- runs in an inning before you make the tweak in your cast that connected athletes. In fact, Twitter is his only social media launches your fly another  feet to the big fish or make the account, and he goes months, not seconds, between tweets. change in your arm slot or pitching motion that sets you up for Rather than starting online feuds with other players or trying success in sitting hitters down. Attention to detail is also key. Ted to lure potential free agents to his team with the use of emojis Williams didn’t compile a . lifetime batting average, hit  (as the L.A. Clippers did recently in basketball), Porcello’s feed home runs, or catch more than , bonefish, tarpon, salmon, features the occasional fishing glory shot or updates on his and other species by winging it. Hitting and fishing were much buddy Joseph Penrod and the Team Joseph Foundation for more than a livelihood to Williams: he studied and worked to Duchenne muscular dystrophy (www.teamjoseph.info). perfect his craft with an intensity that bordered on the obsessive. Porcello has a laid-back but intensely thoughtful and As he told John Underwood in My Turn at Bat: focused personality that serves him well in his two endeavors: baseball and fly fishing. Both have a strong history, are slow I can stand at the bow of my boat for hours on the Florida Keys, paced, and generally do not favor the impatient. As Porcello hot sun beating down . . . and even as the time slips by the excite- puts it, “With the way society is now, everyone wants that ment and anticipation never wane. I sit at my tackle bench past      midnight tying flies, making sure they’re exactly right. It relaxes the average, I would say it takes  casts per salmon,  to  me. I used to tie flies during the season, come in after a game all casts per salmon. But on every cast you have the expectation that taut and nervous, tie a few flies and boom, right to sleep. . . . The it’s going to happen. fact remains I love to fish, period. The Splendid Splinter practiced catch and release almost Rick Porcello reflected that same passion during our inter- exclusively and gave his support to such organizations as Trout view. When asked if he was able to fish during the season, a Unlimited, the Atlantic Salmon Association, and the Izaak sheepish grin crept over his face. He nodded his head: “Yeah, I Walton League of America. Porcello agrees that “the conserva- have to get creative and kind of sneak around a bit,” he said. tion side of it is everything: it’s not only the present, it’s the “This one time I was playing in Detroit, we had to come here future. If you’re somebody who’s passionate about fly fishing [to Boston]. We didn’t have an off day but I really wanted to go and passionate about different species you catch with a fly rod, striper fishing. I remember sneaking down to the basement of that should make it all that more important for you to protect the hotel where they had their parking garage and my younger that species.” Porcello thinks that having a balance is essential: brother met me there. We drove out at five in the morning, met “Everyone I fly fish with practices catch and release. We don’t the guide by the mouth of the Merrimack River, and fished the take any fish, and we really enjoy it for the experience. That’s Joppa Flats. We caught a bunch of stripers, came back. I was in what it comes down to: anyone can come in and rip out four or sweatpants and a T-shirt and I had a change of clothes in the five fish and get out of there and clean ’em and eat ’em, and I basement. I changed into the clothes that I’d normally go to understand that part of it—but at the same time, you want your the ballpark dressed in, walked right up to the lobby with my kids and their kids and generations going forward to be able to teammates, and then took off to my room like nothing had enjoy the sport and be able to practice that kind of conservation happened and went about my day.” and to understand how important it is for the species.” He con- Porcello learned how to fly fish at a young age near the fam- tinued, “It’s something that I don’t think can be taken lightly, ily home in New Jersey, at a creek that was stocked with rain- and we need to act fast. I mean, it’s not something we can wait bows. Fishing soon became a family tradition that continued at around for. We need to understand what we have to protect the their summer property on a Vermont lake. “We used to fish for habitats and protect the species and do our job.” chain pickerel and perch there. It just turned into something Teaching this kind of appreciation for the sport and conser- that we did as brothers and with my father, and it became our vation is incredibly important for the next generation of fly passion—all the men in our family. We really enjoyed fishing. fishers. Often considered gruff and private, Ted Williams It was something that we bonded over.” To gear up for those always displayed an eagerness to take young people under his Green Mountain outings, he was a frequent visitor both to the wing when it came to fly fishing, even if it meant interrupting American Museum of Fly Fishing and the Orvis flagship store his day on the river. He frequented the fly-fishing trade shows, in Manchester, Vermont. Touring the museum gallery gave making sure to stop and show kids how to tie flies before tour- him an appreciation for the sport’s storied past. “History is ing the room to grill exhibitors on their casting and tying tech- something that makes it special, and it is something that we niques. His thirst for knowledge and reputation as a sportsman want to keep and preserve,” he said. had a ripple effect on the future legends of the sport. Flip Pallot The Boston Red Sox have a long-standing tradition of fly and Chico Fernandez were mesmerized watching Williams and fishermen employed at  Yawkey Way. The list includes notable a friend fly fish for snook along the Tamiami Trail Canal. Pallot players Babe Ruth, Bobby Doerr, and Ted Williams, the last recalls, “We just kind of stood there and watched these men fly being the only man to be honored with a plaque in both the cast and were amazed. We had no idea what they were doing or IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame and the National Baseball Hall of why, and we followed them for hours watching them catch Fame. The connection to this elite fraternity of anglers is not snook on the fly rod . . . and we knew immediately that we had lost on Rick Porcello. “Fly fishing and baseball both have a to do this.” strong history, and obviously the guy right in the middle of that Porcello shows the same inquisitiveness and eagerness as is Ted Williams,” he said. “Playing here at Fenway where he Williams to get the younger generation to not only experience played and fishing some of the rivers that he fished—and not fly fishing but also simply enjoy the outdoors. He has taught only being able to see his stuff in Cooperstown, the Baseball some of his teammates along the way, even though, as he says, Hall of Fame, but also the Fishing Hall of Fame—is pretty cool.” sometimes “it’s like fishing with a three-year-old.” He retracts Porcello enjoys pursuing Atlantic salmon, a trait he shares that, saying, “It’s always fun. Regardless of your skill level, I love with the late Williams. Before our interview, we talked about seeing other people catch fish, too. Being out there, it’s about my trip earlier that morning to [redacted] River near the the whole experience. It’s not about how good you are, it’s Wachusett Reservoir. I had fooled a small landlocked Atlantic about enjoying the moment. It’s definitely fun, and we try to on a Supervisor, and Porcello asked about patterns and where get everybody out there as much as possible.” to fish. Whereas Porcello’s previous employment in Detroit gave him great access to the steelhead fishing in the Great Lakes —P N tributaries, Williams mostly fished the Miramichi for Atlantic C C salmon, first with guide Roy Curtis in ; by , he was hooked. Williams bought a pool on the river in  and hired Curtis as guide and Curtis’s wife, Edna, as housekeeper. Perhaps the best testament to Williams’s love affair with the  Atlantic salmon is this: . John Underwood, “Going Fishing with the Kid: Ted Williams Now, now, the Atlantic salmon. They are caught in beautiful in the Florida Keys,” Sports Illustrated (vol. , no. ,  August ), streams. Extremely game. They jump. They’re sometimes so . hard to catch you think they’re smart, then the next time they’re . Ted Williams with John Underwood, My Turn At Bat: The easy. Sometimes you cast for two hours in the same arc, here, Story of My Life (New York: Simon and Schuster, ), . then here, here, and all the time you’re seeing fish, but you think . Quoted in American Museum of Fly Fishing, “Learning from you’re never going to get one, and then you change the angle a the Masters,” www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFnNSAMBq. Accessed foot and it drifts right over him and, boom, you’ve got one. On  July .    Fly-Fishing Festival

   Fly-Fishing Festival was an outstanding success. A wide variety of ven- Tdors were lying in wait for the more than five hundred people who attended the August  event. Fly tiers Kelly Bedford, Brian Price, and Mike Rice spent the sunny day tying both fresh- and saltwater flies. Rhey Plumley demonstrated tying the Vermont state fly: the Governor Aiken Bucktail Streamer, named for George Aiken, governor of Vermont and longtime U.S. senator. Paul Sinicki spent the day instructing children and adults how to cast, and Douglas Outdoors set up a casting competition with a brand new rod for the winner. Author John D. Juriga signed copies of his book, Bob Hines: National Wildlife Artist, and gave a talk about Hines, who is the subject of a current exhibition here at the muse- um (see inside back cover). And Michael Hackney of the Eclectic Angler brought his D printer and a look into the future of fly-fishing equipment with a talk A beautiful, sunny day provided the backdrop for a successful festival. about (and demonstration of!) the technology of printing D reels. The museum wishes to thank the Orvis Com - pany, Finn & Stone, Vermont Country Store, rk Miles, Mulligans of Manchester, and Mrs. Murphy’s Donuts for their sponsorships. We are grateful to our volun- teers: Bill and Judy Cosgrove, Ron Wilcox, Rose Napolitano, and Tim Delisle.

Photos by Sara Wilcox

Many types of vendors spent the day at the festival, including Newfound Woodworks, Inc., who displayed their beautifully handcrafted canoes and kayaks.

Representatives from Casting for Recovery Rhey Plumey did multiple fly-tying demonstrations of the Vermont Wendy Gawlik and Sheila Reid. state fly: the Governor Aiken Bucktail Streamer.

     Michael Hackney demonstrates how 3D printing works by printing a reel for the attendees.

Volunteers from Project Healing Waters, an organization serving wounded military service individuals, were available all day to answer questions about their program.

Paul Sinicki teaches a young visitor the basics of casting.

Author John D. Juriga spoke about Bob Hines: National Wildlife Artist, then signed copies of his book. A related exhibition is currently on display in the museum.

Floyd Scholz, master bird carver of the Vermont Raptor Academy, was on hand to display his beautiful carved sculptures.

Douglas Outdoors hosted a casting competition, won by David Charamut of Newington, Connecticut (pictured above).      Jerry Karaska (–)

Erwin Markowitz

Jerry Karaska.

 M,  American Museum John Price His last article, “Frank W. Benson: of Fly Fishing lost one of its ded- Artist and Angler,” appeared in the Iicated and longtime volunteers: Spring  issue (vol. , no. ). Jerry Gerald J. Karaska. was enthusiastic about the world of Jerry—along with his wife, sporting art and in particular the art- Mary—was a fixture in the muse- work of Frank Benson. It was um library, making the trip from through his prompting that the his home in Worcester, Massa- museum was able to acquire the chusetts. He worked at both our Tihonet Club (formerly located near Seminary Avenue and current Main Plymouth, Massachusetts) ledger fea- Street locations. His first job was to turing incredible sketches by club catalog the museum’s extensive fly- member Benson. One of Jerry’s last fishing library of publisher Nick writing projects was a book manu- Lyons and to enter all of those script about this preeminent Amer - books into the collections database ican artist. for documentation and access pur- Happily, the museum had the poses. After that project, Jerry tack- opportunity to recognize Jerry for his led the entire library, pulling dupli- steadfast service and accomplish- cates from the reference section to ments. In , he was honored as make room for our quickly expand- our Volunteer of the Year and proudly ing collection. His expertise in the displayed this award for many years. field of provenance proved invalu- Jerry Karaska will be remembered able while organizing thousands of Jerry Karaska with his AMFF fondly by his wife, children, grand- volumes both upstairs and down Volunteer of the Year award. children, former university students, during our  move. AMFF staff and trustees, avid readers of this journal, and pas- His passion for teaching was evident in the articles he wrote sionate museum library visitors who gaze upon a beautifully for the American Fly Fisher. Jerry wrote book reviews, touted organized library collection. the accomplishments of other museum volunteers, and —C C reported updates about the library collection to our members. E D

     New Staff the art of tying the clown fly. Thanks to the wonderful staff at Bass Pro Shops Utica for making this happen. With luck, we Becki Trudell joined the museum in March as public pro- inspired a few little anglers to pick up a fly rod. grams coordinator. Born in Florida, Becki has called Vermont home for the past fifteen years. Having gone to school for cre- Recent Donations to the Collection ative and professional writing, she looks forward to combining her professional skills and love of the outdoors in this new role. Edgar S. Auchincloss of Manchester Center, Vermont, Most other days you can find her either reading or kayaking on donated a three-piece, -foot Leonard Fairy Catskill bamboo fly the Batten Kill. rod. Bruce Holt of G. Loomis, Inc. (Woodland, Washington) sent us a -weight G. Loomis GLX fly rod, model no. FR- GLX. Judith Charlton of Burlington, Washington, donated a Charlton Signature series saltwater fly reel, model no. ./SN. Marianne Papa of Tibor Reel Co. (Delray Beach, Florida) gave us a Gulf Stream Gold saltwater fly reel, serial no. H. And Fred M. Lowenfels of New York City sent us two trout flies tied by Jim Childers: a Western Green Drake and a Light Cahill. Jim Hardman of Dorset, Vermont, donated a collection of Forest and Stream/Rod and Gun periodicals published between  and . For a detailed list, contact the museum. David F. Doss of Allen Park, Michigan, donated a copy of Lake Brooks’s Science of Fishing (Columbus, Ohio: A. R. Harding, ). Brad Burns of Falmouth, Maine, sent us a copy of his book, Closing the Season (Falmouth, Me.: Burns Fly Fishing, ). E. M. Bakwin of La Porte, Indiana, donated a

Peter Nardini Celia Kelly Celia Photography Kelly Becki Trudell The Wonders of Fly Fishing Travels to Bass Pro Shops AMFF Executive Director Cathi Comar and Com mun - ications Coordinator Peter Nardini took The Wonders of Fly Fishing exhibition on the road when they traveled to Bass Pro Shops in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on June . The event offered a complete historical experience with museum arti- facts, which incorporated a Massachusetts flair with Gurglers and other flies tied by the hand of the late great Jack Gartside. Cathi gave a presentation on the role of women in fly fishing (A Graceful Rise) and offered some insight into our upcoming project with her talk on the history of saltwater fly fishing. Friends of the museum Bob Selb and Dana Gray were on hand for gear appraisals, and AMFF ambassador Mike Rice of Mud Dog Flies was on the vise tying his exceptional saltwater pat- terns next to the Gartside display. Thanks to Mike, Dana, and Bob for donating their time and contributing to a fun event. Thanks also to Bob Berkowitz and Bass Pro Shops Foxborough for being such gracious hosts. The fun continued on June  when Peter Nardini traveled to Bass Pro Shops in Utica, New York, for their Go Fishing Two sisters showing off their new fly-tying talent at Bass event. Alongside other activities, Peter helped the kids master Pro Shops’ Go Fishing Event in Utica, New York.    Sara Wilcox

A reception celebrating sporting art was held at the museum on the evening of June . Spotlighting both an all-new exhibition featuring U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service artist Bob Hines and Angling & Art: The Confluence of Passions, a benefit art sale that helps support public programming for the American Museum of Fly Fishing, the event was well attended and garnered enthusiasm for both the outdoors and art. collection of seventeen books. For a detailed list, contact the museum. Carmine Lisella of New City, New York, gave us two fine- art prints: Saltwater Stringer by Brett Smith (limited edition) and The Bighorn River by Mark Susinno. David Sanchez of AMFF was invited to participate in Crandall Public Corrales, New Mexico, donated May-fly Time (), an etch- Library’s six-month program, Battenkill Inspired, organized ing and drypoint by William Schaldach, and Well Hooked by their Folklife Center. In June, a presentation titled (), an etching by Loven West. “Batten Kill: A Fly-Fishing History” was given by Executive Leigh Perkins of Sunderland, Vermont, donated a collec- Director Cathi Comar at two participating venues (Salem tion of fly rods, fly reels, and books. For the detailed list, con- and Glens Falls, New York), highlighting this regional river’s tact the museum. rich angling history. This painting by George Van Hook, River Reflections, was featured (used with permission from Thomas Ames Jr. the Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library).

Upcoming Events Events take place on the museum grounds in Manchester, Vermont, unless otherwise noted.

October  Annual Members Meeting

October – Friends of Corbin Shoot at Hudson Farm Andover, New Jersey

November – Fly-Fishing Trip to Belize

December  Gallery Program: Hooked on the Holidays : p.m.–: p.m.

January –,  AMFF again accepted Trout Unlimited’s invitation to Somerset Fly Fishing Show participate in Vermont’s annual TU Youth Camp in June, Garden State Convention Center held at Quimby Country Lodge & Cottages in Averill. Somerset, New Jersey Executive Director Cathi Comar was one of several adult Please stop by the AMFF booth. instructors and counselors who worked with the twelve campers to teach them about casting, knots, fly tying, Always check our website (www.amff.com) for additions, updates, and more information or contact () - or conservation, and more. Everyone had an opportunity to [email protected]. “Casting About,” the museum’s e-mail newslet- cast the museum’s twentieth-century demonstration rods, ter, offers up-to-date news and event information. To subscribe, and campers were quick to discover the performance look for the link on our website or contact the museum. difference between these rods and contemporary rods.      Sara Wilcox George Van Hook Painting Raffle

On a beautiful July afternoon, the AMFF held their first annual Canvas ’n’ Cocktails event! Samantha Aronson—a local Vermont artist working primarily in watercolors and specializing in painting flies—taught an eager group of aspiring artists how to blend colors in both watercolor and acrylic paints and create personal works of art inspired by the Batten Kill landscape.

Sara Wilcox

Untitled, 2014. Oil on panel 24" x 20" framed.

This beautiful painting by acclaimed plein air artist George Van Hook could become part of your art collection.

Purchase raffle tickets at $25.00 each for your chance to win. The drawing will take place later this year after 200 tickets have been sold.

Proceeds from the sale of the raffle tickets will benefit the museum’s saltwater project, including the development of a traveling exhibition, an online exhibition, and the preservation of artifacts representing this growing segment of the sport.

Tickets are available either online at amff.com or by calling the museum office On August , students from Stepping Stones Early at (802) 362-3300. Learning Center in Manchester, Vermont, stopped by for a museum tour. Communications Coordinator Peter Nardini The American Museum of Fly Fishing gratefully and Public Programs Coordinator Becki Trudell showed the acknowledges the generosity of George Van Hook. kids around, and the morning culminated in snacks and activities in the museum’s Gardner L. Grant Library.    

Peter O. Behan is professor emeritus of neurology and honorary senior research fellow at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. Trained as a demonstrator of pathology in Cambridge and in psychiatry and neurology at Boston and Harvard, he was a tireless, award-winning researcher and a dedicated teacher of clinical neurology at Glasgow from  until his retire- ment in . As well as a passion for neuroscience, Behan has had a lifelong love of salmon and trout fishing; his biggest salmon was more than  pounds from the Vosso in Norway (documented in Fred Buller’s Domesday Book of Giant Salmon). He often combined his two passions. This resulted in a number of papers, including “Doctors on the River” and “Can Fish Feel Pain?,” as well as the popular book Salmon and Women: The Feminine Angle (Trafalgar Square, ) on the science of salmon’s reactions to female anglers. During an early fishing holiday in Ireland, he came across a book on natural history written by Sir Herbert Maxwell, which inspired a third great interest. After years of collecting Sir Herbert’s books and several visits to the ancient family seat in Galloway, Behan wrote an extended essay on the life and works of Sir Herbert that was published in the Scottish Naturalist in . Mario Mario Savoiardo

Jan Harold Brunvand describes himself on his business card as “Folklorist, Author, Skier, Fly Fisher.” He has a PhD in folklore from Indiana University and taught at the University of Idaho, Southern Illinois University–Edwardsville, and for thirty years, until retirement in , at the University of Utah. He lives in Salt Lake City, convenient for pursuing his devotion to downhill skiing and to fly fishing, as on the Green River below Flaming Gorge, shown here. He is the author of numerous articles in the field of folklore, of the standard textbook in American

folklore, and of a series of books about urban legends, including The Vanishing Hitchhiker, The HaroldJanBrunvand Choking Doberman, Encyclopedia of Urban Legends, and, most recently, a revised and expand- ed edition of Too Good to Be True: The Colossal Book of Urban Legends (paperback by W. W. Norton, , and available as an audiobook at Audible.com).

Ken Cameron has been Andrew Herd works three fly fishing for more than days a week as a family prac- fifty years. He was an early titioner in County Durham. registrar of the museum and The remainder of the time has been a contributor to this he fishes, writes about fish- magazine. He is the author ing, or takes photographs or coauthor of more than of other people fishing, thirty books. He lives half the notably for Hardy & Greys year in a cabin on the in Alnwick, for whom he has Herd, MD,Barbara FRCP boundary of the Adirondack worked for several years. Park in New York State and Herd has published many the rest of the year in the books, including his History South. of Fly Fishing trilogy (Med lar Press), and he is the execu- Andrew Andrew Herd tive editor of Waterlog mag - azine. His most recent work (with Keith Harwood and Stanley David) is The Anglers’ Bible, a detailed examination of the Hardy’s Anglers’ Guides up to . Right now he is working with Hermann Dietrich-Troeltsch on another trilogy, this time about the incomparable Mr. William Blacker.

Simone Hutchinson, now a technical editor for Thomson Reuters, was previously editorial assistant to Professor Peter O. Behan, with whom she worked for more than six years. With Behan, she has written papers published in legal and natural history journals, and has edited numerous others on scientific, angling, and historical subjects. In other work, she has written for the series Gnommero, a cooperative artist publication responding to Italo Calvino’s Six Memos for the Next Millenium. Hutchinson’s diverse interests across the arts and humanities (including natural history) served her well in researching and coauthoring “Sir Herbert

Jeremy Mills Jeremy Maxwell” with Behan for the Scottish Naturalist.      Bob Hines: A Celebrated American Artist

Bob Hines with some of his iconic artwork. Photo on loan from private collector.

   opened its second temporary exhibi- his work into important teaching tools for the public. Many tion for : Bob Hines: National Wildlife Artist. This contemporary wildlife artists attribute their inspiration direct- Texhibition augments our permanent exhibition (The ly to Bob Hines. With Hines’s passing in , we were left with Wonders of Fly Fishing) and complements another temporary an incredible legacy of art, education, and wildlife preservation. exhibition, The New Yorker Goes Fly Fishing, featured in our Our exhibition features eleven original fish-related works Gardner L. Grant Library. (watercolors, oils, gouaches, and sketches), several pho- Robert Warren Hines, born in  in Columbus, Ohio, tographs, and Hines’s fly-fishing equipment on loan from a developed his appreciation for nature and wildlife as a young private collector and from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. boy. Involvement with the Boy Scouts and well-honed skills in From the museum’s collection we have included two sheets of taxidermy, hunting, fishing, and art instruction prepared original Hines clip art—so authentic that some illustrations Hines for an art profession spanning more than five decades. are clipped from the sheet! Hines began his career as a staff artist for the Ohio Division The museum wishes to thank Dr. John Juriga, Bob Hines’s of Conservation and Natural Resources in  and moved to biographer, for lending his expertise as we designed the exhibi- the Washington, D.C., area to take the position of staff artist tion and developed the exhibition text. We encourage you to get for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in ; he served in that a copy of Dr. Juriga’s book, Bob Hines: National Wildlife Artist position until his retirement in . Throughout his lifetime, (Beaver’s Pond Press, ) to learn more about Hines’s career, Hines illustrated several major books and pamphlets, created accomplishments, and remarkable breadth of work. the  federal duck stamp, produced the three initial images We hope you will have a chance to stop in and see the exhi- in the first U.S. postage stamp program to feature American bition onsite in our Leigh H. Perkins Gallery, but if that is not wildlife, and revised the federal duck stamp competition that possible, you can view all of the artwork online by visiting our remains in effect today. website (www.amff.com) or blog (americanmuseumofflyfishing For countless mid- to late-twentieth-century Americans, .blogspot.com). Hines’s wildlife illustrations were their introduction to elusive or faraway animals. His obsession for detail and authentic rep- C C resentation, whether the subject was still or in motion, shaped E D Catch and Release the Spirit of Fly Fishing!

 Main Street • PO Box  Manchester,Vermont  Tel: () - • Fax: () - -: [email protected] : www.amff.com M J T      is Membership Dues (per annum) the steward of the history, traditions, and Patron , practices of the sport of fly fishing and pro- Sponsor  motes the conservation of its waters. The Business  museum collects, preserves, exhibits, studies, Benefactor  and interprets the artifacts, art, and literature Associate  of the sport and uses these resources to engage, educate, and benefit all. The museum is an active, member-oriented nonprofit institution. Membership dues The museum provides public programs to include four issues of the American Fly Fisher; fulfill its educational mission, including exhi- unlimited visits for your entire family to bitions, publications, gallery programs, and museum exhibitions, gallery programs, and special events. Research services are available special events; access to our ,-volume for members, visiting scholars, students, edu- angling reference library; and a discount on cational organizations, and writers. Contact all items sold by the museum on its website Yoshi Akiyama at [email protected] to and inside the museum store, the Brookside schedule a visit. Angler. To join, please contact Samantha Pitcher at [email protected]. V Throughout the year, the museum needs volun- 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 Becki Trudell at [email protected] to tell us how we would benefit from your skills and talents. S The American Museum of Fly Fishing relies on the generosity of public-spirited individuals for substantial support. If you wish to contribute funding to a specific program, donate an item for fund-raising purposes, or place an advertise- ment in this journal, contact Sarah Foster at Scan with your smart- [email protected]. We encourage you to give the phone to visit our museum con sideration when planning for gifts, collection online! bequests, and memorials.