American

Journal of the American Museum of Fly Fishing

The

Fly Fisher

th Anniversary

Foster BamDave BeveridgePeter BowdenMark Comora

Deborah Pratt DawsonRonald GardAlan Gnann

Gardner Grant Jr.John Hadden

James Heckman, MDKaren KaplanWoods King III

William P. Leary IIIAnthony J. MagardinoChristopher P. Mahan

Walter T. MatiaDavid Nichols

Robert A. Oden Jr.

Erik R. OkenAnnie Hollis PerkinsLeigh H. PerkinsFrederick S. PolhemusRoger RiccardiRobert G. ScottNicholas F. SelchWarren SternRonald B. StuckeyTyler S. ThompsonRichard G. TischDavid H. WalshAndrew WardPatricia WatsonThomas WeberFrankie WolfsonJames C. WoodsNancy W. Zakon

Yoshi AkiyamaDeputy Director

Kelsey McBrideAdministrative Assistant

Samantha PitcherAssistant Directorof Development

Shane QuintanaGallery Assistant

Patricia RussellBusiness Manager

Sara WilcoxDirector of VisualCommunication

Doerr on the Rogue,Rich on the Rapid

O of November ,Sara Wilcox e-mailed me withnews that Boston Red Sox great

Bobby Doerr had died the day before.We’d run a big story about him and TedWilliams back in , and we thoughtwe should note his passing in the journal.I was going to check in with the author ofthat piece, John Feldenzer, to ask if he’dbe interested in writing something for us,but he beat me to the punch, e-mailingme that evening.Feldenzer had been working on an

update to his piece off and on for afew years; it had, he said, “now become amemorial piece.” In “Bobby Doerr: Half-Pounders, the Rogue River, and a Love ofFly Fishing: A Memorial to a Friend” (page), Feldenzer offers up not only details ofDoerr’s storied life, but also the history ofa friendship ignited by that article,which continued with annual fishing tripsto Doerr’s home water, the Rogue.Speaking of storied lives, almost a year

ago David Van Wie embarked on what hecalled his storied waters tour: “a ,-mile odyssey to explore and celebratetreasured waters made famous by my lit-erary heroes.” The American Museum ofFly Fishing was an early stop, and we wereexcited to hear about Van Wie’s plans. Ikept up with his blog posts and followedhis travels through eight states, where hefished in more than fifty locations as hereflected on the work of writers andartists “who had something to say aboutthese storied waters.” We were all a littleenvious of his trip. For our pages, VanWie has chosen an episode near the endof his six-week tour to give us a feel forwhat it was like out there. In “I Took tothe Woods: A Storied Waters Adventure,”we find him on Maine’s Rapid River,

where Louise Dickinson Rich lived andwrote her memoir, I Took to theWoods. To follow along, turn to page .From our own storied library shelves,

we reach back years to bring you O. W.Smith’s “Fly-Fishing for Trout,” a chapterfrom his book, Trout Lore. Smith was aclergyman and Outdoor Life’s angling edi-tor. The American Review of Reviews: AnInternational Magazine had this to sayabout the book: “Only a very experiencedfisherman should hope to add anythingworth while to the already extensive liter-ature of trout-fishing, but the angling edi-tor of Outdoor Life has behind him arecord of forty years as an industriousfisherman and he has sought the trout ofAmerica in many waters east and west.Like all well-regulated anglers, from IsaacWalton down, Mr. Smith is a philosopherand a humanist. These qualities make hisbook readable even for the rank amateur”(January–June , ). For Smith’smusings and advice, turn to page .Each year, we like to acknowledge

those who so graciously donate money,resources, and time to the museum. Wecouldn’t do it without you. A list of thosewho helped to further our mission in begins on page .From the what-the-museum’s-been-

up-to department: on page , we reporton our third Iron Fly event and our firsttying event of the season, Tie One On.Turn to page to meet our seven newestambassadors. And did you know thatthere are plenty of opportunities to spendtime with us this year? Check out ourupcoming events list on page . We’recelebrating our fiftieth anniversary. Won’tyou join us?

K AE

Karen KaplanPresident

Robert A. Oden Jr.Vice President

Andrew WardVice President

James C. WoodsSecretary

Peter BowdenTreasurer

Sarah FosterExecutive Director

Bobby Doerr signs a copy of the Fall journal inSeptember . Photo by John Feldenzer.

James HardmanDavid B. Ledlie

Leon L. MartuchPaul Schullery

E. M. BakwinMichael Bakwin

Foster Bam and Sallie BaldwinDave BeveridgePeter Bowden

Meg BuckDayton CarrMark Comora

Jon and Deborah Pratt DawsonAlex de Latour

Gardner Grant Jr.Summerfield Johnston

Arthur and Martha KaemmerKaren Kaplan

Gerold KlauerKenneth Kosakoff and Mariann CovelloDan LufkinRobert McGrawDavid and Margaret NicholsErik and Jennifer OkenLeigh and Annie Hollis PerkinsJennifer ProsekJohn RedpathRobert and Karen ScottNicholas and Jean SelchTyler and Francis ThompsonRichard G. TischPaul Volcker

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The American Fly Fisher (ISSN -) is published four times a year by the museum at P.O. Box ,Manchester, Vermont . Publication dates are winter, spring, summer, and fall. Membership dues include thecost of the journal () and are tax deductible as provided for by law. Membership rates are listed in the back ofeach issue. All letters, manuscripts, photographs, and materials intended for publication in the journal should besent to the museum. The museum and journal are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, drawings, photo-graphic material, or memorabilia. The museum cannot accept responsibility for statements and interpretationsthat are wholly the author’s. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot be returned unless postage is provided.Contributions to The American Fly Fisher are to be considered gratuitous and the property of the museum unlessotherwise requested by the contributor. Copyright © , The American Museum of Fly Fishing, Manchester,Vermont . Original material appearing may not be reprinted without prior permission. Periodical postagepaid at Manchester, Vermont ; Manchester, Vermont ; and additional offices (USPS ). TheAmerican Fly Fisher (ISSN -) : amff@amff.org : www.amff.org

: Send address changes to:The American Fly FisherP.O. Box

Manchester, Vermont

Alan and Nancy Zakon

Louis BaconSalvatore Campofranco

Jane CookePeter and Lillian Corbin

Anthony DavinoCharles Patrick Durkin Jr.

Hugh Frater and Kirsten FeldmanAlan Guarino

James and Susan HeckmanHarry HillTim Hixon

Alex JinishianJoan and Herb Kelleher

Sam Kellie-SmithBill and Francesca LearyCarmine LisellaGeorge MatelichWalter and Pam MatiaRichard and Lorraine McGinnBradford and Pamela MillsRodman and Christine PattonJoseph R. PerellaJason and Shachar ScottMatthew and Taylor ScottCharles WaltonDavid Whitney

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Kathleen AchorEditor

Sarah May ClarksonCopy Editor

Sara WilcoxDesign & Production

Parker CorbinBailey HallingbyWoods King IVJohn Neukom

Albert NicholsDavid E. Nichols Jr.Jason M. ScottBroderick Smith

’

I Took to the Woods:A Storied Waters Adventure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David Van Wie

Bobby Doerr, Half-Pounders, theRogue River, and a Love of Fly Fishing:Memorial to a Friend. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John A. Feldenzer

Off the Shelf:Fly-Fishing for Trout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O. W. Smith

AMFF Announces New Ambassadors . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Museum Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tie One On and Iron Fly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Museum News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

: Bobby Doerr teaching casting at the Hall of Fame in May. Photograph by Milo Stewart. Courtesy of the National BaseballHall of Fame.

the American Museum of Fly FishingJournal of

Shannon BrightmanTom DavidsonNick DawesTom EvansEzra FieldDavid Ford

Michael GoldbergAlan and Linda GnannSkip and Meg Herman

Paul Tudor JonesWendy and Woods King III

Anne Lovett and Steve WoodsumChristopher Mahan

Janet Mavec and Wayne NordbergTom and Laurie McGuaneWilliam and Lynn McMasterTeresa and Robert Oden Jr.William PlattFranklin Schurz Jr.Warren SternRonald and Joan StuckeyPaul Van CuraAndrew and Elizabeth WardPat WatsonTom WeberKendrick Wilson

Frankie Wolfson

I M , I embarked on an epicsix-week trip I called the StoriedWaters Tour: a fly-fishing, writing,

and photography odyssey to visit rivers,streams, and ponds that have appearedin our favorite books and stories. I want-ed to see these famous places boththrough the eyes of the writers who camebefore me and as they are today. I wouldwade in the footsteps of giants and castmy fly among the spirits of immortalcharacters.The Storied Waters Tour was inspired

by an invitation I received from Grace V.Wood, daughter of celebrated authorJohn Voelker, who wrote under the penname Robert Traver. I had contactedGrace to ask permission to reprint herfather’s iconic passage “Testament of aFisherman” in The Confluence, a collec-tive memoir I was writing with six of mycollege classmates about our twenty-

plus-year tradition of fly fishing for wildbrook trout in the Dartmouth CollegeGrant in northern New Hampshire.Grace gave us permission to reprint

“Testament” in our book and later invit-ed me to fish with her husband, Woody,at Uncles—John Voelker’s favorite, secretretreat, which appears in his stories asFrenchman’s Pond. This was an invita-tion I couldn’t turn down. It’s a longdrive from Maine to the Upper Peninsulaof Michigan where Voelker lived andwrote his beloved fishing tales, so Idecided to turn the trip into a grand lit-erary journey as well as the fly-fishingadventure of a lifetime.Leaving from my home in Maine, I

fished my way across New England to theCatskills and Pennsylvania, over to Wis -consin, up to Michigan’s Upper Penin -sula, down to the Au Sable River inMichigan, then to the Ausable River in the

Adirondacks, across Vermont and NewHampshire, and finally back to Maine.I started at Walden Pond and finished

in the Maine woods, celebrating Thoreau’scontribution to natural philosophy at bothends of the trip. After catching my firstfish at Walden (a smallmouth bass on apopper), my second stop was Man chester,Vermont, where I fished the Batten Kill,visited Orvis headquarters, and touredthe American Museum of Fly Fishingbefore heading to the Beaverkill and on tothe spring creeks of Pennsylvania.During the six-week trip, I fished in

more than fifty locations in eight states,driving more than , miles, whilereflecting on the work of forty or sofamous writers and artists who hadsomething to say about these storiedwaters. The list includes Corey Ford,Aldo Leopold, Gordon MacQuarrie,Ernest Hemingway, Winslow Homer,

I Took to the Woods:A Storied Waters Adventure

by David Van Wie

The Winter House at Forest Lodge on the Rapid River in Maine.

All photos by David Van Wie except where noted

Howard Frank Mosher, John Irving, andArthur MacDougall, to name just a few. I blogged about the rivers, the writers,

and my fishing escapades as I went,recording more than twenty episodesand dozens of photos on my website,WatchYourBackcast.com. My StoriedWaters blog attracted a modest followingthat grew as I wandered the countryside,collecting bug bites, snagging flies, andmaking new friends. I’m now workingon turning my adventure blog into abook.Every place I visited was special, but a

few stops stood out, primarily because ofthe people who went out of their way tomake my trip so memorable. Specialthanks to the Woods and all the otherfolks who told me their stories andpointed me toward some willing fish.The following episode from the last

week of my trip epitomizes the entireodyssey. I hope you enjoy it. You can readmore about my adventures on my blogand, I hope, in the book to come.

I’m not sure what I expected, but cer-tainly not this.When I was planning the Storied

Waters trip, I included the Rapid River inMaine, where Louise Dickinson Richlived and wrote her memoir, We Tookto the Woods. This Book-of-the-Month-Club classic is still in print (Down EastBooks, ) and has a strong fan basetoday because of Rich’s humor, humani-ty, and detail in relating a sense of placeand time living on a remote river that isstill a world-class fly-fishing destination.Louise loved fly fishing and tying flies,

and her voice is a compelling part of fly-fishing history.I was at the Western Maine Fly Fishing

Expo in Bethel in March tellingsome people about my planned adven-ture. I think it was Jeff Reardon of MaineTrout Unlimited who said, “You shouldtalk to Aldro French. He lives in thehouse where Louise used to live on theRapid.”

“OK, good idea! I don’t know him,but I’ll see if I can figure out how toreach him.”“That should be easy. He’s right over

there. I’ll introduce you.” Aldro has been a fixture in Maine fly

fishing for more than fifty years. Helooks the part: flowing white hair and awhite beard, and the weathered face ofsomeone who has guided for years. Heeyed me warily as I told him about myplans and desire to visit Forest Lodgenear the end of my trip. Aldro wrotedown his e-mail address, asking me toconfirm the date with him and arrange atime to meet. I am sure both of us feltthis was all rather tentative.I had fished the Rapid once years ago

with my good friend and longtime fish-ing buddy, Lou Zambello, by mountainbiking in from the gate. Knowing howdifficult the access is, I was hoping just toget in for an afternoon to see the placewhere Louise Rich lived, interview Aldro,take some photos, and maybe cast a linein the river for an hour. I didn’t want tobe a bother.Aldro has run Forest Lodge, Rich’s

former home, as a sporting camp (part-time for thirty-eight years and full-timefor twenty years), but has recentlywound down operations, taking no newclients, just a few of his longtime regularswho return to fish and socialize. As“keeper of the lodge,” he has faithfullypreserved the history and spirit of LouiseDickinson Rich and her husband Ralph

Logging road leading in to the Rapid River.

“Rich—The Summer House, porch look out over Rapid River” was typed onto the backof this photo, taken ca. –. It was part of a donation from Louise Dickinson Rich’sdaughter Dinah to Bridgewater State University in Louise’s hometown of Bridgewater,Massachusetts. Image courtesy of the Maxwell Library at Bridgewater State University.

Rich, maintaining the Summer House,the Winter House, and the Guide Campas essentially a living museum, enteredon the National Register of HistoricPlaces in .

In late May, I got an e-mail with amap to the gate (more than milesacross rough dirt logging roads) andinstructions to meet Aldro there at noonon June . “Bring good coffee,” headded. With no phone and sketchy e-mail and texting at the lodge, our com-munications were fairly cryptic.

FIRST STOP:MAGALLOWAY RIVER

On Sunday morning, I said goodbye tomy friends at the cabin where we werestaying in the Dartmouth College Grant.I had to pick up a few things in nearbyErrol, New Hampshire, where a textmessage came through on my phonefrom Aldro: “I’ll be at the gate at :p.m. on Sunday. Please confirm.”Hmm, I thought, Meet at :. This will

be an abbreviated visit. But I was glad tohave the chance to get in there at all. I senta text to confirm my arrival, although Iwas not sure if he would get it in time.With an extra two hours, I had time

to fish on the lower Magalloway River inWilson’s Mills, Maine, below AziscohosDam. I had no luck with a few castsbelow the Route bridge (it sure lookednice), nor in the famous Mailbox Pool,which I had to myself, although I didn’thave enough time to really work it andfigure it out. My focus for the day wasthe Rapid River and Forest Lodge.I’ve fished for many years with Lou

Zambello on the upper Magalloway,above Aziscohos Lake and ParmacheneeLake, including the famous Little BoyFalls where President Eisenhower fishedin . A photo of Ike landing a troutthere was on the front page of newspa-pers all over the world. I was surprised tolearn from Alice Arlen’s biography ofLouise Dickinson Rich that Little BoyFalls is also where Louise started a guid-ed canoe trip with her sister in August, traversing Parmachenee Lake,Aziscohos Lake, and Umbagog Lake witha portage up the Carry Road along theRapid River past Forest Lodge.Louise learned to fly fish on that

eventful and impressive trip. Not onlydid she fall in love with fly fishing(“hooked, as they say,” she quipped) andthe backwoods of Maine, she also mether soon-to-be-husband, Ralph, an engi-neer who had just moved to Forest Lodgeto escape the corporate rat race. I guessthere was a corporate rat race even backin the s.

Lower Magalloway River downstream from the Route bridge.

An undated portrait of Louise Dickinson Rich.Photo by Leja Gorska. Image courtesy of the Maxwell

Library at Bridgewater State University.

For both Louise and Ralph, each mar-ried before, it was love at first sight. Theyboth realized quickly that they sharedmany interests and values. He wrote toher constantly over the next few months,and at Christmastime, Louise left herteaching job in Massachusetts and took tothe woods with Ralph. There she startedwriting stories set in “these parts” formany national magazines and publishedher first book, We Took to the Woods, in. The book is a warm, vivid, and per-sonal account of rustic living, raising chil-dren, surviving frigid winters, and appre-ciating the hardships and wonders of a lifeamong loggers and sportsmen, far from“civilized” society. There is plenty of flyfishing, of course.The Riches lived at Forest Lodge (most-

ly) full time from until Ralph diedsuddenly in . Louise continued tospend summers there until (when shesold the property to a close family friend)and went on to publish more than twentybooks in her career. She died in .

AT THE GATE

I pulled up to the gate at precisely :. Iam used to driving on rough roads, so Imade good time in my WD Nissan

Rogue. There, also waiting for Aldro, wasa lovely couple from Vermont, Jack(known as Doc) Beecham and AllieStickney, in their Prius. Wow, I thought.It must have taken them hours to picktheir way around the rocks and puddleswith that low ground clearance.Jack introduced himself, retired now

from Dartmouth’s Norris Cotton CancerCenter, and said he’d been coming toForest Lodge for many years. He andAllie had recently been married. Before Icould learn much about Allie, Aldropulled up in his pickup.Aldro instructed me to go ahead to the

lodge, as it would take longer with thePrius and they would need to unload theirgear to his truck for the last mile, wherethe road gets too rough for smaller cars.“You’ll be staying in the Winter

House, first building on the left,” he said.To me.(OK, what? Staying in the Winter

House? The one in the book?) I hadn’t planned to spend the night

but I’d been thinking about asking ifthere was a room available, given that Ireally wanted to fish the river on whatpromised to be a lovely evening. At thatpoint, I still had no idea what to expect atthe lodge as I hadn’t done much research

other than read the book and arrange thedate for a visit.I pulled up to the Winter House and

stepped onto the porch, which has a spec-tacular view of the river and what is left ofPond-in-the-River Dam. It certainly lookedlike the pictures I had seen. The Richeslived here in the winter because it wassmaller and easier to keep warm. There is asign on the wall about the Friends of ForestLodge, a nonprofit Aldro had set up, dedi-cated to preserving Louise Rich’s legacyand the historic buildings on site. The larg-er Summer House is only yards away,much closer than I thought.Inside, the three-room Winter House

looks like it hasn’t changed since thes. The “wallpaper” in the living/din-ing room is a collection of original maga-zine covers, comics, ads, and articles fromthe s and s, including SaturdayEvening Post, Liberty, and Cos mo politan,probably issues that ran Louise’s articles.I put my bag on the bed in the small

bedroom, where Louise and Ralph hadslept. I imagined Louise and their hiredhand, Gerrish, tying flies at the table. Thebooks on the shelf and the furnishingswere probably there when Louise left. Thepropane lights were “new,” but an originaloil lamp was mounted on the wall.

Clockwise from above: View from the porch of theWinter House looking toward Lower Dam.

Original wallpaper inside the Winter House.

Interior of the Winter House at Forest Lodge.

FISHING THE RAPID

Aldro still hadn’t pulled in, so I wandereddown toward the Summer House and asmall cabin next to it, where I met RichardHegeman, a jeweler from Rhode Island,tying flies on the porch overlooking theroaring river below. Richard showed methe tiny brown Rapid River caddis he hadtied and told me he’d been coming heresince the s, about as long as DocBeecham. The two of them had somegreat stories to tell of their misadventuresover the years. According to Richard, Docis good at falling in the river.I told Richard I wanted to make a few

casts in the pool below while waiting forAldro to arrive. I grabbed two rods, onerigged with sinking line, and climbedcarefully down the steep wooden stepsto the pool below the porch whereRichard was working. The entire RapidRiver, as its name implies, is loud andpowerful. This pool had a strong currentwith a swirling back eddy.I flipped a white maribou soft-hackle

Black Ghost out into the current andpulled some more line off the reel. Thefly disappeared into the foam. As the flycame back into view, a large silvery shad-ow rose and disappeared near the fly. Ithrew the fly out again, a little farther.On the second strip, I knew I’d hooked

a big fish. I could feel the individualshakes of its head, whump whumpwhump, rather than the quiver you feelfrom a small fish. I kept the line tight andtried to determine what the fish would do.It ran . . . across the pool into the

heavy current, taking in all my slack lineand a bunch more off the reel. When itstopped, I started to work it back intothe slower water near shore.“Richard! Can you bring me a net?” I

shouted above the roar of the river. I feltlike an idiot. I had just met the guy. All Ihad was my rod. And this felt like thebiggest trout I’d ever had on a line.As Richard hurried down the stairs

with a net, I moved the big fish uptoward my feet. Then it ran again, thistime upstream for the rocks and thedeep water under a small drop, back inthe heavy water. As it disappeared intothe rocks . . . snap.“Oh, sh . . . ooot!” From me, not the

trout.I sheepishly looked up at Richard

who was standing there, net in hand atthe bottom of the stairs. Now I really feltbad. He’d had come running for naught.I reeled in my broken leader—a brandnew X—and saw that the line had bro-ken cleanly.“Well, if someone ever catches that

trout, they’ll get the fly I tied yesterday asa bonus.”

The pool below the Summer House where I encountered a very large brook trout.

Louise Dickinson Rich with her son Rufus by the Rapid River ca.–. The Lower Dam can be seen in the background. Imagecourtesy of the Maxwell Library at Bridgewater State University.

I thanked Richard for his help andwent up to grab my vest and net, thenreturned to the same place, deciding totry nymphs on my other rod, rigged withfloating line, to see if I could interest thatbeast again with something different. Noluck, of course.I moved down the pool a bit and drift-

ed a big Royal Wulff on top with a rednymph dropper in the slower water. Onthe first cast, a salmon took the nymphand immediately leaped clear out of thewater and across the pool. This time Ilanded the fish before heading back upthe stairs, wondering how many fishLouise had taken in this pool.

DINNER AND DUSK

At the top near the Summer House, I metAldro and reported my misfortune withthe big trout. His nonresponse indicatedhe had seen fools like me lose big fishplenty of times. “Why don’t you go down into the

kitchen and meet Ginny? She’s makingdinner. She can tell you what time we’llbe eating.”Ginny Sislane, whose four dogs were

lounging in a portable pen near thehouse, was making a scrumptious-look-ing dessert with strawberries and rhubarbfrom the garden. She planned an early

dinner so we could all fish afterward untildark. I learned later that Ginny works as acontroller for a seafood company nearBoston.At about six o’clock, the six of us sat

down for dinner in the basement of theSummer House. We enjoyed dinner anddessert and good-natured ribbing amongold friends. I felt privileged to be part ofthis interesting family of conservation-minded folks who love the setting and itsstoried history.After dinner, Aldro and Ginny walked

up to Pond in the River to fish from acanoe. I waded into the river below thefootings of the old Lower Dam near a

Aldro French and Ginny Sislanefish on Pond in the River.

A pair of kayakers head down the RapidRiver ca. –; the woman in frontis believed to be Louise Dickinson Rich.Image courtesy of the Maxwell Libraryat Bridgewater State University.

nice seam where two currents joined in adeep pool. While stripping a streamerthrough the run, I saw a fish jump clearout of the water across the river. Therewere a few splashy rises within castingdistance, so I switched to my dry-fly rig.I wasn’t sure what they were taking, but

a Hornberg worked, as did a caddisemerger. I landed four landlocked salmon,all to inches of quicksilver energy,each one leaping into the twilight. Quite away to end an unexpected day!

GRAND TOUR

The next morning, I went down to thekitchen where Richard poured me coffee(I had brought Kickapoo brand coffeefrom Wisconsin) and cooked me a couplesoft-boiled eggs with English muffins. Wechatted as the others rolled in, and thenAldro invited me on a guided tour of theseveral buildings, some original and oth-ers newer. He told me that his father hadbought the place in the s but diedseveral years later, passing it to Aldro. “My family, we’re all Bowdoin folks,”

he said with a wry smile, ribbing meabout my connection to Dartmouth.Aldro loves this place, and now in his

seventies, worries about what willbecome of Louise and Ralph Rich’s lega-cy (and his own, I suspect). He finds itharder and harder to maintain the dozenbuildings and would love to find theright buyer to keep the spirits alive here.

LAST CAST

I had time for one more fishing excur-sion before Aldro took me and Ginny tothe gate. This time, Aldro sent me down-stream a mile or so on one of his ATVs toCold Spring Pool and Smooth Ledge(one of Louise’s favorite places). I loadedmy rods and gear onto the machine andheaded slowly down the rough CarryRoad. It was another muggy and buggyday, so the slight breeze on the ATV wasa relief. At Cold Spring, I caught three classic

Rapid River brook trout, all more than inches, one on a nymph, one on an emerg-er, and one on a streamer. At SmoothLedge, where one could fish all day andnever tire of the amazing rock formations,I caught one more before declaring tomyself, OK, this is my last cast.Twenty-five casts later, I finally tucked

the fly into an eyelet on my rod andtrudged back up the hill to the road,smiling to myself that I had such adelightful twenty-four hours at ForestLodge.Many thanks to Aldro, Ginny, Richard,

Doc, and Allie for welcoming me andallowing me to be immersed in the stories

of Forest Lodge and waters of the RapidRiver. What an unexpected treat!I can’t help but end by quoting

Louise’s words from the closing chapterof We Took to the Woods:

Why did we come to live here in the firstplace? We thought it was because weliked the woods, because we wanted tofind a simple, leisurely way of life. Now,looking back, I think that we wereunconsciously seeking to find a lost senseof our identity. . . . [L]iving here haschanged me. I hope it has changed mefor the better. Certainly I am happier. . . .Certainly I am more at home in thisworld that we have created than ever Iwas in that vast and confusing mael-strom that we call civilization.

I couldn’t agree more.�

. Robert Traver, “Testament of aFisherman,” Anatomy of a Fisherman (NewYork: McGraw Hill Book Company, ), .

. David Van Wie, Phil Odence, NormRichter, Bob Chamberlin, Ed Baldrige, DavidKlinges, and Bill Conway, The Confluence:Fly-fishing & Friendship in the DartmouthCollege Grant, A Collection of Essays, Art, andTall Tales (Portsmouth, N.H.: Peter E. RandallPublisher, ).

. Ed Wargin (photographs) and James

McCullough (essays), Voelker’s Pond: A RobertTraver Legacy (Chelsea, Mich.: Huron RiverPress, ).

. Henry David Thoreau, Walden; or Lifein the Woods (Boston: Ticknor and Fields,) and Henry David Thoreau, The MaineWoods (Boston: Ticknor and Fields, ).

. Louise Dickinson Rich, We Took to theWoods (Philadelphia and New York: J. B.Lippincott, ). Currently available fromDown East Books, Camden, Maine ().

. Maine Historic Preservation Com -mission, National Register of Historic Places,Historic Properties, Recent NR Listings:Forest Lodge, Upton, c. –, //.www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/index.php?topic=mhpc_recent_listings&id=&v=article. Accessed October .

. Maine Historical Society, MaineMem ory Network, online photo archive item: President Eisenhower fishing, Little BoyFalls, . Contributed by the Margaret ChaseSmith Library. www.mainememory.net/artifact/. Accessed October . There is alsoa fine exhibit about President Eisen hower’svisit to Maine at the Outdoor SportingHeritage Museum in Oquossoc, Maine.

. Alice Arlen, She Took to the Woods: ABiography and Selected Writings of LouiseDickinson Rich (Camden, Me.: Down EastBooks, ).

. Ibid., .. Melissa Pasanen, “A Widow and a

Widower Embrace Love after Loss,” New YorkTimes, Weddings, September . www.nytimes.com////fashion/weddings/vows-seriously-committed-and-not-just-to-each-other.html?_r=. Accessed October.

. Rich, We Took to the Woods, .

A quiet evening on the Rapid River below Lower Dam.

I than a dozen yearssince I chronicled the story of BostonRed Sox greats Bobby Doerr, Ted

Williams, and their relationship withPaul Young and the fine bamboo rodsthat he produced and sold. On April, Bobby Doerr turned ninety-nine.When I began work on this article, Ithought that it was time for an updatebefore his one hundredth birthday; butmy good friend Bobby Doerr died at :p.m. on November . This piece, inprogress at the time of his death, is nowa memorial.

AN UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP

I met Robert Pershing Doerr in a convo-luted way. A devoted collector and a stu-dent of fly-fishing-tackle history, I pur-

chased a Paul Young “Bobby Doerr”model—a -foot, darkly flamed bamboosteelhead/salmon fly rod—from MartinKeane in . Built originally in for Russell C. Malone of Matamoras,Pennsylvania, the rod (serial no. )was in mint condition.

So who was Bobby Doerr? I grew upin central New Jersey as a PhiladelphiaPhillies fan and knew little to nothingabout the Red Sox of old. Doerr hadretired in , four years before I wasborn. My father was an avid childhoodRed Sox fan, but he had already passed.So I did what we now routinely do: IGoogled him. An address in JunctionCity, Oregon, was available. I was reluc-tant to call him, so I wrote a letter andasked if he would call me to discuss therod. (I had no idea then of the mail

Bobby received daily from fans request-ing autographs, etc.) Several weeks latercame a message on the answeringmachine: “Hi John, this is Bob Doerr. Iwant to talk with you about that rod.”Thus began a friendship that lasted thir-teen years. We discussed the rod and thefailed attempt in by his friend TomRipp to publish the Doerr rod/PaulYoung story in Fly Fisherman magazine;I then offered to investigate and docu-ment the story of Doerr, Williams, andPaul Young.

Bobby was very pleased with the article that appeared in the American FlyFisher, “Of Baseball and Bamboo: BobbyDoerr, Ted Williams, and the Paul H.Young Rod Company.” He thought thatit accurately reflected his relationshipwith Ted, the fishing on the Rogue, and

Bobby Doerr, Half-Pounders, theRogue River, and a Love of Fly Fishing:

Memorial to a Friendby John A. Feldenzer

Above: The phone call. Bobby Doerrcalls from the Rogue in January

to discuss the Paul Young rod.

Right: Bobby on his porch with the author andan autographed journal in October .

John A. Feldenzer

Karen C. Feldenzer

their pursuit of fine tackle, particularlythe functional, great-casting, well-madebamboo fly rods for use on river-runsalmon and steelhead. Ted and Bobby’sfriendship with Paul and Martha MarieYoung, their memorable fishing trips onthe Rogue River and in the Florida Keys,as well as their discussions with the inno-vative rod maker on taper improvementare an important part of fly-fishing histo-ry. Bobby was happy that his story hadbeen told.Beginning in , my wife Karen and

I became close friends of Doerr, theneighty-seven. He invited me to Red Soxtraining camp that year in Fort Myersand to a fund-raising dinner for the TedWilliams Museum and Hitters Hall ofFame in Hernando, Florida. There I metDominic DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky, andDave “Boo” Ferris for the first time. Wewatched the Red Sox play the Cardinals.We were invited in , as Bobby’sguests, to attend the Baseball Hall ofFame induction ceremony of Cal RipkenJr. and Tony Gwynn at Cooperstown. OnJuly , before the induction, the Hall ofFame honored Bobby Doerr in a specialpresentation. With time, however, ourrelationship focused more on fly fishingthan Red Sox history. More accurately, itfocused on fly fishing the Rogue River inOregon for fall-run steelhead andsalmon. In this article, I want to sharesome personal memories of fly fishingwith this former Red Sox second base-man who, at the time of his death, wasthe Baseball Hall of Fame’s oldest livinginductee.

DOERR’S LOVE OF THEROGUE (–)

Bobby fell in love with the Rogue as ateenager, and his knowledge of the riverand its history was remarkable. He firstcame to the Illahe area of Agness on theRogue in late with Les Cook tocamp and fish. “Cookie” was an avidfisherman and the trainer for Bobby’sfirst team, the San Diego Padres (former-ly the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific

Coast League). There is a prominentrock in the middle of the river upstreamof Doerr’s home (above Anderson’sIsland and below Payton Riffle, acrossfrom Wild River Lodge) where Cookieplaced the teenage Doerr and left him tofish there (in good water) most of theday! It’s called Cookie’s Rock, of course,among locals.Bobby recognized the fishing and

hunting opportunities and, when hesigned with the Red Sox in , he usedhis signing-bonus money to buy land onthe Rogue. It was Les Cook who intro-duced Bobby to the local “little red-headed school teacher,” Monica Terpin,who later became his wife. In a video,Bobby Doerr: The Silent Captain, Bobbytells of their first date: a winter dance forwhich he had to cross the river to pickher up. She was dressed for the weather;he was not. On their way back toMonica’s home late in the night, the boatseat had iced up, and Bobby was unableto clear it. When he began to sit down, henoted that she had opened her overcoatfor him to sit on. He said that he fell inlove with her at that moment! Theywere married for sixty-five years. Theirfirst home was a mountainside cabinbuilt in by Burl Rutledge, a neighborand owner of Illahe Lodge. Bobby losthis beloved “Mony” in December .At his retirement in , Bobby was

asked by Tom Yawkey, owner of the RedSox, what he would like as a gift. Bobbyasked for and received a well-needed gen-erator, as there was no electricity then inthat area of Agness. After retiring fromthe Red Sox, Doerr logged some of hisRogue property and worked as a fishing

– Paul H. Young catalog photo (page ): Bobby landing a steelhead on theRogue River for Martha Marie Young. Image courtesy of Robert Golder.

Hall of Fame induction ceremony emcee Gary Thorne (left)and special honoree Bobby Doerr, July .

John A. Feldenzer

guide and mink farmer. He returned tothe majors as a coach for the Red Sox(–), then the Toronto Blue Jays(). He kept his river home andalways loved returning to the Rogue. Bobby, Mony, and son Don lived on

the mountainside until they moved to aranch in Junction City, Mony’s home-town, so that Don could attend middleschool in . Bobby ran cattle on thatranch. The current Doerr ranch-stylecabin was built on riverside high groundin by Bobby and his father. He keptthis riverside home, usually staying therefrom fall through spring each year.The Rogue River in southwest Oregon

is one of the original eight wild andscenic rivers designated as such by theWild and Scenic Rivers Act of . It isfamous for its beauty, teeming wildlife,and for camping, fishing, and white-water rafting. There is a rich riverine his-tory, including early settlement, theIndian War of –, and gold min-ing. Colorful characters abounded onthe Rogue. It was a favorite destinationfor movie stars and sports figures. ZaneGrey made its fishing famous in his book, Tales of Fresh-Water Fishing. It is nosurprise that Doerr fell in love with thisplace.

WITH BOBBY ON THE

ROGUE (–)

At Bobby’s invitation in , Karen andI began our yearly fall excursions tosouthwestern Oregon. The drill wasstraightforward: we would fly acrosscountry, pick up Bobby, then drive thefive hours in Bobby’s Chevy Subur ban(complete with DOERR license plates)to the Rogue. Our final destination wasthe lllahe area of Agness, about milesupstream from the Rogue’s mouth atGold Beach. There is a spectacular view of the

river from Bobby’s back porch. Thehome—adorned with a boat oar whoseflat is labeled “Open Doerr”—is locatednext to the Illahe Lodge, where ErnieRutledge, his parents, and now daughterColeen have hosted and guided fisher-men on the Rogue since the –season. We always planned on mid-September to early October for a week offly fishing. This was the best time tocatch the fall run of the Rogue’s famousso-called half-pounders. These - to -inch steelhead usually weigh more thana half pound and are a mixture of wildand stocked (identified by their clippedadipose fin) fish. They fight violentlyand often jump when hooked, as mostanadromous fish will. We fished from aboat and were most successful with

View of the Rogue from Bobby’s house, September .

Ernie Rutledge in September .

Left: Illahe Lodge sign,September .

Below: “Open Doerr” sign atthe cabin, September .

Photographs on this page by John A. Feldenzer

downstream swinging-nymph patterns,especially beadheads. Ernie’s Copper orGreen Herniator patterns, popularizedon the Trinity River, were favorites; -and -weight rods were most suitable,especially as an occasional salmon wouldbe hooked. Occasionally, these half-pounders could be caught on the dry fly,such as a Royal Wulff. In earlier years, Bobby would fire up

his outboard, and we fished with him asguide. He had worked as a professionalfishing guide on the Rogue after low-back problems forced his prematurebaseball retirement in . Even in hislate eighties, Bobby was a strong manwith big, muscular arms, and he handleda boat well. Later, we secured the guidingservices of Illahe Lodge’s Ernie Rutledge,

his personal friend. Rarely would we useanother guide. We usually fishedupstream of Bobby’s house in the wild-river section. Bobby’s favorite holesincluded Brushy Bar Riffle, East Creek(the General’s Cabin), Solitude, BillingsFord, Clay Hill Pool, Payton Riffle, andCookie’s Rock.

Bobby was an excellent caster andvery competent fly fisher even into hisnineties. A typical day would have us onthe river by : a.m., fish until :a.m., return at : p.m., and fish untildark. My fishing logs give the followingdata on steelhead I caught over a five-year period: steelhead over four daysin , forty-five steelhead over fourdays in , thirty-seven steelhead overthree-and-a-half days in , fifty-eight

steelhead over three-and-a-half days in, and seventy-four steelhead overthree-and-a-half days in , my lastyear on the Rogue. As mentioned before,these were a mixture of wild ( to percent) and hatchery fish. A largeincrease in the run of half-poundersoccurred in .

Doerr was an icon on the river and wellknown among the locals. It was always atreat to go down to Cougar Lane (a tackleand grocery store, restaurant, camp-ground, and motel!) for lunch or intoGold Beach to see Ted Watkins at GoldBeach Books and have dinner at Spinner’sSeafood, Steak & Chophouse. WhenBobby was in town, word got out, andpeople came to meet him. Almost alwaysan autograph or two was handed out.

Bobby guiding on the Rogue, September .

Ernie guiding Bobby and the author in September .

Bobby casting in September .

Bobby and the author heading out fora day on the water in September .

John A. Feldenzer

John A. Feldenzer

Karen C. Feldenzer

Karen C. Feldenzer

Karen and Bobby usually started theday feeding corn to the wild turkeys,deer, and on one occasion, elk! The areawas packed with wildlife. We often sawblack bear on the banks of the Rogue,but they never approached the cornfeeders at the house. When not fishing,we sat on the porch overlooking the riverand talked. The stellar jays would screechand jump on and off the bird feederwhile competing with Bruno, the localchipmunk, for seed. There were no cellphones or computer distractions. The TVwas only on if the Red Sox were playing.It was perfect. We discussed topics fromtheology to politics; weather, especiallyhistoric local floods; Native Americanhistory; and arrowhead collecting. Wetalked about characters like the famousfishing guide Larry Lucas and the writer-fisherman Zane Grey. Grey’s Rogue Rivercabin is still intact at Winkle Bar.We also talked about baseball, Amer -

ica’s great pastime. As we had both playedthe keystone sack position (secondbase)—I as a collegiate athlete, he as aHall of Fame major leaguer—our discus-sions were often technical: how to turnthe double play, for example. We agreedthat crossing the bag was optimal, butwhat about the footwork? Bobby was anexcellent defensive second baseman, a topdouble-play man. He once handled consecutive chances without an error. I am a neurosurgeon. I asked Bobby

about the spring of and Lou Gehrig.Doerr, then the twenty-one-year-oldinfielder, said that he and the Red Soxknew something was wrong with Lou in

their season opener with the Yankees.Bobby watched as Gehrig struggled torun to first base. Yes, something was defi-nitely wrong with the Iron Horse. OnMay , Gehrig pulled his name from thelineup in Detroit, ending his , con-secutive-games record, beaten only byCal Ripken Jr. On his thirty-sixth birth-day ( June ), Gehrig was diagnosedwith the terminal neurological disease

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS),which now bears his name. He gave hisfamous, “Today I consider myself theluckiest man on the face of the earth”speech on July and died two years later.Bobby told me the famous story of

rookie Dom DiMaggio and his first RedSox roommate, the veteran Moe Berg.Berg, who could speak a dozen languagesfluently, read multiple newspapers(German, Japanese, Italian, Portuguese,and others) each day. He had them neat-ly organized in stacks: those to be read orthose finished. DiMaggio, who wasrecovering from an ankle injury, wasspending a lot of time in the room.Manager Joe Cronin came to visit. All ofthe furniture was covered with newspa-pers. Cronin moved the papers aroundand mixed some Greek papers with oth-ers as a practical joke. When DiMaggioreturned that night after dinner, theroom had been cleared of Berg’s belong-ings, including the newspapers. Berg’snote read: “Dominic, you’re much toopopular and have too many visitors. Mynewspapers are too valuable to me.”

Berg has the distinction of being theonly major leaguer whose baseball cardis on display at CIA headquarters inLangley, Virginia. Berg, a catcher forthe Red Sox, became a spy for the OSSduring World War II. He was an excel-lent athlete and intellect. Thought to bethe best baseball player in Princeton his-tory, he played in the major leagues from to . He obtained a law degree inthe off-season. While on one of two

Bobby Doerr and Karen Feldenzer talking on the porch in September .

Bobby Doerr turning a double play at Comiskey Park in the late s/early s.Umpire Ed Rummel makes the out call as Chicago White Sox first baseman Joe Kuhelslides into the bag. Photograph courtesy of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

John A. Feldenzer

baseball-related trips to Japan in thes, Berg secretly photographed andtook movies of key sites, such as the har-bor and skyline of Tokyo. This informa-tion would prove valuable in creating theaerial maps for U.S. bombing missionsyears later. After Pearl Harbor, Berg fullyembraced espionage and covertly as sessedthe Nazis’ atomic bomb capability deep inthe Black Forest. In Switzerland, he hadorders—if his participation in nuclearbomb creation could be confirmed—toassassinate Germany’s premier atomicphysicist, Werner Heisenberg. Berg onceimpersonated a member of Berlin’s gen-eral staff on his “official inspection” of thesecret Galileo munitions plant in Italy.

Imagine: a Jewish man working behindNazi lines as a spy! We discussed the use of steroids in

baseball. Bobby, like other athletes of hisera, was most dismayed by the effect ofthese performance-enhancing drugs onthe record book. There were alreadyenough variables in the comparison ofballplayers over time: the dead-ball era,night games, plane travel, the increasingrole of relief pitchers, improved equip-ment. No other sport pays more atten-tion to the numbers than baseball, andnow the numbers don’t mean muchbecause of athletic performances cor-rupted by anabolic steroids. In my article, I described the

famous Rogue River debate betweenBobby Doerr and Ted Williams on the

proper way to swing a baseball bat.Bobby shared a privately made bat-ting-clinic video with me, and it is some-thing to see. Ted and Bobby, while fish-ing with friends, took a lunch break onthe Rogue River’s bank. Then theyargued, as if in court, their theories onhow best to hit a baseball, complete witha baseball bat prop! Williams argued forthe importance of hip rotation, a slightupswing, and “choking up” to increasebat speed. Doerr countered with hisadvice on a flat or level swing of the bat.Williams was in his typical form: aggres-sive, profane, and demeaning (in ahumorous way) toward Bobby. Doerrwas polite and firm, and failed to yield tothe domineering Williams. The verdictof the fellow fishermen (the judges) onthe bank: a tie!

Besides discussions of baseball andfishing, one of our favorite activities withBobby was “doing the mail.” We wouldwalk the quarter mile up his unpaveddrive way through a heavily wooded area(with a blow horn to “scare awaycougars”), retrieve the box (yes, there wasthat much daily mail!), then sort throughit. We would help Bobby with the balls,baseball cards, photographs, occasionalbats, and requests to autograph orinscribe to fans. Then we packaged thereturns and mailed them back. It was adaily event! We never tired of it. We neversaw Bobby refuse an autograph orrequest of a fan. In fact, he carried extra

Hall of Fame and baseball cards in hisvehicle to sign and give away if necessary.A more kind, humble, and generous manwe have not known in our lives.Several times a week, Bobby super-

vised the making and consuming of aRogue River breakfast. This consisted ofpan-fried steelhead fillets (yes, we wereallowed to take a daily limit of stockedsteelhead) and hotcakes with maplesyrup. This may sound like an odd com-bination, but it was delicious. No fishingtrip was complete without at least one.Although outwardly not religious,

Bobby Doerr was a man of faith. Hisbeliefs were privately held. He loved hisGod. He insisted on giving thanks beforemeals and reminded us to “say ourprayers.” He enthusiastically participatedin our occasional discussions of theologyand enjoyed listening to preachers onaudiotapes.

THE TEAMMATES SERIES OFGRAPHITE RODS

No article of mine about Bobby Doerrwould be complete without a discussionof fishing tackle, and this is no exception.The story of the four legendary Red Soxteammates—Bobby Doerr, DominicDiMaggio, Johnny Pesky, and Ted Wil -liams—was told by David Halberstam in. It is a treat for die-hard baseballfans and a must-read for Red Sox Nation.

Bobby signing baseballs at the cabin in September .

John A. Feldenzer

Karen helps Bobby prepare a RogueRiver breakfast in September .

John A. Feldenzer

Bobby, along with a friend fromFlorida, Steve Brown, contracted rodbuilder Bud Erhardt from the ArkansasOzarks to craft a series of graphite rods tohonor the team mates. The prototypetapers were designed by Ted Williamsback when he had his own tackle compa-ny (Ted Williams, Inc.) in the s. TheDoerr (½-foot) and Williams (-foot, -inch) models were two-piece, staggered-ferrule fly rods; DiMaggio’s was a baitcaster; and Pesky’s was a spinning rod.Bobby loved casting and fishing the

Ted Williams rod on the Rogue. He tookit to Cooperstown once and gave a cast-ing clinic there to interested children whocompeted in a contest to win a fly tied byTed Williams. One of my favorite pic-tures of Bobby shows him that dayinstructing a young boy in the art of flycasting (at left, bottom photo). He madea gift of the Doerr model, serial #,to me. Bobby presented the #Doerrrod to former President George H. W. Bushon a trip he made to Kennebunkport.

The presentation is documented in TheSilent Captain video. Bud Erhardt passedaway in .

We often finished our trips by goingout for Chinese food after returning toJunction City. Bobby’s sister, DorothySwancutt, enjoyed joining us. We were and remain thankful for

each chance to see Bobby and spendtime with this great man, a hero to us. Asexpected, time began to take its relent-less toll on Bobby’s ability to get around.Travel became more difficult, and eachyear, the long trip from Junction City tothe Rogue became increasingly unlikely.In , for the first time, Bobby did notwant to go out on the river to fish. Hepreferred to stay back at the house, sit onthe porch, and reminisce with Karen. Irealized then that fishing with BobbyDoerr had come to an end. It was ourlast trip to the Rogue.On November , Karen and I

lost our good friend Bobby Doerr in hisone hundredth year on this earth. TheDoerr family lost its patriarch. Red SoxNation lost its “Silent Captain.” The Hallof Fame lost its oldest living member,and the baseball world lost one of itsgreat players and ambassadors. I consid-er it a blessing and a privilege to haveknown Bobby Doerr and to havebecome his friend and fishing partner atthe end of his ninth decade of life. Iended my article by saying,“Williams and Doerr were the heroes ofour childhood and remain the objects ofour fascination today.” It is still true.A celebration of Bobby Doerr’s life

was held on January at the FirstBaptist Church of Eugene. Bobby’s long-time friend Tom Ripp shared stories.

Doerr and Williams rods photographed in September .

John A. Feldenzer

Bobby teaching casting at the Hall of Fame in May .Photograph courtesy of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Milo Stewart

Great-nephew Craig Shugert offered aheartfelt, emotional eulogy, and PastorTed Slaeker reflected on Bobby’sChristian walk, beliefs, and outlook onlife. At the end of the service, we all sang“Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” Then,at the reception, in personalized BobbyDoerr Red Sox caps, we ate hot dogs andCracker Jack. It was perfect.

�

I am very grateful for the help andfriendship of Don Doerr, Bobby’s son,who corrected the draft and confirmedmany facts. Thanks to Ernie Rutledge ofIllahe Lodge for reading and reviewinghistorical events with me. We spentmany great hours on the Rogue together.Lastly, I thank Karen, my wife of fortyyears, who shared these treasuredmoments with Bobby Doerr. She isresponsible for capturing so many ofthose moments photographically. She isabsolutely my favorite nonfishing personto go on a fishing trip with.

. John A. Feldenzer, “Of Baseball andBamboo: Bobby Doerr, Ted Williams, and thePaul H. Young Rod Company,” The AmericanFly Fisher (Fall , vol. , no. ), –.

. M. J. Keane, Classic Rods & Tackle, Inc.,rod # (catalog #, ), .

. Keane’s poetic catalog description ofthe Doerr rod: “[B]uilt by Paul Young himselfwith different weight orig. tips one being .oz. for # line & the other format w/the heav-ier tip, where the rod weighs . oz. is for #line; this rod is extremely attractive in everyway, has oxidized Super-Z ferrules & uniquerich dk brown wraps w/a distinct burgundytint, tungsten guides, fabulously darklyflamed exquisite shafts w/fine orig. varnish,x node placement, Wells grip w/perfectcorks and cork SL seat, which has %–%blk finish on fittings; sold by company on//—according to my orig. records,orig. owner’s name on shaft, size ferrule.These rods are very scarce, this specimenappears % new unfished & has the mostsophisticated of all the Young improvementsin this one beautiful rod. $.”

. Feldenzer, “Of Baseball and Bamboo,”, note .

. Cougar Lane Lodge, in Agness, has anexcellent collection of Rogue River wall pho-tos from the s and s, including a pic-ture of a young Bobby Doerr and Les Cook.

. Stephen Brown and Bobby Doerr,producers, Bobby Doerr: The Silent Captain(Daytona Beach, Fla.: Gabby Moblie Pro -ductions, ), running time ::.

. Ernie Rutledge, phone call withauthor, December .

. Kay Atwood, Illahe: The Story of Set -tlement in the Rogue River Canyon (Corvallis:

Oregon State University Press, ), ,–; and Matthew Leidecker, The RogueRiver: A Comprehensive Guide from Prospectto Gold Beach (Hailey, Idaho: Idaho RiverPublications LLC, ), –.

. Roger Dorband, The Rogue: Portrait ofa River (Portland, Ore.: Raven Studios, ).

. For more information about the IllaheLodge in Agness, Oregon, see http://illahelodge.com/.

. Leidecker, The Rogue River, . TheGeneral’s Cabin at East Creek was known asthe Eagle’s Nest and was a fishing camp forretired World War II Army Air Force generals:Ira Eaker, Carl Spaatz, Fred Anderson,Nathan Twining, and Curtis LeMay. A smallairstrip on the riverbank allowed access forthese avid fishermen.

. Rogue River Seine Counts at HuntleyPark by the Oregon Department of Fish andWildlife yield the following data: : ,total count of half-pounder steelhead (,wild, , hatchery); : , totalcount (, wild, , hatchery); :, total count (, wild, , hatch-ery). Daniel Van Dyke, Oregon Departmentof Fish and Wildlife, e-mail to author, December .

. Louis Kaufman, Barbara Fitzgerald,and Tom Sewell, Moe Berg: Athlete, Scholar,Spy (Boston: Little, Brown and Company,), ; and Nicholas Davidoff, The CatcherWas a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg(New York: Pantheon Books, ), .

. W. Thomas Smith Jr., Encyclopedia ofthe CIA (New York: Facts on File, ), .

. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS)was formed during World War II and was thepredecessor of the Central IntelligenceAgency (CIA).

. In , Berg failed to report to springtraining with the Chicago White Sox, who hadjust bought his contract from the ReadingKeys in the off season for approximately$,. Berg had quietly entered ColumbiaUniversity Law School in and had to com-plete his first year before joining the team. In, he received his law degree and was admit-ted to the New York State bar. He became anoff-season attorney with the Wall Street firmof Satterlee and Canfield. Kaufman, Fitzgerald,and Sewell, Moe Berg, –; and CentralIntelligence Agency, News & Information, “A

Look Back . . . Moe Berg: Baseball Player,Linguist, Lawyer, Intel Officer.” www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/-featured-story-archive/moe-berg.html.Accessed December .

. Kaufman, Fitzgerald, and Sewell, MoeBerg, –, –, –, , –; andDavidoff, The Catcher Was a Spy, –,–.

. Feldenzer, “Of Baseball and Bamboo,”, note .

. Private video recording by LeeThornally, Rogue River, October .

.David Halberstam, The Teammates: APortrait of a Friendship (New York: Hyperion,).

. Bud Erhardt Fishin Sticks is a trade-mark obtained by Bud Erhardt. Later, his rodswere marketed as Fishin Edge rods. Bud was acharter member of the Fishing Hall of Fameand, for more than thirty years, a professionalguide, designer, and developer of a wide vari-ety of fishing rods. Bud Erhardt died in .www.fishin-edge.com/proud-heritage.php.Accessed November .

. Feldenzer, “Of Baseball and Bamboo,”, figure .

. Bobby’s political opinions were—con-sistent with his quiet personality and humili-ty—held close to the vest. He would open upin political discussions if he knew you well.He was conservative politically and, in thetime that I knew him, a Republican, but notin an overt way as was Ted Williams.

. Approximately , individually num-bered rods (the number , was chosen inrecognition of the ,-pound blue marlincaught by Ted Williams in ) of the fourtypes were built by Erhardt. Fifty of the TedWilliams -foot, -inch rods were auctioned(Lots and ) on April by HuntAuctions, LLC, Exton, Pennsylvania. www.huntauctions.com/live/view_lots_items_list_closed.cfm?auction=&start_number=&last_number=. Accessed Decem -ber .

. Mike Lupica, “The Graceful Life ofBobby Doerr,” Sports on Earth, November. www.sportsonearth.com/article//red-sox-legend-bobby-doerr-dies-ted-williams. Accessed November .

. Feldenzer, “Of Baseball and Bamboo,”.

The author’s Doerr rod, given to him by Bobby Doerr.

John A. Feldenzer

T the fly-fisherman’s fish. True, other fish,almost any fish, will upon occasion

rise to the challenge of the feathers, fromhumble “pumpkin-seeds” upthrough the long list to greatnorthern pike; but, even so,it is the wild, winsome won-der of the brooklets which ismost often sought, even as itwas because of him that fish-ing with artificial flies cameinto existence. It would beinteresting to know who firstused the “counterfeit pre-sentment” to lure speckledbeauties from their wateryhome; we only know that theart had its rise in pre-Waltonite days, away back inancient Greek and Romantimes fly fishing was prac-ticed very much as it is today.If time sufficed or we daredsufficiently elongate this par -a graph, we would enjoy trac-ing out the history of fly-making and fly-fishing, be -gin ning our study away backbeyond the days of JesusChrist, perhaps three hun-dred or more years before hisbirth; but that may not be.Only remember this, fly-fishing was hoary with agebefore the wise and piousprioress of the Benedictinenunnery of Topwell wroteher treatise on “hawkynge, huntynge andfysshynge.” Think of the following wordswhen next you fasten a red hackle toyour leader: “In the begynning of Maye agood flye, the body of reddyd wull andlappid abowte wyth blacke silke; theywynges of the drake of the redde caponshakyll.” No, fly-fishing is by no means amodern sport.

In a word the theory of the artificialfly is simply to duplicate the appearanceand action of the living winged insect.However, two schools have arisen. The

first, known as colorists, insist that allthat is necessary is to duplicate the colorsof the natural fly; the second school, theformalists, insist with equal emphasisthat the proper method to pursue is toduplicate the form and never mind thecolor. Now, no doubt much can be saidupon either side; but the fact of the mat-ter is, he is most wise who occupies amiddle-of-the-road course, employingboth methods. There are days when “anyold fly” will prove attractive, and there

are also days when no fly will proveattractive. I have passed through experi-ences which have converted me to thecolorist school, but always those experi-

ences have been followed byothers which have reconvert-ed me to the formalist faith,and vice versa. I have aboutcome to the conclusion thatto change from a large fly toa small one, or from a smallfly to a smaller, is as apt toproduce net results as tochange colors and pattern. Inmy experience the smaller flyis as a rule the successful one.Do not worry over manytypes of flies; a half dozenstandard patterns in varioussizes will prove ample. Timewas when I thought it ab -solutely necessary to haveevery known product of thefly-tier’s art in my stockbook; today I am satisfiedwith a meager half dozen orso. While I pay attention toboth form and color, there issomething which I believe isof greater importance.I have become an osteo -

path, I believe in “man ip -ulation.” More depends uponthe man behind the fly thanupon the fly itself, grantingof course that the fly shouldbe what the Irishman called“dacent.” The problem of the

fly-fisher as stated by Mr. [H. P.] Wells is: “st. To place the fly within reach ofthe trout without alarming it. d. To handle it so as to simulate aliving creature, and one tempting itsappetite. d. To do this in such a manner thatif the fly is touched, the trout shallinfallibly be fastened.”This may well be called the gospel of

fly-fishing; but how to do it—ah, there’sthe rub. Not every angler learns to obey

Excerpted from O. W. Smith, Trout Lore (NewYork: Frederick A. Stokes Company, ), –.

Fly-Fishing for Trout by O. W. Smith

From H. P. Wells, Fly-Rods and Fly-Tackle(New York: Harper & Brothers, ), facing page .

the first rule even; and when it comes tothe third, who can say, “This law have Ikept from my youth up.” That delicatehandling of the fly, that quick responseto a rising fish, neither can be taught onpaper; the best school for the would-befly-fisherman, is the school of experi-ence, actual fishing on a trout stream. Ihave cast by the hour upon the backlawn, to the great amusement of passers-by and the abject terror of the house dog,but I am ready to assert that I havederived more real benefit by following anexpert handler of flies in actual fishing.No doubt much can begained by dry-land practiceafter one knows how to han-dle the lures, but before—well, to my mind it is some-thing like learning to swimin the drawing-room. WhenHorace Greeley was askedhow the Government was toset about resuming speciepayment, he tersely replied,“The way to resume is toresume.” Do not make anymistake about the matter,the way to learn to handlefuzzy-wuzzy lures is just tohandle them. Perhaps some-day you will find yourselfwithout worms or bait ofany kind, with only a fewbedraggled flies in yourbook which you have car-ried for show; then you willfall to and use them, and lo,all at once a fish will behooked: you will have be -come a fly-fisher. Later on I am going to

devote a chapter to the mat-ter of flies, pattern, size,manufacture, etc., but here Igive a list of a possible half-dozen which should provesuccessful anywhere, anytime. Remember, this is justone fellow’s list. No. , Pro -fessor. No. , Coach man. No., Brown Hackle. No. , Beaverkill. No. ,Silver Doctor. No. , Scarlet Ibis. I wouldhave these tied on Nos. , , and hooks, with perhaps a few on No. foruse if those large ones of which wedream are rising. You understand myposition: three sizes of each pattern, andI would not think of going with less thanthree of a size. This is my list, and now,“Lay on, Macduff, and—” It is too bad, but in a work of this char-

acter we must dismiss the matter of tack-le with little better than a word. Probablymore has been written regarding rodsthan flies—which is saying that no mereman can read it all. My trenchant is for a

split bamboo rod of the best grade possi-ble to afford, for it seems to me there isnothing equaling the quick response andfine action of the thoroughbred bamboo.Next comes the solid woods; then thesteel. For small creeks, a rod not overeight feet long and weighing in the neigh-borhood of three ounces. For largestreams, say ten feet and weighing up toseven ounces. The lighter rod will handlea fly better than the heavier one. The reel for fly-fishing is the single

action; on heavier rods and for heavierfishing the automatic may be used. The

reel is nothing more than a container forthe line in average fly-fishing and is usedbut little in playing the fish. As to line, double tapered G, if you

can afford it; if not, the best simpleenameled you can. And when we cometo the leader, again I urge the best. I amnot an advocate of overly long leaders,thinking that they interfere somewhat inlanding the fish; I limit them to four feet. So much for fly-fishing tackle. We

should have spent a whole chapter dis-cussing it; but it will be mentioned laterwhen we take up fishing particularwaters. Personally I desire three flieswhen fishing with those fuzzy-wuzzy

lures; not because I desire to take twofish at a cast, though there is rare sport insuccessfully playing two trout at once,but because the dropper fly is often suc-cessful when the end fly proves unattrac-tive. However, the use of more than onefly is frowned upon in some quarters andis prohibited by law in at least one State,so I perforce am learning to be contentwith one. As dry-fly fishing is becomingmore and more popular we will find itless difficult to be content with a singlefly, as one only can be used in dry-flyfishing, properly so called, which will be

discussed in our next chapter.The ways of a trout are

past finding out, for they areas unstable in their habits asthe seaside girl. When trout,especially large fish, are ris-ing lazily and rolling on thesurface of the water as itwere, they seldom strike at afly and I much doubt thatthey are feeding at all.Indeed, large fish seldomstrike with vim, while smallones will even shoot abovethe surface in their efforts toreach the tantalizing bunchof colored feathers. Again,trout seldom rise to flieswhen the surface is unruf-fled by a breeze and thenoontide sun beats downupon the water. A passingcloud or a vagrant breath ofwind will often stir them tolife. In swift water the fishusually hooks himself, butin dead water the action ofthe angler’s wrist must beinstant and sharp or the fishwill not be hooked. In fish-ing swift water it is best tofish downstream; while,upon the other hand, inslow streams, where it ispossible to make one’s wayagainst the current withouttoo much effort, upstream is

the proper course to pursue, as fish liewith their heads pointed in the directionof the downcoming food. There aretimes when in deep water the only wayfish can be moved is by using a weightedfly, fishing two feet or so beneath the sur-face, though it is not fly-fishing per se.The old rule holds good still: on lightdays dark flies, and on dark days lightflies. But he who goes forth in the morn-ing sure that he knows the best methodof angling, and the proper fly to use, willreturn at night with an empty creel and adisappointed heart.

�

Dry-Fly Fishing , a pen drawing by Lionel Edwards. FromW. Shaw Sparrow, Angling in British Art (London: John Lane,

The Bodley Head Limited, ), facing page .

AMFF Announces New Ambassadors

Courtesy of Drew Chicone

Drew Chicone is an award-winning outdoor writer andfly designer, photographer, lecturer, and materialsexpert whose passion for teaching fly tying has inspiredhis numerous how-to articles, books, and detailedinstructional guides. He has lived and breathed thesport since he was tall enough to sit at the vise, and hisfly creations are well known and in high demandamong saltwater anglers and guides. Drew received theInternational Fly Tackle Dealer Best in Show SaltwaterFly Pattern Award in both and . In , hewon the IFTD Iron Fly. He has been a FFF-certifiedcasting instructor and commercial fly tier for morethan a decade. In addition to his work as an educator,Drew ties premium saltwater flies for sale through hiscompany Salty Fly Tying. He is cofounder of StripStrike University and frequently hosts destinationschools and fishing adventures anywhere saltwaterspecies swim. He lives in Fort Myers, Florida, with hiswife and daughter.

Diego Gaiser

Steve Galetta is co-owner and outfitter of the BighornAngler Fly Shop and Lodge in Fort Smith, Montana. Hegrew up in upstate New York, where he studied the art ofmatch-the-hatch dry-fly fishing for selective trout. Aftermoving to Montana for college, he never looked back,making Montana his classroom for chasing trout inmoving water. “I decided to make the Bighorn Riverhome,” he says, “because it has the longest fishing seasonin the state of Montana and provides anglers with theopportunity to catch fish on dry flies every month of theyear.” For Steve, one of the most enjoyable aspects ofworking in the fly-fishing industry is passing along thetraditions and history of fly fishing to younger genera-tions. His first book, Fly Fishing the Bighorn River, waspublished by Stackpole Books in .

T ’ A P was created in to expand our outreach and augment membershipnationwide by raising awareness of the museum, its mis-

sion, and programs. We profiled our first fifteen ambassadors inthe Fall (vol. , no. ), Summer (vol. , no. ),Summer (vol. , no. ), and Fall (vol. , no. ) issues.We now welcome seven more.

Dave McCoy credits his father, who introduced him tofishing, for sparking his passion for life in the greatoutdoors. Dave grew up in Eugene, Oregon, whichmade Hosmer Lake, Crane Prairie Reservoir, and theDeschutes, McKenzie, and Umpqua Rivers his stomp-ing grounds. He quickly discovered the thrill of havinga fish on, but it was the awe of his surroundings thatinstilled his interest in conservation. Dave has dedicat-ed his professional life to the fly-fishing industry andhas spent the last twenty-plus years as a guide, outfit-ter owner (Emer ald Water Anglers), conservationist,and fly-fishing ambassador (Pata gonia and CostaSunglass, T&T Fly Rod and Nautilus Reel, andKeepemwet). He is a member of the Echo/Airflo ProStaff, an IFFF Certified Casting Instructor, and aSnoqualmie River steward for Native Fish Society.Dave is quick to note that he is nothing in his pursuitswithout his wife and daughter, who, without saying aword, constantly remind him why he is so inspired.

Aileen Lane, who was born and raised in LosAngeles, learned to tie flies before ever wet-ting a line. She caught her very first browntrout fishing solo in Idaho one Thanksgivingday. Her custom fly-tying business, MKFlies,is named after her daughter, McKenzie. Since, Aileen has been the publisher and ownerof Kype Magazine, an online digital fly-fishingmagazine on ISSUU.com. Aileen is a Pro Stafftier for Deer Creek UK and appeared in theEmmy Award–winning documentary RockyMountain Fly High way. She is a pediatricoccupational therapist and calls both Boise,Idaho, and Sedona, Arizona, home.

Courtesy of Dave McCoy

Courtesy of Aileen Lane

Southwest Florida native Capt. Lacey Kelly is nostranger to the flats. She’s spent a lifetime on thewater and several years guiding for tarpon, snook,and redfish on fly and conventional tackle. For twoyears she ran Tres Pescados Fly Shop in San Pedro,Belize, where turquoise waters provided her with theproper backdrop for mastering permit on the fly rod.Now back in Florida, Lacey manages and guides withFlorida Outdoor Experience, a hunting and fishinglodge located near Cedar Key in Chiefland. In Mayand June, you’ll find her in Homosassa putting clientson record tarpon. When she’s not chasing tarpon,year-round sight fishing for redfish, snook, and blackdrum is her specialty. Working along Florida’s naturecoast has allowed Lacey to get back into guiding witha new emphasis on promoting and instructing thesport of fly fishing. Whether she’s tying flies for hernext charter or fletching arrows for the next hunt,you’d be hard pressed to find another as dedicated tothe outdoors as Capt. Lacey Kelly.

Courtesy of Lacey Kelly

Matt Smythe lives with his wife and three kids in theFinger Lakes region in western New York. He grew upfishing for bass and pickerel in the lakes and outletsnear his home, learned how to cast a fly rod in gradschool, and has fished for pretty much anything thatswims in pretty much any water since. Matt is a free-lance writer, a poet, a storyteller, an Army veteran, andan avid outdoorsman. He fly fishes, bowhunts, tele-mark skis, and runs trails. He considers himself fortu-nate to get to travel a great deal for both writing andfly fishing, and even more fortunate to meet kindredspirits who share the need for a life lived outdoors. Atthirty-nine, Matt was diagnosed with Tourette syn-drome. He finds that being on the water in general,and fly fishing specifically, has been the single consis-tent coping mechanism for calming his symptoms.

Tommy Baranowski

Rich Strolis grew up in the foothills of the Berkshiresof western Massachusetts, where he cut his teeth onthe plethora of smaller and larger bodies of movingwater. After nearly a decade of guiding on Con nect -icut’s Farmington and Hous atonic Rivers while pur-suing another career, he made the transition to com-mercial tying, speaking engagements, and teachingboth fly fishing and fly tying. His fly patterns havebeen tied and fished by many as a result of his libraryof online videos. Rich is a signature designer for theMontana Fly Company. His patterns have appearedin Fly Fisherman and Eastern Fly Fishing magazines,in multiple books, and in his own book, CatchingShadows: Tying Flies for the Toughest Fish and Strat -egies for Fishing Them (). Rich is currently a ProStaff member and advisor for Regal Vise, Partridge,Solarez, Enrico Puglisi Flies, Hatch Out doors, andFlycraft. He lives in Simsbury, Conn ecticut, with hiswife and two daughters.

With twenty-two ambassadors across the country, AMFF is proud tohave built a unique community in support of fly-fishing history—infact, the only one of its kind in the museum world. As our AmbassadorProgram continues to grow, our goal is to establish eight districtsacross the United States and assign at least one ambassador to each tomore efficiently optimize membership development and growth. To find out more about our ambassadors and the work they are

doing in the field, visit our website at www.amff.org. We seek ambas-sador candidates who embody our mission, reflect our initiatives, andinspire the sport of fly fishing. If you or someone you know wouldmake a strong ambassador candidate based on knowledge, experience,expertise, and industry alliances, please contact us at at --or sfoster@amff.org.

�

Cam Smythe

President’s Council($, and more)Michael Bakwin

Foster Bam and Sallie BaldwinDavid J. BeveridgePeter BowdenMark Comora

Deborah and Jon DawsonGary and Sulu Grant

Dan LufkinErik and Jennifer OkenLeigh and Annie Perkins Robert and Karen Scott

Nicholas SelchRichard G. Tisch

Museum Council($,–$,)AnonymousAlex de LatourMichael GoldbergJohn W. Hadden II

Sidney and Margaret HermanPhyllis Herrick

Art and Martha KaemmerKaren Kaplan

Woods and Wendy King IIIKenneth Kosakoff and Mariann Covello

Christopher MahanThomas F. McGuane III

David and Margaret Nichols

Robert Oden Jr.William PlattJohn Redpath

Franklin Schurz Jr.Warren SternRon Stuckey

Tyler and Frances ThompsonAndrew and Elizabeth Ward

Patricia WatsonTom Weber

Frances WolfsonNancy and Alan Zakon

Director’s Council($,–$,)

Shannon BrightmanJane Cooke

Anthony DavinoCharles Patrick Durkin Jr.Jim and Susan Heckman

Tim HixonAlex JinishianSam Kellie-Smith

Bill and Francesca LearyGeorge E. MatelichWalter and Pam MatiaBrad and Pamela Mills

The Moore Charitable FoundationThe Orvis Company

Matthew and Taylor ScottJames Woods

Platinum($,–$,)Pete Bakwin

Dickson and Emily BoenningMarc Cabot

Salvatore CampofrancoYvon Chouinard

Fitz Coker and Dotty BallantyneParker Corbin

Thomas M. Evans Jr.Far Bank EnterpriseRonald and Jane GardAlan and Linda Gnann

Jim HunterJill Joyce

Joan KelleherHuey Lewis

Anne Lovett and Steve WoodsumLeon Martuch

William and Lynn McMasterPheasant Hill FoundationNancy and George Records

L. Keith ReedAndrew RichterEric RobertsJason Scott

Broderick SmithTravis Smith

D. Todd SullivanTurner FoundationCharles Walton

The museum gratefully acknowledges the outstanding support of our contributors whohelped to further the museum’s mission. Please accept our apology if any name has beenmisspelled, placed under the incorrect contribution heading, or inadvertently excluded.

Museum Contributors

From The Badminton Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, Volume XI(London: William Heinemann, ), . Photo by Charles F. Inston.

Gold($–$)Danny Ashcraft

Harold and Mona BrewerA. S. Cargill

James CarpenterJoseph and Beth ClarkStephen Farrelly

Thomas and Henrietta HakesTerence HallDavid Handy

Peter Holmes, MDStephen KilcullenGerold Klauer

Dudley Lutton and Sue DossLee W. Mather Jr.

Bliss and Marcia McCrumBill and Martha McLaughlin

Barry MeinerthRichard MorseP & F ApplianceA. Wright Palmer

Frederick and Cassie PolhemusNathaniel Reedrk Miles

Mark K. J. RobinsonSaint Andrew’s SocietyAdelaide Skoglund

Charles and Ann ThacherJohn Torok

Silver($–$)

Peter and Anne AngevineRichard and Anne BellWilliam Broadbent

Christopher and Jill BrownTopher BrowneLarry ByersPete Ceponis

Christopher DavisCharles A. Donovan Jr.

Curtis DuffieldJon EgglestonPhilip Franz

Charles Griffith IIIJonathan GrimmCharles HardenRichard JacksonPaul JenningsDiana KalmanOwen KingJeff Laszlo

Fred LowenfelsJim McDuffieLester Morse Jr.

Bob and Joanne MoserW. Kemp Norman Jr.David and Peggy Ody

Steve ParksChuck and Heather Post

Philip Roy ReverPaul Schullery and Marsha Karle

Robert and Anne ScottJohn Snow

Kenneth SrokaRichard Stebbins Jr.

Edwin Stroh IIITrevor StuartFred Torphy

The Vermont Country StoreJim WohlgemuthAndy WunschEric Yonke

Bronze(up to $)Kathleen Achor

Gladstone Adams IIIJames Adams

Christine-Jean AlexisGary Allen

Mike and Amy AllenAlan AmendtRandy Amis

William P. AndersonC. Douglas and Susan Angevine

Stu ApteThe Aspen at Manchester

Tom BailyRichard Bamberger

Jim BarresiChristopher and Susan Barrow

P. James BartheJohn Barto

Steve and Amaya BellJim BennettRobert BergerJohn BergfeldBerkshire Bank

Biblioteket–Norsk SkogmuseumMichael R. BlakeGeorge Boder

Stephen and Sandra BogdanFrank J. BolesJames P. Booth

Stephen and Gillian BoothMichael BorgeldCharles BoyerJeff BrandenburgPer BrandinPhilip Brett III

Ron and Sally BriggsGeorge B. BrightHarry Briscoe

Howard and Sarah BrooksJennifer BrownJim BrownRob Brown

Mary Chatfield BrosiusLawrence H. Bruce Jr.Jan Harold Brunvand

Ben BulisDaniel BullockDennis BuranekKeith BurwellGeorge Butts

Christofer CalabreseJohn CapowskiJohn CarrDan L. Casas

Peter A. CastagnettiJim CeruttiGene Chague

David CharamutJustin ClarkWilliam ClarkJim Clune

Tony CocchiaraRobert CochraneMichael Coe

Jay and Kathy CohenMark and Judy ColeEdward CollinsAnsel Condray

Aleta Claire ConnellRalph Connor

William L. ConradWilliam CosgroveEdward CotterDavid CrosbyDavid CozadPatrick CullenJerry CurtisEugene CyrDavid DamerBruce Dancik

Christine DanielsMark DavisGeoffrey DayNathaniel DayJohn DeemerRobert DeMott

Joseph DilschneiderAlan DiodoreJohn Dobson

Thomas Doolittle, DDSRobert DotsonJoel Doub

Douglas OutdoorsBoker Doyle

John Walter and Mary Jane DreyerRon DundonPatricia Dupree

William and Anne DustinBruce EcksteinRobert Eddins

Burdett Edgren, DDS, MSJeff EdwardsFrederick EiseleRon ElenbaasGary EstabrookJeffrey EthertonAtticus FallonTom Favro

Patrick and Kathryn FeeleyJohn Feldenzer, MDJeff Ferguson

Robert and Connie FergusonAnthony Ferragamo

Carl FischerMoirajeanne FitzgeraldThe Flyfishers Club

David FoleyJames J. Ford Jr.Paul Forte

G. William FowlerGeorge Fraley

Mac and Ross FrancisJohn FranzenMichael Gallant

Kathleen P. Galop and Philip J. FalcoPeter GambitskyCharles GarbowskyLawrence GaskaBrad Gates

Marc GenereuxSteven Gerwirz

Ralph and Bonnie Jo GestwickiRaphael GheuensChris GibsonJerry GirardJay GoldsmithDana Gray

Michael GraybrookDale Greenley

Willard GreenwoodRobert GwozdziewiczGeorge HabetlerPaul E. HaleJay Hall

Jeff HarkavyMary Pat Harris

Peter and Lisa HauserKevin Hawes

Mike and Pam HizaMark and Christine Hodgson

Greg HeffnerRobert Heintges

David Henderson, MDScott Herbst

Andrew HigginsRichard HightowerWilliam HitchcockJames R. Holt Jr.Frank Honisch IIIDavid HortinDavid HostetlerHarold Howard

Shepard Hurwitz, MDBarry IngramTom IrwinGeorge Jacobi

Richard and Suellen JagelsFred R. JeansRupert JenningsJan Jensen

Donn and Kathy JohnsonWilliam Jordan

Fred and Oli KambeitzWilliam Karl

Michael and Jean KashgarianPaul Kearney

Steven and Norma Jean KearslyJill B. and G. Martin Keeney

Thomas Keesee IIITom Kelly

Norton KennedyBill KesslerByron Kidder

Douglas KierklewskiRobert and Jeannette King

George KleinJerry and Barbara Klutinis

William KnoblochRobert and Cordelia Kohrman

David KolstadChuck Koosmann

Stephen KozakFred and Bonnie Kretchman

Fanny KriegerTom J. KukkWilliam KunkelPirate LanfordChuck Lanzieri

John I. Larkin, MDAlan Latham

Anthony LathamSteven LatnerKate LavelleMichael LawDwight Lee

Albert LeemhuisDouglas LeesWilliam LeggFrancis J. LetoJohn Levis IIIJames Lewis

Library of MichiganLibrary Serials Unit

Anne LivelyPhilip LobkowiczCathy LongFred Lord

Norris and Marci LoveLindsay A. Lovejoy Jr.Lisa Kwasnoski Lucas

Jon LundT. H. Lyda

Kenneth and Mary LynnNick Lyons

Richard MacDowellMadison Valley Ranch

Kevin MaesThe Manchester View Motel

James MarrinerLawrence MarsielloChris Martin

Larry Marxer and Susan HathawayBarry and Michele Matlack

Robert MattsonEdward MatuizekGeorge McCabe

Michael K. McCafferyJohn J. McCann

Charles McCaughtryChristopher McClancyMichael McCormickDuncan McDonaldSteven McGrath

Theodore and Ann McKenzieBrian McNeill

John R. MelnicsakRandall MendozaJohn Merritt

John and Nancy MerrittF. D. MeyercordFred MiddletonRick MilczanowskiRobert Miller

William Mitchell IIIRobert MolzahnJohn Monczka

Sherrod MoreheadCurt Mueller

John and Joyce MundtPaul and Claire Murphy

Walter NahadilRose NapolitanoDick Neuman

William NewcombRon Nimitz

Marvin and Victoria NolteJan Nystrom

Matthew O’BrienMark OlsonLars Olsson

Winston OstrowOtter Creek BreweryJeffrey PackardAshley PapaArthur E. PapeNicole PaquetteMartin Park

Timothy PatrickFrank PayneHelene PeddleCasey Peltier

David and Virginia PennockLarry and Karen Plate

Rhey PlumleyJames J. PopelkaNicholas PosakBob PosliffRobert PostalDave Preble

John QuashnocWalt QuistJoseph RadleyCosimo RaiaDouglas ReamerScott RepaRhyn Reto

Robert ReynoldsRobert Rich

Lt. Col. John RoachBill and Sue RoenJohn RogozPeter Roma

Peter RosamiliaVictor and Donna Ruiz

Robert RuleyWill Ryan

Mikko SaikkuDarrell Sanders

Rick Sanders and Janice HandSkip and Rita SchimpffErnst SchleipmannKeith Schonbrun

Michael and Courtney SchreinerJeffrey Schwartz

Branif and Nicole ScottKathy ScottTim Scott

Malcolm and Barbara SeaholmJames Secor IIIEugene Sekulow

Bob Selb and Diane McCabeDavid SgorbatiJohn ShanerV. Carl ShanerCarl Shrake

Peter SimonsonLynn E. Simpson

John and Rosalie SisevichFrank Skidmore Jr.Marc SkopecJeffrey Smith

Ray and Carolyn SmithStephen Smith

Konrad SobolewskiCarl A. Soderland, MDRobert SohrweidePeter SorensenColby Sorrells

James and Carol Ann SpendiffGeorge Stark

Winifried StephanMelvyn SterlingPatrick StevensJames Stewart

Roman and Claire StienssJamie StollerWilliam StoutDavid SylvesterThayer Talcott Jr.Nicholas P. TaroKenneth TedfordBill ThompsonWillard TrefryDaniel TremblayTom Tripi

Walter TrzcienskiUniversity of Wyoming Libraries

Paul H. UrbandDon Vacon

Ed and Jackie VallerieGlenn and Andrea Lyn Van Benschoten

Ed Van PutDavid Van Wie

Nicolaas VandersandenJack Varley

Stephen M. VengroveFrancis Volentine

Ben VossJames C. WagnerThomas WalekFranklin WalkerCharles WarnerDeVer G. WarnerMax Warr

Ron and Cheryl WilcoxArnold WilliamsDave Williams IIIJeffrey WilliamsDaniel A. WillisRobert WitekSteve WoitTom Wolf

Charles Wood IIIDavid W. Wood

Charles and Shirley WoodsGary WoodwardBob WorleyEd Wrobleski

Arthur and Virginia WycoffFrancis and Leah YancsekDennis and Barbara YusaJulia and Doug Zehner

William ZemanScott and Tonna Zieske

In-KindAbove All Vermont

Berkshire Rivers Fly FishingBighorn Angler Fly Shop

and LodgeNicholas BrawerGreg Brown

Robert CochraneMark ComoraBert DarrowIan DavisNick Dawes

Dorset Field ClubDorset Theatre FestivalDouglas OutdoorsThe Equinox ResortGallatin River Lodge

Roger GarufiGeorge and Beth Gibson

Philip Gilpin Jr.Alan and Linda GnannJim and Pat HardmanHatch OutdoorsJim HeckmanIzaak Walton Inn

J. H. Becker RodworksSummerfield Johnston

Karen KaplanJim Klug

Fred and Bonnie KretchmanBill and Francesca LearyCarmine and Judith LisellaMadison Valley RanchAnthony MagardinoWalter and Pam MatiaThomas F. McGuane III

Dave MorseMother Myrick’s

John and Joyce MundtNorthshire Bookstore

El PescadorBrian Price

Pure ComplexionKevin Ramirez

Ranch at Rock CreekRestigouche River Lodge

Roger RiccardiRIO ProductsRobert RuleyChris SamsonScientific AnglersPhilip Scudder

Silver Creek OutfittersSimms Fishing Products

Stream and Brook Fly FishingTemple Fork OutfittersThree Forks RanchRichard G. TischJacques TorresUrban AnglerKeith Vanacore

Richard Vander VeenVillage Picture Shows

Paul Volcker

Gregg R. WestonJoan Wulff and Ted Rogowski

CollectionRobert BoyleDonald BrodieJerry Calvert

William ChandlerMichael CoeRobert DeMottBill DuncansonJohn GuinanJim HardmanJames Heckman

Sidney and Margaret HermanPhyllis HerrickCurt HillBob JacklinKevin Lyons

Thomas F. McGuane IIIJohn F. MundtRhey PlumleyMatt ReinemoLarry RobinsDavid SanchezPaul SchulleryRichard TischMike VallaJoan Wulff

Susan Zuccotti

Journal AuthorsRichard G. BellRobert H. BoylePer Brandin

Jan Harold BrunvandAlan R. DiodoreG. William FowlerWilliam F. HerrickBob JacklinGeorge JacobiFred KretchmanJohn MundtMargot PageFred PolhemusEd Van PutThomas Wolf

VolunteersJim BeckerKelly BedfordGeorge ButtsRay DavisMike HulveyErika Kornbluth Barry Mayer

Rose NapolitanoBill Newcomb

Christopher PierceAnnabel PitcherOlivia PitcherBrian PriceKevin RamirezChris SamsonPaul SinickiBill SylvesterRyan Whitney

O S, F , AMFF hosted its first fly-tying event of the season, a double-header: Tie One On and the Iron Fly. The Tie One On event started things off in the after-noon. Local fly tiers offered demonstrations and lessons to beginning, intermediate, and

advanced tiers. We were privileged to have an array of talented tiers to help out, including PaulSinicki, Chris Samson, Barry Mayer, Mike Hulvey, Kevin Ramirez, Bill Newcomb, George Butts, andBill Sylvester. The Iron Fly, hosted by Pig Farm Ink, started at : p.m. in the Gardner L. Grant Library.

Fifteen contestants signed up for the tournament. Their challenges included using blindfolds,tying with tape mittens, and incorporating balloons into their flies. It made for an exciting night!Everyone did an impressive job with the obstacles, but Brian Reed, who hails from NewHampshire, came away the winner.Thanks to all the local tiers who came out for Tie One On; to Pig Farm Ink for hosting the Iron

Fly; and to Mud Dog Flies, and Christos’ Pizza for sponsoring such a great event.�

Tie One On and Iron Fly

Paul Sinicki guides Executive DirectorSarah Foster through the process of tying aWoolly Bugger at the Tie One On event.

Blindfolded participants let muscle memorytake over during the Iron Fly competition.

Visitors closely watch fly tier Barry Mayerat work during the Tie One On event.

An Iron Fly contestantexamines his work.

Photos by Kelsey McBride

Hooked on the HolidaysOn December , the American Museum of Fly Fishing hostedits annual Hooked on the Holidays event. Families joined us fora fun-filled afternoon of making Christmas cards, decoratingtrout cookies, and tying clown flies with Yoshi. Refreshmentswere served to keep all of us warm during a cold, snowy day.While escaping the winter wonderland outside, guests stayedwarm by the fireplace and enjoyed exploring the museum. We

look forward to hosting the tenth annual event in . Thankyou to all who shared this special time of year with us!

Recent Donations to the CollectionJim Heckman of Manchester, Vermont, gave us a spool ofDupont Nylon Fishing Line, Hicolon Fishing Line or LeaderMaterial No. and No. , a Micmaq Indian fishing creel,and a February issue of Field & Stream that contains aphoto of Myron Gregory.

Robert DeMott of Athens, Ohio, donated two auto-graphed books—with a fly taped to each title page—by JohnEngels, Walking to Cootehill: New and Selected Poems, –(Middlebury College Press, ) and Weather-Fear: New andSelected Poems, – (University of Georgia Press, ).Nick Lyons of Woodstock, New York, sent us an audio record-ing of a talk he gave to the Phoenicia Library on December titled “A Life Well Fished.”

Rhey Plumley of South Burlington, Vermont, brought us aRichardson Chest Fly Box. John Mundt of Simsbury,Connecticut, donated two chest fly boxes: a Downs Fly Box byRalph S. Alberts Company and another by an unknown maker.

Former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Paul Volcker ofNew York City donated his library of books, as well as threephotos, a fish carving, and two fly boxes (see inside backcover). Susan Zuccotti of New York City gave us a collection of books. And Jim Hardman of Dorset, Vermont, brought usa collection of books and fly-fishing–related goods. For adetailed listing of these donations, contact the museum.

Museum NewsSara Wilcox

Upcoming Events

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

All yearFree Fridays for Our thComplimentary entrance to the museumto celebrate AMFF’s th anniversary

May th Anniversary CelebrationRacquet and Tennis ClubNew York City: p.m.

June Members Fishing OutingSaint Hubert's ClubMarlboro, New York

June Canvas ’n’ Cocktails with Yoshi Akiyama: p.m.–: p.m.

July Exhibit Opening On Fly in the Salt

July , , , (Thursdays)Kid Clinics: a.m–: a.m

August Community Celebration for

th Anniversary: p.m.–: p.m.

August th Annual Fly-Fishing Festival: a.m.–: p.m.

September Anglers’ Club of New York EventNew York City

September SmithsonianMagazine Museum Day Live!Free admission with a Museum Day Live! ticket

October Izaak Walton Award

OctoberAnnual Members Meeting

November Members-Only EventAMFF Confidential: Behind the Scenesat the Museum

: p.m.–: p.m.

December Hooked on the Holidays: p.m.–: p.m.

A pair of young visitors enjoyed making Christmas cardsat the crafts table during Hooked on the Holidays.

Always check our website (www.amff.org) foradditions, updates, and more information or con-tact () - or amff@amff.org. The muse-um’s e-mail newsletter offers up-to-date news andevent information. To subscribe, look for the linkon our website or contact the museum.

Karen C. Feldenzer

John Feldenzer has been a dedicated fly fisherman for twenty-five years. A student of history, he is an avid reader and collectorof fly-fishing literature. He studies, uses, and collects classicbamboo fly rods from the Golden Age. He lives on the JacksonRiver tailwater in the mountains of southwestern Virginia, wherehe pursues wild brown and rainbow trout as well as small-streamnative brookies and the trophy smallmouth bass of the New andJames Rivers. His love of the game of baseball is encoded in hisDNA. He remains a practicing neurosurgeon in the GreenbrierValley of West Virginia and in Salem, Virginia. This is his thirdcontribution to the fly-fishing literature.

Left: Feldenzer pays his respects to his departed friend at BobbyDoerr’s gravesite on January .

David Van Wie

David Van Wie has lived and fly fished in Maine for more than thirtyyears. After thirty-plus years working as an environmental professionalin government, business, and consulting, he is now a writer, photogra-pher, and adjunct faculty member at the University of New England inBiddeford, where he teaches environmental studies. David served aterm in the Maine House of Representatives and is a former director ofthe Bureau of Land and Water Quality in the Maine Department ofEnvironmental Protection. He learned to fly fish while working for theU.S. Forest Service in Cody, Wyoming, in and .

David was the instigator and lead author of The Confluence: Fly-Fishing & Friendship in the Dartmouth College Grant, written with sixclassmates from college about their twenty-plus years of fishingadventures in the backcountry of northern New Hampshire. Hewrites a monthly column for the Maine Sportsman magazine. Hiswriting has also appeared in Northern Woodlands magazine and theMaine Sunday Telegram.

I —an urge, really—to read each back issue ofthe journal, starting with the scarce and coveted Volume ,Number . This is indeed a great idea. But given the imme-

diate abundance of AMFF work (if you haven’t seen our pro-gram schedule for , check it out), plus spending time withmy family (a running and climbing one-year-old and a quietbut quite adventurous four-year-old who jumps at any oppor-tunity to explore the outdoors), dogs (two lovely and age-defy-ingly lively eleven-year-old golden retrievers), and horses (mynewest addition is a Doc O’Lena–bred barrel horse), plusworking on the house (reflecting my husband’s true character,we live in a converted eighteenth-century barn), I haven’t got-ten too far. I did, however, stumble upon a piece written by author and

former executive director Craig Gilborn in the mid-s stat-ing that “The museum has little art and relatively few of theoddments—memorabilia—that can breathe life into an exhib-it” (Spring , vol. , no. ). How times have changed! Our collection has grown in ways

we could not have imagined. We certainly have artifacts thatbreathe life into exhibits not only here in Manchester, but invenues across the country as we send out traveling exhibits.During my tenure with the museum, I have seen some incred-

ible acquisitions, including a Lee Wulff collection (vest, rods,flies, even a Christmas card drawn by Lee himself), countlessbamboo rods, George H. W. Bush’s Deceiver fly, multipleCushner framings, Lefty Kreh’s homemade vise, ErnestHemingway’s personal fly box, and original artwork by world-renowned artists.Most recently, on an unusually warm day in January, I was

welcomed into Paul Volcker’s home to accept (with the utmostgratitude) his library collection as a permanent donation tothe museum. During an enjoyable visit, Mr. Volcker sharedstories of how books like S. Kip Farrington Jr.’s Atlantic GameFishing () was a fav orite of his dad’s, and about the hourshe spent reading and rereading Ray Bergman’s Fresh-WaterBass (). It was then that I realized just how important thesebooks—and the memories associated with them—are. I am honored to be a part of an organization with respon-

sibility to preserve the artifacts, the history, and the stories ofthe sport of fly fishing, a responsibility it has performedadmirably. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for wel-coming me as executive director.

S FE D

Rising to the Occasion

Samantha Pitcher

Sarah Foster

Sarah Foster and Paul Volcker sort through hisextensive fishing library at his home in New York City.

A look at a few of the books Paul Volcker donated to themuseum in January, including his beloved copies ofAtlantic Game Fishing and Fresh-Water Bass.

Main Street • PO Box Manchester,Vermont

Tel: () - • Fax: () --: amff@amff.org: www.amff.org

M T isthe steward of the history, traditions, andpractices of the sport of fly fishing and pro-motes the conservation of its waters. Themuseum collects, preserves, exhibits, studies,and interprets the artifacts, art, and literatureof the sport and, through a variety of out-reach platforms, uses these resources toengage, educate, and benefit all.

The museum provides public programs tofulfill its educational mission, including exhi-bitions, publications, gallery programs, andspecial events. Research services are availablefor members, visiting scholars, students, edu-cational organizations, and writers. ContactYoshi Akiyama at yakiyama@amff.org toschedule a visit.

VThroughout the year, the museum needs volun-teers to help with programs, special projects,events, and administrative tasks. You do nothave to be an angler to enjoy working with us!Contact Samantha Pitcher at spitcher@amff.orgto tell us how we would benefit from your skillsand talents.

SThe American Museum of Fly Fishing relies onthe generosity of public-spirited individuals forsubstantial support. If you wish to contributefunding to a specific program, donate an itemfor fund-raising purposes, or place an advertise-ment in this journal, contact Sarah Foster atsfoster@amff.org. We encourage you to give themuseum con sideration when planning for gifts,be quests, and memorials.

JMembership Dues (per annum)

Patron ,Sustainer Contributor Benefactor Associate

The museum is an active, member-orientednonprofit institution. Membership duesinclude four issues of the American Fly Fisher;unlimited visits for your entire family tomuseum exhibitions, gallery programs, andspecial events; access to our ,-volumeangling reference library; and a discount onall items sold by the museum on its websiteand inside the museum store, the BrooksideAngler. To join, please contact SamanthaPitcher at spitcher@amff.org.

Catch and Release the Spirit of Fly Fishing!

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We welcome contributions to the AmericanFly Fisher. Before making a submission,please review our Contrib utor’s Guidelineson our website (www.amff.org), or write torequest a copy. The museum cannot acceptresponsibility for statements and interpre-tations that are wholly the author’s.