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WINTER 2005 VOLUME 31 NUMBER 1

AmericanFly Fisher

Journal of the American Museum of Fly Fishing

The

WE’RE BACK. In October, the Museumquietly opened its doors

to the public (see the announce-ment on the inside back cover).The impressive Anglers Allexhibit is back in Manchester inall its angling glory. The librarystacks will soon be in place. Ourgift shop, the brainchild of man-agers Bill and Phyllis Herrick, iswaiting to tempt you. After twoand a half years of living inlimbo, the Museum staff isthrilled beyond measure to have a home. We invite you tocome see your Museum.

And we invite you to keep reading. In this issue, we featurean angling artist in words and illustration; we follow oneauthor’s journey that follows a journey of one of his favoriteauthors; and we highlight two reels from our own collection.

Fred Everett’s illustrations graced Ray Bergman’s first book,Just Fishing; the covers of Pennsylvania Angler; and eventuallyEverett’s own books, Fun with Trout and Fun with Game Birds.According to Jim Gilford, most of what is known about Everettdoes not come from historical documents, but rather fromEverett’s own art, his writing, and from personal recollectionsof a few individuals. In “The Contrary Angler and Artist,”Gilford presents the information he has gleaned thus far aboutthis important figure in angling art.

We follow the article about Everett with a piece by Everetthimself. Fred Everett’s Fun with Trout (1952) is a series of wordsketches, as well as paint and line sketches. For our purposes,we’ve chosen to include a chapter called “Opening Day: WordSketch 4.” This piece is a celebration of opening days and allthe nostalgia around them. Everett gives some great accountsand includes both worms and flies in the mix. Despite this, two

sketches later (Controversy: WordSketch 6), Everett an nounces thathe is against opening days andbelieves they should be abolished,as they have nothing to do withtrout conservation and mayactually work against it. Butthat’s another story. You can findGilford’s article on page 12, andthe Everett excerpt begins onpage 16.

One of Harry Peterson’sheroes is Aldo Leopold, nat -uralist, fly fisherman, and au -

thor of A Sand County Almanac. “Alder Fork,” an essay in thatclassic book, describes a fishing trip of Leopold’s. Petersonwanted “to fish that same stream and cast to a few of thedescendants of the trout Leopold caught.” His account of thattrip, “Searching for Alder Fork,” begins on page 2.

Trustee and volunteer Jim Hardman has been helping theMuseum out in all sorts of ways of late, but mostly, he’s beenworking with our reel collection. The best part for me is thathe’s also both willing and able to write about our reels. In “ATale of Two Reels,” Jim tells us about two of his finds: anEdward Vom Hofe salmon or light saltwater reel made in NewYork in the 1870s and a John Moscrop salmon reel made inEngland in the 1890s. His article and accompanying pho-tographs begin on page 6.

On page 11, Harry J. Briscoe of the Hexagraph Fly RodCompany reviews frequent contributor Gordon M. Wick-strom’s Late in an Angler’s Life. And as always, Museum Newsis the place to catch up with the Museum’s travels.

Come up and see us sometime.

KATHLEEN ACHOREDITOR

A Place to Call Home

Fred Everett’s humor (see article beginning on page 12)finds expression in this illustration, in which three of

nature’s expert anglers are fishing in defiance of the law.Cover of the Pennsylvania Angler, October 1940. Used

with permission of the Pennsylvania Angler.

Interim Executive Director

Events & Membership

Executive Assistant

Art Director

Yoshi Akiyama

Lori Pinkowski

Linda McWain

Sara Wilcox

Searching for Alder Fork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Harry L. Peterson

A Tale of Two Reels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6James Hardman

Book Review: Gordon M. Wickstrom’s Late in an Angler’s Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Harry J. Briscoe

The Contrary Angler and Artist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Jim Gilford

Opening Day: Word Sketch 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Fred Everett

Museum News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Finishing Touches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Sara Wilcox

Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

ON THE COVER: Tradition lives in reel design. And the blessing of a day on theriver is as uplifting today as it was 110 years ago! This J. B. Moscrop salmonreel is part of the Museum’s collection and is featured in James Hardman’s

article, “A Tale of Two Reels,” which begins on page 6. Here it’s shown withan illustration from Walter Shaw Sparrow’s Angling in British Art through

Five Centuries: Prints, Pictures, Books (London, John Lane/TheBodley Head Ltd., 1923).

W I N T E R 2 0 0 5 V O L U M E 3 1 N U M B E R 1

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THE AMERICAN MUSEUMOF FLY FISHING

Preserving the Heritageof Fly Fishing

T R U S T E E SE. M. Bakwin

Michael BakwinFoster Bam

Pamela BatesSteven Benardete

Paul BofingerDuke Buchan IIIMickey Callanen

Peter CorbinBlake Drexler

William J. DreyerChristopher Garcia

Ronald GardGeorge R. Gibson III

Gardner L. GrantChris Gruseke

James HardmanJames Heckman

Lynn L. Hitschler Arthur Kaemmer, M.D.

Woods King IIICarl R. Kuehner III

Nancy MackinnonWalter T. MatiaWilliam C. McMaster, M.D.James MirendaJohn MundtDavid NicholsWayne NordbergMichael B. OsborneRaymond C. PecorStephen M. PeetLeigh H. PerkinsAllan K. PooleJohn RanoRoger RiccardiKristoph J. RollenhagenWilliam SalladinErnest SchwiebertRobert G. ScottJames A. SpendiffRichard G. TischDavid H. WalshJames C. Woods

T R U S T E E S E M E R I T I

Chairman of the BoardPresident

Vice Presidents

TreasurerSecretary

Clerk

Robert G. ScottDavid H. WalshGeorge R. Gibson IIILynn L. HitschlerMichael B. OsborneStephen M. PeetJames MirendaJames C. WoodsCharles R. Eichel

O F F I C E R S

S T A F F

EditorDesign & Production

Copy Editor

Kathleen AchorSara WilcoxSarah May Clarkson

THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER

Charles R. EichelG. Dick Finlay

W. Michael FitzgeraldWilliam Herrick

Robert N. Johnson

David B. LedlieLeon L. MartuchKeith C. RussellPaul SchulleryStephen Sloan

Statement of Ownership, Management, and CirculationThe American Fly Fisher (publication number 0084-3562) is published four times per year (Winter, Spring, Summer,

Fall). Editor is Kathleen Achor. Complete address for both publisher and editor is The American Museum of FlyFishing, P.O. Box 42, Manchester, VT 05254. The journal is wholly owned by the American Museum of Fly Fishing.

Total number of copies: 2,200 (average number of copies of each issue run during the preceding twelve months;2,200 actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date). Paid/requested circulations (includingadvertisers proof and exchange copies): 1,512 (average; 1,512 actual). Free distribution by mail: 50 (average; 50 actu-al). Sales through dealers and carriers, street vendors, and counter sales: 0 (average; 0 actual). Free distribution out-side the mail: 200 (average; 200 actual). Total free distribution: 250 (average; 250 actual). Total distribution: 1,762

(average; 1,762 actual). Copies not distributed: 438 (average; 438 actual). Total: 2,200 (average; 2,200 actual). Percentpaid and/or requested circulation: 85% (average; 85% actual).

2 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER

Searching forAlder Fork

Alder Fork as it appears today.

Aldo Leopold is best rememberedfor his writings and devotion todeveloping a new understanding

of our relationship with the land. Fewerpeople know that he also enjoyed writ-ing about hunting and fishing, sports hetook up in childhood and continuedthroughout his life.

“Knowledge of the whereabouts ofgood hunting or fishing is a very person-al form of property,” Leopold wrote. “Itis like rod, dog, or gun: a thing to beloaned or given as a personal courtesy.”1

Accordingly, although Leopold visited aparticular northern Wisconsin troutstream at least twice and wrote about histrip in the summer of 1931, the essay wasfirst published almost twenty years laterin A Sand County Almanac.

The trout stream Leopold calledAlder Fork in his writings is thought tobe Alder Creek, a small, brushy, springcreek in Iron County, near Hurley, closeto the very small villages of Montrealand Iron Belt. A photograph of it isincluded in Michael Sewell’s recent pic-torial version of A Sand County Almanac.2

It wasn’t a great stream when Leopoldfished it, and it isn’t mentioned in recentand numerous books and articles aboutWisconsin trout fishing. But Leopoldhad fished it. He is on a very short list ofmy heroes, and he was a fly fisherman, as

am I. I wanted to fish that same streamand cast to a few of the descendants ofthe trout Leopold caught.

LE S S O N S O N T H E JO U R N E Y

Pat Madden, my friend of thirty yearsand now a judge in Iron County, said hewould help me check out the stream andgive me a place to stay. So, on a humidAugust day, more than seventy yearsafter Aldo Leopold’s trip, I drove toHurley. On the way from Madison, Ifished beautiful Lawrence Creek, nearWestfield. The fish were small, but theywere the prize of Wisconsin’s springcreeks: brook trout, fish so colorful theyremind me of exotic African or SouthAmerican birds.

Editor’s note: Harry Peterson’s “Aldo Leopold’sContribution to Fly Fishing” appeared in the Fall2003 issue of this journal. In that article, he dis-cussed “Alder Fork,” the essay in Leopold’s A SandCounty Almanac describing a fishing trip he took.More than seventy years later, Peterson visitedthat stream and wrote about it.

Photos by Harry L. Peterson

� �WINTER 2005 3

I wanted to check out a couple ofpotential access places along the streamon the way to Pat’s home in Montreal.Alder Creek follows State Highway 77traveling southwest of town. On CountyE, below Iron Belt, the stream was dark,impenetrable, and still—not a good sign.I drove upstream a couple of miles toKimball Road only to find more dark,quiet water. The light was fading, andfinally, an hour before dark, I had achance for one more look on a little stubof a road off County E. The end of thatroad had been a bridge that wasdestroyed, apparently by an ice dam. Asign near the former bridge said, quiteunnecessarily, NO BRIDGE. The 200-yardwalk to the water was downan unused grass road,soggy with standing waterfrom a recent rain. Frogs ofseveral types were every-where.

The stream here waswide, not moving, dammedby beaver, and lookeddeep. There were tinyinsects in the air that Icould not identify. Num-erous small dimples ap-peared at the area wherethe bridge had been. I hadbrought my fly rod. Iadded a long section ofthin, 6X tippet to myleader and a size 18 Hair-Wing Coachman, a fav-orite fly for brook trout.The first cast toward ris-ing fish brought animmediate strike. The fishwas obviously small, butbrookies are typicallysmall. After a few secondsof struggle, the fish cameto the surface near myfeet. A 6-inch chub!

Dimples continued toappear on the stream, butno longer looked so inter-esting. I thought I had better check thewater temperature. Trout require clean,cool water with a temperature in thefifties and sixties. The thin red line onmy thermometer kept slowly creepingupward until it reached eighty-twodegrees, way too hot for trout. It was get-ting dark, and the heat and humidityhad not relented. As I returned to thecar, dozens of frogs splashed alongside.It was late, but not too dark to take somepictures of frogs that ignored a cameralens only a foot or two away.

Aldo Leopold had a similar experi-ence more than seventy years ago onAlder Creek.

We found the main stream so low thatthe teeter-snipe pattered about in whatlast year were trout riffles, and so warmthat we could duck in its deepest poolwithout a shout. Even after our coolingswim, waders felt like hot tarpaper inthe sun.

The evening’s fishing proved as dis-appointing as its auguries. We askedthat stream for trout and it gave us achub . . . But this, we now rememberedwas a stream of parts. High up near theheadwaters we had once seen a fork,narrow, deep and fed by cold springswhich gurgled out under its close-hemmed walls of alder. What would aself-respecting trout do in such weath-er? Just what we did: go up.3

TRYING OUR LUCK UPSTREAM

My friend Pat introduced me toCharlie Zinsmaster, the Iron Countyforester. Charlie suggested that we try toget access to Alder Creek near the entryof Cemetery Creek, a spring-fed tribu-tary, further upstream. On my countymap, he carefully showed the short,dead-end road to take out of Iron Belt.Then you have to walk about a mile, hesaid, along the cross-country ski trail.

Shortly after light the next morning,Pat and I headed down the little grassyroad. When it came to an end, I put on

my waders, got my camera, and again,optimistically, rigged up my rod. Webegan to walk down the cross-countryski and snowmobile trail that, by latesummer, was crowded with weeds andalders. As we walked, the trail got small-er and the brush got thicker, until itcompletely disappeared. Pat and Ilooked around and wondered exactlywhere we had come from and whetherwe could find our way back. We decidedthat Pat would stay where he was and Iwould keep going.

Pat served as my global positioningsystem. I trudged on into the under-brush without a hint of a trail. The aldersgot thicker, and water began to appear.

Every few steps broughtthe possibility of sinkingto my knees in muck andwater, and sometimes Idid. Pat said later hethought I might be introuble when I yelled,“Oh, oh!” but I struggledout of knee-deep muckand kept going. The eleva-tion seemed lower every 50feet or so. I could see a treeline about half a mile away,and I knew there had to bea stream between me andthat tree line, but I couldn’treach it.

Finally, I gave up andturned back. I kept yellingto Pat so he could callback to let me knowwhere he was. I finally gotback to him, drenchedwith sweat and coveredwith water, my camera sofogged that my pictureswere worthless. After afew false starts, we foundour way back to the car.

MY PA P E R SE A RC H

When I returned to Madison Iobtained written Alder Creek reportsfrom Jeffrey Roth, the Department ofNatural Resources (DNR) fisheries staffmember responsible for that part ofWisconsin. I learned that I might havefound trout in Alder Creek had I beenable to get to the upper reaches, but fishwould have surely been even fewer andsmaller than during Aldo Leopold’stime. Alder Creek has been changingsince then and continues to change. Letme briefly summarize the findings.

Both the author and Aldo Leopold encountereddozens of frogs in Alder Creek.


When Leopold returned to fish AlderCreek in 1931, he knew that he’d have togo upstream to find a tributary and aspring with cold, clean water, wheretrout can live.

The 1971 records show that the DNRfound seventeen brook trout longer than10½ inches in the creek, one of them 17½inches. Even so, the record from thirtyyears ago reported problems.

A survey conducted in 1966 on Ceme-tery Creek reported a brook trout pop-ulation of 116 fish per acre. However,during the recent survey only twotrout were captured. This small num-ber of trout being captured may pos-sibly be a reflection of the densealder covered stream bank and thefact that raw sewage from the Village ofIron Belt has been allowed to enter thisstream.4

The raw sewage discharge was eliminat-ed in the early 1970s when the village ofIron Belt installed a sewage treatmentplant. However, the report concludes:

This stream, like many of its tributaries,has been, and is presently being seri-ously affected by the presence ofnumerous beaver dams. These dams,both active and inactive, have created aseries of relatively small, shallow pondswith little velocity and flow, which hasresulted in an increase of water temper-atures and an invasion of aquaticplants. A general lack of trout spawninghabitat in the main branch of AlderCreek has also resulted due to extensivesiltation.5

The recommendation?

All active and inactivebeaver dams should beremoved from thesestreams and an effortmade to keep these watersfree of beaver activity.Beaver control, along withnew sewage treatmentfacilities at Iron Beltshould improve the waterquality of this stream sys-tem with an associatedimprovement in trouthabitat and spawning area.Alder Creek could then bemanaged as an excellenttrout stream.6

In 1974, the DNR found that AlderCreek and its tributaries continued to bebrook trout water, and that “. . . manybeaver dams were no longer functionaland the trout had access to movethroughout much more of the stream.”7

However, by 1983, the DNR reported,“Eleven beaver dams were removed froma four-mile section prior to the surveyand water temperatures were monitoredat several locations during July andAugust. Temperatures as high as 86degrees were recorded.”8 That study con-cluded, “. . . No young-of-the-year troutwere observed, indicating spawning musttake place elsewhere. During high watertemperatures the trout undoubtedly seekout springs and tributaries with coolerwater.”9 It described access as “poor” from

a walk-in trail over private land ora walk-in over Iron County forestland.

WH AT I NE T T E D

Roderick Haig-Brown, a fish-ing writer and federal judge inBritish Columbia, wrote that wenever fish the same river twice.Every year the water is different.Rivers vary from season to sea-son, even day to day. Since AldoLeopold fished it more than sev-enty years ago, Alder Creek hasgone from being a spring creekwith natural reproduction ofmany relatively large brook troutto a stream that serves as a high-quality habitat for beaver withlittle capacity to support trout.

What are we to make of thischange? The creek can help usthink about some importantquestions. We can begin withtrout fishers. We lobby, through

Trout Unlimited and other organiza-tions, to increase the annual DNR troutstamp fee so that, among other activities,the DNR can buy more dynamite andafford more staff to blow up beaverdams and restore what we believe to bethe “natural” flow of these streams.Beaver, after all, no longer have as manytrappers to keep the population incheck. But what do these “improve-ments” mean for other animals that livein the forests of Iron County and thenorth woods? My visit confirmed thatfrogs thrive in slow-moving water, andthey were more numerous than I hadever seen anywhere. Great blue heronsthrive on frogs. To the extent that I candivine the mental state of frogs, I mustreport that they were happy. Frogs areborn, grow up, live, and sing in largenumbers. They had lots of company.

What would Aldo Leopold say abouthis Alder Creek? Many of his writingsabout specific times and places focusedon underlying principles that appliedbeyond those times and places. One ofhis articles published in 1940 identifiedspecies whose numbers had been greatlyreduced or eliminated in Wisconsinbecause of trapping, settlement, humanpredation, and fires. He regretted theloss of the “evicted” marten, fisher, andwolverine “but for overtrapping and for-est fires,”10 as well as reduced numbers ofgeese, ducks, swans, cranes, and shore-birds as result of hunting and loss ofmarshlands.

Some of these species are now thriv-ing. Martens have been reintroduced innorthern Wisconsin, and their numbersare stable. Fishers have been reintro-duced to provide some control of porcu-pine, which have damaged trees in thenorthern forests. The number of fishershas increased, and their range is expand-ing into central Wisconsin. Geese areFireweed, near Alder Creek.

An orb spider, common in Wisconsin’s late summer.

� �WINTER 2005 5

Eighty-two degrees, good chub habitat.

now so numerous that many peopleconsider them a nuisance, and sandhillcranes, greatly diminished in Leopold’stime, now number in the thousands.Since their reintroduction in the 1970s,wild turkeys are thriving and numberseveral hundred thousand. Even whoop-ing cranes, almost extinct, are being care-fully nurtured so that they have increasedfrom fewer than twenty to more thanfour hundred in the United States.

Leopold does not discuss beaver in hisarticle. Beaver were greatly reduced bytrapping and by 1900 were almost elimi-nated in Wisconsin. Beginning in 1901,they were protected and are now thriv-ing. Wolves have returned to Wisconsinand number about 350.

Much of the degradation of our envi-ronment and our treatment of the landthat Leopold decried has continued.However, in northern Wisconsin, Ibelieve he would find reasons to beencouraged. The intricate interdepen-dence between people, wildlife, and theland continues. “Conservation,” Leopoldwrote, “viewed in its entirety, is the slowand laborious unfolding of a new rela-tionship between people and land. Eachseemingly trivial . . . is a part of thisunfolding process. Each marks the birthor death of an aspiration, the beginningor the end of an experience, a loss or again in the vitality of that great organ-ism: Wisconsin.”11

We know the position that Leopoldtook when the deer population in north-ern Wisconsin became too large to besupported by the available winter browse.As a member of what is now the NaturalResources Board, he argued unsuccessful-ly for people to intervene, to decrease theherd by increasing the number of deerthat hunters could kill. With some degreeof confidence, we can declare thatLeopold would have supported remov-ing beaver dams, as is practiced today, inareas where beaver activity degradesbrook-trout stream habitat. His goalwould not have been elimination, butsome control of beaver. As he wrote in ASand County Almanac, “To keep everycog and wheel is the first precaution ofintelligent tinkering.”12

Leopold enjoyed his fishing trip, asdid I, though I caught but a chub. Heconcluded his essay: “What was big wasnot the trout, but the chance. What wasfull was not my creel, but my memory;full of the stuff that fishermen’s dreamsare made of.”13

The next time I head north to visit myfriend Pat, I’ll be sure to go early in thespring when the hiking is easier, andmaybe I’ll find that cold water, wherethere just might still be some trout.

!

ENDNOTES

1. Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1949)(New York: Ballantine Books, 1970), 217.

2. Aldo Leopold, A Sand CountyAlmanac, Illustrated Edition (Oxford:Oxford University Press, 2001 [1949]), 75.With photographs by Michael Sewell andintroduction by Kenneth Brower.

3. Leopold, A Sand County Almanac(New York: Ballantine Books, 1970), 40.

4. Northern Region, WisconsinDepartment of Natural Resources, ParkFalls, Wisconsin, Alder Creek files.

5. Ibid.6. Ibid.7. Ibid.8. Ibid.9. Ibid.10. Aldo Leopold, “Wisconsin Wildlife

Chronology,” State of WisconsinConservation Department, Publication 301(Madison, Wisc., 1940), 3–4.

11. Ibid., 6.12. Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

(New York: Ballantine Books, 1970), 190. 13. Ibid., 43.

This article originally appeared in the August2004 issue of Wisconsin Natural Resources, thebimonthly magazine of the WisconsinDepartment of Natural Resources.


Figure 1. Two superb early reels. On the left is an Edward Vom Hofe salmon orlight saltwater reel made in New York in the 1870s. On the right is a John

Moscrop salmon reel made in England in the 1890s. The Vom Hofe is largelymade of nickel silver (which contains no silver), and the brass Moscrop is

actually made of an alloy closer to bronze.

In spite of their silence, reels have stories to tell. The shelvesin your Museum’s archives hold many early reels that nolonger grace the rods for which they were fitted, but speak

of their makers, their experiences in service, and a lot aboutthe times in which they were made.

The two reels highlighted here—an Edward Vom Hofe mul-tiplier and a John Moscrop fly reel (Figure 1)—were not select-ed for display with the Museum’s popular exhibit Anglers All.Not that they are not worthy; indeed, the broad overview ofAnglers All focused on the historically significant, the exquisite,and the rare. But like the graduating classes of our militaryacademies, hidden down in the ranks are future generals andstatesmen not yet recognized for their future fame. Dozens ofreels in the padded compartments of the Museum’s acid-freestorage boxes deserve public recognition.

An early multiplying reel built by Edward Vom Hofe is agood example (Figure 2). Vom Hofe was one of the most inno-vative and competent builders to ever place his name on a fish-ing reel. This 20-ounce, 2½ to 1 multiplier is a superb exampleof an early “all-purpose” design. With its 3⅜-inch side platesand narrow 2-inch spool, this reel would have been a reel ofchoice for salmon or light saltwater (bay) fishing. The choiceof machine tools, the evidence of hand finishing, the embel-lishments, and the materials of construction themselves allhelp characterize this great maker; they provide insight intoboth the nature of the man and the atmosphere of his shop onFulton Street in New York City.

A Tale of Two Reelsby James Hardman

Photos by James Hardman

Figure 2. Simple elegance. The early Edward Vom Hofe “slidingbearing cover” without address or patent date and classic hand-

cut engraving speak quality. Later Edward Vom Hofe reels typically employed hard rubber for both front and back plates.

� �WINTER 2005 7

And the nameprofess ional lyengraved on theback plate, ERAS-TUS CORNING . . .ALBANY, speaksvolumes. TheCorning familyname was inter-twined with NewYork politics formore than a cen-tury; they were apolitical dynasty,and the colorfulintrigue is almostmore interestingthan the reel itself.

Understand that there were several Erastus Cornings in thehistory of Albany County in New York State. Erastus Corningthe patriarch was born in 1794; he was mayor of Albany in the1830s, a member of the New York State Senate in the 1840s, aUnited States congressman in the 1850s and 1860s, and theguiding force that created the New York Central Railroad. Thecity of Corning, New York, was named in his honor. He died inAlbany in 1872, leaving an estate valued at $8,000,000—a lot ofmoney in the 1870s!1

Erastus had a son, Erastus Jr., who was born in 1827.Following his father’s ambitious business pursuits, youngErastus became president of the Albany Iron Works, apparent-ly a family enterprise, and became president of the Albany CityNational Bank. He died in 1897.

Erastus Jr. had three sons, two of whom, Parker and Edwin,became deeply involved in Democratic politics. Parker was aU.S. congressman, and Edwin was Democratic state chairman,lieutenant governor of New York, and president of LudlumSteel. His third son—yes, a third Erastus—was born in the1850s, but because of poor health, he was unable to participatein the family businesses. His biographical entry in the Hudson-Mohawk Geneaological and Family Memoirs states that “Helived in a world of art and nature . . . He traveled much insearch of health, spent several summers in Canada and win-ters in California, fishing and hunting. He was a most lovableman . . . ”2

Which Erastus owned this fine Edward Vom Hofe reel? Thereel was probably manufactured in the late 1870s. Provenance

received with the reel would suggest that it was owned byErastus Jr., who likely used it for salmon fishing, but his infirmson could also have been associated with this reel. Certainlythe engraved name, a simple ERASTUS CORNING, carried a lot ofprestige near the end of the nineteenth century.

By the way, the patriarch’s great-grandson, Erastus CorningII, was the mayor of Albany for forty-one years, from 1942 untilhis death in 1983. When his personal papers were opened to thepublic in the 1990s, they proved so controversial that they werewithdrawn into privacy after just three days. The name ErastusCorning is well known in Albany!

Erastus Corning’s own hands held this reel and attached itto the seat of his cane rod. And in the words of W. C. Prime, hewent a-fishing.

Edward Vom Hofe is acclaimed for his aesthetically pleasingdesigns as much as for the quality of his products. His designsare clean and enduring, and his curved or “S”-shaped counter-balanced cranks are copied to this day (Figures 3 and 4). Unlikehis brother Julius—who manufactured a wide range of reels,from “best-quality” down to consumer-grade “trade” reels—Edward associated his name with only the best quality.

This reel (Figure 5) has all the hallmarks of early produc-tion. The nickel silver back plate, the slender curved crank withsculptured grasp, the wide rolled and seamed head-plate wall,and the offset foot without a large central hole all speak of con-struction before the “classic” reels that were made from the1880s well into the twentieth century. The sliding oil port cov-ers are simply marked EDWARD VOM HOFE, MAKER, without ref-erence to address or patent dates. Nor is there any provision forclick or drag. This is an early reel.

Hard rubber or “ebonite” side plates are found on mostEdward Vom Hofe reels. Hard rubber provided both weightreduction and an appealing glossy black finish. It was weatherresistant and resilient, although we have all seen cracked sideplates, the result of severe impact. There was a ready supply ofhard rubber in the commercial hubbub of New York City.Companies including American Hard Rubber offered curedebonite in rods, tubes, and sheets in various sizes to meet con-sumer needs. And dozens of suppliers were close at hand forbronze, steel alloys, and nickel silver.

Figure 3. Edward Vom Hofe “S” shapecranks remain popular to this day; sleek

and functional, these cranks brought “art”to reel design.

Figure 4. Earlier Edward Vom Hofe cranks were narrowin silhouette and necessarily thick to provide requiredstrength; later cranks, especially those on fly reels, werewider in silhouette and cut from thinner metal stock.

Figure 5. Note the soldered seam in the nickel-silverband supporting the hard rubber head plate on thisearly Edward Vom Hofe reel. The offset foot predates

those made with a large central hole. Nickel-silver andbronze hardware throughout, a handmade reel.


There is no silver in “nickel silver”; it is an alloy of copperand zinc (brass) with enough nickel added to turn the alloyfrom a brassy color to a warm silver color. The alloy machinedbeautifully, and the roughly ten to twelve percent nickel con-tent served to resist saltwater corrosion. And it cast well; in anera when materials were expensive and labor cheap, metalparts were machined from little castings rather than from barstock. Occasionally a spool arbor or foot can be found withevidence of the granular surface of the original sand casting.

The fit and finish of Edward Vom Hofe’s reels set him apartfrom many manufacturers of the era. Parts were certainly welldesigned and functional, but Edward added both artistic beau-ty and grace to his products. From his heaviest saltwater reelsto his most dainty fly reels, parts were hand finished and pol-ished. Reels were strong where necessary, yet light in weightand graceful; it is understandable that he would attract afflu-ent patrons who could demand—and afford—the very best.

The second reel in the photographs is a J. B. Moscrop salmonreel, made in Manchester, England, probably in the 1890s(Figure 6). It is 4 inches in diameter, and the spool is 13⁄16 inchwide. The weight is an imposing 15⅛ ounces, enough to balancethe stout cane rods of the era.

Most English reels of the late 1800s followed strong Englishtradition, typically the “Birmingham” style incorporating brassframes with screwed brass pillars, but John Moscrop was aninnovator and a maverick among his peers. Like Henry Nock,who refused to accept conventional firearms design, JohnMoscrop had a better way. He was awarded two letter patentsin 1888 and a corresponding United States patent in 1891 for hisimprovements.

Moscrop reels have one-piece cast brass frames with inte-gral pillars. Like many modern reels, Moscrop spools rotate onfixed center pins. The frame design is still seen today inHardy’s “Lightweight” reels, so popular with fly fishers. But

Figure 6. A familiar design today, the one-piece cast frame,pillars, and saddle of this Moscrop salmon reel required no

assembly screws and offered increased rigidity. A radicaldeparture from conventional design in 1890. The grasp is

turned from Buffalo horn.

Figure 7. The tips of a U-shaped springextend through holes in the arbor to

retain the spool; pinching in the springtips allows the spool to be removed.

Figure 8. The simple U-shaped spool-retaining spring with the stamped circular

Moscrop nameplate.

Figure 9. The brass thumbscrew adjusts “drag” or spool rotational friction. Note the hollow center arbor and the tips of

the spring that retain the spool on the arbor.

� �WINTER 2005 9

Moscrop used a U-shaped spring resembling a hairpin(Figures 7 and 8) to retain the spool on the hollow center pin(Figure 9). Inserted from the back of the reel (Figure 10), thetips of the spring were bent outward and protruded throughholes in the center pin, creating a barrier to hold the spool onthe reel. Spool release was easy: just pinch the two protrudingspring wires, and the spool was free.

The spools had a “pillared” construction, with a cage of par-allel brass rods surrounding the spool arbor (Figure 11). Theresulting airspace in the core of the spool allowed moisture toescape through ventilation holes and also provided space forMoscrop’s patent drag system, a simple brass brake shoe

(Figure 12) with adjustable spring tension. The reel was com-pact and handsome, and it offered advanced features for thosewilling to try something new.

The name J. B. MOSCROP, MANCHESTER is cast into the bot-tom of the foot (Figure 13), and although the foot itself hasbeen machined and polished, the rough sand-cast lettersremain as a testimony to the reel’s pedigree. Like so manyother products in the late 1800s, reel parts were cast, notmachined from solid bar stock.

This is a superb reel, well proportioned and finely finished.The grasp is turned from dark striated horn, properly con-toured and polished. The supporting flange, typical of those

Figure 13. The Moscrop name is sand-cast into the bottom of thefoot. Most small parts were machined or filed from sand castings;

labor was cheap, but metal stock was expensive. Turning partsfrom bar stock would have been considered wasteful.

Figure 12. The spring and pawl mechanism in the Moscrop istypical of most American and English designs of the 1890s. Note

that the click spring is soldered directly to the spool. The littletube protruding through the back plate is the drag shoe; the hole

in the shoe holds a supply of lubricating grease.

Figure 11. Moscrop spools have “pillared” construction; theinterior houses the drag shoe and spring mechanism and

allows moisture to escape through ventilation holes.

Figure 10. The U-shaped spool-retaining springholds the brass nameplate in the rear frame hub.Many English reels of the era had hand-engraved

maker’s names.


found on larger wood trolling reels, is rivet-ed to the face of the spool. The click is softand clear; the adjustable drag functions well,but is engaged both for incoming and out-going line.

Historically, Mr. Moscrop’s contributionshave been overshadowed by the superbproducts of the Hardy Brothers of Alnwickand so many others, both in Great Britainand in the United States. But in his day, JohnMoscrop produced a reel of great beautyand so mechanically appealing that spuriouscopies are now flooding the market to satis-fy collector interest.

Included in the photographs are twoadditional reels marked MOSCROP, both 3-inch diameter trout models (Figure 14). Oneis an original, the other is a modern replica.The original is bronze and has a reddishcolor; the replica is made of yellow brass.Other differences are readily apparent; thefoot of the replica is painfully thick (Figure15), as are the cast pillars; the weight of theoriginal is 7 ounces, and the replica a heavy 9½ ounces.Workmanship on the replica is crude; the click spring visibleon the inside of the spool is badly rusted, perhaps from theacid treatment used to clean off solder flux and residue.Instead of having crude sand-cast letters in the bottom of thefoot, the replica has a modern stamping (Figure 16). The graspis not polished horn, but turned brass, and is secured with asingle roughly slotted screw that protrudes into the line stor-

age area. Andthere is no ref-erence to thesource; in spiteof modern pol-icy that prod-ucts be identi-fied with coun-try or or igin(in this caselikely India orPakistan), thisreplica has nosuch identifica-tion.

Note that theoriginal Mos -crop trout reelhas been altered.

The correct (factory) hollow center pin has been shortened andplugged; the plug has been tapped to accept an oversize spool-retaining screw, and the original hairpin spring has beenshortened and now serves only to retain the nameplate on theback of the reel. As with so many reels, the owner of thisMoscrop trout reel chose to alter design to suit his taste.

Moscrop reels offered on eBay or in flea markets should beconsidered suspect unless guaranteed by the seller. Caveatemptor! Mr. John Moscrop deserves better than the poor repli-ca shown in the photographs; his original reels have rightlyearned their collector interest and their place in history.

!

ENDNOTES

1. The historical information in this article comes from the fol-lowing sources: Charles Elliott Fitch, Encyclopedia of Biography ofNew York, vol. 3 (Boston: American Historical Society, 1923), 32–34;James Grant and John Fiske, eds., Appleton’s Cyclopedia of AmericanBiography (New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1889), accessed via VirtualAmerican Biographies at http://virtualology.com/aperastuscorning/;“The Political Graveyard,” www.politicalgraveyard.com/bio/cornel-lus-corry.html; and “The Mayor Erastus Corning II Papers,”www.albanycounty.com/departments/records/online/corning/about.htm. All were accessed in July 2004.

2. Cuyler Reynolds, ed. Hudson-Mohawk Geneaological andFamily Memoirs, vol. II (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co.,1911), 770–74.

Figure 16. The original Moscrop has the maker’s namesand-cast into the bottom of the foot in large letters;

the replica has the name stamped into the foot in tinyletters. The original has a polished horn grasp sup-ported by a football-shaped flange; the replica has apoorly fitted brass grasp screwed directly to the spool.

Figure 15. The foot of this replica Moscrophas extremely thick tongues, too thick forfunctional use on a fly rod. There is no

reference to the country of origin.

Figure 14. Two small trout-size Moscrops. The reel on the left is a poor replica; thereel on the right is an original with a large screw replacing the original U-shaped

spool-retaining spring. Modifications (and repairs) are common on early reels.

� �WINTER 2005 1 1

Gordon Wickstrom has a winner inhis new book, Late in an Angler’sLife, a collection of essays and

thoughts on the sport of fly fishing. Ifyou are not familiar with Wickstrom’swork, prepare yourself for a treat. This isnot your normal “me and Joe went fish-ing” fly-fishing book. Wickstrom is aretired professor of drama (and a greatmany other things) who has fished his

entire life. Unlikemany of us, though,he has paid a greatdeal of attention tohis thoughts andfeelings while fish-ing and preparingfor fishing, and hehas a delightful andstimulating methodof presenting thosethoughts and feel-ings.

In his introduc-tion, he states, “It isalways later than wethink. Even when itis early, it’s gettinglater, always later inthe angler’s life. Butwe hope, as weapproach that defin-ing lateness, thatthings will makemore sense . . .” Andso, Wickstrom offersus a thought-pro-voking series ofessays, observations,thoughts, and mus-ings that help pro-vide just that “sense.”The work is sensitiveand eloquent through-out.

Wickstrom’s com-mand of the lan-

guage—the syntax, the nuance, thegrace, and the style—pack far more sub-stance than one might expect into eachof those focused thoughts. The book isan entertaining and engaging read, butit is far from a trivial travelogue ofadventures. Every essay has a thought, apoint, a question. Many are compelling“stoppers” that will stimulate you topersonal analysis, sometimes to such adepth that you might find it a challengeto allow yourself the journey. Many pas-sages provoke reflection about thingsthat deserve reflection as we each deter-

mine our own definition of the elementsof fly fishing.

Wickstrom reveals his range of inter-ests and study by providing fascinatingmorsels of history, art, music, and litera-ture, with documented references toeach. He neatly ties it all to “us,” as con-sumers—as partakers of the sport. JohnBetts, noted fly-fishing historian andinnovator, provides a further element ofclass and substance with tasteful andexcellent line drawings throughout, eachsuggestive of deeper meaning.

The book’s chapters cover the breadthof the author’s experiences from child-hood fascinations with what lies beneaththe water’s surface, through youthfulexpectations and expeditions, early lovesand losses, and then an evolution on intomaturity and a wizened perspective. Hecovers the “state” of fly fishing, then andnow; the changes in tackle, methods, andthought; changes in flies and fly tying;and changes in how we evaluate thosethings. There are chapters on thetragedies associated with broken rodsand the tragedies of misdirected ideas;modern angling as class struggle and asan artificial outlet for beleaguered busi-nessmen; of killing versus catching, oftalking to the fish, of big fish, of smallfish, and of no fish.

Late in an Angler’s Life will not lectureyou, but it will entertain, educate, andamuse you. Beyond that, Wickstrom’sperspectives on things may cause you topay more attention to your own experi-ences, to the substance of the wander-ings that we all enjoy. I’ve found myselfnow asking if I am building a base oftrue memories or just a photo album, asI race about the venues seeking fun andfulfillment. I wonder if I am under -standing and appreciating what I amdoing—or am I just doing it? My read-ing of this book will cause me to stay abit more alert. I recommend it to you.

!

Harry J. Briscoe is president of theHexagraph Fly Rod Company.

Late in an Angler’s Life: Essays on the Sport byGordon M. Wickstrom. With drawings by JohnBetts. University of New Mexico Press, 2004.Hardcover, 196 pages, $19.95. (800) 249-7737,unmpress.com.

Gordon M. Wickstrom’s Late in anAngler’s Lifeby Harry J. Briscoe

B O O K R E V I E W


THOSE WHO FISHED with Fred Everett and knew him well saidhe was a nonconformist. Everett apparently agreed withthem, for he said of himself that he was indeed contrary

when it came to trout fishing.Everett, an artist of the Norman Rockwell school, was, accord-

ing to his recollection, the only nonresident member of the FlyFishers’ Club of Harrisburg. As close as can be determined, thatwas sometime in the late 1940s or early 1950s. It was about the timeVince Marinaro was finishing work on his revolutionary and clas-sic A Modern Dry Fly Code (1950) and Bus Grove was completinghis book The Lure and Lore of Trout Fishing (1951). And it wasabout the time Charlie Fox, whom Everett described as the ring-leader of the Harrisburg clique, published his Advanced BaitCasting (1950).

Who was Fred Everett, and why is he of historical interest to flyfishers? First, an answer to the question of who he was—or moreaccurately, a partial answer, because most of what we know aboutEverett and his place in angling history comes from his art and hiswriting rather than historical documents.

Everett was born in 1892 in the small village of Castle Creek,near Binghamton, New York. He attended Colgate University(then a college), sang in the glee club, and gained a modest mea-sure of fame as an artist for his portrait of Jimmy Colgate, a richbanker and president of the Colgate board of trustees at the time.During World War I, Everett spent time in Air Officers TrainingSchool.

About 1923, he was hired as the art director for an advertisingagency in Binghamton. During that time, either as a freelance

In this illustration from a 1940s cover of the Pennsyl-vania Angler, Everett captured the developing mood

at the time among anglers about the necessity ofmatching the hatch. Nonconformist Everett believedcareful presentation was more important than exactimitation. Used with permission of Norman Shires.

This article was adapted from a paper presentedto the Fly Fishers’ Club of Harrisburg[Pennsylvania], 6 April 1990. An earlier versionappeared as a chapter in Limestone Legends: ThePapers and Recollections of the Fly Fishers’ Club ofHarrisburg, 1947–1997 (Mechanicsburg, Pa.:Stackpole Books, 1997).

The Contrary Angler and Artistby Jim Gilford

� �WINTER 2005 13

artist or in his capacity as art director,Everett illustrated covers for magazines,something he continued to do for muchof his professional life. While he was stillworking for the ad agency, Everett’s par-ents moved to Nyack-on-the-Hudson,New York. His brother, Ray, owned ajewelry store there, and not long after hisparents had settled in, Everett took a jobas an art teacher in New York City andmoved to Nyack as well.

It was while he was living in Nyackthat Everett’s brother introduced him towriter Ray Bergman, another resident.The two became friends, and when thetime came to find an illustrator forBergman’s first book, Just Fishing (1932),Fred Everett was selected.

Times apparently were hard forEverett during the Depression, as theywere for a great many others. Very littleseems to be remembered or recordedabout his life during those dark years.We do know that he worked for theWorks Progress Administration (WPA)as an art instructor for a while duringthe 1930s, but before the Depression wasover, he lost his house in Nyack andmoved to Chatham, New York.

Shortly after he finished the illustra-tions for Just Fishing, Everett was invitedalong with Bergman to visit SkytopLodge in the Pocono Mountains ofnortheastern Pennsylvania. The purpose

of their visit was to advise the owners onways to make the lodge more attractiveto fishermen. Everett and Bergmanreturned to Skytop the next weekend totake part in a special anglers’ day. At thataffair Everett met Ollie Diebler, then amember of the Pennsylvania FishCommission. Out of that meeting camean assignment for Everett to do a seriesof paintings and write a booklet for theFish Commission titled The CommonFishes of Pennsylvania. He agreed to doall of the paintings from live specimens,as he had done for Bergman’s JustFishing.

Thus Everett began a long and pleas-ant association with Pennsylvania andits legion of anglers, and particularlyCharles K. Fox, Vincent C. Marinaro,and the other original members of theFly Fishers’ Club of Harrisburg. He soonbegan writing articles and doing coversfor the Pennsylvania Angler. The editorat that time was Alex P. Sweigart; later,Charlie Fox took over. Everett’s coversfor the Angler became to the readers ofthat magazine what Norman Rockwell’scover illustrations were to the readers ofthe Saturday Evening Post.

Everett apparently managed a num-ber of writing and art assignments con-currently. In 1936, he went to work as afreelance artist for the New York StateDepartment of Conservation’s grouse

Fred Everett, shown herechanging flies midstream,claimed he was the only non-resident member of the FlyFishers' Club of Harrisburg.He was a close friend ofCharles K. Fox, who, accordingto Everett, was the ring leaderof the Pennsylvania club.Photo courtesy of James Kell.

From Fun with Trout (Harrisburg, Pa.: The Stackpole Company, 1952), 16-17, with permission.


project, continuing in that role foreleven years. In 1941, he was assigned thetask of editing as well as illustrating theproject’s 900-page final report, appro-priately titled The Ruffed Grouse. Thattome, which also contains some illustra-tions contributed by Clayton Seagears, isstill the definitive reference on the sub-ject.

In 1945, Everett was appointed asenior editor in the conservation andeducation division of the New York StateDepartment of Conservation. For thenext ten years, he wrote and did illustra-tions for the department’s magazine, theNew York State Conservationist. Heretired in 1955 at the age of sixty-three.Even less seems to be known aboutEverett’s life after that, and some of whatis known is based on hazy recollections.He was reported to have suffered astroke while visiting one of his childrenliving in Florida. He survived the stroke,but did not recover from its effects. Hepassed away on 20 September 1957 at theage of sixty-four at the Veterans Hospitalin Albany, New York.

Everett wrote two books, both pub-lished by Stackpole Books: Fun withTrout (1952) and Fun with Game Birds(1954). He illustrated PennsylvaniaWildlife, a booklet published by thePennsylvania Game Commission in1938, and Henry S. Mosby’s classic work,The Wild Turkey in Virginia (1943). He

illustrated Charlie Fox’sAdvanced Bait Casting.And he did the art-work for the first seriesof wildlife stamps forthe Amer ican WildlifeIn stitute. Over the years,he wrote a number ofarticles on huntingand fishing for thePennsylvania Angler,the Pennsylv ania GameNews, Out door Life,Field & Stream, and theNew York State Conser -vationist. For a shorttime in the early 1950s,he was the host of atelevision series, TheOutdoorsman, at sta-tion WFIL in Phila -delphia.

Everett was devotedto his wife Dorothea,who was an invalid,and his three children:two daughters, Bethand Thea, and a son,Edwin. According toWayne Trimm, one of

his coworkers when he waswith the New York StateDepartment of Conservation,Everett was a warm and friend-ly person who liked people. Hehad a pleasant sense of humorthat frequently found expres-sion in his writing and hisangling illustrations.

Everett was good friendswith Charlie Fox and was afavorite of Fox’s parents. When -ever he happened to be inHarrisburg, which was a fre-quent occurrence because ofhis work with the state fish andwildlife agencies, he was a guestat the Fox residence. He wasalways welcome, and he coulddrop in unannounced.

According to Fox, Everettwas a good fisherman, but not agood shot, an observation thatEverett confirmed in his Funwith Game Birds. “I’m not sohot a shot,” he wrote.1 That wasalso evident when Everett wasdoing the illustrations for abooklet titled Wildlife ofPennsylvania. Seth Gordon, ex -ecutive director of the Pennsyl -vania Game Commis sion at thetime, had given Everett permitsto collect two of each of certainspecies of wildlife he would be

painting for the booklet. Everett was sucha poor shot that Fox ended up doing thespecimen collecting for him.

At a time when others were moving inthe direction of exact imitation, Everettwas an advocate of simplified trout fish-ing; he also was one of the early advo-cates for barbless hooks. In the introduc-tion to Fun with Trout, Fox wrote thatEverett was a nonconformist. His code,Fox wrote, was “perfect presentation,simplicity and above all, pleasure.”2 Foxalso noted that “I have never fished withanyone who seems to secure so muchkeen delight and abundant satisfactionfrom his fishing as does Fred.”3

Everett’s sense of humor shows inmany of his illustrations. In Fun withTrout, he describes his weaning from theuse of worms on opening day of troutseason to flies (see “Opening Day: WordSketch 4,” which begins on page 16). Hesupplemented that discussion with acartoonlike illustration that told thestory at a glance. And he concluded withthis one-liner: “Heck, a worm is only aworm, but artificial flies are a life’sstudy.”4

The Fan-Wing Coachman was one ofEverett’s favorite flies by his own admis-

The Fan-Wing Royal Coachman, featured in thisillustration for the July 1941 cover of the

Pennsylvania Angler, was the artist’s favorite fly.He caught trout with that pattern to prove his

claim that presentation was more important thanimitation. Cover used with permission of

Pennsylvania Angler.

From Fun with Trout (Harrisburg, Pa.: The StackpoleCompany, 1952), 146, with permission.

sion, and he used that pattern as the cen-terpiece of an illustration he did for theJuly 1941 issue of the PennsylvaniaAngler. In Fun with Trout, he relates astory of how he confounded Fox bycatching trout in the Yellow Breeches ona Fan-Wing Coachman, an accomplish-ment which Fox had assured Everettcould not be done.

Everett had a special talent for captur-ing on canvas the human side of fishingexperiences. His best work, from a flyfisherman’s perspective, occurred onthose occasions when his subjects wereengaged in activities common to fly fish-ermen everywhere. His cover illustrationfor the Angler of a grizzled fishermanmatching the hatch, or the one of theyoung man learning to tie flies from abook, reflected his appreciation of theangling and anglers of his generation.

Why should this be of interest to fly-fishing historians? Major changes were inthe wind for fly fishing on Fred Everett’swatch. Monofilament was replacingcatgut, silk fibers impregnated with lin-seed oil were giving way to syntheticfibers and plastic coatings in the makingof fly lines, and there were whispers ofusing barbless hooks, releasing fish, andfly-fishing regulations. Along with hispaintings and writing, Everett is part ofthat history.

Unfortunately, most of what we knowabout the man is undocumented, se-questered in the memory of an aginggeneration. The hope is that more abouthim can be learned and recorded beforeit is lost beyond recovery.

!

ENDNOTES

1. Fred Everett, Fun with Game Birds(Harrisburg, Pa.: The Stackpole Co., 1954),61. 2. Charles K. Fox, “Preview,” in Fred

Everett, Fun with Trout (Harrisburg, Pa.:The Stackpole Co., 1952), 13.3. Ibid.4. Everett, Fun with Trout, 56.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bergman, Ray. Just Fishing (Philadelphia: Penn Publishing Co., 1932).

Bump, Gardner, Robert W. Darrow, Frank C. Edminster, and Walter Crissey. The Ruffed Grouse: Life History, Propagation, Management (Buffalo, N.Y.: The Holling Press, Inc., 1947).

Everett, Fred. Fun with Game Birds (Harrisburg, Pa.: The Stackpole Co., 1954).

———. Fun with Trout (Harris burg, Pa.: The Stackpole Co., 1952).

Fox, Charles K. Advanced Bait Casting (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1950).

Grove, Alvin R. Jr. The Lure and Lore of Trout Fishing (Harrisburg, Pa.: The Stackpole Co., 1951).

Marinaro, Vincent C. A Modern Dry Fly

Code (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1950).

Mosby, Henry S. and Charles O. Handley. The Wild Turkey in Virginia: Its Status, Life History and Management(Richmond, Va.: Pittman-Robertson Projects—Division of Game Commissionof Game and Inland Fisheries, 1943).

� �WINTER 2005 15

From Fun with Trout (Harrisburg, Pa.: The Stackpole Company, 1952), 108,with permission.

From Fun with Trout (Harrisburg, Pa.: The Stackpole Company, 1952), 37, with permission.


SOME OPENING DAYS are so balmythat the whole family makes a pic-nic holiday of it all. Others are so

cold it would freeze the hair off a brassmonkey. But no matter what the weath-er, hot, cold, rain, or shine, or ragingblizzard for that matter, the trout watersat dawn are infested with all kinds, sizes,and shapes of humanity dressed in var-iegated outfits and wielding tackle of

every imaginable description. It is asthough spontaneous combustion hadblown them from their homes out ontothe streams, lakes, and ponds.

For one brief day, that goal ofUtopians, universal brotherhood, isachieved. All races, creeds, and colorsintermingle freely and all speak a com-mon language. “How’re they bitin’?”“What’re they takin’?” “Any luck?” In it allthere should be a lesson for the world’sstatesmen.

Yes, opening day is an institution. It isthe sudden transportation into glorious

freedom after long months of bleakhibernation. It is like the last school bellreleasing kids from dull classrooms tothe exciting outside world or the finaltoot of the factory whistle or the war-den’s farewell at the prison gate.

It is life beginning all over again.Having to live through the close seasonis like hitting one’s head with a ham-mer—it feels so good when you stop.The time of wild imaginings and weirdanticipation is over; the time for puttingto the test is at hand.

What are we going to do about it?

Illustrations and text excerpted from Fun withTrout (Harrisburg, Pa.: The Stackpole Co., 1952).Reprinted with permission of Stackpole Books,Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

� �WINTER 2005 17

How to fish on opening days raisescontroversies which will, no doubt, beargued until the last day of judgment.And be no nearer solution. The only safeway for anyone to make up his mind isto use his own experiences and those ofhis friends as a basis. The chances arethat, if you are satisfied with your open-ing days of the past, you will not want tochange. If you are not, then you willwant to try something new. Most peopledo. That’s why there are so many argu-ments, so much seeking for new ideas.

Probably the most bitterly debated is:should I use bait or artificials? I supposethat persecuted topic should have awhole word sketch by itself. But suffice itto say that, although most of my friendscall me a purist, so far as artificials areconcerned, I’m perfectly willing to saythat, on opening day, I used to love tofish once in awhile with the good oldgarden hackle, worms, if only to catchjust one more trout that way. I alsoadmit that it was only sentimental nos-talgia for the good old days of youth; the

desire to live over again or at least rekin-dle memories of the thrilling momentsof the past.

Just a sentimentalist? As you will. Butwait until you have half a century offishing behind you with all the new-fan-gled contraptions and methods that thefuture is bound to bring and see how youfeel about today’s thrilling moments.Opening days then, if there are any, willbe entirely different for you, just as oursof today are from those in the past. Iffrom nothing more than age and addedexperiences which will have repeatedlyaltered your viewpoint, you will be sigh-ing for the good old days (that are nowthe present) just as we old buzzards lookback on our pasts.

I am becoming more and more con-vinced that it is not what happened backin those good old days that we want butthat those days were our youth and thatyouth is what we are sighing for. This Ido know, I’m catching more and biggertrout today than I ever knew existedback in those days. Why, then, should I

want to relive the past except to regainyouth? We are so far ahead today inevery way, in all phases of life than backin those days that anybody would becrazy to want to revert to them even if,by so doing, he could regain his youth.May the world never go through againwhat happened during our youth. Thankyou, I’ll take the present and bless thegood Lord that I’m in it.

All of which isn’t going to stop mefrom reminiscing even if memories arethe best part of those days. I must do soin order to draw pictures of openingdays when the worm played so impor-tant a role. In the beginning I didn’tknow artificial flies even existed. In fact,I became an expert in both diggingworms and, in the early dark of thewarm March evenings, in sneakingaround with a light and snatchingunwary nightwalkers from their earthyhomes in the lawn.

Such worms were kept in kegs partlyfilled with moss. A great deal of time wasspent gathering the moss, then washing


it clear of all dirt and especially sharpobjects such as stones or sticks. Most allwater was squeezed out of it, like squeez-ing a sponge. Then it was dumped intothe keg. To feed the worms, an equalmixture of coffee grounds and cornmealwas moistened with milk and scatteredall through the moss so that the wormswould have to travel a great deal to feed.A cupful was plenty; too much wouldsour and become mouldy.

The result, by opening day, was achoice batch of worms that had becomeboth lighter in color and tougher. Theywere carried to the stream in a pail con-taining some of the moss and, for thefishing, a few at a time were put in a baitcan with a small amount of moss to keepthem fresh. Thus part of the objection tousing worms was overcome for theywere as clean to handle as they evercould be. And they were better bait touse, being light-colored and tough.Gathering the moss had another enjoy-able value; it gave me an alibi for beingout along the streams during the spring-fever days.

The large night crawler wasn’t theonly one used. The so-called fecal worm,which looks like a small edition of thenight crawler, made an even better bait,and lent itself well to cultivation. Manyof my friends easily grew worms fortheir own use. A bed three to six feetsquare and about one foot deep was dugin a shady, well-drained location. Mixedinto the spaded earth was a lot of well-rotted manure with stale bread, soakedin water, on top. All this was coveredwith a layer of fine dirt. Worms intro-duced into this bed thrived and stayedwithin the bed, so long as it was keptdamp but not saturated, and bread orcornmeal and vegetable refuse wasadded to the top about once a week. Aworm bed of this nature furnished baitthe entire season. All they had to do wasturn over a few forksful and gather ’emup.

In those days I lived in Nyack-on-the-Hudson in Rockland County, New York.

My favorite stream was Cedar PondBrook. On the map it’s Stony PointCreek, the outlet of Cedar Pond (LakeTiorati), which comes down off a moun-tain in Bear Mt. Park, passes throughStony Point, and empties into theHudson River. There are lots of othersmall mountain streams in that sectionbut this brook was my opening-day tra-dition.

For many years, Ray Kester, DocGardenier, and I parked in the chill, col-orful dawn along the stream and were allset to go before it was light enough todare wade into the heavy high watersamid the big rocks. This tradition lastedlong after we became flymen. It was notbroken until I moved away and our loveof the Beaverkill became too strong.

Ray’s early morning dip and trip toFred Jones’s house to dry off were almosttradition, too, which Doc and I some-times joined.

Years before that I first learned totrout fish with my older brother Ray. Inthose days I knew only small trout. Sixinches was legal size and many a time wecame home with enough around thatsize to make a meal.

There was one little stream just overthe hill from Nyack near Blauvelt thatended in a swamp, part of the upperreaches of the Hackensack River. DuringWorld War II, Camp Shanks grew upastraddle the creek. Before World War I,there were lots of little trout in the clearspring waters that ran most of the waythrough brush. It was here that Ray andI would crawl on our bellies, poke ourrods ahead of us, and dangle a worminto the small holes, depending entirelyon feel rather than sight. I doubt if weever caught a native much over the sizelimit.

One of the fishing highlights withDad happened on that stream. I couldn’tbe true to my past if I didn’t tell about itbecause it’s a choice bit of my memoriesof a Dad who was in every sense as gooda fishing and hunting pal as any kidcould have been blessed with. He wasn’t

a trouter, he loved bigger fish. But thisday Ray and I gave him a convincingstory about the stream and finally gothim to go with us.

Well, when we got him to the littletrickle or ditch, as he called it, Dad litinto us for kidding him into leaving hisstore. It took a lot of fast talking to gethim to stay and try for a trout. Finally hegave in, baited up, and, at our direction,let his line float into a small pool at abend in the stream. This pool was aboutas big as any, the best part being out ofsight around the bend. We warned Dadthat there was a small log and some rootsin the bank so he had to be careful aboutgetting snagged. He assured us not toworry, at least he’d have a chance tocatch onto something.

Can you beat how things happenwhen you’re anxious to give someone a

� �WINTER 2005 19

taste of your favorite stream? Here wasDad thoroughly disgusted with thewhole setup and firmly convinced therecouldn’t be a trout anywhere in thatditch. So he paid no attention to his lineonce he got it into the pool but stoodthere not particularly enjoying what hefelt was a joke at his expense.

So, at last, he decided to call it quitsand go home. Wherewith he started topull in his line. It wouldn’t come so Dadknew he had snagged the log or a root.Whereupon he gave an impatient, huskyheave on his line to tear it loose. It cameout, all right, and with it, sailing highover his head and back into the brush,went the most beautiful trout we eversaw from those waters. It measured morethan 14 inches, a fat, richly colored, bet-ter-than-a-pound native brook trout.You would have had to be there to fullyappreciate the effect on Dad. Or on us,for that matter. It was truly a choicehighlight.

Fishing with worms or other live baitcan be as much a science as using artifi-cials. The object of each is to catch fish.A person is no more or less a sportsmanwhichever lure he uses. It is his knowl-edge of trout and how to present hislure, his sportsmanship, and all the otherphases of fishing that really matter.

Brother Ray was the one who firstintroduced me to flies. Somebody gave

him a bunch of wet flies,the kind that were tied onsnelled hooks. I believethat somebody was RayBergman, but I’m not sure.(Note: I saw both Rays theother day and both said itwas Bergman.) Anyway,Brother Ray tried to tellme what they were for, butthey didn’t make much ofan impression. What time Ihad on a stream I wantedto fish, not fool aroundwith such silly things.

But one day the troutweren’t interested in wormsand I’d about given up onthem, when I decided totry one of those fly things.For some reason that dayhas always stood out clearas a bell in my memory. Idon’t know why because itwas a flat failure. I was inthe little stream that runsdown through LetchworthVillage, a state institutionat Theills, N.Y., not farfrom Stony Point.

Actually I hadn’t the slightest ideahow to use a fly or what one to tie on, soI just took one out and tied it directly tomy braided silk line. I didn’t even knowwhat a leader was in those days, let alonehave one. I slapped the fly out into thepool and let it floatdown like a worm.Then I rememberedRay had said some-thing about jerkingthe fly. I gave it a fewhealthy jerks anddarned if I didn’t feela little strike. I’dcaught a red-finneddace. About two daceslater I gave up in dis-gust and went home.It was a year or twobefore I gave fliesanother thought.

As for opening day,it was many moreyears before I couldbring myself to dreamof using flies thatearly in the season. Iwas of the school ofthought that only livebait, particularly worms,were of any valueuntil the waters grewwarmer. As I remem-ber it, not until I start-

ed going down for opening days inPennsylvania, near Harrisburg, withCharlie Fox, Don Martin, Lew Kunkel,and the rest of that great gang of sports-men, did I consistently use artificials forthe opener. It’s warmer down that wayand all those fellows used them. So I did,too.

As a result, I got the surprise of mylife. While the bait fishermen were hav-ing a tough time of it catching their limitof ten, most of our gang averaged aboutthirty apiece. Yet not one kept his limit,nor anywhere near it. It was purely sportfishing. From that first day I have hadthe utmost respect for what I believe tobe the largest and most sincere group ofreal sportsmen of which it has been mygreat good fortune to be accepted as amember.

Those of you who have read CharlieFox’s masterful bass-fishing book,Advanced Bait Casting, will fully appreci-ate what I mean. Here is a group whichhas made its angling a fine sport; that isdrawing its fishing picture from one ofthe very best viewpoints.

That first day with this group was thebeginning of a long, unbroken series ofopening days in their waters. Every timeI think how close I came to never know-ing these fellows, I shudder. It was suchan unusual series of events that led up toit that I can’t resist sketching it for you.

Away back in 1931 my friend RayBergman wrote that best seller over the


years, Just Fishing. It was my good for-tune that he wanted me to illustrate it.Later, Ray and I were invited to inspectthe trout waters and make suggestionson how to improve them to attract moresportsmen to Skytop, a lodge up in thePoconos in Pennsylvania. The followingweek a special Anglers’ Day was held, thestream having received the extra stock-ing of fish we recommended. Until thelast moment I felt I couldn’t go, butchanged my mind in time. It was one ofthe best decisions I ever made.

After a day of fishing, we had a bigget-together at the lodge. Among theguests was Ollie Diebler, fish commis-sioner of Pennsylvania. Ollie had an ideaand the moment we met, we went asideto discuss it. The outcome was a com-mission for me to do a series of fishpaintings and publish the booklet, “TheCommon Fishes of Pennsylvania.” Iagreed to do all paintings from live mod-els. It had been my similar contract forBergman’s book that gave Ollie his idea.

Thus I began a series of paintings, notonly for this onecontract, but over theyears for the FishCommission’s maga-zine, the Pennsyl-vania Angler, bothcovers and articles.At first the editor wasAlex Sweigart whobecame a real friend.(Later, Charlie Foxbecame the editor.Now he is outdoor edi-tor for the StackpoleCompany, publishersof this book.) Alexwas and is one ofthat unusual groupof sportsmen. I spent many happy dayshunting and fishing with him. He cameto know that, because I was also sellingmy art and writings to national maga-zines, I received many offers from fans toall kinds of privileged hunting and fish-ing. He also knew that I never acceptedthem because, as Bergman and I agreed,there usually was a joker in most of suchoffers.

One day I had a letter from Alex. Itsaid I would receive an invitation to gofishing with one Charles Fox, who was aclose friend of his and he stronglyadvised me to accept it in spite of myusual unwillingness. After some hesita-tion, I did and I have always blessed thatdecision for Charlie is not only one ofthe best friends a guy could have but heis the ringleader, the originator of thatgroup first known as the Screwball Club

(of which I was the only foreign or out-of-state member), but who now callthemselves the “Fly Fishers’ Club.”

Why do I include this picture as partof the opening day sketch? Because thatwas the best opening day I ever had, onethat has had more influence on my fish-ing picture than all the others. It was theopening day of many years of associa-tion with real angler-sportsmen, yearsthat have tinted my fishing picture withmany brilliant hues that otherwisewould not be there. You will come toknow them as the picture unfolds.

The actual fishing that first openingday with Charlie had such an influenceon my viewpoint that I believe it mayhave real value to others. The fact thatsuch fishing has been repeated on otheropeners takes it out of the class of excep-tions and makes it more of a rule.

After long hours of debate, it was de-cided we would open the season atBoiling Springs and along the YellowBreeches Creek not very far from NewCumberland, a suburb of Harrisburg.

Naturally we got there at daybreak andfound a crowd already ringing the shoreof this large spring hole. The spring is anunusual fishing hole. At the head thewater boils up out of the ground fastenough to create a sizeable stream. Thespring hole itself covers a few acres, flowsthrough a mill, and on into the YellowBreeches.

Near the boiling entrance no troutcan live, the water is full of a gas whichbubbles out constantly. However, a shortdistance away, trout are able to breathe.The main body of water above the damwas heavily stocked with good-sizedtrout which were extremely hard tocatch. Bait fishermen could get a few,but, according to Charlie, there was onlyone way to take them on artificials. Onehad to use a long, fine leader and a tinywet fly of a certain color and pattern.

The way to fish it was to be in wadersand go out as far as possible and cast upthe slight current and into the channel.Without waders, one was licked. The flyhad to sink then be retrieved very, veryslowly. It worked, because the fellowstook trout that way. They had beendoing so for some years.

Even in those days, I was a contrarycuss. I loved to experiment on myown—and still do. So I soon changed toother lures. And, by good fortune, I hitinto a school of rainbow trout that ranabout 14 inches in size. Cast after cast Ihad real fights, brought to hand thetrout, and released them. Then a funnything happened, two of them, to beexact.

Charlie was walking around the bankto join me when he met a couple of bait-fishing friends who were putting awaytheir tackle. “Have you caught your lim-its already?” he asked.

“We haven’t caught any,” was thereply. “But we’ll be damned if we’regoing to stay here and see that --- pulling

them out and throw-ing them back. If hedoesn’t want thefish, why in h---doesn’t he leavethem for those whodo!” So saying, theydrove off.

At the same time,Don Martin washaving his troubles.His dad was runningfor office. The politi-cal leader whosesupport was neededhad a reputation asthe best trout fisher-man in those waters.

As luck would have it, the trout weren’tinterested in worms. When Don satdown to talk to the Boss, the politicopointed me out and demanded, “Do youknow that so and so?”

“Why?” Don was wise enough not tocommit himself.

“Because that --- has spoiled my day,I haven’t caught but one fish! Who is heand, what’s he doing here, throwing backthose trout?”

“I’m sure I don’t know,” Don wiselyanswered. Later he had a real laughtelling us all how he had denied me.

Having satisfied ourselves with thefishing in the spring, we went on downinto the Yellow Breeches. Our luck con-tinued. It was one of the best openingdays I had ever enjoyed and all of it onartificials. I have never gone back toworms, except on certain streams, to

� �WINTER 2005 21

catch just one more trout that old, senti-mental way.

In our colder mountain streams ofNew York, the artificials are also effec-tive. Of course one must have a lot ofpatience and know the haunts of thetrout in these streams to catch many thefirst day or even later during the coldweather. In cold high waters, there is solittle surface feeding that the trout don’tgive away their location. If you don’tknow the stream, then not only the rec-ognizable good-looking spots must becarefully worked, but most all of thewater.

There is a wide choice of lures fromspinners to bucktails, streamers, largeand small wet flies. Unless rising troutare seen, dry flies rarely produce. Theday after our opener is the earliest I’veever caught a trout on a dry fly in ournorthern streams. I saw a rise in onepool, quickly changed to the dry fly,caught the nine-incher, and went back towets.

Naturally the condition of the streamhas a lot to do with how to fish it andwhat lure to use. If the water is high andrough and discolored, then large lures,even weighted, are called for. A bright

spinner or a very dark or very light bigfly, streamer, or bucktail are best.Neutral-colored flies must be hard forthe trout to see because they rarely pro-duce for me. Short, heavy leaders, about1X or 2X, 7½ feet long are good.

In swift water I cast the lure a little upand across stream to give it a chance tosink. As it starts to straighten out at theend of the leader, any motion you usecan be started. Often the lure can be lefthanging in the current, letting the watergive it action. Sometimes it can beretrieved with small jerks for wet flies,larger jerks for bucktail or streamer.Spinners or combination flies and spin-ner usually are more effective if notgiven any added motion.

One of the most deadly stunts in highwater, even normal fast water, is to slow-ly work in the lure, then let it drop backdown the current, sometimes fast, some-times slowly, varying the action to reachdifferent depths. Even holding it steadyin one spot for a long time with the rodat right angles to the current so that theaction of the tip holding the lure againstthe pull of the water is imparted to thelure, is ofttimes very productive. I usedthis method a number of times where I

knew big trout existed. One day Ihooked so many big trout that smashedmy leaders among the rocks and rootsthat I had to quit because I ran out ofbucktails. I knew some of those trout ranas heavy as ten pounds or more. Theheaviest I landed would have gone aboutsix pounds. Since I put them all back, Ihad no chance to weigh any.

In normal, fairly clear, opening-daywaters, one has greater freedom inchoice of lures. They can be fished near-ly the same as later in the season. Onedifference is the use of smaller lures andfiner leaders, also a chance to recognizethe best fishing holes. More neutral-col-ored flies may be used although I per-sonally prefer dark or very light onesuntil well into May. More detail on suchfishing is given in later word sketches.

Once one becomes used to using arti-ficial lures and realizes that they are justas effective if not more so than live bait;that they are so much easier and cleanerto use; that one can cover any given bodyof water much more thoroughly withthem, even fish places where bait couldn’tpossibly be fished; then it becomesalmost impossible to go back to bait. Theartificial is a lazy man’s lure, don’t letthem kid you otherwise. But it is a heckof a lot more fun to use, and more pro-ductive. That’s why I love it. Besides,there are so many kinds, so much toargue and fuss over and to drive yourselfcrazy trying to decide on which one touse.

Heck, a worm’s only a worm, but arti-ficial flies are a life’s study.

!


Board of Trustees WelcomeCommunity to the Museum

The Annual Members Meeting andconcomitant Board of Trustees meetingwas held on Saturday, November 6, 2004.

Lynn Hitschler, David Nichols,George Gibson, William Salladin,Stephen Peet, Duke Buchan III, MichaelOsborne, Pamela Bates, David Walsh,James Woods, Pete Bakwin, and RichardTisch were reelected to three-year terms.

The following officers were also elect-ed: Robert Scott was reelected chairmanof the board for a one-year term; LynnHitschler and Mike Osborne werereelected and George Gibson andStephen Peet were elected vice presidentsfor one-year terms; James Mirenda wasreelected treasurer for a two-year term;James Woods was reelected secretary fora one-year term; and Charles Eichel waselected clerk for a one-year term.

Dr. James Heckman of Manchester,Vermont, and Ronald Gard of Dallas,

Texas, were elected new trustees withthree-year terms.

The highlight of the meetings was, ofcourse, the opening of the new Museum.Committee meetings were held in thenew Museum for the first time in threeyears, and the trustee meeting was heldat Hildene in Manchester. The meetingswent well, and the opening of theMuseum was celebrated with a receptionand gathering of our board of trustees,local business leaders, and friends of theMuseum. In total, the Museum wel-comed 152 people from the local area,and all were decidedly impressed. This isthe first time in Museum history thatwe’ve had so much support from thelocal community.

Staffing NewsThe Museum is pleased to announce

several staff appointments.Lori Pinkowski became director of

events in November. Lori, who lives in

Rutland with her husband Marty andtwo children, brings a wealth of experi-ence to her work at the Museum. She hasan extensive background in event coor-dination, promotional work, and pro-gram implementation. She has been therace director for the past six years for theKomen VT/NH Race for the Cure, andwas the event coordinator for Manchester’sPrelude to Christmas and the Win HoytMemorial Golf Tournament. She mostrecently was the wedding coordinator atCortina Inn and Resort in Killington,Vermont.

Many of you have already met or spo-ken with Linda McWain, our adminis-trative assistant, who began work at theMuseum in June. A longtime local resi-dent, Linda recently held positions asoffice manager and engineering assistantat WEQX radio station and as eventmanager at Stratton. She brings an infec-tious enthusiasm to the workplace withher willingness to jump in and do whatneeds to be done.

Trustee Emeritus Bill Herrick looks on as Bob Scott, chairmanof the Museum’s board of trustees, smiles for the camera.

A good time was had by all as theManchester community got its first look at

the Museum’s new home.

Yoshi Akiyama

Yoshi Akiyama

� �WINTER 2005 23

Special Projects Grand Pooh-bah SaraWilcox, who has been with the Museumsince 1998, has recently become Museumart director. After receiving a crashcourse in computer graphic design, shepracticed her new skills on a variety ofsmall projects for Yoshi before plunginginto the work of putting together thejournal. This issue of the American FlyFisher is her first.

Please join us in welcoming these finepeople to their new staff positions.

Philadelphia Dinner/AuctionThe annual Philadelphia dinner/auc-

tion was held at the Merion Cricket Clubin Haverford on a balmy October 7evening. The committee was spearhead-ed by an energetic trio comprising TedMcKenzie, John Richards, and BobMoser and supported by Jane Griffith,Pat Harner, Lynn Norley, EleanorPeterson, Lee Pierson, and Jay Tolson.

During the introduction to theevening—with the traditional oysters,shrimp, and assorted cheeses, as well as apreview of the silent auction items—weviewed pictures projected on the wall ofthe successful demolition and recon-struction of the new Museum. Also,nearby was an assortment of artifactsfrom the Museum’s collection, whichwere of great interest to everyone.

Thanks to Pat Harner’s resourceful-ness, we were able to coax into dutyPhiladelphia’s best known auctioneer,Bo Freeman from Freeman’s Auctionhouse. He performed a stellar job, coax-ing much excitement, competition, anddonations from the seventy-plus atten-dees. Fly rods, vacations, clothes, bags,and all sorts of wonderful fishing accou-trements were joyously received by therecipients. John Richards donated hisson’s enthusiasm to bring in an evenmore exciting group of participants nextyear. That said, the evening ended withempty plates and full hands.

Philadelphia Dinner Chair Lynn Hitschler, dinner committee member John H.Richards III, and his sons Brad Richards and John H. Richards IV are all smiles as they

enjoy the festivities at the Merion Cricket Club.

Upcoming EventsFebruary 3Anglers’ Club of New York DinnerNew York, New York

April 14Cleveland Dinner and Sporting

AuctionChagrin Valley Hunt ClubGates Mills, Ohio

June 10‒11Museum Grand Opening WeekendManchester, Vermont

For information, contact LoriPinkowski at (802) 362-3300 orvia email at [email protected]

TheAmerican Museumof Fly FishingBox 42, Manchester,Vermont 05254Tel: (802) 362-3300. Fax: (802) 362-3308EMAIL: [email protected]: www.amff.com

JO IN !Membership Dues (per annum)

I ND I V I DUA LAssociate $35Sustaining $60Benefactor $125Patron $250

GROUPClub $50Trade $50

Membership dues include four issues ofThe American Fly Fisher. Please send yourpayment to the Membership Director and include your mailing address. TheMuseum is a member of the American Association of Museums, the AmericanAssociation of State and Local History, theNew England Association of Museums,the Vermont Museum and GalleryAlliance, and the International Associationof Sports Museums and Halls of Fame. Weare a nationally accredited, nonprofit, edu-cational institution chartered under thelaws of the state of Vermont.

SUPP ORT !As an independent, nonprofit institution,the American Museum of Fly Fishing relies on the generosity of public-spiritedindividuals for substantial support. We ask that you give our museum serious consideration when planning for gifts andbequests.

BACK I S SU E S !Available at $4 per copy:

Volume 6, Numbers 2, 3, 4Volume 7, Number 3Volume 8, Number 3Volume 9, Numbers 1, 2, 3Volume 10, Number 2Volume 11, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4Volume 13, Number 3Volume 15, Number 2Volume 16, Numbers 1, 2, 3Volume 17, Numbers 1, 2, 3Volume 18, Numbers 1, 2, 4Volume 19, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4Volume 20, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4Volume 21, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4Volume 22, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4Volume 23, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4Volume 24, Number 1Volume 25, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4Volume 26, Numbers 1, 2, 4Volume 27, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4Volume 28, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4Volume 29, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4Volume 30, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4


Many thanks to the donors who madethe evening such a success, including ananonymous friend of the Museum;Richard Allebach; George Angstadt;Sylvia Bashline; Burberry; Cabela’s Inc.;Capt. Iris Clarke; Eyler’s Inc.; FishingCreek Angler B & B, and Lee and MaryAnn Gaul; French Creek Outfitters; KenHayward/Brodhead Hunting and FishingAssociation; Edward Jaworowski; MaryKuss; Ted MacKenzie; Robert Moser;Deborah Nason-Naples; Orvis CompanyStore, Down ington, Pennsyl vania; OrvisCompany Store, Jackson Hole, Wyoming;the Philadelphia Museum of Art; thePhiladelphia Or chestra; the PhiladelphiaZoo and Zooballoon; RichardsApex,Inc.; John Richards III; Ritz –Carlton—Bachelors Gulch, Colorado, and NewOrleans; and the Tinder Box.

—LYNN HITSCHLERDINNER CHAIR

Annual Friends of PeterCorbin Shoot

On October 19–20, artist and BoardMember Peter Corbin hosted our mostsuccessful Friends of Peter Corbin Shootyet at Hudson Farm in Andover, NewJersey, which was kindly made availableto us for the occasion by our friend PeterKellogg. The day dawned dark and rainy,dampening a bit the spirits of those whoopted to begin with a round of golf ateither Baltusrol or Somerset Hills.Fortunately, however, when the timecame to start busting some clay birds,the rain had stopped.

The Hudson Farm course was quitechallenging for most of the eighteenshooters—so challenging, in fact, thatbreakage numbers were, for the mostpart, closely guarded secrets. Yet, it was avery enjoyable start to the shoot. After achange of clothes, it was off to the barfor cocktails, highlighted by wonderfulwines generously donated by Gallo andQuivira Estates. During our gourmetdinner, which featured additional spe-cialty wines from the two vineyards,Board President Dave Walsh thankedeveryone for participating and said a fewwords about the new Museum facility.Best of all, however, was the digital slideshow, with commentary by PeterCorbin, of both the new Museum andsamples of his paintings over the years.The latter were especially enjoyable,given the breadth and detail of Peter’swork, as well as, of course, the sportingsubject matter so pleasurable to all inattendance.

After a light breakfast the next morn-ing, it was off by hay wagon for the duckshoot and what may have been thebiggest surprise of the outing. Un -expectedly, as we arrived at the duckpond, we were greeted by a sleek-coated,very healthy-looking 300-pound blackbear. (We asked Peter to run over andcheck the animal’s sex, so that it could bereported, but he declined.) The duckshooting was—for those of you whohave not done it—both exciting andchallenging. They came in low. Theycame in high. They always came in fast.Four hundred ducks were released, 821shells were fired, and the kill is classifiedto prevent embarrassment on the part ofthe shooters. A pleasing part of the eventwas the wonderful dog work, which pre-vented the loss of a single hit bird. Thepheasant shoot was more of the same,with one exception: the birds did notcome in low, so for all the gun smokeseen, the success ratio was a big loser.

Next, for lunch, we were treated bygourmet caterer Perona Farms to a pigroast with all the appropriate trimmings.These included squash, freshly madeapplesauce, other veggies, and, fordessert, apple cobbler with ice cream. Wecan report that no one left Hudson Farmweighing less than they did on arrival.The final event, and a great delight forthe winner, was the drawing for a Corbinoriginal painting, especially conceivedfor the shoot. It was both suspensefuland fun as the names were called—meaning one was out of contention. Thelucky winner was Dominec DiPiero,who had just the spot for it in the newhome he is building.

The Museum owes special thanks toboth Peter Corbin and Peter Kellogg forthe use of his most exceptional facility. Itwas the most successful Corbin Shoot todate, raising nearly $60,000 for theAmerican Museum of Fly Fishing. Welook forward to next year, the planningfor which is already under way.

—DAVE WALSH�BOARD PRESIDENT

Hartford DinnerI had assumed the position of direc-

tor of events and had been on the job atthe Museum for a total of two days whenI attended the Hartford dinner onNovember 4. Lucky for me, Interim Di -rec tor Yoshi Akiyama and former-turned-temporary employee Paula “Stick”Morgan, came with me.

By all accounts, the dinner inHartford at the Avon Old Farms Inn wasa success. The fanciful hors d’oeuvres

DONORBRICKSAn opportunityto make a difference andbecome part of the newhome of the AmericanMuseum of Fly Fishing.

Bricks are $100 each.

Bricks may be purchased singly or in a series that can be placed together

to create a larger message.

Purchasers are free to put anything they like on their

bricks (no profanity).

Each brick is 4" x 8" and has room for three lines of text of up to 20 characters per line. That does includespaces and punctuation— for example, putting “fly fishing rules!” on a brick would be 18 characters.

Call (802) 362-3300

SPRING 2004 25

and fine wines eased the fifty or so atten-dees into a relaxed and spending mood.There was an array of silent auctionitems to choose from, including a Teton#4 fly reel; a tried and true favorite print,The Bubble, by John Betts; an assortmentof flies tied by Robert Lewis; and somenonfishing–related items, such as an L.L. Bean fleece jacket, a leather briefcasefrom the Orvis Company, and Merrellhiking shoes.

An amazing dinner was followed byan animated live auction of an Orvis flyrod, a print by Peter Corbin, a luncheonat the Anglers’ Club in New York, andtheater tickets to Carnegie Hall.

When all was said and done and bidupon, significant funds were generatedfor the Museum.

We are grateful for the many individ-uals who support the Museum. Thisgroup deserves kudos for all their effortson our behalf. Thanks to our dinnerchair, John F. Mundt Jr., and committeemembers Jerry Bannock, E. ArrollBorden, Phil Castleman, David Egan,David Foley, Larry Johnson, RichardKane, Steve Massell, R. Tracy Page, Billand Marie Pastore, Roger Plourde,Vincent Ringrose, and Ed Ruestow.

Our live auction was made a successby the following donors, to whom we are

grateful: Peter Corbin, the OrvisCompany, John Mundt, Carnegie Hall,and the Limestone Trout Club.

—LORI PINKOWSKIDIRECTOR OF EVENTS

Winery DinnerOkay, so now I’ve been on the job

eleven days and have the benefit of theHartford dinner experience under mybelt. Not quite confident enough to han-dle the dinner myself, I asked PaulaMorgan to join me in wine country.

We once again held our dinner at theMacMurray Ranch in Healdsburg,California, on November 13 (which, bythe way, just happened to be my birth-day!). Famous wines from the GalloWinery (of course) and outrageous horsd’oeuvres were served on the portico ofFred MacMurray’s house, with a warmfire crackling in the fireplace. Attendeeswere free to wander through the Mac -Murray homestead, restored to originalform.

Guests meandered over to the barn,where they could bid on silent auctionitems and preview the incredible liveauction items. Guests then participatedin a wine-blending competition. Groupsof eight were given the opportunity to

create their own blend ofred wine, guided by NicoleQuandt, one of Gallo’s wineambassadors. The competi-tion was tough as DinnerChair Roger Riccardi andNicole determined the win-ner.

After the wine blending,fifty guests sat Tuscan styleand feasted on the incredi-ble food provided by ParkAvenue Caterering andChef Bruce Reizenman.Wines from Gallo ofSonoma and Mac MurrayRanch were a few of thepotable delights we sam-pled.

A spirited live auctionbegan during dinner, withsome folks competing heav-ily against each other for thewinning bid. Our animatedauctioneer, Damon Casatico,cap tured the attention ofevery guest with his hilari-ous technique, and at theend of the auction, all itemswere sold.

Museum Board Pres -ident Dave Walsh journeyedfrom Wyoming to attend

this year’s winery dinner, as well asMuseum Trustee David Nichols, all theway from Maine, and Scott and CarolPatten, who came from Colorado. Wethank all the individuals who joined usat the MacMurray Ranch and expressour gratitude for their tremendous sup-port.

We are indebted to Dinner ChairRoger Riccardi and committee membersEd Beddow and Jon Rosell for their con-tributions of time and auction items,and for bringing friends and fellowanglers to the event.

As always, a very special thank you toour auction donors: the Elk River Anglerand Dave Brown, Robert CochranCrafts, Peter Corbin, Elkhorn Rods,Gallo of Sonoma, Dr. Jane Griffith,Hexagraph Fly Rods, J. K. Adams Wood -workers, MacMurray Ranch, Murphy-Goode Winery, the Orvis Company,Quivira Winery, Roger Riccardi, Saw -dust and Stitches, John Soward, JohnSwan, Dave Van Winkle, and DavidWalsh.

—LORI PINKOWSKIDIRECTOR OF EVENTS

A Recent Donation, andNew in the Library

James Baker of Madison, New Jersey,donated a 9-foot, 10-inch, three-pieceAbbey and Imbrie Lancewood fly rodand a 9-foot, 4-inch, three-pieceCalcutta cane casting rod to theMuseum’s collection.

Thanks to the following publishersfor their donations of recent titles thathave become part of our collection (alltitles were published in 2004):

The Lyons Press sent us William G.Tapply’s Bitch Creek. Stackpole Bookssent us Chico Fernández’s Fly-Fishing forBonefish, Dick Talleur’s Inside Fly Tying,and a new edition of John Gierach’s 1984Flyfishing the High Country.

Frank Amato Publications, Inc., sentus Livingston Parsons Jr.’s SalmonCamp: The Boland Brook Story; LesJohnson’s Fly-Fishing Coastal CutthroatTrout: Flies, Techniques, Conservation;Rick Hafele and Dave Hughes’s WesternMayfly Hatches: From the Rockies to thePacific; and Ron Alcott’s Building ClassicSalmon Flies.

!

Guests got a taste of the wine-making craft by creatingtheir own blend. The winners, pictured above, named

their blend Two Rock.

Lori Pinkowski


Finishing Touchesby Sara Wilcox

As summer shifted into autumn, we at the Museum shifted into high gear, working overtime to reopen our doors by thebeginning of the fall foliage season in Manchester. Yoshi in particular seemed to be putting in 25-hour days as he juggledhis duties as interim executive director with taking care of last-minute construction details, directing the installation of

Anglers All in the gallery, and (along with his wife Laine) assisting Bill and Phyllis Herrick in getting our wonderful new gift shopready for business. With the landscapers removing the large piles of dirt on our front lawn—and thus the last obvious signs thatconstruction work was under way—we began to have more and more people stop by to see if the Museum was open to visitorsyet. After so many months of planning, waiting, and working, our long-standing dream was about to become a reality. It was amoment that seemed both long overdue and impossibly quick in arriving, and we approached it with equal measures of antici-pation and disbelief. Finally, we were about to be a working museum again. We could hardly wait.

By the beginning of September, the gallery walls were paintedand the carpeting in place; all that was needed was an exhibit.

A stairway to heaven—at least if you’re a book lover. Eventuallymembers will use these steps to access the Museum’s library.

The entranceway began to take shape with the addition ofjewelry cases by the front door.

A look at our future library room as ofthe beginning of September.

Photos by Sara Wilcox

� �WINTER 2005 27

Workers laid a path to the front door in mid-September,the first step toward installing the bluestone walkway.

With the exterior finally finished, the landscapers couldbegin their work, laying down fresh sod and doing whatplanting they could with winter just around the corner.

In late September, volunteers Bill and Phyllis Herrick begansetting up the Brookside Angler, the Museum’s new gift shop,using an array of unusual items for displaying merchandise.

During the final week of September, we began the process of setting up Anglers All as our inaugural exhibit

in the new gallery.

The newly completed walkway as seen fromthe driveway.


Both new and antique items are for sale in the BrooksideAngler, and so far we’ve heard nothing but rave reviews for

the Museum’s new gift shop.

The finished display case provides an elegant backdrop forvisitors to examine the jewlery we offer for sale.

On the far side of the staircase, visitors find a wide varietyof books to peruse in our public library, as well as a table

and chairs for their reading comfort.

The completed cabinetry only needs a coat of paint to beready for housing the Museum’s extensive archival library.

A beautiful custom-made chandelier greets visitors as they walkinto the lobby of our new building.

� �WINTER 2005 29

An arc of graphite rod blanks welcomes vistors into the galleryand the Museum’s acclaimed traveling exhibit, Anglers All.

The original framings taken by Mary Orvis Marbury to the1893 World’s Fair in Chicago draw the attention of all who

make their way among the various displays.

An exhibit on angling artists (or is it artistic anglers?) featuresflies, original sketches, and a variety of paintings.

Just as in our former quarters, one can look up and see a canoein the rafters as they make their way through the Museum.

Rod and reel exhibits intersect, highlighting the separate butcomplementary nature of these two vitally important pieces of

fly-fishing equipment.


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Offering unique designshand sewn and cobbledindividually from thefinest in English leather,all made according tostandards last commonin the early 1900s.

� �WINTER 2005 31

C O N T R I B U T O R S

Harry L. Peterson has been a fly fisher for twenty-five years. He ties flies, makes rods, and collects fishingbooks, all as an enthusiastic amateur.

Peterson is president emeritus of Western StateCollege of Colorado. He was a college and universityadministrator for more than thirty years in Wisconsin,Idaho, Minnesota, and Colorado, all states with goodtrout streams. Peterson received his Ph.D. in educa-tional policy studies from the University ofWisconsin–Madison. He continues to be active profes-sionally, and provides counsel to college and universi-ty presidents.

After this article first appeared in Wisconsin NaturalResources, Nina Leopold Bradley, a daughter of Aldo

Leopold, wrote to tell Peterson that her brother Luna remembers fishing AlderCreek with their father.

Peterson welcomes correspondence from readers and can be reached, via e-mail,at [email protected].

James Hardman is a retired manufacturer of in-dustrial adhesives and associated dispensing machin-ery; he is a machinist and has studied, collected, andrestored early reels for thirty-five years. He serves onthe board of the American Museum of Fly Fishing,has made presentations at meetings of the NationalFishing Lure Collectors Club and the NortheastAntique Anglers Show, and has contributed articleson early reels in Fishing Collectibles Magazine and theOld Reel Collectors Association Journal. Additionalinterests include the construction of gas and steamengine models and collecting early spark plugs. Heresides with his indulgent wife Patricia in Dorset,Vermont.

Jim Gilford retired in 1990 from the Environmen-tal Protection Agency, where he was in charge ofassessing the environmental effects of industrialchemicals. After receiving his doctorate from theJohns Hopkins University, he was an assistant profes-sor of biology at Gettysburg College and later servedas chair of the biology department at Hood Collegebefore going to the EPA. He is active in fishery man-agement affairs, having served on the Mid-AtlanticFisheries Management Council for nine years, five ofthem as the council chair. Currently he chairs theSport Fishing Advisory Commission for the MarylandDepartment of Natural Resources, the Striped Bass

Advisory Panel of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, and the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council’s Science and Statistical Committee.

Gilford’s interest in wildlife artist Fred Everett began as a youth growing up in thesparsely populated counties of northeastern Pennsylvania, hunting grouse andwoodcock and fishing for trout. Everett was frequent contributor in those days tothe Pennsylvania Angler and the Pennsylvania Game News. Many who read thosepublications, Gilford included, developed a personal kinship with Everett and hisNorman Rockwell–like illustrations. Several years ago, in preparing a paper onEverett to be presented to the annual luncheon of the Fly Fishers’ Club ofHarrisburg, Gilford discovered that little was readily known about the artist–angler,aside from the personal recollections of a few individuals still living and passagesfrom his writings. Gilford has continued his search for information about Everett,hoping to find and document any existing information about Everett before it is lostto time.

David Kindig

Barbara Gilford

Kathleen Achor

Fishing • Hunting

Specializing in rare andout-of-print sporting

books with one of the largestinventories in the U.S.

Fresh and salt waterfly fishing • Fly tying

Upland game • Big gameSporting dogs • etc.

Two 72-page catalogsissued each year with notitle repeated for threecatalogs. Subscription

price is $5.00 for two years.

We are always interestedin buying single books

or entire sporting libraries.

Appraisals done forestate and insurance

purposes.

Judith Bowman Books98 Pound Ridge Road

Bedford, NY 10506(914) 234-7543 (phone)

(914) 234-0122 (fax)

“The Uncaged Woman”


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among salmon and steelhead fly fishers, some ofwhom even custom build their lines. Thomas &

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for maximum distance and line control.”– Trey Combs

Visit your nearest T&T retailer or write for a copy of our full-color catalogueThomas & Thomas • 627 Barton Road • Greenfield, MA 01301

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needs of all contemporary overhead and Spey castingstyles. Multi-piece rods in both rod series offer the

traveling angler the ultimate in portability.


A Treasury of Reels

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

Accompanied by Bob O’Shaughnessy’s expert photography, author Jim Brown detailsthe origins of this fascinating piece of technology, from a 13th century Chinese paintingdepicting a fisherman using a rod and reel to later craftsmen like Vom Hofe,Billinghurst, and Leonard.

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

$29.95 plus shipping

Call (802) 362-3300

After two and a half years of planning, construction, andrenovation, the American Museum of Fly Fishingreopened its doors in October. Now located next door to

the Orvis Flagship Store in Manchester, Vermont, the Museumis once again open to the public seven days a week, 10 A.M. to4 P.M.

To showcase the beautiful new gallery space, the Museumhas put its preeminent exhibit, Anglers All, on display.Highlighting the finest artifacts in the Museum’s extensive col-lection, Anglers All has traveled across the country, wowingmuseum visitors in Montana, Ohio, Colorado, and Californiabefore returning here to Manchester. Anglers All includes atimeline of the major developments in fly fishing; an examina-tion of why it is fish are fooled by artificial flies; rods and reels

crafted by the finest artisans in their fields; a variety of trea-sures once belonging to some of the greatest names in anglinghistory; and equipment once used by such famous names asErnest Hemingway, Herbert Hoover, Winslow Homer, andBabe Ruth.

In addition, the Museum’s newly revamped, handicapped-accessible quarters include a public library, where visitors arewelcome to sit down and read some selections from the vastarray of fly-fishing literature. The Museum is also home to theBrookside Angler, an all-new shop offering a wide assortmentof unique and special gifts sure to appeal to any angler.

The Museum plans to have a grand opening ceremony thisspring to officially celebrate. Stay tuned for details.

!

The Museum Reopens!

Yoshi Akiyama

THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF FLY FISHING,a nationally accredited, nonprofit, education-al institution dedicated to preserving the richheritage of fly fishing, was founded inManchester, Vermont, in 1968. The Museumserves as a repository for, and conservator to,the world’s largest collection of angling andangling-related objects. The Museum’s col-lections and exhibits provide the public withthorough documentation of the evolution offly fishing as a sport, art form, craft, and in-dustry in the United States and abroad fromthe sixteenth century to the present. Rods,reels, and flies, as well as tackle, art, books,manuscripts, and photographs form the ma-jor components of the Museum’s collections.

The Museum has gained recognition as aunique educational institution. It supports apublications program through which its na-tional quarterly journal, The American FlyFisher, and books, art prints, and catalogs areregularly offered to the public. The Museum’straveling exhibits program has made it possi-ble for educational exhibits to be viewedacross the United States and abroad. TheMuseum also provides in-house exhibits,related interpretive programming, andresearch services for members, visiting schol-ars, authors, and students.

The Museum is an active, member-orient-ed nonprofit institution. For informationplease contact: The American Museum of FlyFishing, P. O. Box 42, Manchester, Vermont05254, 802-362-3300.

theamerican fly fisher - american museum of fly fishingthe american fly fisher(issn 0884-3562) is...

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