The Literary Fly Fisher

I have been corresponding with a very old friend recently.  This friend’s father — a humble man — is a long-time fly fisherman.  As he ages, my friend tells me, he looks for evidence that he has been successful, appreciated, and so on.   From the little I know, my friend’s father is an accomplished fly fisherman with numerous fly patterns and even an unusually high-profile publication to his credit.  Moreover, he is a medical doctor, and he has undoubtedly helped many people in that capacity.  Still, I think most of us can understand his feelings.  Therefore, as I learn more about this man and his role in the history of fly fishing in the American West, I resolve that he will receive evidence of my own admiration.

The correspondence with my friend put me in mind of a journal entry written by Captain Meriwether Lewis on August 18th, 1805, during his US government sponsored exploration of the American Northwest with William Clark and others.  Lewis and Clark’s trip, arranged by President Thomas Jefferson, is remembered as the “Voyage of Discovery.”

No doubt, most readers are familiar with Lewis and Clark.  Fly fishers may know that members of the expedition catalogued many fish that were previously unknown to Euro-Americans.  The scientific name of the Westslope Cutthroat Trout, Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi, reminds us of this. 

The fact that the “Voyage of Discovery” is remembered by so many means that Lewis and the others accomplished a degree of fame.  Mind you, I am no particular fan of Lewis and Clark.  They “discovered” nothing that was not already known to the indigenous inhabitants of the lands they crossed.  Moreover, they set back Euro-American relations with some of those inhabitants significantly, through their prejudicial and even deadly behavior toward Native Americans (the reader should know that Blackfoot oral tradition relates a very different account of the fatal encounter between Clark and the Blackfeet than the one Clark, himself, relates).

My cultural concerns aside, the physical feats that Lewis and the others accomplished in crossing and recrossing a significant portion of the continent are astounding.  And yet, there is Lewis’ journal entry, which I mentioned earlier.  I quote it here (precisely), from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, edited by Bernard DeVoto (1997).

This day I completed my thirty first year, and conceived that I had in all human probability now existed about half the period which I am to remain in the Sublunary world.  I reflected that I had as yet done but little, very little, indeed, to further the hapiness of the human race or to advance the information of the succeeding generation.  I viewed with regret the many hours I have spent in indolence, and now sourly feel the want of that information which those hours would have given me had they been judiciously expended.  but since they are past and cannot be recalled, I dash from me the gloomy thought, and resolved in future, to redouble my exertions and at least indeavor to promote those two primary ojbects of human existence, by giving them the aid of that portion of talents which nature and fortune have bestoed on me; or in future, to live for mankind, as I have heretofore lived for myself. (1997, 206)

Clark’s unusual moment of humility and self-reflection is startling, given the task in which he was currently engaged.  Admittedly, I don’t think he did much to increase mankind’s happiness — certainly not that of Native Americans.  Yet, he did “advance the information” possessed by his fellow Euro-Americans about the Northwest and, to a very small extent, about the indigenous peoples there.

If, then, someone like Clark can doubt the value of his past actions, even at such a young age, it is only natural that others of us are concerned about our contributions to the world, or lack thereof, and about the perceptions others have of us.  One way to relieve such concerns, when felt by those we admire — to further their happiness, as Clark put it — is to inform them of our appreciation and respect. I hope that many people besides myself do this for my friend’s fly fishing father.

Note: Interested readers can learn more about Lewis and Clark and the fish they encountered during their expedition, in the 21 page pamphlet Fish, Fishing, and Lewis & Clark: The True Story of the Greatest Fishing Trip Ever, published in 2009 by the Federation of Fly Fishers. I am certain it can be obtained by contacting the FFF or the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks Department.  I’ll bracket my issues with the pamphlet’s title.

New items, including Fishpond gear, added to sale listings.   More items will be posted shortly: Orvis graphite trout rods, T&T and Loomis graphite saltwater rods, English boron trout rod, Orvis/Eddie Bauer glass rod, early Loop  “Model 3w” (now sold as the Danielsson “Original 3w”) large arbor reel, English-made Orvis “Madison” reel, Scientific Anglers System 2L “67L” disc reel, vintage Orvis rod bags, and more.  Click link on right of page, or follow link above.

Update: My sincere apologies.  New inventory is delayed one week (’til Feb. 27).  Granger Favorite, glass rods, Fishpond, Orvis, and more. Please inquire.  Also, I have items in hand that have  not been listed.  Let me know if you’re looking for something.  I’ve been “sick as a dog” this week, and not up to the required travel.

Todd Moen and Brian O’Keefe’s Catch Magazine: The Official Journal of Fly Fishing Photography and Film is a visually stunning and exceptionally well presented online magazine (I’m not sure what makes Catch “official,” but it’s still a fantastic magazine).  Through Catch, Moen has shared a two-part  “documentary style” film, as he describes it, focuses upon a mother, father, and daughter, who run a fly fishing lodge in northern British Columbia.  The film also deals with their many years fishing together as a family.  The subject matter is wonderful and the videography is amazing. 

Certainly, in the 1600’s, Isaac Walton never imagined that one day fishing stories would be told through moving pictures.  I have no doubt, however, that he would have approved of this development.  Moen’s film captures much of the beauty in nature, about which Walton wrote.  You can see Parts 1 and 2 of Moen’s Steelhead Dreams, below:

Part 1:

http://vimeo.com/17973045

Part 2:

http://vimeo.com/22680248

Hardy’s “Perfect” is a legendary fly reel.  Brass versions were being marketed by 1890 (Jess Miller, The Dunkeld Collection, 6), and several versions are still being produced today in Hardy’s Alnwick, England factory.  The plate-wind reel with internal ball bearings has given birth to several other Hardy reels, and it has inspired the production of reels from many other manufacturers as well.  It is one of the reels approved of by Frederick M. Halford (b 1844, d 1914), the famous “dry-fly purist,”  who was notoriously rigid in his recommendations of fishing tackle and technique.  In his preface to 1919’s The Dry Fly Man’s Handbook, he offers descriptions of the reel provided by Mr. J.J. Hardy (then managing director of Hardy Brothers, Ltd.), in “whose judgement and bona-fides” he has “full confidence.” (1).  Halford quotes J.J. Hardy as saying, “Those who have once used Hardy’s ‘Perfect’ reels with ball-bearings, regulating check and line guards, which can be dismounted in a minute without the use of any tools, would hardy be satisfied to go back to the older form, or indeed any reel which requires a tool chest and some knowledge of mechanics, before it can be dismounted” (26).  Apparently, J.J. Hardy was right, since the Perfect remains in production.

The latest version of the Perfect to be released by Hardy is the Diamond Jubilee Reel, made to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s 60th year on the throne.  On Hardy’s website, the reel is described as, “One of a Limited Edition of 250 reels commemorating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, the 140th anniversary of Hardy Bros., and marking 100 years since the introduction of the ‘1912 pattern check’.”  Hardy USA President Jim Murphy tells me the reel will retail for $2,400.00.  All 250 reels, however, have already been claimed.

 

In the above pictures, notice the strapped tensioner and famous rod-in-hand logo.  According to Hardy’s 2011 Fly Fishing Catalogue, the latter is being reintroduced to the made-in-England “Hardy Bros” range (formerly the “Heritage” range).  You can read more about the Diamond Jubilee Reel here, on Hardy’s website. 

 

Me, in front of a display at Hardy's Alnwick, England headquarters.

While compiling a research bibliography of early works on fly fishing, I came across this book: The Whole Art of Fishing: Being a Collection and Improvement of All that has been Written upon this Subject. London: Edmund Crull, 1714.

Surely, this book has the best subtitle ever conceived.  Perhaps my next book will be something like The Academic Study of Religion: Being a Collection and Improvement of All that has been Written upon this Subject. Or maybe Fly Fishing: Being a Collection and Improvement of All that has been Written upon this Subject.  Or even Life: Being a Collection and Improvement of All that has been Written upon this Subject. We’ll see.