Battenkill Shadow Box

 Some years ago, in a conversation with my old friend, the late John Betts, I was bemoaning the fact that there are "artsy" maps of lots of the western rivers that you can buy as a wall-hanger, but very few of eastern rivers of any notoriety, fly fishing-wise.   A few months later (we're talking somewhere in the vicinity of 1999) a package from Denver arrived at my door...a gift from John.  It contained all kinds of goodies for the base map of the Battenkill he had drawn:

In the intervening 20 or so years, I got myself into creating shadow boxes, primarily related to Atlantic salmon fishing and flies which I typically have donated to Miramichi Salmon Association and/or the Atlantic Salmon Museum for their fundraisers.  Occasional commissions have helped keep my little framing boat afloat, so to speak, allowing me to purchase needed materials like matboard and especially the rough lumber (primarily cherry and oak) that I use to create the frames.

Speaking of lumber and wandering far from the title topic (as usual), I have a great source of cherry, red oak and walnut (which I don't use much; never really cared for it) about ten miles from me down in  North Pownal, Vermont.   A pile like this, which I bought yesterday, cost me all of 65 bucks.  Those boards are 10 to 12 feet long, and 8 inches wide.  Four quarter thick, and already lightly planed.

Weapons of mass construction;

The jointer, planer and table saw help me turn those big boards into smaller boards:

Which become frames.

But I digress!!   When I was the executive director of a fly fishing museum, I was able to buy shadow boxes with maps and flies for fundraisers from a generous gentleman, Barry Mill, whose company was Sawdust and Stitches.  Sadly, Barry passed away several years ago.  But the map/fly idea for me came from him.

Cut to the present day:   I finally decided to take John's map out of mothballs, and use it as the centerpiece of a shadow box all about the Battenkill.   Now, what flies to use?  Didn't take long to settle on some streamers designed by Battenkill legend, Lew Oatman.  His flies are particularly noteworthy for their tapered floss bodies...as well as their fish fooling capacity.   I settled on his "Dr. Oatman", "Shushan Postmaster" and "Battenkill Shiner."   Stuff about Oatman and his flies is readily available in books and, of course, the well-googled internet.  Joe Bates' book, Streamer Fly Tying and Fishing (Stackpole; several printings) has lots o' info on Oatman and his flies.

I have a printer (Epson WF-7710) that will handle up to 13x19 inch sheets, and also handles heavy,  #140, cold pressed watercolor paper, which is what I used to print the map and fly names on.  I always like to see the names of flies, and even who tied them, in shadow boxes.   And the watercolor paper is good to go, from an archival standpoint.

So, long story short, here is the shadow box.  I am doing it in a limited edition of only 10 framings.  The first four of the ten have already been sold.  You can click on the pics to enlarge them.

The cost is $175 incl. shipping and insurance anywhere in the lower 48.  If you live within 45 minutes of me, I'll personally deliver, and reduce cost appropriately.  If you're outside the lower 48, there will be additional shipping charges.  Might add another 25 to 35 bucks.   The sales of these framings will allow me to purchase more materials to make more framings that will raise important funds for Atlantic salmon conservation and Atlantic Salmon Museum operations.

You can contact me at gt05254@sover.net if you're interested.

Cheers,

Gary T.

LOL, I MUST NOT HAVE CHARGED ENOUGH FOR THIS FRAMING; IT SOLD OUT IN A DAY.

The Nepisiguit Grey Atlantic Salmon Fly

 Every so often, I get hung up on a fly.  This time around, it's the Nepisiguit Grey (note well the Canadian spelling of the G-word!).   I don't believe I'd ever even heard of the Nepisiguit River until Paul and Stephanie Elson and Howie Gould took me fishing there one lovely Autumn day a few years ago.  More about the river in this post from 2017, if you're interested:  https://theriverscourse.blogspot.com/2017/11/miramichi-salmon-camps-fall-2017.html. 

 There is another spelling, "Nipisiguit", that based on an hour of googling, looks to be an old French way of spelling.   I just bought a book, Salmon Fishing on the Nipisiguit - 1874, that lends a little credence to the older spelling.  Modern maps all seem to spell it Nepisiguit.  Several fly tying books, notably Farrow and Allen's Flies for Atlantic Salmon and Poul Jorgensen's Salmon Flies - Their Character, Style and Dressing use the Nipisiguit spelling, as does Joseph Bates, Jr. in The Art of the Salmon Fly.  

Historian David Ledlie, in an article he wrote for The American Fly Fisher (Fall 1976) concerning Dean Sage and his writing of the Ristigouche and its Salmon Fishing found this memo from Sage to his publisher regarding the spelling:  "Nepisseguit - Hickman spells it Nepisaguit and it is also spelled Nepiseguit and Nepisiguit, but my spelling is I think the most common and most in accordance with the pronounciation."

Others, including Bates and Richards Fishing Atlantic Salmon - the Flies and the Patterns and the monumental Hardy's Salmon Flies - Patterns from the Fly Tying Department 1883-1969 use the Nepisiguit spelling.  

In its earliest form, it's a beautiful fly - this one tied by Tyler Thompson.   Click on the pics for a larger version!

So who developed the Nepisiguit Grey?  Bates and Richards note, "No authentic information as to where, when or by whom the Nepisiguit Grey was originated, this evidence evidently being lost in antiquity."  In his Atlantic Salmon Flies, Jacques Heroux notes that the pattern was created by Ira Gruber.  I doubt that very much; the fly was around before Gruber's time, and looks unlike any other fly that notable fly developer created, particularly the complicated wing.  I am in communication with Gruber's grandson to see if he can shed some light on the subject.  New note:  Ira's grandson, also Ira, doubts that the fly was originated by his grandfather (pers. comm).  Also of note, a book he is writing about his grandfather is currently at the copy editor.

Enter Dewey Gillespie and his The Fly Tyers of New Brunswick - the 2nd Time Around (http://www.eskapeanglers.com/deweysbook/dewey.pdf).   Dewey introduces us to David Arthur LaPoiinte, a gentleman that owned a Fredericton, NB barbershop in the 1920's, and who moved to that hotbed of Miramichi fly tying, Atholville, NB in 1935 where he became more of a fly tyer than a barber.   He began teaching fly tying; Clovis Arseneault of Rusty Rat fame was one of his students.

Dewey credits LaPointe with creating the Nepisiguit Grey.   For the sake of argument, let's say LaPointe developed the hairwing Nepisiguit Grey.   He gives the dressing as follows:

Tag: Oval gold tinsel
Tip: Yellow floss
Tail: Golden Pheasant crest
Butt: Peacock herl
Rib: Oval gold tinsel
Body: Gray underbelly fur of a Muskrat
Throat: Grizzly hackle
Wing: Black Bear hair
Head: Black

In Hardy's Salmon Flies - Patterns from the Fly Tying Department 1883-1969, when discussing the Nepisiguit Grey, LaPointe was again given credit for the hairwing version:  "This was a pattern that adapted very well, largely because of its colouring, to a hair wing dressing, and the notebooks have a description, said to be taken from an illustration of one dressed by the American fly dresser LaPointe."

That's the most common dressing for the hairwing I've found.  Looks something like this:

In Bates and Richards' Fishing Atlantic Salmon, they list a simplified feather wing recipe:

Tag: Fine oval silver tinsel or wire and bright yellow floss

Tail: Golden Pheasant crest

Butt:  Two or three turns of peacock herl or black wool

Body: Medium gray wool, not built up

Rib: Fine oval tinsel

Throat: Barred rock (grizzly) hackle feather

Wing: In four sections, two on each side, bronze mallard

Head: Black

Looks a bit like this:

Together:

Those flies are part of a shadow box I created for the latest MSA online auction:

I found an old mining map of the river:

and through a little work with Paint, I was able to get this:

This whole deal pretty much started with a little favor I was doing for my friends up in Centreville, NB, Lottie and Stephen Nye.  They wanted to give a present to friends with a place on the Nepisiguit.  Stephen, like Tyler Thompson in the first pic in this blog post, has tying skills WAY above my paygrade, first tied the classic version from Hardy's recipe:

Tag: Silver and 152 yellow silk

Tail: Golden Pheasant crest

Butt: Black Ostrich

Body: Grey monkey fur (!!!!)

Ribs: Silver

Hackle:  Grizzly cock down body and at shoulder

Wing:  Golden pheasant tippet and golden pheasant tail, broadish strips of grey peacock wing feather and bustard, slip of summer duck and blue swan, brown mallard over.

They do list another wing variation.  You'll have to spend the 100 bucks for the book to get it, lol!

Here's what we ended up with for the gift the Nyes are giving (at least I THINK they're still giving it, lol) to their friends:

All that and we still don't know who designed the first Nepisiguit Grey!

Cheers, and get your shots!

Gary

Save the Date! MSA-US Atlantic Salmon Celebration 2021

 Save the Date! Feb. 20th at 7:00PM. The Miramichi Salmon Association's U.S. counterpart has put together an evening of salmon fishing entertainment that we are calling the MSA-US Salmon Celebration 2021.

We have a great Zoom livestream performance put together that will please any Atlantic salmon enthusiast. There will be lots of photos and videos of Miramichi salmon fishing that will feature some of the sport's best known personalities from today as well as the past. These include Lee and Joan Wulff, Ted Williams, Charlie DeFeo, as well as modern day fishers April Vokey, Deirdre Green, Bryant Freeman and Topher Browne. We have a fascinating illustrated history of the Miramichi salmon fishery by Morris Green from the Salmon Museum, and histories of the storied Black Brook Salmon Club and Doctor's Island. A special look at more than 50 flies tied by Charles DeFeo will also be featured. There's a lot more than this too.

The price for all this fun is $0. That isn't to say that the MSA wouldn't like a donation. The new president of the MSA, Dr. Robyn McCallum will also introduce herself, and I assure you we'd be happy to have your donation - but it isn't required to view the celebration. We want everyone to be able to see it. Donations of $50 or more will each get one chance in a drawing for a wonderful, Luther Hall, original painting. Goose Island Salmon. I almost forgot...you can register right now at this link http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ehfy4gvx871d6ac5&llr=fgtk8ywab

So set the evening aside, open a couple of your favorite beverages, maybe order-in, and get set for a great evening of Atlantic salmon entertainment.