A Few Warren Duncan Flies

 I suspect that there are very few folks that have fished Atlantic salmon on the Miramichi for awhile that haven't heard the name Warren Duncan.  I never met the man, but many of the anglers and fly tyers I know have many, many stories about him.   He was one popular, generous man who maintained a fly shop in Saint John, New Brunswick.   I won't attempt any sort of bio here; just google his name...he's easy to learn more about.  Warren died at his tying bench in 2007, an unfinished Rusty Rat in his vise.   Speaking of Warren and the Rusty Rat, one of his fascinating feats was tying a complete Rusty Rat in the little more than a minute it took him to recite Robert Service's The Cremation of Sam McGee.   I managed to hunt up a very poor quality video of Warren doing that:

The Atlantic Salmon Museum in Doaktown, NB is about to receive a few more of Dunc's flies for its collection.  They came to me (as a proxy for the Museum) via my friend Royce Stearns, who steered them to me while helping to disperse the angling estate of the late Ronn Lucas, Sr.    According to this note penned by Mr. Lucas, the flies arrived at his office (in 2003) completely unannounced - no note was included with them (don't forget that you can click on the pic for a larger version):

I think this first fly is his version of an Orange Blossom Special:

This is a Silver Doctor (thanks for the info, Jerome Molloy!):

Jerome also said that this is a Night Hawk.  And Jerome would know!!

Last up is, I believe, a Copper Killer:

These four flies exhibit Warren's flair for the overstated when it comes to flies for display.  His fishing flies were definitely tied more sparsely (although still pretty "full" of materials.   Courtesy of a gentleman from Maine (thanks, Mac!)  I have a small collection of Warren Duncan's flies:

My little collection affords the opportunity to directly compare one of Warren's wall hangers to one of this fishing flies...in this case the Copper Killer:

There are zillions of Warren Duncan-tied flies out there.  From what I can tell, he gave as many away as he sold.  I see them on various online auctions often; they usually sell for about fifty bucks each.  Some more, some less.

In the scant research I did to verify a couple things about Warren, I came upon a comment about his business card in a thread about his passing on the Speypages forum.  A close-up of his card reveals some letters after his name:

The fellow that was participating in that post about Warren wrote that he asked Warren directly what the "C.R.S., D.K.S." stood for.  His response:  "Can't remember shit, Don't know shit."   I do really wish I could have spent time with him.

Cheers,

Gary

The Atlantic Salmon Flies of Marc Madore

For a bit of background on Marc Madore, I'm quoting direct from author (esp. Modern Atlantic Salmon Flies; first and second editions) Paul Marriner's Facebook page celebrating the life of Marc Madore:

A Dark Montreal tied in 1958 led to an estimated 250,000 more flies from the vise of Marc Madore. Marc joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1961 and spent most of his career in Canada and Germany. Along the way, he jumped from scores of perfectly good airplanes, experiences his knees would later regret.

During a posting to Gagetown, Marc perfected his hairwing and spun deer-hair techniques under the tutelage of the late Garnet “Red” Tweedy, from nearby Burton. Next he tackled the classics and credited World Champion salmon-fly tier Jerome Molloy with polishing his technique. In 2001, Marc’s reputation led to a commission to create a Miramichi Valley fly to be presented to the Queen and other members of the Royal Family, and later Presidents Bush. The result was the Miramichi Viking.

In 1995 Marc and his wonderful wife Line retired to Blackville, NB on the banks of the Main Southwest Miramichi. From ‘95 to 2003 he tied more than a thousand dozen flies each year. Clients included LL Bean, WW Doak, Curtis Miramichi River Outfitting, and a list of fortunate individuals. After 2003 Marc sporadically tied commercially but spent most of his time at the vise helping others and working on new design and material ideas.

A score of original, successful, Atlantic salmon patterns emerged from Marc’s Regal. Top producers include the River Prawn series, Madorabou Assassin series, Canadian Black Dose, and the Dart series.

 I never met Marc Madore, but through the good offices of my friend Royce Stearns of Oregon City, Oregon,  I have met a delightful sampling of Marc's flies.   Marc, who spent most of the last years of his life in Blackville, NB, Canada, passed away in 2014, but in the years preceding that time, he developed a friendship with Ronn Lucas, Sr. of Milwaukie, Oregon.  Ronn, who passed away in 2023, was an extremely creative fly tyer and fly hook maker and also had a small business selling fly tying materials.  

Marc used to send Ronn flies he tied, demonstrating not only his incredible talent as a tyer, but also the broad spectrum of Atlantic salmon flies he tied, along with comments and letters talking about flies and fishing for Atlantic salmon.  Lucas kept all of Marc's gifts, and at his (Lucas') passing in 2023, his estate began to disperse the vast fly collection he had amassed.  My friend Royce is one of the experts helping to disperse that collection in a meaningful way and knew of my interest in Miramichi-related flies particularly, and of my connection to The Atlantic Salmon Museum in Doaktown, NB (I'm VP of the board there).

I agreed to accept the fly collection and correspondence on behalf of that Museum.  To ensure the safety of the collection,  Royce and I agreed that it would be best to wait 'til I was back in Vermont for the winter before sending it to me.  Suffice it to say, I was blown away as I slowly unpacked the flies and read the correspondence.  What a treat for this old fly tyer!  So here, with very little interpretation from yours truly, is what will be heading for the Atlantic Salmon Museum (my intent is to frame as much of it as possible to make it safe and easy to display.)

Marc created some delightful little vignettes of the basic steps in tying a few different flies, particularly what are generally called buck bugs (spun deer hair bodies...hence the "buck")

Click on the pics for larger versions!

Green Machine (the fly I love to hate):

White/Orange Bomber

Yellow Buck Bug

I continue to enjoy tying vintage strip wing salmon fly patterns.  Marc was a Master:

 

Another vignette:

An interesting letter (talks about tying flies for George Bush and more):

I believe this is the set of flies he's referencing in his letter to Ronn:

Marc and Marabou:

His streamers are the stuff fly tyers dreams are made of!

And then there are the shrimp patterns!  Note those are all on blind eye hooks!

Showing off Lucas' iridescent dubbing:

Royce Stearns brought these comments and  recipes of Marc's from the old FAOL website to my attention:

https://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/atlantic/shrimp/madoreshrimp.php

https://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/atlantic/shrimp/index.php

Very helpful link right there, thanks Royce!

From the folks I've talked to about Marc, he gave freely of his expertise, and helped a great many people become better fly tyers.   A photo of Marc behind the vise, from Paul Marriner's Facebook page (BTW, Paul is an important chronicler of fly tyers that have made a difference, and I've been using his book, Modern Atlantic Salmon Flies, since the day I started tying salmon flies.  He generously gave permission to quote from his page and use the photo:

That man could certainly tie a fly.  Cheers,

Gary

A Turntable for Frame Finishing

 

Since I starting making my own frames, I always struggled with how to apply stain and final finish without a need to handle the frame.   The best I could come up with was a couple blocks of wood screwed to a piece of plywood or other pine stock set on a plastic tub of some sort. This (you can click on the pics for larger versions):

That still required picking up the board and some how twirling it around to get finish on all sides of the frame.  At least I didn't have to touch the frame but I still stirred up quite a bit of dust.

In a recent internet conversation centered around one of my framing-centric blog posts, a friend suggested a turn table.  Well, actually, he suggested a Lazy Susan, but I worry, dear readers, about pushback concerning sexist language, so we'll stick with turntable.

My lovely partner Bridget got wind of that conversation, and, ever on the search for meaningful Christmas presents, she went looking for components to build a turn table at our local orange big box store.  Christmas morning I opened a box that had a 24"  and a 16" diameter pine "plates", a turn table, and a batch of screws.   That assortment of goodies would solve some of my problems (relating to framing, that is), but not all of them.  I'd still need the same bucket and board set-up I'd been using...it would just be easier to rotate, sitting up there on the turntable.

Enter the T-slot system, which would allow me to move one set of  "uprights" to fit any of the size frames I usually build.  I've always wanted to build something with them.  Do remember that I am not a production shop...most all of my frames are "one offs" built to handle different art and flies most every time.   So I purchased a set of 24" T-slot "rails" and a set of t-bolts and knobs.  Lots of places to buy those online; I used Rockler.

The pieces of the puzzle:

A key ingredient in building this turn table, that may take it out of the equation for some erstwhile builders, is a router.  It is needed to cut the 3/4" dadoes that the rails sit in so they are flush with the top of the 24" plate.  I suppose one could just screw the rails down on top of the plate, but where's the fun in that?  Who doesn't love cleaning up a huge pile of pine sawdust thrown all over the shop by a cutter whirling at 15,000 rpm's??

I assembled the rails with temporary pieces of plywood, drilled with identically spaced holes to accept the t-bolts, tied them down with the knobs, set them down on the 24" plate, and traced the outlines of the rails on it.  I did this to ensure that the rails were as parallel as possible so that the uprights (yet to be displayed) would slide easily on the rails.

There are some pretty picky instructions concerning mounting the smaller bottom plate to the top plate with the turntable.  Suffice it to say, if I can do it, anyone can.  Here's the bottom's up view:

I made the L-shaped uprights seven inches tall.  It puts the frame at a comfortable working height when placed on my 36" tall assembly table, and that space keeps any blowback from finishing spray hitting the mounting plate down to a dull roar.

I have a batch of these little "painters points" (don't know what they're really called), which allow me, if I need for some small object or another, to place a board over the uprights and, again, twirl it around without raising a fuss of dust...or fingerprints.

 

Best of all, I can have a bonfire with all these different frame holders that I needed before I built my new Lazy Susan turn table!

Cheers!

Gary

Giving Back

Thomas Aquinas Daly is, according to some, the most famous and respected artist of the sporting art genre of our time. You can’t paint this stuff if you don’t love and appreciate it yourself. Luckily for the Miramichi Salmon Association, Tom loves Atlantic salmon, and rivers like the Miramichi – perhaps the greatest salmon river in the world.