My 2022 Miramichi River Time

Between time spent on the river in New Brunswick and at home here in southern Vermont, 2022 was a busy, fulfilling year. Thought it would be fun to do a little retrospective of my time on the river in 2022, mostly for myself - this blog acts as kind of a personal journal for me, which I do enjoy sharing with other, hopefully like-minded, folks. On to Spring, Summer and Fall on the Miramichi. It was fun to watch Spring happen from the same spot every morning down by the river in front of our place!

The big project for me on the river was a shed for our stuff! It was fun to build (except when the temp hit the 90's and there's no shade!); always like to work with my good friend Vin.

In June, the Miramichi Salmon Association was finally (after 2 years of you-know-what) able to hold its Icebreaker fundraiser. My friend Pat Simpson Price had recently gotten into laser engraving on her woodworking projects. She made me this special "gavel" for my auctioneering duties at the event:

True story: After the event was over, I remembered I forgot the gavel up at the podium, so went up to retrieve it. There were still plenty of folks milling around. As I was heading out with the gavel, a very nice middle-aged lady stood up as I walked by, kind of turned her back to me, and, turning her head to look at me said, "I've been a VERY bad girl." Yikes! With a nice smile for her, I was outa there! Of course, like many others at that event, I neglected to wear a mask. A week later...positive:

I was actually supposed to head back to Vermont for a bit right about then. Nope, got an extra ten days of Miramichi. Very solitary Miramichi. Fortunately, good friends drop off essentials on my truck tailgate. Essentials like Moose Light, especially! I did fun things like count mosquitos on the scree door, watch old movies, and a nice summer rain.

My new Camp Chef double grill was a good addition to the camp. Cooking breakfast outside is great, and those shishkabobs...I ate them like three per week!

The good news is there is plenty of room to walk along the river and not risk infecting anyone. When I felt a little better, Brodie and I would start back to ourearly morning walks. I believe the geese were not happy to see us again!

Speaking of Brodie, he wears a Garmin Alpha when we're out and about. The GPS thingy is incredible; I know right where he is at all times...within 9 miles in flat country! The red is Brodie's track, the blue is me.

You have to admit that if you gotta be sick, be sick here to help keep things in perspective

It was also fun to keep tabs on this little female Hairy Woodpecker in her nest cavity. It was maybe twelve feet up in that aspen, and it almost looks like she has a roof over her spot. Eventually I could even hear her babies screaming for lunch.

Then there were these guys showing up evenings to partake of last years bumper acorn crop:

Brodie and I took every effort to sit back and enjoy the view as often as possible:

Once covid had passed, we'd even have company!

And different kinds of company!

Note to self: Don't keep trash in truck unless I want bear prints all over it.

Bears were everywhere. From right where I was cutting firewood:

to a crab apple tree at the Swazey homestead. They broke that big limb then pooped all over it!!

I love being in camp the last several years for the first frost. Made it again this year! (about that ASF decal; they have not been helpful with some of MSA's most important efforts, so they're lucky the decal is still there.)

Bridget came up in September, and we actually did a little fishing. Well, I was practicing my casting...she was landing salmon.

Have I mentioned lately that September sunsets on the Miramichi can be quite awe inspiring?

This has become one of my favorite photos of time spent on the river. It's September and our guide, Erdy Price, is poling us back to camp in late evening.

And of course, over the seasons, we had parties. Porch parties

and river side parties

Hazel Swazey likes to arrive in style at these get-togethers

And just as it was so enjoyable to watch Spring arrive on the river, watching Autumn arrive was pretty awesome, too!

Last campfire of the season:

It was all so much fun (minus the Covid) that I think I'll do it again this year! Cheers, Gary

Ira Gruber's Atlantic Salmon Flies

 A great many Atlantic salmon anglers, and even a great many Atlantic salmon fly tyers, have likely never heard of Ira W. Gruber.   I'm hoping this blog post changes that fact, and a new book by Gruber's grandson, Ira D. Gruber will go a long way towards bringing his grandfather's flies and contributions to Atlantic salmon fly tying to light:  Ira Gruber's Atlantic Salmon Flies (Stackpole Books 2022).

Some salmon fly tying friends and I have been anxiously awaiting this book for almost a year.  My friend Pam Bates Richards, co-author with her father Col. Joseph Bates of Fishing Atlantic Salmon - the Flies and the Patterns (Stackpole Books 1996), alerted me to its upcoming publication when I asked if there were any Gruber flies in her collection that might help my pals and I tie better copies of this flies.  Several emails with grandson Ira D.  also shed light on Ira W's flies.

I won't recount Gruber's life and times here...his grandson does a great job of that in his book.  In fact, that section of the book was a pleasant surprise to me.  I thought it would just center on Ira W's flies. Many authors, including both Pam Bates Richards and Joe Bates - feel that "Gruber's flies form the basis of modern North American flies."   If you have any interest in historic Miramichi Atlantic salmon flies and tyers, this is a must-have book.

Back in July of 2021, a gentleman posted on the Classic Fly Rod Forum  ( http://classicflyrodforum.com/forum/index.php)  that he had purchased, at an estate sale, quite a few Ira Gruber flies and several of his personalized boxes.  He posted this photo of his treasure find on that forum (And remember that you can click on an image to enlarge it!):

I contacted him, noting my interest in the flies, and the fact that the Atlantic Salmon Museum in Doaktown, NB (I'm on their board of directors) could certainly use a collection like that (meaning the Gruber flies specifically).   Without hesitation, he said he'd send them to me to give to the Museum on his behalf.  I agreed to do so, and also agreed to frame them so that they would be more publicly accessible than perhaps otherwise presented.

Once I received the flies, I realized I didn't know many of their names, so, with kind permission of the donor, I decided to wait until I had the new Gruber book in hand to try and put names to flies.  It worked!  Here is a sample of what I was able to put together (love doing this kind of thing!) and I'll let the photos tell the story.  First, some of what I received as it came in the mail:

Wouldn't you love to know who wrote on the box?  And doesn't that look like a fly DeFeo or Jennings would draw?   Did I mention that in the book, Ira D. writes that his grandfather was visited by both of those gentlemen at his camp in Doaktown, NB?   The plot thickens.  

And here is what I have thus far been able to piece together, name-wise (note that the flies I have I photographed with a page from the book as a backdrop.  Each fly has an interesting history/description to go along with the photo:

The flies I've identified from the collection sent to me by the generous gentleman from the Classic Fly Rod Forum:

And when it was in its little baggie:

And the American Jock Scott as tied by the late Wallace Doak from a photo (page 425) in Bates and Richards 1996) with the same two Gruber flies:

And perhaps a slight variation (note the tail) in a fly in the collection for the Museum:

That's it thus far for what I can identify in the collection.   Can we say for sure that Ira W. Gruber tied them?  I mean, the donor of the collection states that he bought the group of flies at an estate sale advertised as Gruber's estate in Ira's hometown, it includes his personalized fly boxes, and, let's face it...Ira didn't seem to give a hoot about how his fly's heads looked, and all of these flies surely do fit within that frame work.  My old friend, the late Bob Warren, was always laughing when he joked that Clovis Arseneault's flies looked like he put the head cement on with a popsicle stick.  With all due reverence, maybe Ira used a toothpick??  Looking forward to creating a shadow box with these flies in it for the Museum's wall.

Some time ago, I asked a group of great fly tyers if they wouldn't tie up some "old timey" featherwings that we could somehow use as a fundraiser.  At that point, we were specifically thinking about a beautiful wall calendar.  Well, so far that hasn't worked out, although I did photograph the flies and have them ready for a calendar should  someone or some group ever come out of the woodwork to use them for that purpose, but in the meantime,  I shadow box framed three sets of the flies (ten flies in each framing) for fundraisers for the Miramichi Salmon Association and the Atlantic Salmon Museum.  The first of the framings (I am happy to report!) sold in an MSA online auction in February, 2022 for 700 bucks!   It now resides in Atlanta, Georgia (lol, the long arm of the Atlantic salmon!).   Here are the three framings, each with a different set of flies as I said, tied by among the best salmon fly tyers in the Maritimes and New England.  Here's the first, which sold for $700 (not, I hope obviously, color corrected photo):

And its flies. Note that this set contains two Ira Gruber creations:  A Blackville, tied by Jerome Molloy, and an Oriole tied by Lloyd Lutes.  Don't forget that you can click on the pic to enlarge it!

And the second, which will be in the next (late April 2022) MSA online auction:

No Gruber creations in this batch:

And the third and final set, which will go on the auction block at the Atlantic Salmon Museum's Hall of Fame dinner on May 14, 2022.

And there's and Gruber creation, the Reliable, on this side, tied by Stephen Nye.

Here are how those Gruber originals (Oriole, Reliable and Blackville), tied by my friends, might look on a nice wall calendar (hint, hint, anybody interested in backing that project??)

If you have any interest at all in the development of Atlantic salmon flies, particularly flies tied specifically for the Miramichi, Ira Gruber's Atlantic Salmon Flies is a book you need on your shelf or at your tying bench.  Might as well make it easy for you, you can buy it here:  

https://www.amazon.com/Ira-Grubers-Atlantic-Salmon-Flies/dp/0811770435/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3NP9EC0XCOYCC&keywords=ira+gruber&qid=1649434232&sprefix=ira+gruber%2Caps%2C99&sr=8-1.   Oh, and I get no commission for sales.   I just feel good about recommending the book.

This has been a really fun blog post to do.  I shoulda worked in a fly fishing museum!  Oh, wait, that's right.....

Cheers,

Gary T.

Remembering Bryant Freeman

 Bryant - who was one of those "larger than life" characters on the salmon rivers of the Maritimes - passed away last year. He was the world's greatest proponent of the Carter Bug for Atlantic salmon. I bet thousands of tyers and anglers learned, one way or another, how to tie and/or fish the bug. I met him, finally, back in 2016, on the Miramichi, where he gave me a Carter's Bug right out of his fly box:

Chris Williams, an artist and fly tyer from New Brunswick, created a beautiful image of the Carter Bug as a tribute to Bryant and as a fundraiser - all the funds from the sale of the print went to the Miramichi Salmon Association. I bought one, and then asked Chris if he'd consider donating one printed on good watercolor paper - I'd frame it - but we needed a Carter's Bug tied by Bryant for the framing. Chris contacted Bryan Burgess, also of NB, and Bryan stepped right up to the plate, donating a nice big Carter's Bug. The three of us collectively decided we'd donate the finished framing to the Atlantic Salmon Museum in Doaktown, NB (Bryant is a member of the Museum's Hall of Fame). So sometime this year, the framing will be auctioned to benefit the Museum. Oh, and yes, I made a duplicate framing for myself, with the Carter Bug Bryant gave me that Fall day on the river.

It's always fun to get together with like-minded folks, and do something that benefits a good cause while at the same time paying tribute to an all 'round great man.  Cheers,
Gary