A Fly Fisher's Sixty Seasons
Page 12
There are six categories with ten questions in each. If you’re keeping score, award yourself a single point for each correct answer. There’s also one trick question worth an extra point (total of two), and one extra-credit question, also worth two points. That means sixty-two is the top score possible.
Ready? Here we go:
Fly Fishing History:
1. What early angler said: “Who has not seen the scarus rise, decoyed and killed by fraudful flies”?
a. Claudius Aelianus
b. Juliana Berners
c. Martial
d. What the hell is a scarus?
2. What early angler cautioned fishermen to “break no man’s hedges in going about your sports, nor open any man’s gates without shutting them again”?
a. Juliana Berners
b. Izaak Walton
c. Charles Cotton
d. Ernest Schwiebert
3. He is generally credited with making the first six-strip, split-bamboo fly rod in America:
a. Hiram Leonard
b. Fred Devine
c. C. F. Orvis
d. Samuel Phillippe
4. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, he wrote many influential letters and “little talks on fly fishing” for Forest and Stream and the British Fishing Gazette:
a. George LaBranche
b. Frederick Halford
c. J. D. Mottram
d. Theodore Gordon
5. He is generally credited with developing nymph fishing:
a. Frank Sawyer
b. Ernest Schwiebert
c. G. E. M. Skues
d. Ray Bergman
6. He was one of the leaders in the drive to establish modern fly-line standards:
a. Jim Green
b. Myron Gregory
c. Marvin Hedge
d. Leon Chandler
7. The first conclave of what was then known as the Federation of Fly Fishers was held in:
a. Sun Valley, Idaho
b. Jackson Hole, Wyoming
c. West Yellowstone, Montana
d. Eugene, Oregon
8. Who was first president of the Federation of Fly Fishers?
a. Ernest Schwiebert
b. Lee Wulff
c. Ted Trueblood
d. Gene Anderegg
9. He is generally credited with inventing the process of impregnating bamboo fly rods with Bakelite phenolic resin:
a. Hiram Leonard
b. E. F. Payne
c. Wes Jordan
d. Lew Stoner
10. In 1991, outdoor humorist Ed Zern eulogized a great fly fisher in these words: “We salute this pioneer, this explorer, this adventurer, this innovator, this artist, this conservationist, this film maker, this author, this realist, this defender of sport’s best traditions, this iconoclast of obsolete traditions, and above all, this great American sportsman.” Who was he talking about?
a. Lefty Kreh
b. Lee Wulff
c. Joe Brooks
d. Edward R. Hewitt
Answers: (1) c (2) a (3) d (4) d (5) c (6) b (7) d (8) d (9) c (10) b
Fly Fishing Literature:
1. When Izaak Walton wrote The Compleat Angler, he borrowed liberally from the work of this person:
a. Ernest Schwiebert
b. Dame Juliana Berners
c. Thaddeus Norris
d. William Samuel
2. Author of Days and Nights of Salmon Fishing in the Tweed:
a. George M. Kelson
b. Jock Scott
c. Anthony Netboy
d. William Scrope
3. Nineteenth-century British author Henry Cholmondeley-Pennell wrote several seminal works on fishing. If you wanted to ask a librarian to find one, you’d need to know how the British pronounce “Cholmondeley”:
a. C’mon Dolly
b. Chum-Lee
c. Chomon-delay
d. Schwiebert
4. He/she was author of Minor Tactics of the Chalk Stream:
a. G. E. M. Skues
b. Frederic Halford
c. Theodore Gordon
d. Mary Orvis Marbury
5. Author of Fishing for Fun and to Wash Your Soul:
a. Billy Graham
b. Jimmy Carter
c. Odell Shepherd
d. Herbert Hoover
6. Author of Thy Rod and Thy Creel:
a. Billy Graham
b. Jimmy Carter
c. Odell Shepherd
d. Herbert Hoover
7. He was perhaps the only concert opera singer ever to write a fly-fishing book:
a. Placido Domingo
b. Harry Plunket Greene
c. Luciano Pavarotti
d. Jack Hemingway
8. His novel, Pool and Rapid, was republished posthumously:
a. Philip Wylie
b. William Humphrey
c. Roderick Haig-Brown
d. Ernest Schwiebert
9. Author of The Essence of Fly Casting:
a. Joan Wulff
b. Lefty Kreh
c. Jacqueline Knight
d. Mel Krieger
10. Trout Madness and Trout Magic, both classics, were written by an author who used the pseudonym Robert Traver. What was his real name?
a. W. D. Wetherell
b. Zane Grey
c. John Voelker
d. Ernest Schwiebert
Answers: (1) d (2) d (3) b (4) a (5) d (6) c (7) b (8) c (9) d (10) c
Fly Fishing Nomenclature:
1. “Albright Special”
a. A fly pattern for use during the Albright hatch
b. An item on the menu at Burger King
c. A fly pattern utilizing hackle from the rare Rosey-nosed Albright
d. A knot sometimes used to join fly line to backing
2. “Butt section”
a. Surgical treatment for hemorrhoids
b. The first section of a rod (i.e., the one with a grip)
c. The passenger seat in a drift boat
d. The last inch of a good cigar
3. “Strike indicator”
a. Symptom of labor problems
b. The thing you stare at if you’re fishing a chironomid pupa imitation
c. Cowbell attached to the end of your propped-up cane pole
d. Gizmo used by the home-plate umpire to keep track of balls and strikes
4. “Forceps”
a. One more than threeceps
b. Gadget used to remove hooks from fishermen
c. May the forceps be with you!
d. Gadget used to remove hooks from fish
5. “Tippet”
a. When you leave a smaller tip than usual
b. The part of your leader attached to the fly
c. A choice cut of sirloin
d. The part of your leader that always breaks
6. “Tenkara”
a. Japanese dish featuring octopus tentacles
b. One more than ninekara
c. A Macedonian way of catching fish
d. None of the above
7. “Bimini twist”
a. A knot you tie with your knees
b. Popular Latin dance
c. Bacardi and soda with a dash of lime
d. Breakfast pastry
8. “Stripping guide”
a. A guide who takes off all his or her clothes
b. Guidebook for exotic dancers
c. The first and largest guide on the butt section of a fly rod
d. A guide who takes off all his or her clothes and yours too
9. “Solunar Tables”
a. They’re on page 112 of the instructions for Form 1040
b. Do you believe in the tooth fairy?
c. An app for your phone
d. Ernest Schwiebert
10. What is a “bead head”?
a. George W. Bush
b. A tropical rock band
c. Type of shampoo
d. A fly with a plastic or metal bead in
serted on the hook and tied in behind the eye
Answers: (1) d (2) b (3) b (4) d, or maybe b (5) b, or maybe d.(6) d (7) a (8) c, or maybe a or d (9) c (10) d
Fly Patterns:
1. “Gray Ghost” originator
a. Megan Boyd
b. Joe Bates
c. Carrie Stevens
d. Helen Shaw
2. “Adams” originator
a. Theodore Gordon
b. Leonard Halladay
c. Charles Adams
d. Ernest Schwiebert
3. Here’s the dressing:
Tail: Strips of mottled turkey feather
Body: Gold flat tinsel or Mylar
Underwing: Tan calf tail
Overwing: Matched mottled turkey feathers
Collar: Deer hair
Head: Deer hair spun and trimmed short
What’s the name of the pattern?
a. Humpy
b. Rat-faced McDougal
c. Muddler Minnow
d. Tom Thumb
4. “Pheasant Tail Nymph” originator
a. Frank Sawyer
b. G. E. M. Skues
c. Ernest Schwiebert
d. Jim Quick
5. Here’s the dressing:
Tail: Several barbules of natural or dyed blue dun hackle
Body: Stripped peacock quill
Wing: Wood duck or dyed mallard, upright and divided
Hackle: Natural or dyed blue dun
What’s the name of the pattern?
a. Adams
b. Blue-winged Olive
c. Quill Gordon
d. Dark Hendrickson
6. This New Zealand bird was nearly rendered extinct because its feathers were so popular for fly tying:
a. Kiwi
b. Pukeku
c. Kea
d. Matuka
7. The “Sofa Pillow” fly pattern is usually attributed to:
a. Cal Bird
b. George Grant
c. Bud Lilly
d. Pat Barnes
8. Here’s the dressing:
Hook: Size 2/0 to 6, weighted
Thread: Yellow
Eyes: Lead, placed atop hook so hook rides up. Eyes painted dark red with black pupils
Tail: Chartreuse bucktail
Wing: Yellow bucktail with gold Flashabou or Krystal Flash mixed in
What’s the name of the pattern (this is one of numerous different versions)?
a. Lefty’s Deceiver
b. Argentine Blonde
c. Clouser Deep Minnow
d. Key Lime Pie
9. It started out as the Michigan Hopper until popularized by Joe Brooks, after which this fly became known as Joe’s Hopper. Who was the originator?
a. Ernest Schwiebert
b. Art Winnie
c. Bill Huddleston
d. Leonard Halladay
10. Here’s the dressing:
Hook: Size 2 or 4
Thread: Pink
Eyes: 1/8 bead chain on size 4 hook or 5/32 bead chain on size 2, placed atop hook so hook rides up
Tail: Pearl Mylar tubing with strands teased out
Body: Pearl Diamond Braid
What’s the name of the pattern?
a. Crazy Charlie
b. Gotcha
c. Hoochy Caucci
d. Nacho
Answers: (1) c (2) b (3) c (4) a (5) c (6) d (7) d (8) c (9) b (10) b
Fly-rod Fish:
1. Taxonomists have reclassified the rainbow trout as Oncorhynchus mykiss. What was its scientific name before it was reclassified?
a. Salmo trutta
b. Salmo Irideus
c. Salmo Gairdneri
d. Salmo Schwieberti
2. This splendid gamefish has a lung-like organ that allows it to survive in poorly oxygenated water by rolling on the surface and taking in air. What is the fish?
a. Permit
b. Roosterfish
c. Triggerfish
d. Tarpon
3. What fish was named after a character in a Charles Dickens novel? (Extra point if you can also name the novel.)
a. Copperfield rockfish
b. Brown trout
c. Dolly Varden
d. Grayling
4. This gamefish is a member of the genus Thymallus:
a. Grayling
b. Whitefish
c. Sheefish
d. Bonefish
5. This gamefish, originally imported from the East Coast but now firmly established on the West Coast, is a member of the herring family. What is the fish?
a. Tarpon
b. Striped bass
c. Bonita
d. Shad
6. The kokanee is actually a landlocked species of this salmon:
a. Atlantic
b. Sockeye
c. Chinook
d. Chum
7. The so-called lake trout is actually a species of:
a. Whitefish
b. Char
c. Montana grayling
d. Northern pikeminnow
8. The Eastern brook trout has no:
a. Teeth
b. Adipose fin
c. Scales
d. Eyebrows
9. The caudal peduncle is:
a. Your stepfather’s brother
b. Not to be mentioned in polite company
c. The narrow part of a fish’s body to which the tail attaches
d. On the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue
10. (Warning! Trick question; correct answer worth two points.) If you caught a specimen of Eosalmo driftwoodensis, where and when would you have been fishing?
a. New Jersey in April
b. Northern Idaho in the Pleistocene Era
c. New Brunswick in August
d. British Columbia about forty million years ago
Answers: (1) c (2) d (3) c; the novel was Barnaby Rudge (4) a (5) d (6) b (7) b (8) c (9) c, or maybe d (10) d. E. driftwoodensis is the earliest known trout-like fossil fish, believed a forerunner of modern salmon, grayling, and whitefish. It was discovered in British Columbia.
Entomology:
1. Zygoptera:
a. Caddisflies
b. A small automobile manufactured in Albania
c. Damselflies
d. Dragonflies
2. Coleoptera:
a. Stoneflies
b. Beetles
c. An invasive examination of the human lower digestive tract
d. Backswimmers
3. Hymenoptera:
a. Ask your doctor
b. Caddisflies
c. Ants
d. Beetles
4. Ephemera:
a. A burrowing stonefly
b. A burrowing caddisfly
c. A burrowing mayfly
d. A burrowing Republican
5. Siphlonurus:
a. Mayfly
b. Caddisfly
c. Midge
d. A sexually transmitted disease
6. Crustacean:
a. Sowbug
b. Freshwater shrimp
c. Lobster
d. All the above
7. Hellgrammite:
a. Member of a California motorcycle gang
b. Alderfly larva
c. Dragonfly nymph
d. Dobsonfly larva
8. Diptera:
a. Chironomid
b. Beetle
c. You were inoculated for it when you were a kid
d. Water flea
9. Enallagma:
a. Dragonfly
b. Damselfly
c. Scud
d. World War II German coding device
10. Tricorythodes:
a. Small town in southern Greece
b. Carnivorous dinosaur
c. Tiny, hard-to-imitate mayfly
d. Trout liver parasite
Answers: (1) d (2) b (3) c (4) c (5) a (6) d (7) d (8) a (9) b (10) c
So how’d you do? C’mon now, tell the truth. Nobody else will know. A
nd there’s nothing at stake here; the only reward for having done well is the self-assurance that you can walk into any fly shop in the country and be able to understand the conversation.
The only consequence for having not done well is, I hope, some motivation to do better.
PART III:
LATE SEASON
“The season is ended. There was not enough
of it; there never is.”—Nick Lyons
THE PAST IS PROSE
THERE ARE times in every angler’s life when circumstances make it impossible to go fishing—health issues, family or business matters, weather (most often), or other problems—and these are occasions when a good fishing book can save the day. My library, which I’ve already described in detail, has rescued many such days for me, and its books have helped me become a better, more observant fisherman on those days when it is possible to get away.
It’s a funny thing about books, though; they age at the same pace we do. As I’ve grown older, so have my books, until now, when I look back, I’m amazed how long it has been since I first read some of them. But if they are still on my shelves, there must be reasons why I kept them—there were many I didn’t—and in most cases I still remember those reasons. Just to make sure, though, I decided recently to revisit some of these old volumes. I’ll tell you a little about them here just in case you missed them the first time around and might want to look for them now. I think all are still available if you search long enough, and some are worth the search.
Here they are:
The Philosophical Fisherman, by Harold Blaisdell (1969)
I was still a young, wet-behind-the-ears fisherman when I read this one and I’ve always had a nostalgic attachment to it, not because it’s a great book—it isn’t—but more, I think, because I liked its attitude. I remember being impressed by the author’s admission that what he knew about fishing was far less than what he didn’t know. I’d already read many books by people who seemed to think they knew just about everything there was to know about fishing, especially fly fishing, so it was refreshing to find someone who admitted otherwise. I also enjoyed Blaisdell’s relaxed writing style and repeated assertion that there are more important things in life than fishing (although I’d be hard-pressed to name more than one or two).
One of the more amusing tales in Blaisdell’s book is his account of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s visit to Rutland, Vermont, near Blaisdell’s home. “Because Ike was a fisherman,” he wrote, “arrangements were made for him to fish the headwaters of Furnace Brook. There is a federal trout hatchery situated on the banks of the stream, so it goes without saying that the ‘arrangements’ included a heavy stocking of large trout in the stretch which the President was to fish.” The hatchery superintendent, Blaisdell’s friend, asked him to help distribute the fish, which was done at night so the trout would be in position for Eisenhower to catch in the morning. “We stumbled around in the dark, spotting two-, three- and even four-pound rainbow along the stream, and it was well after midnight when the job was finished.”