MikeValla
Quiet streams, colorful trout
For those interested, The Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum is again sponsoring Fly Fest. Fly Fest 2012 is again being held at the CFFCM, Saturday Feb. 11, 10:00AM-4:00PM.
-This year's fly challenge is the Corey Ford. An old pattern created by Walt Dette for his friend, Corey Ford.
Here's one I tied: (the photo is from my book, "The Classic Dry-Fly Box".)
There is actually another late 1930's version, but this is the pattern version being tied:
So, practice up!!
>And, for the younger tiers, here's an excerpt from a story I wrote about Corey Ford, and my first introduction to his name.<
Corey Ford
(April 29, 1902-July 27, 1969)
By Mike Valla
>>"Over 40 years have passed since Walt and Winnie Dette graciously offered one of their spare bedrooms at the “old” Dette home that still stands alongside Rt. 17, within view of the Roscoe Diner. Dinner was over, Winnie’s Bridge Club had just left the house, and my first evening fly tying session with Walt came to a close. There would be ten days of this thrill ride but the first evening had to end, much too soon in the eyes of an eager and passionate fifteen year old kid. It was bedtime now.
I was staying in Walt and Winnie’s son Clay’s old room. Walt knocked on the door and asked if I liked to read before falling asleep. “What do you like to read?” Walt asked. I always read fishing books at bedtime, and that was my request to him. Walt returned to the room with an armful of books, piled to his chest. There were plenty to wade through over the next ten days. One book was written by someone I’d never heard of—a man named Corey Ford. I’m sure the book was one of Walt’s favorites—The Minutes of the Lower Forty (1962). There’s a clear recollection that Walt stayed in the room for a while, and told me about Corey Ford and experiences he had with him on the river. He obviously thought a lot of him. But who was this man Corey Ford?
During the 1950’s and 1960’s Corey Ford wrote for Field & Stream magazine a monthly column called, “The Lower Forty Hunting, Shooting and Inside Straight Club.” Ford wrote about the adventures surrounding a fictional group of sports- men living in Vermont. His writings were anthologized into books, including The Minutes of the Lower Forty. While Corey Ford is most remembered in fly fishing circles for that particular book one of the best pieces he ever crafted, for True magazine in 1952, was titled, “The Best-Loved Trout Stream of Them All.”
In the story Corey Ford told of the Beaverkill and his adventures on the river during the 30’s and 40’s. He writes: “I was born on the Beaverkill myself, in a manner of speaking. I learned to cast a dry fly over Barnhart’s Pool.” It’s a lovely tale about the pools and personalities that casted loops over their waters during those glorious years—personalities such as Theodore Gordon and his protégé Roy Steenrod, Rube Cross, Ted Townsend, John Alden Knight, Bill Schaldach, Mel Rosch, John Taintor Foote and John McDonald were not left out. And neither were the Dettes. Ford writes: “ Today Walt and his attractive wife Winnie have risen to the top of their profession, fashioning some of the most perfect feathered lures produced anywhere. Perhaps I am prejudiced: Walt named a trout fly after me once—the Corey Ford fly...”<<
-This year's fly challenge is the Corey Ford. An old pattern created by Walt Dette for his friend, Corey Ford.
Here's one I tied: (the photo is from my book, "The Classic Dry-Fly Box".)
There is actually another late 1930's version, but this is the pattern version being tied:
So, practice up!!
>And, for the younger tiers, here's an excerpt from a story I wrote about Corey Ford, and my first introduction to his name.<
Corey Ford
(April 29, 1902-July 27, 1969)
By Mike Valla
>>"Over 40 years have passed since Walt and Winnie Dette graciously offered one of their spare bedrooms at the “old” Dette home that still stands alongside Rt. 17, within view of the Roscoe Diner. Dinner was over, Winnie’s Bridge Club had just left the house, and my first evening fly tying session with Walt came to a close. There would be ten days of this thrill ride but the first evening had to end, much too soon in the eyes of an eager and passionate fifteen year old kid. It was bedtime now.
I was staying in Walt and Winnie’s son Clay’s old room. Walt knocked on the door and asked if I liked to read before falling asleep. “What do you like to read?” Walt asked. I always read fishing books at bedtime, and that was my request to him. Walt returned to the room with an armful of books, piled to his chest. There were plenty to wade through over the next ten days. One book was written by someone I’d never heard of—a man named Corey Ford. I’m sure the book was one of Walt’s favorites—The Minutes of the Lower Forty (1962). There’s a clear recollection that Walt stayed in the room for a while, and told me about Corey Ford and experiences he had with him on the river. He obviously thought a lot of him. But who was this man Corey Ford?
During the 1950’s and 1960’s Corey Ford wrote for Field & Stream magazine a monthly column called, “The Lower Forty Hunting, Shooting and Inside Straight Club.” Ford wrote about the adventures surrounding a fictional group of sports- men living in Vermont. His writings were anthologized into books, including The Minutes of the Lower Forty. While Corey Ford is most remembered in fly fishing circles for that particular book one of the best pieces he ever crafted, for True magazine in 1952, was titled, “The Best-Loved Trout Stream of Them All.”
In the story Corey Ford told of the Beaverkill and his adventures on the river during the 30’s and 40’s. He writes: “I was born on the Beaverkill myself, in a manner of speaking. I learned to cast a dry fly over Barnhart’s Pool.” It’s a lovely tale about the pools and personalities that casted loops over their waters during those glorious years—personalities such as Theodore Gordon and his protégé Roy Steenrod, Rube Cross, Ted Townsend, John Alden Knight, Bill Schaldach, Mel Rosch, John Taintor Foote and John McDonald were not left out. And neither were the Dettes. Ford writes: “ Today Walt and his attractive wife Winnie have risen to the top of their profession, fashioning some of the most perfect feathered lures produced anywhere. Perhaps I am prejudiced: Walt named a trout fly after me once—the Corey Ford fly...”<<
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