Warren Duncan Tying a Rusty Rat While Reciting Poetry

The quality is not great but here is a classic video clip of Warren Duncan reciting the Cremation of Sam McGhee while tying a Rusty Rat.

If you've never heard of Warren Duncan, here is a snippet from a tribute Paul Schmookler wrote in the Art of Angling after Duncan passed away in 2007.

I knew at our first meeting that Dunc had a remarkable talent for either commercial fly dressing or stand-up comedy. He was quite at ease and adept at either. When he tied at the vice, reciting Robert Service poetry or telling hysterical jokes in rapid secession, with a cigarette in the corner of his mouth, sipping four fingers of rye (neat) in one hand, and the bobbin moving simultaneously at light speed in the other, it reminded one more of an off-Broadway show than a fly-tying demonstration. Warren Duncan was the fastest and most orderly fly dresser I have ever seen in my life, and I would stake my reputation that he was probably the fastest fly tier that ever lived. Many years ago, I had the pleasure of being the judge at a speed fly tying match at the Miramichi Salmon Museum in Doaktown, New Brunswick, involving some of the best hair-wing fly dressers on the east coast, that is, those who dared to enter the competition. The fly was a Rusty Rat. Needless to say, Duncan won by an extraordinary time of 1 minute 13 seconds … and the fly was perfection: I know, because as judge I appropriated the fly. Yes, the tiers were allowed to pre-prep.

LINK (Via: The Art of Angling)

Vintage Chum - Schwiebster Edition

Stan had a bit of a crush on Kathryn

Stan and Me is Kathryn Maroun's account of her friendship with Stanley Bogdan, the legendary inventor of the Bogdan reel.

Interviews with Anglers Past

Sam Snyder brilliantly turns the current fly blog interview craze on its ear with an interview of Dame Julia, the first in his Headwaters series of Interviews with Anglers Past.

LINK

Against the Stream: One Man’s Story of Obsession, Rebellion, and Fly-Fishing

This profile of John Gierach by writer Dale Bridges originally appeared in the August 2009 issue of Denver Magazine.

My favorite piece of information that I learned about Gierach during the course of writing this article: He once had a regular column in the New York Times, but he quit because, as he says, “They were assholes.”

LINK (Via Dale Bridges)

Soon to Be Released

In March of 1993, Fly Rod and Reel featured a piece about Bob Wolf's bronze sculpture, Soon to Be Released, honoring his idol of 40 years, Lee Wulff. According to the story Wolf, a Nebraska wildlife artist living part time in Wyoming, met his idol guiding him in the Jackson One Fly in 1990. After watching Wulff fish for a day he knew that he had to devise a tribute and the idea for the sculpture was born. Approved by both Joan and Lee, the project was delayed by Lee's sudden death in April of 1991 which just further inspired Wolf see the project through. The sculpture was unveiled in 1992 at the same place it was conceived, the Jackson Hole One Fly.

Wolf rendered Lee as he appeared in 1960 and the piece was available in three sizes, a table edition (15 inches high), a garden edition (80 percent life size) and a monumental edition. We did a quick search and just happened to find #78 of the 300 table top editions for sale at the New Hampshire Antique Co-op. The description does not do justice to the background on the piece or what inspired the artist who passed away in 2009, now you know the story.

You will have to click through to see the price.