“Nick took his fly rod out of the leather rod-case . . . he had paid eight dollars for it
a long time ago. It was made heavy to lift back in the air and come forward flat and heavy and straight to make it possible
to cast a fly which has no weight.”
~ Ernest Hemingway
Big Two-Hearted River (1925)

 

"I sometimes remind myself that bait and
spincasters catch more fish every season with fluorescent wool wrapped on a hook than
we fly fishermen do with our most elegant conceptions and our deepest probings of steelhead psychology. I find the exercise a healthful one since it reinforces humility and bolsters confidence at the same time.”
~ Roderick Haig-Brown,
Master and His Fish (1975)

Fly kit of James T. Mattingly

“Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish that they are after”
~ Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862),
from the Journal

Flies and drawing by Richard Bunse

“Nick’s heart tightened as the trout moved.
He felt all the old feeling.”
~ Ernest Hemingway
Big Two-Hearted River (1925)

James T Mattingly
WOU Emaritus Art Faculty

Jim Fishing the Metolius
June 11, 2004

Eight foot two-piece two tip “Little Cutthroat Rod” with Phlugar Delight fly reel
Seven foot two-piece rod with corncob handle, maker unknown
Nine foot three-piece two tip Eustis Edwards (Mount Carmel)
Eight foot three-piece two tip Heddon (Bill Stanley) with Sturdy built Juanita reel

Flies by John Henslee and Tammy Carmichael

"Fly fishing is solitary, contemplative, misanthropic, scientific in some hands, poetic in others, and laced with conflicting aesthetic considerations. It is not even clear if catching fish
is actually the point."
~ John Gierach, Dances with Trout (1994)

Flies by Jackson Stalley

“You must not use this artful sport for covetousness, merely for the increasing or saving of your money, but mainly to procure the health of your body and, more especially, of your soul.”
~ Dame Juliana Berners,
Treatise of Fishing with an Angle (1496)

 

"One great thing about fly fishing is that
after a while nothing exists of the world
but thoughts about fly fishing"
~ Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It (1976)

 

"Fly tying is both an art form and a science: an art form of necessity and science by evolution”
~ J. Edson Leonard, The Essential Fly Tier (1976)

Flies by Mark Weiss

"Often I have been exhausted on trout streams, uncomfortable, wet, briar scarred, sunburned, mosquito bitten, but never with a fly rod in my hand, have I been unhappy"
~ Charles Kuralt (1996)

Flies by Bob Hautala

"The biggest things a steelheader or Atlantic salmon fisherman can have--not counting waders and a stipend--are a big arm and a room temperature IQ."
~ Thomas McGuane, Harper’s Magazine (1984)

Fly earrings and Royal Coachman fly pin by John Henslee

“When you fish with a flie, if it be possible,
let no part of your line touch
the water but your flie only.”
~ Izaak Walton, Compleat Angler (1653)

Flies and drawing by Richard Bunsee

"Calling fly-fishing a hobby is like
calling brain surgery a job."
~ Paul Schullery (1987)

Atlantic Salmon by John Henslee

“The well-tied fly is just a beautiful object”
~ Joan Wulf, Interview (1987)

Roderick Haig Brown broadside on loan from Richard Bunsee

"With many persons fishing is a mere recreation, a pleasant way of killing time. To the true angler, however the sensation it produces is a deep unspoken joy, born of a longing for that which is quiet and peaceful . . . No wonder that, the fly fisher loves to take a day all by himself; for his very loneliness begets a comfortable feeling of independence and leisure, and a quiet assurance of resources within himself to meet all difficulties that may arise . . . "
~ Thaddeus Norris, American Angler’s Book (1864)

The art of the Trout Fly
by Judith Dunham

 

 

SPECIAL Acknowledgements

We would not have been able to put this exhibit together without the generous donation of time and artifacts from numerous participants. We give a heart felt thanks to the following:

Maren Anderson
- for creative ideas in planning for this exhibit
- for assistance in planning the reading event

Richard Bunse
- for creative ideas in the planning for this exhibit
- permission to use his drawing on the postcard
- for loaning his antique reels, framed drawings with flies and
his Roderick Haig-Brown volumes for the exhibit
- for his time in assisting in the installation

Tammy Carmichael
- for loaning flies from her first tying class

Denise Chase
- for assistance in installation

Nancy Ganson
- for loaning the illustration, Fly Fishing in the West

Bob Hautala
- for contributing his enthusiasm and love of fly fishing as an art form
- for countless hours in creating the graphite rod for the auction
- for loaning his award winning flies for the exhibit

John Henslee
- for his creative hand in loaning his framed full dress framed fly, fly jewelry and fishing flies for the exhibit

Henry Hughes
- for literary touches in the exhibit
- for arranging the Ted Leeson reading

Donnie Mattingly
- for loaning her husband’s fly box, Fly Fishing magazine, framed and working flies

John William Parpart
- for building the fly display boxes

James Snyder
- for loan of framed flies for the exhibit

Jim Schollmeier
- for the use of his digital photographs for the entomology section of the exhibit

Mark Weiss
- for loaning flies for the exhibit

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR BUSINESS SPONSORS

Scarlet Ibis – Corvallis, OR
- for lending their time in the fly casting demonstration

Creekside Fly Fishing – Salem, OR
- for generous donation of raffle items at the Ted Leeson Reading

Santiam Flycasters – Salem, OR
- for generous donation of their time in the fly tying demonstration
Jerry Gibs, Jim Fisher, Jim Snyder, Gene Lynn, Ken Karosh & Jackson Stalley