Out of the river and feet firmly on dry ground is the axiom for the weekend. Our Sunday morning lull continued with a drawn out breakfast: fatty cheese, bacon, coffee, and last weeks Chicago Tribune. The good eating section was especially suitable with articles about shiitake mushrooms, micro-brewers, frogmore stew-from the Hunting Island area in the Carolinas, and the rebel food-bacon. As this has almost nothing to do with getting into the river and letting the current do the rest, the 11 o’clock hour was spent registering and getting up to speed for “Langs live sporting auction” held in New York. Hundreds of every conceivable fly rod, reel, books, paintings, etc… were auctioned to bidders worldwide via phone, fax, online, and in-house. I watched and bid on numerous reels Saracione’s, Bellingers, J. Austin Forbes, many Bogdan’s, and Hardy’s- “The Viscount, The Prince, Sunbeam, Bougle’s, St. Andrew’s.” The opening reel an A.F Talbot fetched over $7000 + with collectors worldwide feeding like piranhas, and continuing for the next two dozen reels, prices wavering little. Most of my bids had little hope of daylight, however, a beautiful unmentionable Abel fell into my lap for a song. The frenzy was really something to see and continues.
Langs online auction
Tearing myself from the computer at 12:30, we beat it down to the Kingsley Library to participate in the “Salute to the Adams” celebration and to hear stories about Len Halladay and the fly he invented for his longtime friend Judge Charlie Adams as told by Edna Sargent and others. The Boardman River has the honor of being the noted birthplace of the perhaps the most famous of dryflys, “The Adams.” Created in 1922 by Halladay for Adam’s by request, it was first used on a late afternoon hatch on the Boardman and by morning, appeals from other fisherman for more of the same fly were heard up and down river. Over time it was referred to as “the fly of pounds” which still seems to stymie some of the old timers. The original fly was tied using grey wool, red rooster hackle, grizzly tips for upright wings, and golden pheasant as a tail. It rests in a case with a note and memorabilia. After traveling the world, it is now in permanent collection of the Kingsley Library. Attached is a photo of the fly in case.