John Voelker flies and photos

[Tim Schulz]

Cameron Mortenson over at The Fiberglass Manifesto commented that he had been trading emails and phone calls with John Voelker’s grandson.  I’m a big fan of Voelker’s writing (pen name Robert Traver) and life, and am fortunate to be able to explore many of the same waters that he fished.  So, in response to Cameron’s comment, I posted some photos on facebook.  I thought some of you might enjoy seeing them here too.

Here is a collection of flies from John Voelker’s fly box:

My wife bought this display from the John Voelker Foundation and gave it to me as a gift.

Because of the curved glass enclosure, I had a heck of a time photographing this display.  I struggled even more trying to photograph the individual flies within the display, but here are a few of the better ones:

John Voelker liked to fish for brook trout with small flies:



That last one was probably a veteran of several battles.

This next one is a real mess:

The one on the left is a bold specimen:

Voelker didn’t tie flies, and most were gifts from friends and fans.  

“I only turned to writing books when it became all too comically evident that nature had never endowed me for tying flies but rather had left me so manually inept that, far from being able to tie a fly, I am barely able to unzip one.” . . . from “Hemingway’s Big Two-Hearted Secret” published in his book Trout Magic.

My personal favorite Voelker book is one he published with Life Magazine photographer Robert Kelley:

I think you can only buy this book in its original, first-edition form —  mine was given to me as a gift from my wife.  Here are some photographs of a few of the photos in the book:

and, finally, one of my favorite photos, period:

Hope you enjoyed some of these.

Cheers,
Tim

[Cameron Mortenson]

Tim…those are excellent photographs and scans.

[David Anderson]

One of my favorite writers.

I love the dry sense of humor and his obvious love of the outdoors. 😉

I’ve also fished up that way as a kid and every time I re-read one of his books really feel I shuld get back there ..

www.dsaphoto.com

A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.

[Tim Schulz]

David . . . his style of writing is so refreshing.  Many writers use complex words and phrases to express simple ideas;  he used simple words and phrases to express complex ideas.    “Testament of a Fisherman” is an excellent example of this.   And I agree with you about his humor.  

In many ways, he is now like the upper peninsula in which he lived and fished.  Known of by few, but loved by those who do.

[bill heffner]

Thank you! That was very interesting.

[Author]

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