Fran Betters
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Just heard that Fran Betters has passed away…..my thoughts go out to his wife Jan….Fran was one of a kind and will be missed
I basically grew up fishing the West Branch of the Ausable in the Adirondacks and Fran was invaluable in my learning to fly fish.
I’m sorry to hear that. I remember wandering into Fran’s shop about 12 or 13 years ago when I was a kid with my dad while fishing the West Branch. I actually think I still have a few Fran Betters tied flies in my boxes somewhere…could probably pick them out because he seemed to always use a bright orange thread for his Ausable patterns.
Too bad. He tied what would later become the comparadun, right? His original was the “Haystack” correct? And Ausable Wolf, too.
I think Betters created both the Haystack and “The Usual” back in the 1940s or 1950s. Unfortunately, it seems that those patterns have largely been forgotten as the precursor to the comparadun, but it would be hard to deny them that honor. The wing of those two patterns is angled forwards about 45 degrees and tied with less spread than the modern comparadun. Other than that, they are quite similar.
Only met Fran once few years back when I wandered into his shop on a trip to Ausable…..very straight forward…..very helpful…..and a true gentleman….no pretenses…..great sense of humour too…..here’s links to fly patterns for Ausable Wulff, Usual (or Phillip’s Usual as originally called), and Haystack:
Ausauble Wulff,
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