This week’s Interview with Anglers Past is one am excited about, though if I were a betting man, I would say that 98% of you have never heard of this angler/author. That is a shame for sure. Of course, there are countless anonymous anglers out there who are top notch fishermen and part of their charm is that they don’t seek the limelight. You’ve never heard of them. Kirk Deeter made a nice comment on this in Midcurrent recently.
With today’s guest I wish he was more well known because he wrote a book in the mid- 1920s that was, I would say, quite forward thinking and it is a shame it did not make more of splash. So, please welcome Henry Andrews Ingraham, author of American Trout Streams: A Discussion of the Problems Confronting Anglers in the Preservation, Management, and Rehabilitation of American Trout Waters (1926)
HoH: Henry, it is great to have you here with us, after all these years, I hope to bring some attention to your writing, as you seem otherwise fairly anonymous.
Henry Andews Ingraham (HAI): Thanks, HoH. I am flattered. You know I fished because I loved it. I fished with some of the early greats, but never sought the spotlight. . . I also had a career as a lawyer a family of four children keeping me busy, so. But, I am grateful for your praise. As for my writing, I wrote that book because I was concerned and hoped to draw issues of pollution to the influential membership of the Anglers Club of New York.
HoH: Before getting to your book, I will start with the most asked question of all time: Why do you fish? And what are your favorite places to fish?
HAI: Well, that is a difficulty question to answer in part because for some reason, fishing, and particularly fly fishing for trout and salmon, has solaced and stimulated the minds of poets, artists, philosophers, professional men and statesmen beyond that of any other sport. Personally, I prefer small streams. I think, actually, the choicest streams of all, for many of us, are our intimate American mountain streams rising high among the ever-changing clouds, foaming over ancient rocks, flowing into quiet pools, and finally merging peacefully into the larger rivers.
You know, I grew up fishing on the east coast, fished in intimate waters. However, I can certainly see the appeal of the great rivers of the West, where salmon were once prolific and the steelhead continue to return with some regularity.
HoH: Speaking of East coast fishing, what were your favorite places to fish?
HAI: Well, as a New Yorker, I fished in two primary places – the Poconos and the Catskills. Neither at the time were that easy to get to, lots of time riding the train, always thinking in anticipation of the fishing to come or exhaustedly reflecting on the fishing done.
HoH: Speaking of the Poconos, rumor has it you were a regular at the Henryville House on the Broadhead? Tells us about that.
HAI: Well, the Broadhead and the Poconos as a whole gained pretty steady popularity by the mid 1800s, by the turn of the century it saw steady decline. The region saw a lot of change over the years, but those were the prime years. It was something special back then to fish those waters, so healthy. Of course, hanging out at Henryville was special in itself. Those were the heydays of course. It was always something to pour a glass of scotch at the end of the day and listen to the fishing insights of George LaBranche.
Of course, I always wonder what it would have been like to be have been in the company those I just missed – such as George Washington Bethune and Frank Forester, author of the first American angling book (Fish and Fishing (1848)) conversing with Robert Barnwell Roosevelt, known as the somewhat crazy uncle of Theodore Roosevelt and author of Game Fish of North America (1862), all sitting around drinking scotch and bragging on their catches of the day.
HoH: Yes, that would have been something for sure. I hear that RBR was quite the ladies man, to say the least!
HAI: That is the word.
HoH: Your book struck me as original and forward thinking for the time. What inspired you to write about conservation issues, when most other fly fishing writers were writing about fly fishing technique and debating the merits of dry versus wet fly fishing?
HAI: Well, I think it starts with recognizing change in rivers like those in the Poconos. I was struck by those changes over the years, particularly since I came onto the scene at a time of decline. You know, I always believed that Man is a poor observer unless interested in the objects of his observation, and when interested in stream observation, no detail or fact is too small or insignificant to be ignored. A stream, to an angler, is seen not only with the eye and brain of an artist or poet, but in addition, it, and all of its wonderful surroundings become crammed with scientific interest, limitless in its scope and variety. In short, fly fishing should teach us all sorts of things about nature and should aid us in recognizing her decline. I firmly believe that the angler, then, has a responsibility to do something about that decline.
HoH: What do you see as the main causes of that decline?
HAI: It ranges from deforestation, pollution from industry, over fishing and general lack of respect. Of course, in our day we didn’t face mega-resource extraction issues as you do today: what you all call fracking, other forms of oil drilling such as those that face those famous waters of the Skeena, or mining that has impacted waters across the west and threatens places like Bristol Bay Chuitna, Alaska.
HoH: What was the biggest issue facing waters of your day?
HAI: Well, I sent a questionnaire on trout streams to several hundred prominent anglers in the United States, mostly of eastern states and they replied that the paramount cause for stream deterioration the result of the cutting of forests. But the issue is really one of management. We cut or extract resources without thinking of the costs of restoration in the long term. So, the immediate financial gain is great for some in the short term but a loss in the long for all.
We lose forests, we lost water. It shouldn’t take a scientists to figure that out. I understand we need timber, but One of our national crimes has been waste on a scale titanic – waste in our lumbering, in our milling, in our use of paper and in our failure to care for lumber when milled.
HoH: You wrote a lot about access, this remains a prominent problem today.
HAI: Listen, I understand the desire of land owners to protect against poaching and over fishing. I also, however, understand why some (particularly in my day) poached or over fished. But, there needs to be better cooperation between land owners and the public, land owners and state and federal agencies. To deprive and one of the privilege of fishing is real deprivation. And just because a private landowner owns his land, doesn’t mean that what he does on that land might not impact public waters. Private land owners should act through enlightened self interest, engage the public to aid in reforestation, the prevention of pollution, or the restoration of waters. If so, they build a legacy for the future of fisheries, which might not otherwise be revived.
HoH: In your writing, you seem insistent that fly fishing and conservation activity are or should be essentially connected.
HAI: Yes of course! Listen, fly fishing should teach us about the places we fish. “It is always a satisfaction to know the names of things about us – of trees, flowers, birds, and what not . . . when we recognize an object by its name we observe more of that object, more of other objects and of their relation to life in general. Until we know the name of the thing, we do not know the thing. Knowledge begins with names.” Knowing the names, knowing entomology, understanding the habits and habitats of wild native fish comes from fishing. That knowledge demands more than simply fishing.
Frankly, I am shocked that since my day, there remain a great many anglers who think it is enough to fish, when it is not enough.
As I concluded by book, All anglers should affiliate themselves with on or more of the various angling or conservation associations or clubs, in their immediate vicinity. Those valuable organizations are increasing and doing an important work. Organized effort is more effective than single effort. . . . Collective influence upon popular opinion and action carries great weight. . . . Through these organizations our influence will become effective. Conservation departments which are generally seeking better and better legislation, will be sincerely appreciative of the strength of the support of these associations representing a large membership of enlightened lovers of nature.
HoH: Well, that sums it up, I suppose. As I have written before. Either speak up, organize and fight for our fisheries or simply get off the water. Thanks for your time today, Henry.