News

The American Fly Fisher Publishes A River Runs Through Tom Thomson

The American Fly Fisher, the renowned quarterly journal published by the American Museum of Fly Fishing, has published an essay written by Robert Reid. Titled ‘A River Runs Through Tom Thomson,’ the essay argues that Canada’s legendary visual artist and spiritual guide of the Group of Seven was not only a fly fisherman but might well have tied flies to match the hatch.

The essay, which spans eleven pages as the Spring 2022 issue’s feature contribution, is based on a chapter in Reid’s memoir Casting into Mystery, published by the Porcupine’s Quill in 2020 and featuring wood engravings by master engraver Wesley W. Bates. Reid published an earlier version of the essay in 2017 and posted it on his blog www.reidbetweenthelines.ca

Combining extensive research and his understanding of fly fishing, both its history and its practice, Reid discusses Thomson in a historical context of fishing in the early years of the twentieth century when the artist spent some of each consecutive year from 1912 through the summer of 1917 in Algonquin Park, where he unexpectedly and suspiciously died on Canoe Lake. An avid fisherman, he sketched and painted in the park, and served at various times as a park ranger and fishing guide.

Some of the commentators mentioned below refer to Roy MacGregor, the prominent Canadian journalist and author who wrote Northern Light, in which he cast doubt–in very condescending, and patronizing language–about Thomson being a fly fisherman. The seeds of my essay, which grew over time like branches of a river, were planted as a critical rebuttal to MacGregor.

The essay–which features Thomson’s most accomplished angling painting, archival photographs and a couple of Wesley Bates’s wood engravings including a haunting death portrait of Thomson–has been well-received within the international fly angling literary community.

Keith Harwood, a prominent British angling historian, author and editor (The Hardy Book of the Salmon Fly, Tight Lines: The Story Abu, Fish & Fishers of the Lake District, Sir Walter Scott on Angling, John Buchan on Angling and The Angler in Scotland, among others), praised the essay.

In an email to the journal’s editor, Kathleen Achor, he noted that he ‘was delighted to read (the) article on Tom Thomson. Please pass on my congratulations to (Robert Reid.) He makes a very convincing case for Thomson being a fly fisherman and a slightly less convincing case for him being a fly dresser. . . I am a great fan of (Thomson’s) work and the Group of Seven and have several books on their work. Over twenty years ago my wife and I saw a wonderful exhibition of their work in the Art Gallery of Ontario during a visit to Toronto.

In many ways (although their styles are completely different), Thomson reminds me of the British Pre-Raphaelite artist Sir John Everett Millais. Like Thomson, Millais was a passionate angler who often fished with Rupert Potter, father of Beatrix Potter, on the Tay, and, like Thomson, rarely painted a fishing picture. A couple of years ago I wrote an article on Millais for Classic Angling magazine.’

Henry Hughes, a prominent American angling historian, author and editor (Back Seat with Fish and Everyman’s Pocket Classics’ Fishing Stories and The Art of Angling: Poems About Fishing) also praised the essay.

‘Forgive the long silence–just busy with school, editing–and some fishing,’ he wrote in an email. ‘I wanted to say how much I loved your article on Tom Thomson. Of course, I remembered it from Casting into Mystery, but it seems you added a bit, and the images and layout are very fine. The American Fly Fisher offered you the classy showcase your work deserves. Keep up the great work, sir.’

Closer to home, in Southwestern Ontario, Doug Wilson, president and CEO of the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory and a longtime angler, offered a profusion of kind words.

‘You are an elegant writer, Rob,’ he wrote in an email. ‘You have done something remarkable, blending critical argument and exhaustive research with (angling) lore–and doing so in a manner that is downright engaging. Fly fishing is art and art is in the casting of a fly line, and this essay firmly establishes this fact. And what better vehicle than through the story of Tom Thomson. I can’t imagine the amount of time you spent researching this piece. But look what you have accomplished.

‘I loved the essay, more accurately I loved losing myself in the essay. I will tell you that, when we bought our first computer and finally connected to the internet (via dial-up), the first thing I did was sign up for an online membership with the Boston Museum of Fine Art because, at the time, it had a superb collection of Winslow Homer’s work.  I spent hours when the kids were in bed leafing through the paintings (back then it took hours for the images to load).

‘In 2002 I travelled to Ottawa to see a retrospective of Thomson’s work at the National Gallery. The poster still hangs in our kitchen. I got emotional when I came upon his paint box in a display case. So, the connection you draw between these two revered artists means a great deal to me and I can imagine it will resonate with anyone who reads your essay, anyone who has an interest in art and in fly fishing.

‘When I read your essay the same thing happened that happened when I looked at those paintings. You gave me permission to let my mind wander and dream of Northern streams and the sun on my face and the scent of cedars and the spring song of Chickadees. But, most importantly, it’s the argument you so eloquently put forth establishing Thomson as a fly fisher that will put the nonsense of his not casting a fly line to bed once and for all. (Why do you suppose Roy MacGregor has such a problem identifying Thomson as a fly fisher?)

‘Your essay will no doubt find its way into the hands of many readers and firmly establish you as a critical essayist extraordinaire. I am so grateful to you for the chance to read this essay. I can now slip it into a protective cover to be pulled out and read and re-read as the soul requires.’

Wood Engraving of Tom Thomson as portrayed by Wesley W. Bates

Doug Kirton is a longtime practicing artist and associate professor in fine arts at the University of Waterloo, where was recently department chairman. Although new to fly fishing, he offers a perspective that combines love of the contemplative recreation with knowledge of painting and art history.

‘Your article is totally convincing on Tom as a fly fisher,’ he wrote in an email. ‘I think those of us who understand (art and fly fishing), know this for sure. In the broader picture, your article goes a long way in promoting a deeper understanding of Canadian history in general, especially the references to our music and literature. You’ve done a great service to the arts in Canada.

 ‘You strengthen your argument from all directions: the Audrey Saunders part is particularly solid testimony. Has Roy MacGregor seen the chapter in Casting into Mystery? If not, I wonder what his reaction to the American Fly Fisher article will be? And did you send a copy to the British guy (director Ian Dejardin) at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection? I hope he reads it slowly and carefully!

‘I agree that The Fisherman is Tom’s most lucid figure painting. There is a grace about the gesture that makes me think he worked from a photo for reference, just because it’s so specific, and as we know, Tom wasn’t noted for his figurative skills. However, his training as an illustrator and graphic designer would have honed his visualization skills . . . so who knows? I must admit to still being a little troubled by the straight rod. When did nymphing (as opposed to dry fly fishing) come to Canadian fly fishing? Could the straight rod be high sticking?

‘As for Tom’s expertise in the woods: I’m sure he was more than qualified. But I’m also intuitively sure that he would have faced opposition from the residents (in Algonquin Park). These guys built their lives around their reputations and would have perceived Tom as a challenger.

 ‘I thoroughly enjoyed your essay, Rob. It fills in a lot of historical detail with credible evidence of Tom’s adoption and innovations in fly fishing.’

Doug Kirton is right to raise questions about the straight rod the fisherman is holding in the painting. All accomplished angling artists, including Winslow Homer, are careful to depict accurately bent or arching rods when anglers are playing fish in their pictures. However, if I am correct in my essay about the rod representing a magical staff or a wand, the lack of throbbing arc is understandasble, if not completely convincing. I can find support for my interpretation.

No less an authority than Norman Maclean a couple of times in A River Runs Through It has his narrator Norman describe his brother Paul as ‘a man with a wand in a river, and whatever happened we had to guess from what the man and the wand and the river did.’ (Italics mine) Similarly, John Gierach, arguably the most popular contemporary fly angling writer in the world, titled one of his essay collections Standing in a River Waving a Stick–note: not rod or even pole, but stick.

Chris Pibus is in the process of retiring from his Toronto-based legal practice as one of Canada’s leading Intellectual Rights experts. He’s a lifelong fly angler who has fished widely throughout North America and Britain. He has deep knowledge fly fishing, literature and the visual arts.

‘I am so impressed with this piece–I think it is outstanding, surely one of the best essays ever written about Tom Thomson (and angling),’ he wrote in an email. ‘And one of the best I have ever read on the intersection of art and biography and angling. Brilliantly argued. Roy MacGregor is now truly done and dusted.  It is worthy of multiple re-readings which I shall do.

‘I have looked closely at the painting of The Fisherman and I agree it’s critical to your argument. Two things I notice.

‘First, there is a huge honking brook trout lying on the rock at his feet–it could be a twenty incher– and he put it there like any proud fly fisherman as a testament to his prowess and proof that fly rods and small flies can be deadly on big trout. He is portraying himself as a powerful figure who is a master angler–as you say this must have been a big part of his identity.

‘Second, the way he has painted the figure is very interesting to me.  He has given himself a powerful pose and his arms look massive. What is striking is the composition of his arms; that is where your eyes go when you look at the canvas. Together the arms form a big circle–he looks like he is embracing the natural world like this is his chosen place of glory. Or maybe I am getting carried away?

‘You should be very proud of this, Rob. It’s a real achievement: original thinking right down to its bones.’

Chris Pibus’s astute observations about Thomson’s depiction of the angler’s arms reminded me of Norman Maclean’s haunting description of his brother Paul in the final few pages of A River Runs Through It when Norman’s artistry transforms his brother into a mythic figure who, like all things, ‘merge into one, and a river runs through it.’ I have always viewed Maclean’s novella as starting out as a Wordsworthian celebration of pastoral nature and ending as a Blakean celebration of mythic man at one with mythological nature.

Here is Paul, casting not as a man, brother and fisherman but as an emblem and a symbol of the Universal Fly Angler, transcending time and place including the timeless and most distant place of all–the human imagination, heart and soul:

‘As he waded out, his big arm swung back and forth. Each circle of his arm inflated his chest. Each circle was faster and higher and longer until his arm became defiant and his chest breasted the sky. On shore we were sure, although we could see no line, that the air above him was singing with loops of line that never touched the water but got bigger and bigger each time they passed and sang. And we knew what was in his mind from the lengthening defiance of his arm. He was not going to let his fly touch any water close to shore where the small and middle-sized fish were. We knew from his arm and chest that all parts of him were saying, ‘No small one of the last one.’ Everything was going into one big cast for one last big fish.’ (Bold mine).

Chad Wriglesworth, associate professor in English at St. Jerome’s University College at the University of Waterloo and editor of Distant Neighbors: The Selected Letters of Wendell Berry and Gary Snyder, takes a big-picture view of publication in a museum journal.

‘I really like your self-awareness about contributing to the field of writing/study,’ he said in an email. ‘Honestly, the longer I do this sort of thing, the more I realize that making that contribution is really what this is all about. In the long run, the idea of writing for one’s sense of ego just turns out to be worthless. None of us will survive to see any kind of end to any of this conversation (whatever field a person is working in). So, it becomes a matter of stewardship and contribution–contributing those small and satisfying parts to a very large and always emerging whole.

 
‘Anyway, wonderful news all around. I’m delighted to see your article in the American Fly Fisher.  In my experience these museum and historical society publications always tend to be classy and so well put together. About ten years ago, I published an essay with Columbia, which is put out by the Washington State Historical Society.  It is still one of my favourite publications–the layout, editing, accompanying visual materials were just bang on.’ 

News

Ontario Spring Healing

Robert Reid is pleased to announce that an essay of his has been published for the first time in a prominent American fly angling magazine.

The essay, ‘Ontario Spring Healing,’ appears in the Spring 2021 issue of Flyfishing & Tying Journal.

‘I’m delighted FFTJ agreed to publish one of my essays,’ Reid said. ‘While I had some articles on fly fishing published when I was a newspaper reporter, this is the first time I have had an essay placed in a sporting magazine. I’m doubly delighted that the journal is so highly respected.’

Reid wrote the essay following publication of Casting in February 2020. Published by Porcupine’s Quill, the angling memoir incorporates images by celebrated wood engraver Wesley W. Bates. The book has won two silver medals in international literary awards.

The essay chronicles a season of fly fishing for wild brook trout in southwestern Ontario headwaters during the COVID19 pandemic. The essay includes a couple of Wesley’s engravings.

On the strength of his engravings in Casting, Wesley was commissioned to do the engravings for John Maclean’s Home Waters. Published by Custom House and subtitled A Chronicle of Family and a River, the eagerly anticipated memoir is about his father Norman, the author of A River Runs Through It, and fly fishing the rivers of Montana including the Blackfoot.

News

Casting Lands Another Silver

Casting into Mystery has been acknowledged by the 2021 Independent Publisher Book Awards with a silver medal.

The angling memoir written by Robert Reid, with engravings by Wesley W. Bates, was published in 2020 by Porcupine’s Quill.

‘We are honoured to be recognized in a literary contest that spans the globe,’ Reid said. ‘It’s rewarding to receive recognition from people who are knowledgeable about and devoted to book publishing, especially during these challenging times.’

Founded in 1996, the Independent Publisher Book Awards is a broad-based, unaffiliated awards program open to the English-speaking independent publishing industry spanning the globe. The awards are intended to bring recognition to exemplary independent, university and self-published titles produced each year and reward those that exhibit the courage, innovation and creativity to bring about change in the world of publishing.

 
Every year since its inception, the IPPY awards have identified a reading list of progressive, thought-provoking books, the kind that can touch lives, advance careers and stretch imaginations. The awards are presented each spring by the publishing services firm of Jenkins Group of Traverse City, Michigan and www.IndependentPublisher.com

Casting into Mystery garnered silver in the ENVIRONMENT/ECOLOGY category. The winners include:

GOLD: Photographers Against Wildlife Crime, by Britta Jaschinski & Keith Wilson (Photographers Against Wildlife Crime)

SILVER: Casting into Mystery, by Robert Reid: engravings by Wesley W. Bates  (The Porcupine’s Quill)

BRONZE: Tree Story: The History of the World Written in Rings, by Valerie Trouet (Johns Hopkins University Press)

News

Casting Nabs a Bronze Medal in the 2020 INDIES Book Awards

Traverse City, MI, June 17, 2021Casting into Mystery, written by Robert Reid with engravings by Wesley W. Bates, garnered a bronze medal in the 2020 INDIES Book of the Year Awards.

Published by The Porcupine’s Quill, the literary fly angling memoir has won two silver medals and one bronze medal in international literary competitions. It was one of seven finalists in the Nature category. Reviewers have praised the book in Canada, the U.S. and England.

‘Wesley and I are thrilled to win a bronze medal,’ Reid said. ‘We thank our publisher, Porcupine’s Quill, and the the 2020 INDIES Book of the Year Awards, including its judges. The award is especially gratifying considering the challenges wrought by the global pandemic over the last two years.’

As part of its mission to discover, review and share the best books from university and independent publishers, Foreword Reviews is announced the medalists on June 17, 2012. The gold went to Walks of a Lifetime in America’s National Parks, while the silver went to Wolf Island.

More than 2,000 entries ranging over 55 genres were submitted for consideration. The finalists were determined by Foreword’s editorial team. Winners were selected by teams of librarian and bookseller judges from across America.

The complete list of finalists can be found at: www.forewordreviews.com/awards/winners/2020/

‘The COVID-19 pandemic did not slow down the quality of great books coming from the independent publishing community in 2020. The finalist selection process was one of the hardest our team encountered due to the number of excellent submissions,’ said Victoria Sutherland, publisher.

‘In typical years, the judging process involves our team gathering and discussing books in real time,’ says managing editor, Michelle Anne Schingler. ‘This year we had to read separately, take notes and convene to discuss the entrants after we’d all taken a turn with them on our own.

‘While at first the change was nerve-wracking, we were delighted to discover that we we’re as much in agreement when the process takes place across miles and weeks as we are when we’re sitting face-to-face. We’re as confident as ever that the finalists reflect the best of the books we’ve had the privilege of reading and evaluating.’

Winners in each genre—along with Editor’s Choice Prize winners and Foreword’s Independent Publisher of the Year—will be announced June 17, 2021.

Since 1998 Foreword Reviews has provided trade book reviews of the best titles from independent presses. The magazine is a favourite among librarians, booksellers and readers—an excellent resource when it comes to purchasing books.

2020 Finalist for Nature:

Casting into Mystery
Contributor(s)
Robert Reid and Wesley W. Bates (illustrator)
Publisher
The Porcupine’s Quill ISBN-13
978-0-88984-428-5
Publication Date: February 18, 2020

A Haven in the Sun
Contributor(s)
B.C. Robison and Linda M. Feltner (illustrator)
Publisher
Texas Tech University Press ISBN-13
978-1-68283-063-5
Publication Date: June 15, 2020

The Hidden Life of Ice
Publisher
The Experiment ISBN-13
978-1-61519-699-9
Publication Date: August 18, 2020

Trees
Publisher
Earth Aware ISBN-13
978-1-68383-926-2
Publication Date: July 14, 2020

Wolf Island
Contributor(s)
L. David Mech and Greg Breining
Publisher
University of Minnesota Press ISBN-13
978-1-5179-0825-6
Publication Date: October 13, 2020

Garden Design Master Class
Publisher
Rizzoli New York ISBN-13
978-0-8478-6666-3
Publication Date: April 14, 2020

Walks of a Lifetime in America’s National Parks
Publisher
Falcon Guides ISBN-13
978-1-4930-3925-8
Publication Date: July 30, 2020

News

Casting added to the bookcase

Casting into Mystery (signed by both author and engraver) is now available online through An Angler’s Bookcase, one of America’s premiere online angling booksellers.

Started in 2001 and operated by Craig and Catherine Douglass, the online angling bookseller’s inventory exceeds 3,100 titles, including signed first printings, rare limited editions and other collectible angling books–both new and used. Anglers seeking books that are not in stock are invited to fill out a search form and Craig or Catherine will prospect their off-line inventory, other bookstores and various book-search services.

Over the years Craig, an avid fly angler, graduated from an occasional reader, to an amateur collector, to trading with other collectors before going ‘national’ with An Angler’s Bookcase.

Catherine is newer to the sport of angling; however, her MA in literature combined with a voracious appetite for reading makes her the ideal ‘literary conscience’ to ensure that the books offered by An Angler’s Bookcase reflect a high quality of reading.

Recently relocated to Colorado from New Mexico, the objectives of An Angler’s Bookcase, will strike chords with literary anglers and armchair anglers alike:

The mission of An Anglers Bookcase is to provide quality, collectible literature to the fly fishing enthusiast, at prices that will continue to support an enthusiasm for our sport and its prose. In addition, we hope to provide an informative site for those who are either looking for a good book on the subject, or looking for added information about a particular book.

The bookseller attempts to get titles signed whenever possible. It does not routinely carry how-to/where-to guides books.

Check out the website at An Angler’s Bookcase.

News

Casting Lands Silver

Casting into Mystery has won a silver medal in 2020 eLit Awards, presented annually in recognition of digital publishing excellence.

The angling memoir, written by Robert Reid with engravings by Wesley W. Bates, was recognized in the Sports/Fitness/Recreation category. The ebook is available through The Porcupine’s Quill.

The eleventh annual eLit Awards is a global awards program committed to honouring the best in English language digital publishing.

The awards are an industry-wide, unaffiliated program open to all members of the electronic publishing industry. The Jenkins Group Inc., a Michigan-based book publishing and marketing company, has been presenting the Independent Publisher Book Awards contest since 1996.

Publishers and authors worldwide creating electronic books written in English for the global marketplace are eligible for entry.

News

Casting Book Launch

Hello Friends, anglers and non-anglers alike,

I sincerely hope this email finds you safe and well. Adapting the adage of ‘better late than never,’ Wesley Bates and I are hosting an official launch of our book, Casting into Mystery, at Themuseum, in downtown Kitchener, on Tuesday, September 15, from 7 to 9 pm.

Our book is a celebration of the meditative sport of fly fishing and of the camaraderie and quietude to be found not only in the gentle flow of river currents, but in the community and culture of anglers past and present. Wesley and I are both avid anglers. We put ink to paper in homage to the venerable sport. Through text and image, we recall with fondness the ‘company of rivers’ that provides a glimpse inside the sporting culture. Part memoir, part objet d’art and part field guide, we hope our book delights passionate fly fishers and armchair anglers alike.

Chad Wriglesworth, an English prof at St. Jerome’s University, describes our book as follows:

‘Robert Reid and Wesley W. Bates have given us a beautiful and refreshing gift, a book where word and image join to form a vibrant reality that is shot through with mystery and meaning. Reid’s personal stories, accounts of local history and curious dives into literature, music, visual art and film are illuminated by Bates’s intricate engravings, images that awaken realities both seen and unseen. This book taps into an ancient metaphysical current, a deep place, where lurking questions about the sacred, time and mortality surface and strike again as new.’  
 
In these unsettling times we realize a public event of any kind raises concerns. However, we are taking every step possible to ensure your safety by following COVID-19 guidelines including social distancing, mandatory face masks, use of hand sanitizer and contact tracing. The event is being held in the Atrium, Themuseum’s largest room, to ensure comfort.

To comply with COVID protocol we are asking people to register for a free ticket through Eventbrite. Registering allows Themuseum to compile contact tracing information includes three routine screening questions.

The free ticket to the launch includes admission to the timely exhibition Alarm: Responding to Our Climate Emergency.

As usual there is construction ongoing throughout downtown Kitchener. However, free parking (after 6 pm) is available in the public lot adjacent to Charles Street, behind the Walper Hotel.

Should anyone be unable to attend I would be happy to hand deliver a copy of our book. Contact me through email. Anyone with any questions can reach me at rfreid30@gmail.com or by phone at 519-954-6309.

I know some of you have already purchased a book, for which Wesley and I are deeply grateful. We extend an extra thank you to those who have posted a comment on Amazon, Indigo/Chapter to Goodreads.

Please take care and stay healthy.

Cheers,

Rob and Wesley

News

Casting into Mystery Released

The Porcupine’s Quill
68 Main St., PO Box 160
Erin, Ontario N0B 1T0
Tel: (519) 833 9158
Fax: (519) 833 9845
e-mail: pql@sentex.net
Website: porcupinesquill.ca

PRESS RELEASE February 2020
Casting into Mystery
by Robert Reid with wood engravings by Wesley W. Bates
SPORTS / RECREATION • $26.95 • 978-0-88984-428-5 • 284 pp

About the Book:
Casting into Mystery is a celebration of the meditative sport of fly fishing and of the camaraderie and quietude to be found not only in the gentle flow of river currents, but also in the community and culture of anglers, past and present.

Writer Robert Reid and wood engraver Wesley W. Bates—avid anglers, both—put ink to paper in homage to the venerable sport of fly fishing. Through text and image, they recall with fondness the ‘company of rivers’ that provides a glimpse inside a sporting culture rife with literature, art and music. Part memoir, part objet d’art, part field guide and part cultural companion, Casting into Mystery will delight passionate fly fishing practitioners and armchair anglers alike.

About the Author:
Robert Reid is a writer, journalist and enthusiastic angler whose career in journalism spanned forty years. Reid got his start writing for newspapers in Strathroy, St. Thomas, Timmins and Simcoe before he landed a position covering arts at the Brantford Expositor, and later, the Waterloo Region Record. Since his retirement, Reid has continued to write about his passions—art and culture, malt whisky, dining and travel, and especially fly fishing—on his website at reidbetweenthelines.ca

About the Artist:
Wesley W. Bates was born in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. One of Canada’s best-known wood engravers, Bates has ventured into book illustration, film, commercial art, letterpress publishing and acoustic country—played, naturally, on a bouzouki. A retrospective of his engravings, In Black and White was published by Bird & Bull in 2005, with a revised edition published by Gaspereau Press in 2008. He maintains his studio, which is open to the public, in a nineteenth-century storefront gallery on the main street of Clifford, Ontario.