WRITING ON THE FLY
By GEORGE LISET
On a Tuesday evening, deep in the bowels of The Memorial Union Building (The MUB), sits a group of about twenty young men and women with fly tying vises in front of them. This evening, master fly tier and former UNH athletic trainer, Scott Biron is teaching the group to tie a streamer pattern which is sure to catch trout on New Hampshire’s lakes and ponds.
This group of students hails from all over New England and some from away. These young men and women all represent different levels of fly fishing experience. The one commonality is that they all love fly fishing and want to keep its legacy alive on the UNH campus. When an alum thinks of UNH sports, Ice Hockey, Football and Skiing come to mind, but no one would even consider fly fishing.
Fly fishing has been relegated to a club sport at UNH. The club’s numbers have varied over the years. The club this year has around forty members, with an average attendance of twenty students per meeting. The club president is Mike Judd, an accounting major who hails from New Boston, New Hampshire. Club meetings include guest speakers, fly tying sessions and time on the water fly fishing.
New Hampshire guide John McKernan teaches a fly fishing course at UNH through the recreation program with the assistance of The Great Bay Trout Unlimited club, who provided the fly rods and reels, as well as waders and flies. There are only a handful of colleges that actually have more than an introductory class in fly fishing. Penn State and Montana State have noted programs. However, the real hidden gem of UNH’s fly fishing legacy lies in the basement of Diamond Library.
The Douglas and Helena Milne Collection boasts one of the largest fly fishing collections in the country. The collection, curated by Special Collections librarian Elizabeth Slomba, and developed by Professor Emeritus Bill Ross, is a hidden treasure. The collection was donated by Dr. Douglas Milne and his wife Helena, who while fly fishing on a lake in Maine, met a UNH librarian and struck up a friendship. The Milnes, who were not UNH alumni, left their collection to UNH because of that friendship.
On this day, Elizabeth Slomba and Bill Ross with the help of former UNH Dean of the Health and Human Service Department, John Bunker, hosted famed fly rod builder Fred Kretchman and twenty Great Bay Trout Unlimited members. The discussions that day ranged from the history of the collection, the viewing of some of the priceless books in the collection and the history and art of bamboo fly rod making.
Fred has had his fly rods shown at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC. Kretchman’s fly rods are just as much works of art as they are utilitarian. I’m sure there will be a place for a couple of Fred’s fly rods in the Milne Collection and in my office. If you have an interest in the Milne Collection, you can contact Elizabeth Slomba at
eslomba@unh.edu. If you would like to donate to the UNH Fly Fishing club you can contact club president Mike Judd at unhflyfishingclub@gmail.com. Donations can also be made through the UNH 603 Fund.
George Liset of Dover is an award-winning outdoor writer and avid fly fisherman who shares insights of his time on the water exploring New Hampshire streams and rivers as well of those around New England. George is a graduate of Wheaton College, Illinois, and the University of New Hampshire. His column Writing on the Fly has been honored by the New England Press Association and the New Hampshire Press Association.
