I never met Fran Betters, but I have his book and fond memories of tying his Haystack flies and reading his poetry. He was clearly a man of fine sensibility.
Coughlin
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I never met Fran Betters, but I have his book and fond memories of tying his Haystack flies and reading his poetry. He was clearly a man of fine sensibility.
Coughlin
Fran was a legend. He will be missed.
I, too, met Fran only once when I was in college and not nearly as motivated as I am now about flyfishing. Fran, I bid you endless encounters with monster brookies on big, bushy dries!!! Thanks for all you've done for our sport.
Sad to hear, the greats are slowly passing
Fatman
Very sad news. What will happen to his web site and cusotm rods?
his site:
http://ausablewulff.com/
hope some person keeps it open.
Very sad. did anyone buy his business?
http://ausablewulff.com/
hope it was bought and kept open
Fran was a great influence on my tying, even though I never met him back then, just knew about his flies. All who fished seriously up there back then in the '60s knew about his flies, and they were marvelous. He was innovative, yes, but first and foremost for me, he tied steller dry flies, flies that fished flawlessly, floated all day, and lasted all season. I just loved those flies, and am sorry to hear he's gone.
I'm holding a framed box of his flies the Ausable Wulff , Parachute and Caddis.
when I bought that from him about five years ago, I ordered a dozen more to put away.
When I ordered them and told his wife I was going to put them away, she said no no please fish them. I'll break one out and fish for brookies in the Rapidan very soon, I'll release the brookie and hang the fly by the stream in his honor.
Steve, thank you for sharing that experience and your thoughts on life and legacies. Your post was deeply moving and uplifting. I am always saddened by the passing of a major figure in fly fishing/tying but elect to celebrate their legacy and contributions to others. Thank you again for your post. 8T
Truly a sad day for our fly fishing community. I arrived in Lake Placid just hours after Fran passed away last Sunday, and I was brought to tears. I developed a great friendship with the man over my years of fishing the Ausable. Conversations with Fran have taught me so much about fly fishing that I can't eve begin to explain them. He will be sorely missed. I was fortunate enough to purchase one of his custom rods from an FAOL member about 1-1/2 yrs ago. I showed him the rod and he mentioned what a great choice it was (7-1/2 ft, 4/5 wt)...but to get rid of the crappy Orvis Battenkill reel that I had on it. He told his wife Jan to get me THE reel from the case on the left wall....and it ended up being a Hardy. That reel is now mine. I spoke to his wife just yesterday and she plans on keeping the store open, with help from one of Frans guides. The store is still for sale. I didn't have the heart to ask her about the rods and flies.....way too early. Below is a copy of the articel from the Sept. 9 edition of the Adirondack Daily Enterprise concerning Fran's death. Rest in peace my friend......rest in peace.
Ken
Local fishing icon Fran Betters dies
MIKE LYNCH, News Ourdoors Writer
POSTED: September 10, 2009
AUSABLE FORKS ? Fran Betters, a fly fisherman, writer, sport shop owner and the spokesman for the West Branch of the AuSable River for the past four decades, died Sunday in his Wilmington home after a battle with heart disease. He was 78.
Betters is a member of the Fly Fishing Hall of Fame and the New York State Outdoorsman Hall of Fame. He wrote numerous Adirondack fishing books, including the ?AuSable River Guide.? He was also a newspaper fishing columnist for decades. In the 1970s, he wrote for the Lake Placid News and more recently for the Plattsburgh Press-Republican.
?He was so humble; he just didn?t know how many people people looked up to him,? his wife Jan Betters said Tuesday evening. ?I?ve gotten e-mails from Belgium, Scotland. It?s amazing how far spread his death already is. It?s just amazing.?
For the past 47 years, Betters owned the Adirondack Sports Shop on state Route 86 in Wilmington, tying flies and offering advice to anglers. He developed a reputation in the 1960s as a spokesman for the West Branch of the AuSable River. He carried that torch until this summer; his health forced him to stop coming to the shop about a month ago.
?He brought a lot of people into this sport and to this area,? said Jerry Bottcher, owner of the Hungry Trout Resort in Wilmington. ?The town owes him a great deal of gratitude. He was one of a kind, and the river will miss him.?
Those who want to celebrate Betters? life will likely be able to do so in early October. His wife is planning a public celebration that is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 4. She said Fran requested that there wouldn?t be a wake or a funeral for him.
?I told him there would be too many people that want to pay their respects,? Jan Betters said. ?My intent was to have a celebration of his life, and I would announce it on the Web site, and it would be on the riverbank. And anyone who wants to come can come.?
In the fly-tying world, Betters was best known for creating the AuSable Wulff and the Haystack series. Those flies were later named among the top 10 trout flies of all time by Field & Stream magazine.
?He was probably one of the most innovative fly-tiers in the country,? fishing guide Joe Hackett, of Ray Brook, said Tuesday. ?He came up with a lot of different patterns, and a lot of it was because he was on such intimate terms with nature. He knew all the details a trained eye will see.?
In recent years Betters? health failed him. He was aware he would likely die soon and openly petitioned for a successor to take over his shop.
?That?s the reason he was alive as long as he was,? Jan Betters said. ?He was trying to hang on until it sold. It didn?t sell. There?s not even anyone interested at this point.?
But the shop will remain open. Jan Betters plans to manage it with the help of Pat Allen, one of Betters? guides in recent years.
Born into a fishing family Betters? interest in fishing and the West Branch of the AuSable River developed at an early age. His mother died in childbirth, and he was adopted by Margaret and Victor Betters, who would influence the rest of his life.
?I just happened to be adopted into a family (in which my) dad was a hell of a hunter and fisherman,? Betters told the Enterprise in March.
Betters learned everything he could from his father, whom he called the best fisherman he ever met. Growing up just a short walk from the West Branch of the AuSable River, Betters often fished with his father and his father?s friends, including Ray Bergman, who authored the classic 1938 fishing guide, ?Trout.?
Although Betters always loved fishing, as a young adult he had aspirations of becoming a civil engineer, he told the Enterprise in March. But that changed in the 1950s when he suffered a broken back and neck in a car accident in Wilmington. Those injuries kept him bedridden for months, and doctors told him he wouldn?t live a long life.
?I couldn?t continue with what I was doing, so I went back to what I knew,? Betters said in March. ?What I knew was fishing, tying flies, building rods. That?s been my life. I have no regrets. I was told when I was in the hospital that if I took care of myself, I could probably live to be 40.?
Severely hampered by the injuries, he walked with two canes in the months after the accident. But his father pushed him to keep fishing, and Betters would go to the West Branch of the AuSable River, day after day. He often struggled, falling down, but he continued to find hope in fishing. That river gave him reason to live, and his appreciation for it grew.
Over the years, he passed on that appreciation to clients.
?I?ve seen where a man has gone into Fran, didn?t have a lot of money in his pockets and needed something done to a fishing rod,? said Wilmington resident David Brookman, who worked briefly for Betters. ?Fran took time out of his schedule to do it and didn?t charge him anything. One time I brought my grandson in there. Fran took time to talk to him and gave him a fishing lure and signed a book for him. He passed on a legacy to others, and those are the things he should be remembered for.?
In the last decade, Betters hasn?t been able to fish the West Branch of the AuSable. Some of the last fishing he did on Lake Placid several years ago was with Bill Stahl, who was his head guide for close to a decade. This spring, in an interview with the Enterprise, Stahl talked about how Betters was known for talking about how good the fishing was no matter what the conditions were.
?It didn?t matter what was going on; he would tell people, ?This is the best I?ve seen the river my whole life,?? Stahl said.
That optimism is part of his legacy.
?You are kind of a victim of circumstances, ?Betters said in March. ?Whatever you are brought up in, you either take to it or you don?t ? and I did. I loved it.?