"Albert Nelson Cheney, who was born in 1849 and lived fifty-two years of
his life at Glen's Falls, New York, was the creator of the fly that bears his
name. The fly was tied by his close friend, Charles F. Orvis, of Manchester,
Vermont, who started manufacturing flies in 1877.
A.N. Cheney was one of the foremost authorities on angling of his time. For
about nine years he served as fishing editor for Forest & Stream
magazine, after which he was in charge of the fishing end of the magazine,
Shooting and Fishing. For several years he conducted the "Angling Notes"
column in the American Angler.
He served his home State of New York in the Fisheries, Game & Forest Commission
as fish culturist, being first appointed in 1885. He served as president of the National
Fisheries Congress and also vice president of the International Fisheries Society.
Albert N. Cheney and Charles F. Orvis collaborated, in 1885, in the publishing of that
attractive little book Fishing With A Fly.
The Cheney fly, as tied by Mr. Orvis at Mr. Cheney's direction, had the upper half of
the body red and the lower half yellow, with a silver rib. It had a dark tail and deep
yellow hackle.
The trout pattern differed from the bass pattern in the matter of the wings. The trout
fly had a jungle cock wing and the bass fly, a black barred mallard wing.
We can't help by note in passing that Charles F. Orvis, who probably participated in
the creation of more flies than any other American anglers, never had a fly named
after him. Mr. Orvis was born in 1831 in Manchester, Vermont, where he always
lived. He died about the same time as his friend, Albert Cheney."
Information from Fly Patterns and Their
Origins, published by Westshore Publications,
Color photo from Forgotten Flies.
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