Some of you have heard me talk about my respect for local fly tyer and once shop owner, David Goulet. Dave was the owner of Classic and Custom Fly Shop which sat in close proximity to the Farmington River in New Hartford just upstream of Satans Kingdom for several decades. The doors closed in 2009 and it was a sad state of affairs for many of us who frequented his establishment; not just because we wouldn't be able to chat with Dave and buy those needed materials, but mainly because the amount of knowledge he had was no longer a short drive from home.
I spent many a days time in that shop after fishing the river, and I learned a great deal about fly design and the subtleties of what creates a sound fly pattern. Dave's sarcastic and witty humor always helped too as he was always quick to a punch line and was the king at breaking balls. Rumor has it that over the course of his 40+ years of tying commercially he had tied some where in the realm of 1.2 million flies, an astonishing number to say the least, but what was much more impressive was his level of consistency and attention to detail. I can still see him at his Danvise perched on his stool behind the counter of his shop with a coffee cup at his side, a pile of size 30 hooks as he was turning out parachutes that were quickly amassing on the corner of his desk all while his Blues music was playing on the radio.
One of the most memorable interactions I had with Dave was when we had a great discussion about Atlantic Salmon fishing, which by far was his favorite thing to do. Dave at the time, and still may to this day own property on the Mirimachi River and would go there every year to chase his favorite quarry. The stories he would tell about the fishing, and of course other things like when his canoe was stolen (if you knew Dave he was one of those guys who always seemed to have an affinity for unfortunate things happening to him, yet he would always make light of it in a humorous way). Well on this particular day, the shop was empty and in the middle of our conversation I asked him what was the biggest Atlantic he ever tangled with at his camp. Dave then disappeared upstairs for a couple of minutes and then came back down with a rather large roll of paper that looked like some sort of ancient map rolled up for an adventure. When he unravelled this scroll on the shop counter my jaw dropped. Dave explained that this was the biggest fish taken at his camp and he had traced the outline of the fish to store it into his memory bank. The tracing was unbelievable to say the least, if memory serves me the length of the behemoth was in excess of 50 inches considerably with a tail and a kype that only dreams are made of. Dave wasn't a braggart by any means, and the fact that he shared that little memory with me is something that I am grateful for to this day.
Dave was a man of few words to most, but his actions outside of the spotlight were beyond noteworthy. The Farmington River Anglers Association is credited with the many years of hardwork in cooperation with the Connecticut DEEP in establishing what is arguably one of the best trout fisheries in the northeast. A great deal of that success is largely attributed to countless amount of behind the scenes work that Dave poured into that endevour. Dave's insight and direction are what steered all involved parties into establishing many of the regulations that helped produce the fishery we have today, and the fish that inhabit its every pool, run and riffle. His level of professionalism, and sheer humbleness in all of this are what truly set him apart from the pack. He never once cared about any accolades, he always put the river first and foremost and the sport we all grew fond of.
So to honor everything that Dave has done for the sport and the river that I call home, I felt it fitting to keep his work live by doing a series of videos on some of his patterns. I will do my best to stay true to the pattern recipes that he laid out, but I am sure that there will be some substitutions in materials here and there. Today, I will kick things off with a streamer of Dave's, which for me is only fitting. This particular fly is much more than a streamer, as it is a very versatile pattern that can be fished as a wet fly, and I can almost bet that is how Dave would have fished it.
The Moby Dick streamer is one of Dave's more well known patterns from his earliest of years as a shop owner. If you were to talkt to anyone when I was a kid who fished the Westfield River System, this was a fly that would come up in conversation as a staple in your fly box. So sit back, grab a beverage of choice and join me as I tie this wonderful fly.