Writer and artist James Deloria recently returned from a trip to "Voelker's Pond" with Adam Tsaloff and brought back a wonderful piece of copy to share with the T.F.M. readership.
James wrote... "Anyone who has read Trout Madness, Trout Magic, Anatomy of a Fisherman, or any of dozens of articles on things piscatorial written by Robert Traver (pen name for John Voelker who was a former Michigan Supreme Court Justice) knows of “Frenchman’s Pond”. Although I am roundly corrected whenever I refer to it by that name (by John’s grandson Adam Tsaloff) I will always think of it by that name. Perhaps because I hail from four generations of French-Canadian Yooper ancestors and I love the vague connection or simply perhaps because, like John and Adam, I am a stubborn old curmudgeon of a fly fisherman.
When Adam posted some winter pics of the pond on The Fiberglass Manifesto earlier this year, I commented and told the story of having met my fly-fishing-folk-hero at the N.M.U. library and how some friends and I “found” the pond through sleuthing methods long forgotten that did not include the then non-existent “inter wide webs.
When I joined Adam at a fish camp on the Au Sable last year he gave me “absolution” for what I know now the family refers to as “coming in the back door”. My absolution became complete this June when Adam and I made a weekend trip to the pond and I communed with the spirit of Justice Voelker, caught a few of his impossibly beautiful lovelies, and in a rare moment of becoming teachable, improved vastly on my roll cast by re-learning it from Adam who was, of course, taught by the cribbage (and roll cast) champion of the U.P.
We shared a serene and peaceful couple of days fishing the pond and a couple of rivers whose names escape me now. One of the most important, but not the only lesson I learned from Mr. Traver (that’s Traver like braver, not Traver like Traverse, as I mistakenly thought for years) was to keep your spots to yourself. Others will find them soon enough.
Two things from Adam stand out in my mind. One was as we payed respects at his grandpa’s grave site, that John’s brother’s name was--Robert Traver. He was killed in World War I. I had often wondered why John had adopted a pen name. I had thought that it was just the inherent nature of a secretive fisherman. That probably had a little to do with it, but honoring his brother was foremost. This warmed the cockles of my heart. Secondly, as we relocated positions on the pond for the third or fourth time, Adam called back at me, “He bought the place because he COULDN’T figure it out!" And again, anyone who has read the stories knows this is so, but I always questioned whether there really was a place so mysterious. There is. I saw no insects that I recognized! We caught trout on a little soft hackled creation tied by our mutual friend, the notorious curmudgeon, John Sheets of Petoskey. Furthermore, the catching entailed a cast and twitch method, that for still water seemed rather incongruous to me. Works though.
If my little tale has a point, and thankfully as yet fly fishing doesn’t need one, it is this; live long enough and the circles in your life, like the rings of a rise, can become complete."
James wrote... "Anyone who has read Trout Madness, Trout Magic, Anatomy of a Fisherman, or any of dozens of articles on things piscatorial written by Robert Traver (pen name for John Voelker who was a former Michigan Supreme Court Justice) knows of “Frenchman’s Pond”. Although I am roundly corrected whenever I refer to it by that name (by John’s grandson Adam Tsaloff) I will always think of it by that name. Perhaps because I hail from four generations of French-Canadian Yooper ancestors and I love the vague connection or simply perhaps because, like John and Adam, I am a stubborn old curmudgeon of a fly fisherman.
When Adam posted some winter pics of the pond on The Fiberglass Manifesto earlier this year, I commented and told the story of having met my fly-fishing-folk-hero at the N.M.U. library and how some friends and I “found” the pond through sleuthing methods long forgotten that did not include the then non-existent “inter wide webs.
We shared a serene and peaceful couple of days fishing the pond and a couple of rivers whose names escape me now. One of the most important, but not the only lesson I learned from Mr. Traver (that’s Traver like braver, not Traver like Traverse, as I mistakenly thought for years) was to keep your spots to yourself. Others will find them soon enough.
Two things from Adam stand out in my mind. One was as we payed respects at his grandpa’s grave site, that John’s brother’s name was--Robert Traver. He was killed in World War I. I had often wondered why John had adopted a pen name. I had thought that it was just the inherent nature of a secretive fisherman. That probably had a little to do with it, but honoring his brother was foremost. This warmed the cockles of my heart. Secondly, as we relocated positions on the pond for the third or fourth time, Adam called back at me, “He bought the place because he COULDN’T figure it out!" And again, anyone who has read the stories knows this is so, but I always questioned whether there really was a place so mysterious. There is. I saw no insects that I recognized! We caught trout on a little soft hackled creation tied by our mutual friend, the notorious curmudgeon, John Sheets of Petoskey. Furthermore, the catching entailed a cast and twitch method, that for still water seemed rather incongruous to me. Works though.
If my little tale has a point, and thankfully as yet fly fishing doesn’t need one, it is this; live long enough and the circles in your life, like the rings of a rise, can become complete."
3 comments:
just awesome brings me to the place in my mind so described in the book .Thanks for the great pictures
I have a good friend that wrote a book about this place. You should check it out it is called Voelkers Pond by James McCullough. This book makes you feel like you are walking through the woods to the cabin and fishing the pond. check it out and let me know, I went to school at LSSU so I did some "exploring" up there as well.
Absolutely terrific. As a long time Robert Traver fan, I've enjoyed the little bit of history lesson...thanks!
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