密歇根新闻广播 他用假苍蝇钓了40年的鱼

Dennis Potter is still doing what he discovered he loved in 1977. He ties flies for fly fishing. He says he still remembers tying his first one.

“To take that fly that I tied – I can show you within six inches on a log where I caught my first trout¹ on the Au Sable² River almost 40 years ago,” Potter said.

Dennis Potter was hooked.

He took a fly-tying class, but he says his real education came from being fortunate enough to know a lot of good fly tyers.

He studied their patterns and techniques. He also studied the insects fish prey³ upon.

“Trout in particular can become very selective, not only to a specific species of insect that they’re feeding on, but to a certain stage of the life cycle of that insect. So, if you don’t have the right bug⁴, it can be difficult,” he said.

Potter and his family live in a nice house on a private drive. They also own a place on the Au Sable River. I had to ask: How did he manage to get to the point where he could make a living at tying flies? He scoffed⁵. He told me he’s not.

He says he retired⁶ from the family business, traded places with his wife, Karen, and became what he calls the “househusband.” And he tied flies.

“There are very, very few people who make a living – quote, unquote – being commercial fly tyers. It’s an unbelievable commitment and you virtually have to tie every day,” Potter said.

He adds you’d be lucky to pull in about $20,000 a year. But, Potter’s done OK. He designs patterns for a company called Umpqua Feather Merchants. His flies are duplicated in factories Sri Lanka, Thailand, other places. He gets a small commission from that. He makes money from his own retail⁷ operation, Riverhouse Fly Company. And he speaks at shows and workshops and produces instructional videos.

“I absolutely love the teaching aspect of this. And, it sounds corny, I’m driven to share all this information that I’ve borrowed, stolen from others, come up with on my own. By far, the greatest satisfaction that I get is helping⁸ someone get better at what they’re doing,” he explained.

The entire time we talked, Potter was tying flies. He grabbed a bit of this, a scrap⁹ of that and in two minutes – actually, a shorter time than that – he’d tied a fly using all kinds of materials around him.

“The natural materials: deer hair, elk¹⁰ hair, calf¹¹ tails, peacock, turkey feathers, virtually any fur, any hair, any feather can and probably has been in fly tying,” he said. He pointed¹² at a fly he’d been working on while we talked.

“Many, many years ago that fly would have been deer hair or elk hair, but it gets wet, it breaks, it gets heavy. So, anything I can do with synthetic¹³, I’m going to do,” he said.

Synthetic materials are lighter¹⁴. They don’t soak up water. They stay on the surface of the water better just as many insects do. Some materials are shiny just like some bugs¹⁵.

Like a lot of the Artisans of Michigan I’ve met, Potter takes pride in his work. He believes he stands out because he puts in more effort than some of his competitors.

“Every fly that I tie for a fly shop or my retail customers is tied exactly the same way as the flies that go into my fly box. And that’s not the case with a lot of commercial tyers. They’ll crank out something quick, quick, quick that doesn’t have the durability¹⁶, they don’t all look the same. I just simply refuse to do that. So, could I tie faster? Yes. Absolutely, but I don’t.”

I had to ask him: Do you have to think like a fish when designing a fly?

“Do you have to think like a – well, uh, not when you’re tying. Well, yeah, I guess you do. You know, I’ve tied enough that when I do come up with something new, I can look it and and know, wow, that’s going to catch fish! You simply know,” he said.

And it only took tying a few hundred thousand flies to get there.

That’s Dennis Potter with Riverhouse Fly Company, our latest Artisan of Michigan.

1 trout   

n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属)

参考例句：

• Thousands of young salmon and trout have been killed by the pollution.成千上万的鲑鱼和鳟鱼的鱼苗因污染而死亡。
• We hooked a trout and had it for breakfast.我们钓了一条鳟鱼，早饭时吃了。

2 sable   

n.黑貂；adj.黑色的

参考例句：

• Artists' brushes are sometimes made of sable.画家的画笔有的是用貂毛制的。
• Down the sable flood they glided.他们在黑黝黝的洪水中随波逐流。

3 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

4 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。

5 scoffed   

嘲笑，嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He scoffed at our amateurish attempts. 他对我们不在行的尝试嗤之以鼻。
• A hundred years ago people scoffed at the idea. 一百年前人们曾嘲笑过这种想法。

6 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

7 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

8 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

9 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

10 elk   

n.麋鹿

参考例句：

• I was close enough to the elk to hear its labored breathing.我离那头麋鹿非常近，能听见它吃力的呼吸声。
• The refuge contains the largest wintering population of elk in the world.这座庇护所有着世界上数量最大的冬季麋鹿群。

11 calf   

n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮

参考例句：

• The cow slinked its calf.那头母牛早产了一头小牛犊。
• The calf blared for its mother.牛犊哞哞地高声叫喊找妈妈。

12 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

13 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

14 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

15 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 durability   

n.经久性，耐用性

参考例句：

• Nylons have the virtue of durability.尼龙丝袜有耐穿的优点。