Major Exhibition At Peabody Museum

NEW HAVEN — Fly fishing addicts speak of the precious moments of peace on a coldwater trout stream and the deep connection to nature the sport provides. President Herbert Hoover summed up the experience as follows: “Fishing is not so much getting fish as it is a state of mind and a lure for the human soul into refreshment.” These sentiments should be alive and well at the Peabody Museum for those who visit between now and late February thanks to the arrival of a major exhibition on fly fishing.

“Seeing Wonders: The Nature of Fly Fishing” is at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and runs through February 24. The exhibition, which features highlights from the American Museum of Fly Fishing’s exhibition “Anglers All: Humanity in Midstream,” presents a comprehensive overview of the history of the sport and the techniques of fly fishing and fly tying, along with numerous displays of historical rods and reels and fly fishing entomology.

Of interest to anglers and non-anglers alike are the fly-fishing stories and equipment of celebrity and Presidential anglers, including those of Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Bing Crosby, Zane Grey, Ernest Hemingway, Winslow Homer, and George H.W. Bush, among others.

One story about Daniel Webster, an angler of mythic proportions whose B.D. Welch rod is exhibited, credits his talent at the sport for his nickname “The Great Expounder.” According to legend, he viewed fish as political adversaries and berated them with lectures and insults (antifederalist!) when caught. Grover Cleveland, one of the many Presidential fly rodders to be represented in the exhibit, had a theory for Webster’s “other” talent:  “He was a wonderful orator-and largely so because he was a fisherman.”

The exhibition title comes from what is believed to be the earliest printed book on angling in Western Europe, published in 1506, in which the author repeatedly asserts that while fishing “thou shalt see many wonders.” Charles Ritz, an avid fly fisherman whose hat and equipment are on display, had another take on the sport. In A Fly Fisher’s Life he wrote: “The charm of fly fishing lies in one’s numerous failures and the unfortunate circumstances that must be overcome.”

The exhibition also considers how fishing has affected conservation of our natural world, from the use of feathers for fly tying to the preservation of fish habitats by Trout Unlimited and other organizations. Bing Crosby, whose Meisselbach fly reel, Orvis rod, pipe, flies and hat are on display, was especially successful at fishing for Atlantic salmon in Canada and Iceland. But in the late 1960s he worked vigorously for the protection of the Atlantic salmon from high seas netting, so much so that his more than 800 of his recordings were banned in Denmark.

An introductory video aims to communicate the enthusiasm generated by the beauty and wonder of natural habitats and close encounter experiences. The Peabody has augmented the main exhibition with specimens from its large vertebrate zoology collections that illustrate the diversity of fishes sought by anglers.

The Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History is at 170 Whitney Avenue, and is open Monday through Saturday from 9 to 5, and on Sundays from noon to 5.  Unless otherwise noted, admission to exhibits and programs included with admission of $5 to $7, and free for museum members and children under age 3, and to all on Thursdays from 2 to 5 pm.

Visit Peabody.Yale.edu or call the museum’s Infotape at 203-432-5050 for additional information.