The Fly Young Knight is a poem that was written by Frederick L. Whiting in 1927. According to some, the original with mounted wet flies, hangs in the Adirondack League Club clubhouse in New York. A copy of The Fly Young Knight also hangs in The Angler’s Club of New York. According to the writer, this whimsical poem was written about the Gray Knight, an old wet fly pattern given a mythical life in verse as the Gray Knight, with this distinction in the second line of the poem: “Emblazoned on his shield he bore a Parmacheene Belle.” The poem continues with more fly patterns named as the tale unfolds. It was copyrighted and made into 12″ x 22″ posters in 1950. According to Don Bastien, When Jim Deren, owner of The Angler’s Roost in Manhattan passed away in 1983, Judith Bowman and Hoagy Carmichael, Jr., cleaned out Jim’s shop and his infamous “backroom.” They found a stack of rolled poster copies of The Fly Young Knight and decided to engage a fly tier from Massachusetts to make ten sets of the flies, then mounted and framed them and sold them at a sale for $250.00 (that was in 1985). In a 2024 correspondence with Hoagy, he thought this was not one of those copies but one instead that hung on the wall of the Angler’s Roost. So, although its exact lineage regarding whether it was one of the small run produced by Bowman and Carmichael or hanging on Deren’s wall has been lost over time, it still has remarkable history. There is rumored to be at least one copy out there with flies tied by the Rogans, and I am sure there are other legends floating around about this work of art.
In a beautiful tiger maple frame. In mint condition, with all flies bright and securely attached. Frame measures ~27 3/4″ by 16 1/4″ to outside edge (visible area inside mat of ~20″ x 8 1/2″). No fading, foxing, or other signs of wear. One of my favorite pieces to ever grace my walls. The item is exactly as pictured. Any questions, please ask.
