FFIM

I had the pleasure of sharing a cabin with Dan at the WB Conclave a few years back. Dan is a true character, and a generous gentlemen with his works of art that have donned prints and originals in our FFIM auctions, as well as a famous Conclave t-shirt. Thanks, Dan, for your many contributions to FFIM and the fisheries of Maine.


Tell us a little about yourself

I’m 64 years old, married, live in Camden. I’m an artist and have my brokers license to help my wife, who works full time in real estate. No kids. We both got married somewhat later in life. I recognized pretty early that I had a crazy streak mixed in with a bit of wanderlust and realized trying to settle down and raise a family probably wouldn’t work out. We also have a small art and antique business on the side. I grew up in Upstate New York and have lived in Vermont, Idaho, California and Boston. Have traveled [and fished!] extensively in the American West and Europe. I put my own way through college but it took me a few majors, five schools and 17 years! My jobs have included guide, accountant executive, bartender, ranch hand, heavy equipment operator, teacher [college], illustrator.

As an illustrator I did book covers, magazine articles, courtroom sketches for TV, murals in many major cities. I don’t really illustrate much anymore but recently did a small picture for the May issue of Maine Magazine.

As a painter I do landscapes, people, places, and things in many media- oils, watercolors, acrylic, pen and ink, etc. My website, http://www.dalyart.com has many examples. My work is in many collections, public and private, here and in Europe.

I have always been interested in conservation issues. Was almost arrested when I was twelve for campaigning too close to a polling place. The governors office [N.Y.] once called my father’s office to try and get him to shut me up because our little group was attracting too much attention to something they were trying to push through. Have been active in T.U. as Chairman of the Maine Council, and manager for a culvert removal project.

What do you consider your home stream?

That’s a hard one. Because I have lived in different places there are certain places that will always be “home” in my mind. The upper Hudson River between Newcombe and North Creek in the Adirondacks is a place I often went and still think about often. After I moved from that area, and especially when I lived in Boston, I would return there every year and canoe in and camp where the Cedar River meets the Hudson. Back then I could be there for two weeks alone and not see anyone. That for a long time was my equivalent to a pilgramage of sorts.

The outdoors have been my “religion and church” for a long time. Then there is a certain stream that will go unnamed near the Battenkill that I always fished when I lived in Vermont.

In Maine it would be something like the Ducktrap. Up north the East Outlet or the Moose. I just can’t narrow it down to one!

What’s your favorite fly?
Conover

Red Sox or Yankees?
Red Sox

Brook Trout or Salmon?
When I am catching just Brook Trout it is Salmon, and when I’m only catching Salmon it’s Brook Trout! I am very partial to exploring little streams with a light rod and those streams usually just have natives, but then there is something about a really big salmon!

What’s your most memorable fishing experience?

Now that is really a tough one. How do you narrow it down? I’ve been fishing for 60 years and there are so, so many, and some of them don’t even involve actually catching a fish, but I ‘ll try with two - one saltwater and one freshwater.

One fall night on the Vineyard we caught many, many stripers off the beach, all over 36,” many over 40”, all on flies. I wasn’t entered in the Derby but the guy I was fishing with was and he kept a fish and won the Derby.

A freshwater experience that was particularly memorable was my biggest landlocked, a 26” fish from the East Outlet on a small blue winged olive emerger of my own design , 5x tippet and my old Phillipson. That fish took me downstream from the dam pool, past a number of fishermen. One guy wouldn’t give way and the fish jumped literally head high right in front of him and he practically fell over. I finally landed it after slipping and falling twice, and let it go in an eddy behind a boulder. The funny thing is it was the first time I ever fished the dam pool because there are always so many people there. I was going to meet a friend and we were staying at Wilsons and he hadn’t come yet, so I just decided to go to the dam and take a couple of casts.

How did you come to find FFIM?

I don’t remember. It might have been a friend who mentioned it. Or one search leads to another. The internet is wierd that way.

Given your choice would you rather spend a day fishing with Don Lynch or a night with Halle Barry?

Halle Barry, but I might have to stay at Don’s for awhile if my Italian Lebanese wife ever found out!

always happy when i bump into dan.....


and i have one of his sketches on my mantle

I had the occassion a few years back of sharing a campsite at a conclave with Dan and became an admirer of Dan Daly not only for his artwork but for who he is as a person. Thoughtful, kind, and generous are just the first three adjectives that come to mind and it certainly has been our pleasure to have him participate on our site and in our community.

Thanks Dan!

Ken

"Kind, generous, thoughtful, gentleman" not the first words that come to mind when I think of Dan...Mahatma Ghandi, yes......Dan, not so much. Dan and I have been friends for many years, in fact I used to date his wife. The first word I think of with Dan is BIG, whenever I'm standing beside him I feel like a dwarf. Dan's a big guy with a big heart, great Irish temperament and a wonderful sense of humor, great story teller (26" land lock ?.....Hmmmmmmm) We have been tying together for about 10 years, maybe more, but I rarely fish with Dan, I just don't need that kind of humiliation. A lasting memory of Dan is watching him on the opposite shore of Holbrook pool, wading over his waist in a raging current, fell over not once, not twice but three times. Undaunted he continued to hammer salmon in places no one else could reach. Good on ye laddie! Terry

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"An lá ag iascaireacht is an lá go breá."

Casually met Dan at one of the conclaves. A true gentleman. Emily and I were just recently commenting on the 2009 design he did for the conclave "T" shirt, the best design of them all. The corporate jet should be hangared for a while and commission Dan to design the next shirt. His work is outstanding.

Ron

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The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of something that is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.

Sir John Buchan

Date my wife? And here all this time at the fly tying sessions with those jokes about Cheryl, I thought you were talking about Richard P.'s Cheryl! Damn!
As for the 26" salmon, my net from end to end with handle is 24", and opening end to end is 16." Those are the only two measurements I need. However, it is a net from probably around the '50s and has inches marked on the handle up to 6. I'm sure just the handle will come in handy should Terry venture to the other side of Holbrook some time and want to measure his fish!
Oh, and each time I went down in that current I was merely looking at what all those fish were feeding on. Sometimes it may look a bit awkward because everything goes by so quickly. Try it sometime. It works. Seriously!!

I've got a couple of Dan's originals up on the camp walls, it amazes me how he can capture the "feel" of a fishing moment. Wicked nice guy too!