John Betts, "King of synthetics" has passed on

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bassman
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John Betts, "King of synthetics" has passed on

#1

Post by bassman »

Read today that John Betts, long known in fishing and fly tying circles for his products and books, passed on today. I think he was best known for promoting synthetics in fly tying but also read that he made some fly reels and did some bamboo rods along the way.

‎Andrew Betts‎ to The Fly Fishing Community

"If you've ever tied on a bundle of Z-lon, some Tailing Fibers (microfibetts), made a strip-built wooden rod, even took a pass at a handmade fly reel, or bought a foam bass plug from Umpqua Feather Merchants, you'll know the fly fishing world is a little emptier today. My dad, John Betts, died this morning. He dearly loved fly fishing to the point that he made it his life's work. Consumed by all that made it challenging and beautiful, he made it better for all of us. Dad, we're going to miss you."

norcal_1
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Re: John Betts, "King of synthetics" has passed on

#2

Post by norcal_1 »

Bassman, where did you see that announcement posted, is there a link to another forum?

For many months, I and a very close friend of John's were trying to go visit John here in northern CA to show him a collection of 70 of his flies that were discovered in pristine condition. I called him and spoke with him several times this spring trying to make it happen, but his health was failing and he wasn't able to accommodate us then. John told me he had sold all his own personal flies and had none left when I asked if I could purchase some to add to a fly frame I was working on to donate to a fly fishing museum in his honor. John had just released his final book a couple months back that's discussed here and was very excited talking about the book. He was very proud of it.

I photographed all 70 of John's flies from that collection in high resolution detail to preserve his work in digital format. They are going to be included on a larger website I'm creating of fly plates/frames (and will link to it here when the website goes live). So few images or physical specimens of his flies exist today and if you do a Google search, as of only a few months ago, only 3 showed up as images. But recently, Gary Siemer put a nice collection of John's flies up for sale (below) which will add to the digital record of his work. Those, plus the ones I was able to photograph will help give good example of his creations. In addition to posting pictures of John's flies so they will exist in digital format, I'm having a large fly plate/frame made of the 25+ flies of John's that I have collected as part of that project and will donate it to one of the big fly fishing museums in his name. The flies going into the frame are similar to the ones shown below with many more interesting colors/patterns/styles thrown in to the mix. It will be a good representation of his creativity and the varied synthetic materials he used.

I told John when we last spoke a few months ago that his 1993 article in Fly Fisherman called 'Zing Wing Flies' was one of the seminal articles for me as a fly tier (along with Fran Betters 'The Usual' article from the early 1980's). I absolutely killed it on the BigHorn River in subsequent years using John's Zing Wing style of fly patterns with one slight modification - a soft hackle added to them for movement. I know Shane Stalcup's patterns were highly influenced by John's (and he also sadly left us too early) and John acknowledged his fine work to push the synthetic flies track forward. (I think Enrico Puglise is carrying the mantle with his excellent line of synthetic fibers)

I'm so sorry that I never got the one last chance to see John, but I told him many times on the phone these last few months about the discovered collection and how we were going to preserve his legacy in digital and physical (fly frame to museum) format for him in any event, and were hoping to bring them up to show him when he felt like having guests take him to lunch. RIP John and blessings to his wonderful wife and family.

https://www.vintageflytackle.com/produc ... collection (still available for purchases as of this post)

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norcal_1
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Re: John Betts, "King of synthetics" has passed on

#3

Post by norcal_1 »

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rsagebrush
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Re: John Betts, "King of synthetics" has passed on

#4

Post by rsagebrush »

I used to see John regularly when I belonged the Denver West chapter of TU in the 80's. He made the coolest flies I've ever seen and I purchased many of his bass flies and trout flies. He was a constant tinkerer and his books and writing's were always very interesting, he had about the best handwriting I have ever seen. The world is a bit less without him as he continues his journey. May he rest in Peace.

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Norm Frechette
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Re: John Betts, "King of synthetics" has passed on

#5

Post by Norm Frechette »

google didnt find his obituary

there was one john betts obituary in the denver area but it wasnt him

FishTieFu
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Re: John Betts, "King of synthetics" has passed on

#6

Post by FishTieFu »

norcal_1 wrote:Image
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What is the top fly? Obviously a Caddis, any recipe?
RIP Mr Betts


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

norcal_1
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Re: John Betts, "King of synthetics" has passed on

#7

Post by norcal_1 »

^
Zing Wing Caddis fly recipe from John Bett's 1993 Fly Fisherman article
====================================================================

Hook: Tiemco 101 or light wire dry fly hook

Body: 50/50 mix of straight and crinkle Z-lon cut into pieces 3/16-inch long and 'touched' onto the waxed thread
sparsely then wound on to form the body - do not roll it together to dub like fur dubbing - leave it in pieces like in the
picture above and just touch it into the waxed thread before winding it into a body, so it's spiky looking and almost translucent

Wing: Clear Zing Wing (or what's called Medallion Sheeting today)

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Planettrout
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Re: John Betts, "King of synthetics" has passed on

#8

Post by Planettrout »

The Fly Fishing Community is a group on Facebook with over 46K members. This is the post:

Image


PT/TB
Daughter to Father, "How many arms do you have? How many fly rods do you need?"

http://planettrout.wordpress.com

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pittendrigh
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Re: John Betts, "King of synthetics" has passed on

#9

Post by pittendrigh »

A few more pics (some but not all of them already posted above, thank you norcal)

http://montana-riverboats.com/?page=Fli ... dslideshow

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gt05254
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Re: John Betts, "King of synthetics" has passed on

#10

Post by gt05254 »

Hopefully, John is busting his old buddy Gordon Wickstrom's balls on some heavenly stream somewhere. They were a great pair to hang out with; I miss them both. A little retrospective of some of my cherished possesions...thanks to John:
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A simple bookmark:
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We shared a love of fine tools; he sent me this lovely book about them:
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Finally, the three shadow boxes I have on the wall next to my desk.
I bought this one at one of his showings in Denver:
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He sent me this one, featuring the Manchester fly, during my time at AMFF
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Finally, my favorite...I commissioned John to do a watercolor celebrating AMFF's 30th Anniversary. We did two editions, one of which was only of 30 prints, framed with one of John's dry flies. Title: "The Bubble"
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John didn't drink. But I do, and I'll be hoisting a whiskey and thinking great thoughts of that good and fun man later today.
Gary

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gt05254
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Re: John Betts, "King of synthetics" has passed on

#11

Post by gt05254 »

I remembered an old Sports Illustrated article on John, and was able to find it:
https://www.si.com/vault/1981/05/04/825 ... nary-flies

Better one here (shows the photos - I always loved the one of him looking at the material through a loupe)
https://www.si.com/vault/issue/70938/45

Gary

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bearbutt
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Re: John Betts, "King of synthetics" has passed on

#12

Post by bearbutt »

gt05254 wrote:I remembered an old Sports Illustrated article on John, and was able to find it:
https://www.si.com/vault/1981/05/04/825 ... nary-flies

Gary
Thanks for posting this link, Gary. Sadly, the author of the article, Boyle, himself died not long ago. Gone now are the days when Sports Illustrated published articles about fly tying, fly tiers, and fly fishing.

bb

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PolishSteel
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Re: John Betts, "King of synthetics" has passed on

#13

Post by PolishSteel »

Interesting read the SI article. Thanks for posting the link. Sadly most of the big names for me when I started fly fishing and fly tying have passed on.......

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Re: John Betts, "King of synthetics" has passed on

#14

Post by DryFlyAddict »

Greetings, Everyone, I'm John's son, Andrew. I think I may have met some of you over the years...

Dad died peacefully this past Friday morning, in California. I hope to get his obituary published tomorrow (it's been a tough weekend).

I'm grateful for all the tribute, recollections, fondness, and kind words. The whole family is. As you all know, my dad was a fascinating man, learning from him and fishing with him was a never-ending event, although the later trips in Colorado, it was me fishing until I couldn't see my fly, he waited patiently.

Thanks again for passing along your experiences and words, he would be thrilled to realize his positive and lasting impact.

He will be missed.

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BrownBear
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Re: John Betts, "King of synthetics" has passed on

#15

Post by BrownBear »

Sincere condolences Andrew.

I have to confess I was slow to give suitable attention to his developments. That is, until I got acquainted with his Zing Wing Caddis fishing for tough trout on still water. Then I realized just how much wisdom I'd been ignoring. He will always be remembered in this quarter.

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gt05254
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Re: John Betts, "King of synthetics" has passed on

#16

Post by gt05254 »

Andrew, they broke the mold when they made your Dad. My heartfelt condolences to your family. One of the fun nights of my life was having dinner in Boulder with your Mom and Dad, and Gordon Wickstrom and his wife, Betty. That caliber of folks is slowly vanishing from the earth. Take heart.
Gary

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mhackney
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Re: John Betts, "King of synthetics" has passed on

#17

Post by mhackney »

I had the great fortune to work closely with John for the last nine years to publish his books and art. Although I only visited him once, there were hundreds of phone calls, handwritten letters and packages exchanged over the years. I got the behind the scenes look at how John approached his work - writing and art - and it was fascinating. I heard thousands of stories of discovery, his philosophy and approach to living, and his unique humor - and I'm sure there were thousands more.

He told me countless times that he trusted me implicitly to bring his work to the world. He frequently commented "between you, me and several close friends, we are sure to sell at least five copies". His books Synthetic Flies, Lines and Making Them and Patterns, in particular, exemplify his creativity, out of the box thinking and brilliance.

Going forward, I will donate 10% of all sales of John's work to support the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (https://www.michaeljfox.org) in his name and honor. John's daughter called me the afternoon of his passing. She suggested that her father would appreciate supporting this organization.

With deepest sympathy,
Michael
Reelsmith, Author & Publisher
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