Fishing legend dies

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September 9, 2009

By DENNIS APRILL The Press Republican Wed Sep 09, 2009, 05:46 PM EDT

Fran Betters, renowned area sportsman and fly-fishing expert, died Sunday.

The call came that night from his wife, Jan, and I knew from her initial tone that my old friend had passed away. Fran, who was 78, had been seriously ill for months, and the call was not unexpected.

He was not only a remarkable person but a fishing legend, creating such timeless fishing flies as the Ausable Wulff, the Usual and the Haystacks — all listed in Field and Stream magazine’s top 10 all-time fly patterns.

Fran also authored many books on the genre, among them “Fran Betters’ Fly Fishing — Fly Tying and Pattern Guide” (a how-to), “Something’s Fishy in the Adirondacks” (a collection of poems), “Fish Are Smarter in the Adirondacks” (a collection of short stories) and “Meet the Animals of the Adirondacks” (children’s educational book).

In recent years, his column “Focus on Fly Fishing” was a regular feature on the Outdoors Page in the Press-Republican.

Last fall, he was inducted into the prestigious Catskill Fly Fishing Hall of Fame, which includes the likes of fishing legends such as Lee Wulff and Theodore Gordon.

Fran was born in Wilmington in 1931. His mother died shortly after giving birth, and he was adopted by Margaret and Victor Betters, the latter an expert fishing guide who was friends with writer Ray Bergman, author of the classic book “Trout,” and fishing great Red Wilbur.

Fran learned fishing from his father and his father’s friends. He turned that love into a business, opening the Adirondack Sports Shop on Route 86 in Wilmington in 1961. He would sit in that small, often-cluttered space, tying flies and telling fishing stories for hours.

In 2006, the Adirondack Sports Shop moved up the road to a more spacious room next to the Evening Hatch Restaurant.

I first met Fran Betters in the late 1970s, but didn’t get to know him until 1989, when I was hired to write and edit “Good Fishing in the Adirondacks,” a book that would cover the northern half of the state. Who else better to author the Ausable River chapter than Fran.

By then, he was a larger than life figure on that river, and his map showing all the pools and runs found there was, and still is, a classic. On the map, he named fishing hot spots after land features and old friends, so there was “Ski Jump Pool,” Bergman’s Run” and “Betters Pool,” the latter named in honor of his father.

Maybe someday we will have “Fran’s Pool.”

I was proud to share space with him on the Outdoors Page all these years.

Besides his wife, Jan, he leaves a daughter, Peggy; a granddaughter; and two great-grandchildren.

A memorial service for Fran is in the works and will be scheduled for early October. It will be a celebration of Fran’s life and the river he loved to fish.