The angling art and artful angling of Alberto Rey
My introduction to Alberto Rey came last fall on a fishing foray to Chautaqua County, New York, where Rey guided me and a few other outdoor writers in pursuit of steelhead trout. Rey’s Orvis-endorsed guide service concentrates on steelhead fishing from mid-October through the peak season in mid-November until the third week in December when the fish return to Lake Erie after their spawning runs. But Rey is much more than just a fishing guide. He’s also a college professor, writer and a much acclaimed artist who specializes in painting, you guessed it, fish (along with some landscapes).
Rey, age 56, resides in Fredonia, N.Y., where his art studio is located, and in many ways his life story – that of a struggling young immigrant who, through innate talent, steely determination, and a sterling work ethic, achieves remarkable success – is a classic story of chasing and ultimately achieving the America Dream.
Born in Havana, Cuba in 1960, Rey received political asylum through Mexico in 1963 and moved to Miami, Florida, in 1965 at the tender age of five. In 1967, his family relocated to Barnesboro, Pennsylvania, a small coal-mining town, residing there until 1982. At North Cambria High School he excelled at football and basketball (he also played rugby for 15 years). Living in Cambria County, Rey developed a keen love of hunting and fishing while exploring Pennsylvania’s fields, forests, rivers and streams.
Following high school he attended West Point on a football scholarship, but after three months and a severe knee injury, he decided the army wasn’t for him. He then enrolled at Indiana University of Pennsylvania where he again played football (until he broke his arm) and graduated in 1978 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
He continued his graduate studies at the University at Buffalo, NY, and in 1987, he received his M.F.A. in Painting. His preferred mediums are water color, oils, and video. In 1989, he moved to Dunkirk, New York to accept a teaching position at the State University of New York at Fredonia and married Janeil Strong, of Gloucester, Mass.
“My paintings are about connecting people to their environment,” Rey told me as I toured his studio and viewed many of his works. I asked him about the availability of prints of his paintings. “While I do have prints of some of my paintings,” Rey explained, “most of my work is displayed in galleries and museums.”
To that end, in 1992, his works were selected into the permanent collections of the Albright-Knox Museum, Brooklyn Museum of Art and Bronx Museum of Art. In 1994, Rey received the Hagan Young Scholar/Artist Award for distinguished research/creative activity as a junior faculty and the Minority Visiting Scholar’s Award from Central Missouri State University.
And speaking of research, since settling in western New York in 1989, he has also performed extensive research on local entomology and on the migratory and biological sensibilities of the regional steelhead. When we left
his studio that day and reported to one of his favorite steelhead streams, Rey shifted from artist to angling mode to discuss some of what he has learned about his favorite fish.
He explained that the smaller tributaries ( like the one we waded that morning) get more fish as the season progresses. “The best fishing is in water temperatures in the mid 50 degree or colder range,” said Rey. “I’ll continue to fish if it’s 28 degrees or warmer.”
Rey pointed out that there is another run of steelhead that takes place from mid-March through Mid-April. “Another strain of Skamania steelhead have now been introduced here that are more tolerant of warm water which stretches out the season,”
he adds. According to Rey, about 70 percent of the steelhead are two-year-olds in the 24” to 26” range. Another 20 percent are threeyear-olds from 28” to 29” and about 5 percent are 32” to 34” four-year-olds.”
But Rey’s artistic and angling efforts are not restricted to his favorite western New York haunts. He has fished for both fresh and salt water species all over the world. “In 2000, after finishing a series of paintings on Cuban and American culture, I was ready to move in a new direction and I began the Biological Regionalism Series,” said Rey. “The series incorporated the research I had been acquiring over the previous years and motivated me to investigate and research many other streams in western New York and the Catskills as well as bodies of water in Massachusetts, Florida, Alaska,
Montana, New Mexico, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Arizona, California, Virginia, Pennsylvania and also Wales, England, Iceland and Cuba.”
While Rey himself has become a master fisherman and acclaimed artist, he is also determined to introduce the angling arts to the next generation of fisherman. To that end he is a founder and Director of the S.A.R.E.P. Youth Fly Fishing Program. Rey, along with Mike Conley, founded the program shortly after attending Sportfishing and Aquatic Resource Educational Programming (S. A.R.E.P.) through the Cornell Cooperative in 1998 and has been active in helping youngsters appreciate and enjoy the sport of fishing ever since.
Back in 1653, English writer Izaack Walton first penned his famous treatise on fishing, “The Com-
pleat Angler or the Contemplative Man’s Recreation” in which he sang the praises of the angling arts. Exactly 400 years later Alfredo Rey emigrated from Cuba, embarking on a journey that would one day lead him to the fertile fishing grounds of Chatauqua County in New York. Like Walton, Rey is a fly fishermen. While Walton’s love of fishing is displayed in the prose and verses he penned; Rey’s is reflected in the exquisite piscatorial pictures he paints. Like Walton, Rey has become a contemplative “compleat” angler in his own right, and lives to celebrate the sport he’s grown to cherish.
For more about Rey’s art and his Orvis guide service check out his website at https://albertorey.com/. For more info about the Youth Fly Fishing Program, visit their website at http:// takekidsflyfishing.com