Walter Oliver Cary hails from Strasburg, Virginia. He entered military service at a young age, enlisting in the U. S. Army and seeing overseas duty during 1951-52 in the Korean War, where he was on the front lines as a forward observer. His responsibilities included keeping a close eye on changing enemy positions and calling in mortar strikes to keep their progress in check. Upon returning home from Korea, Cary enlisted in the U. S. Navy, and it was here he found his true calling. Noting his aptitude for breaking problems down into manageable pieces, Cary’s supervisors sent him to study in Great Britain at the Royal Naval School of Work Study in Portsmouth. Here he studied industrial engineering and graduated at the top of his class. Cary likes to joke that his stint in England marked the only time in his life when someone called him a Yankee. His education allowed him to bring efficiency to several Navy projects and eventually figured prominently in the creation of his iconic Walt’s Poppers.
Cary served in the U. S. Navy for 28 years, retiring in 1979 as the Command Master Chief (the Navy’s highest enlisted rank) of the U. S. S. Forrestal, the largest aircraft carrier ever built at the time of its launching. Aboard ship Cary’s only superior, among a crew of 5,500, was the vessel’s captain. Cary made his first poppers from the remains of discarded champagne bottle corks. Noting the waste of perfectly good material—and short on the funds he needed to support his growing family—he set about inventing what would become one of the best known popping bugs in the country. One of Cary’s first customers was an aspiring young outdoor writer from Frederick, Maryland, Bernard “Lefty” Kreh. Some avid fans may treat their Walt’s Poppers like works of art and purchase them to grace shadow boxes. But Cary has always insisted “My poppers are not works of art. They are tools for the working man to catch fish.” His poppers have indeed become the everyday angler’s go-to pattern, and they are rightly known for their quality in catching fish as well as their classic good looks. At the height of his fly-tying career, Cary would produce as many as a thou sand dozen bass bugs in a single year, and he sold them nationwide. Cary and his acclaimed Walt’s Poppers have been featured in magazine articles and at numerous fly-fishing and fly-tying events. Walt was recognized as the 2007 Virginia Fly Tyer of the Year by the Virginia Fly Fishing & Wine Festival. He lives in Cortland, Virginia and fishes for smallmouth as often as he can.
Walter Cary—Inducted in 2016 in the Crafts category as a professional popper maker who is widely recognized for decades of creativity and wisdom in designing poppers that panfish and bass find irresistible. He is also rightly acclaimed for his dedication in providing fly-tying demonstrations and fly-fishing presentations while working with novice anglers, youngsters, and military veterans.
