50 most influential FFers

afishinado

afishinado

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Article with list and info on all of them >

https://www.flyfisherman.com/editorial/50-most-influential-fly-fishers/451814?fbclid=IwAR2bc1LaVMrSHMcCfWeKlwj-a_R92ILzdQVNB6t1IzPFZyGY6u3Xeaqmglk
 
No Joe?? Say it ain’t so.

No John Gierach ??

Love Mel Krieger.

Most of these guys are not boring , lived and or living great lives. How lucky we and they are.

Gierach, Robert J. Behnke, M. R. Montgomery, Robert Smith, Patrick Trotter, Micheal Graybrook, - are my greatest influences!!

They opened my eyes and filled my spirit with wonder , wisdom and exploration.
 
They missed Stu Apte, Norman Duncan, Ted Juracsik, Andy Mill, Al Pflueger, Tom Evans, Jerry Siem, Robert Redford (the movie), Billy Pate just to name a few off the top of my head.

I was surprised to see Steve Huff and Del Brown, they no doubt deserved the mention. Flip and Chico as well.
 
Ray Wilmot. Boisean and football coach who showed me much of Idaho and held nothing back. Turning point in my fly fishing interest. Died of a heart attack, three months into retirement, 2 miles into his yearly 64 mile, 3-day hike from Atlanta to Stanley in the Idaho Sawtooth Mountains.

After that its Geirach, Zumbo, Wulff, Harvey, John (from the Fishing Post in downtown Greensburg), Albatross, JackM, Bruno and I guess DaveKile for introducing me to the last three.

For me anyway.
 
Why am I not on the list? lol these type of lists are always controversial and are always missing people or often people who are local and well known to some but the rest of the world doesn't really know.
 
Sid Neff! Datus Proper! John Mayer! Oh wait, that last one is from a different Rolling Stone best ever list...:)
 
I have been blessed to have met several of the top 50. Craig Matthews taught me to fish the Maddison River. I bought my first really expensive outfit from Barry Beck. Budd Lilly told me to fish the Gibbon River in the park where I fished for and caught brook trout, cut-bows, rainbows, cutthroat and grayling, all in a single day.

Also they left Charlie Meck, Dave Rothrock and and Dwight Landis off the list.

Considering all of my acquaintances and tutors that I would be able to fish better.

 
Unless I missed something , all the 50 mentioned wrote books or an article for fly fisherman . Half of the people I have never heard of .
 
It's a solid list, with few exceptions. I am always glad to see Voelker, Marinaro, Fox, Brooks, Harvey, and Maclean on such lists.

Guys my age and of my generation would have to believe this list is incomplete without Ray Bergman, the author of the original "Trout." He probably influenced more fly-fishermen of my age than any other fly-fisherman.

After that, I certainly wouldn't quibble much about the list. It would have been nice to see Harry Middleton get an honorable mention. If he had not died tragically at 44, who knows what other gems he might have written?

Maybe Don Zahner, too.
 
As long as Joe Brooks is on the list, I'm good. His 1972 book "Trout Fishing" was the first in my collection. It gave me a basic understanding of fly fishing, that really got me interested. Filled with good info. And for the time, his book had good quality photos that showed a lot of the locations he fished. He was an awesome fly fisherman.
 
rrt wrote:
It's a solid list, with few exceptions. I am always glad to see Voelker, Marinaro, Fox, Brooks, Harvey, and Maclean on such lists.

Guys my age and of my generation would have to believe this list is incomplete without Ray Bergman, the author of the original "Trout." He probably influenced more fly-fishermen of my age than any other fly-fisherman.

After that, I certainly wouldn't quibble much about the list. It would have been nice to see Harry Middleton get an honorable mention. If he had not died tragically at 44, who knows what other gems he might have written?

Maybe Don Zahner, too.
Click to expand...

Ray Bergman's "Trout" was the first trout fishing book I ever read, as with many others. But I think the reason he was not included was timeline of the last 50 years.

The omission I really noticed was Ed Shenk: Letort Hopper, Letort Cricket, Shenk Sculpin, cress bug, Shenks White Minnow.

Maybe also Russ Blessing, who came up with the Wooly Bugger. Just one fly, but one that is used so much, all over the world, and caught so many trout, bass and other gamefish that you could argue that he's near the top of the list of influential flyfishers.

 
I 2nd Shenk I mean was there hoppers tied before the Letort Hopper ????
 
I too thought of Stu Apte. He was one of my hero’s growing up, behind Mickey Mantle of course!
 
Whoops. I was a little careless there.
 
1) how did Maxima not make this list?
2) how is he not here telling us how these guys have bigger rods than us?
 
Hahaha! Thanks for that Susquehanna!! Got a genuine belly-laugh out of me!!
 
First fly fishing book I bought was Charlie Mecks "Meeting and Fishing the Hatches".
And it really influenced my approach to the sport, and helped make me the dry fly nut that I've become.

Given the many subsequent books he wrote, I think he should be on the list
 
Most influential was simple for me, my dad.
 
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