Article about Ed Shenk

[JF_]

Interesting.......

Ed Shenk

 

[rrt]

Nice article. I ran into him once when I was young on the LeTort. He'd broken a rod, and I was trying to cast to a trout I couldn't reach. I handed him my rod, and he easily covered the trout and landed it on one of my flies, using my rod. I was pretty impressed.

Guys from that area told me that the young Shenk was the model for the young fly-fisherman in Charles Fox's fictional stories in "This Wonderful World of Trout."

I hope he gets to go out a few times this season. I believe he is one of the sport's icons who truly is a good guy.

 

[JF_]

That's a really cool story, tx....

 

[CaptainHook]

Good golly! I opened this on an iPad and got at least 4 ads and a trip to another URL - all in short fashion. What a mess of a website. Don't try to click off an 'X' as it will open another.

Great story though.

 

[CastingAcross]

Great article. Thanks for sharing!

 

[LetortAngler]

Nice article. I actually just spoke with Ed on Monday while at the Letort. His (hopefully) soon to be new book 75 Years with a Fly Rod will get published to make another great addition to PA angling literature.

 

[hooker-of-men]

Nice article.

rrt wrote:
Guys from that area told me that the young Shenk was the model for the young fly-fisherman in Charles Fox's fictional stories in "This Wonderful World of Trout."

Not to derail, but have you read this? If so, how is it? Been looking for some solid fishing fiction, and this is the first Fox has come onto my radar.

 

[LetortAngler]

This Wonderful World of Trout, and Rising Trout are 2 of 3or4 books that Charles K Fox has written. Few other authors have captured my attention as much as Foxs writing regarding Pennsylvania. Really worth checking out if you can find one, excellent stories and history of the sport.

 

[afishinado]

Here is a PAFF thread with some opinions on the book.

 

[MKern]

Good read.

 

[rrt]

Hooker,
If you can find it, "This Wonderful World of Trout" is wonderful. It paints a nice picture of fishing in the Cumberland Valley up through about the 1960s. The second part of the book is entirely fiction, and Fox's cast of characters is memorable. I like to re-read parts of it each winter.

If you like semi-fiction, you might want to also seek Robert Traver's fishing books, "Trout Madness" and "Trout Magic." They both have some splendid stories.

 

[bigslackwater]

Ed Shank's book "Fly Rod Trouting" got me in the sport, so I can honestly say, it changed my life! It was funny how I got it...I had a paper route along Main Street in my little town. It was Christmas time and the vacuum store gave me a gift Certificate to the book store. I walked in and browsed book after book and eventually saw that book. I got it and put it on the book shelf at my parents house. I fly fished off and on but never really had it figured out. After about 15 years, I finally read it and the mystery of fly fishing started to make sense. I owe a lot to his writings.

 

[dc410]

Thanks for sharing this article, John. I have had the opportunity over the past few years to personally talk to Mr. Shenk about some of his patterns and flyfishing in general. I was always very impressed with the time he took to chat and share some of his wealth of information as well as a story or two. Mr. Shenk is a great person.

 

[beadhead2]

Met Ed Shenk many times ,great guy
He was at Mainstream Outfitters several years ago tying flies and answering questions
I have his VHS tape and his book ,I copied the VHS tape to DVD

 

[CastingAcross]

Ed Shenk always was great with the kids at the Rivers Conservation & Fly Fishing Youth Camp. He'd joke about their snappy casts, and was always willing to go "hands on" to help with their mechanics.
I talked to Ed for the Boiling Springs fly shop article the day before he was interviewed for the one in this thread. We spoke for nearly an hour, and the time flew by.

 

[hooker-of-men]

Thanks, Letort, afishando, and rrt. The info is much appreciated.

 

[Camp]

Outstanding article.

Hope Ed gets out some more this season, I think he still has a lot left to offer the sport.

 

[JimKennedy]

I've been lurking on your site for years now and the article on Ed Shenk prompted me to register, in part because I have a question some of you Cumberland Valley guys may be able to answer. Mr. Shenk makes mention of trapping muskrat on the Letort with a buddy back in the day and it struck me he might be referring to another Le tort trapper and fly fisher Denny Moore. Anyone got any thoughts?

 

[McSneek]

Nice article. I guess Ed would be the last of the great Cumberland Valley/Letort fishermen; Shenk, Fox, Marinaro, Koch and even Schweibert although he wasn't from the area. I think Schweibert, not Shenk, was the young man and protege in Fox's short stories.

Couple of sad things in the article. 1. Shenk himself says the Letort is "done." I would agree based on descriptions of it in it's early days.
2. Why does TU list Spruce Creek as a top 100 stream as recently as 2014? A degraded stream that's probably 95% private and loaded with stocked fish. Should never be on a list of top streams.

 

[Dave_W]

JimKennedy wrote:
Mr. Shenk makes mention of trapping muskrat on the Letort with a buddy back in the day and it struck me he might be referring to another Le tort trapper and fly fisher Denny Moore. Anyone got any thoughts?

I'm not sure about this particular individual. . .although I can attest that there remain individuals who trap along the stream. If you have a dog along when you're fishing Letort, be aware of this.