Leigh Perkins dies

[salvelinus]

article

 

[AndyP]

Thanks for sharing this.

 

[Baron]

I enjoyed reading this. I've enjoyed His contributions to my sport.

 

[Bamboozle]

If you have been fly fishing for decades like me and are “east coast,” especially from eastern or southeastern PA, will remember when just about everything you needed was purchased from an Orvis dealer.

Getting the new catalogue in the mail was a high point with new gadgets and tackle to dream about and dealers who had inventory in the store to ogle or fondle…

Things were simpler then with a billion less choices, but somehow the quality of what you bought from Orvis stood the test of time, not always because they made it, but rather because they chose someone who made something of quality that they were willing to put their name on and stand behind.

As a company, I still rank them as being head & shoulders above most in regards to customer service and even though I don’t buy nearly as much from them as I did in the past, I still fish with many rods & reels with their name on it.

I honestly could never imagine the world of fly-fishing without Orvis.

That is Leigh Perkins’ legacy…

RIP

 

[RLeep2]

Close to 30 years ago when I was working in an Orvis shop, I had the opportunity to "guide" (loosely defined as accompany and advising where necessary, etc.) the Perkins brothers, Dave and young Perk on Elk Creek for steelhead. Despite their somewhat high-born background and their positions with the company, I found them courteous, accessible, well grounded and all in all, pretty regular guys. It was a pleasure to spend the day with them.

I never met their Dad. I didn't have to in order to come to believe that he too was a person of quality. It came through in the sons he had raised.