R
rrt
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2006
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(Disclaimer: I don't think this belongs in the media forum.)
This past weekend, I had finished a novel and could not get to a bookstore or the local library to get another. For some reason, I decided to take a look at my oldest Fly Fisherman magazines. (I had been planning to give them away or to trade them, as I had my copies from the 1970s and '80s, but I don't think I will now.) I chose to look at my magazines from 1990.
In these, I found articles by Charles Meck, one a destination piece about PA's tailwater streams and the other touting twitching a White Fly during a hatch to make it more effective. Writers of other articles included Neale Streaks, Dave Hughes, Nick Lyons, and Jay Vincent.
I also encountered a couple debates. One was a letter to the editor that chastised Lefty Kreh for writing a piece about the now well-known Clouser Minnow. The harsh letter explained that the minnow was really nothing more than a jig. This letter appeared to be the last letter about a debate on this topic.
The big debate that raged regarded two forum articles strongly explaining that strike indicators were inappropriate for fly-fishing. One of the writers, John H. Sullivan, strongly noted that indicator fishing was not fly-fishing at all. These articles were strongly rebutted in letters to the editor and by another forum article that defended the use of indicators.
I suppose today with the common acceptance of the Clouser Minnow and indicators that modern fly-fishermen might think these debates silly and wonder why these things seemed so important to fly-fishermen of 25 years ago. Perhaps it is because fly-fishing, while becoming increasingly popular after "the movie," was still often considered "an arcane activity practiced by a handful of harmless eccentrics." (I think this is a Lyons quote, but I'm not sure.) Many fly-fishermen of the time reveled in this, believing that fly-fishing was truly a special form of fishing. Perhaps one of John Gierach's characters of the time summed it up the best. This character, Koke Winter, had a broken leg but was holed up at a ski lodge. When someone asked him if he'd broken the leg while skiing, he grumped, "I don't go in for them sissy sports; I'm a fly-fisherman." Someone who appreciated something that was special to him.
Anyhow, the next time I am between novels, I might glance at the 1991 magazines. Who knows what I might find?
This past weekend, I had finished a novel and could not get to a bookstore or the local library to get another. For some reason, I decided to take a look at my oldest Fly Fisherman magazines. (I had been planning to give them away or to trade them, as I had my copies from the 1970s and '80s, but I don't think I will now.) I chose to look at my magazines from 1990.
In these, I found articles by Charles Meck, one a destination piece about PA's tailwater streams and the other touting twitching a White Fly during a hatch to make it more effective. Writers of other articles included Neale Streaks, Dave Hughes, Nick Lyons, and Jay Vincent.
I also encountered a couple debates. One was a letter to the editor that chastised Lefty Kreh for writing a piece about the now well-known Clouser Minnow. The harsh letter explained that the minnow was really nothing more than a jig. This letter appeared to be the last letter about a debate on this topic.
The big debate that raged regarded two forum articles strongly explaining that strike indicators were inappropriate for fly-fishing. One of the writers, John H. Sullivan, strongly noted that indicator fishing was not fly-fishing at all. These articles were strongly rebutted in letters to the editor and by another forum article that defended the use of indicators.
I suppose today with the common acceptance of the Clouser Minnow and indicators that modern fly-fishermen might think these debates silly and wonder why these things seemed so important to fly-fishermen of 25 years ago. Perhaps it is because fly-fishing, while becoming increasingly popular after "the movie," was still often considered "an arcane activity practiced by a handful of harmless eccentrics." (I think this is a Lyons quote, but I'm not sure.) Many fly-fishermen of the time reveled in this, believing that fly-fishing was truly a special form of fishing. Perhaps one of John Gierach's characters of the time summed it up the best. This character, Koke Winter, had a broken leg but was holed up at a ski lodge. When someone asked him if he'd broken the leg while skiing, he grumped, "I don't go in for them sissy sports; I'm a fly-fisherman." Someone who appreciated something that was special to him.
Anyhow, the next time I am between novels, I might glance at the 1991 magazines. Who knows what I might find?