Last week, one of my favorite people in fly-fishing passed away at the age of 88. Gordon Wickstrom was an author, a professor of theater, a student of fly-fishing history, a passionate angler, and a man with strong. . .
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Video: Ike and Dick Go Fly Fishing
Ike without Nixon tagging along.
Here’s a cool piece of footage from the summer leading up to the 1952 presidential election, featuring Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and then-Sen. Richard M. Nixon. The two men are. . .
Read MoreWanna Buy a Piece of Fly-Fishing History?
The 400-year-old “temple” is set on a lovely piece of property along the River Dove.
Photo Photo via dailymail.co.uk
The famed stone temple on the River Dove, where Izaak Walton and his friend James Cotton spent many an hour, has been put on the market. Walton was nearly 80 years old in 1674, when Cotton had the “cottage” built on. . .
Read MoreMuseum Piece: An Extremely Rare Fly Reel
This reel, built by Edward Ringwood Hewitt, is one of just seven in existence.
Photo by Sara Wilcox
The American Museum of Fly Fishing is located right next to the Orvis Flagship store in Manchester, Vermont. The folks from the museum will be sharing many of the cool items from their collection in an ongoing series called “Museum Pieces.” You can take a. . .
Read MoreFly-Fishing History: How the British Brought Brown Trout Around the World
It always amazes me that trout have been introduced in so many places across the globe. When I was in Tasmania a few years ago, I visited Salmon Ponds, built in 1861 and the oldest trout-rearing facility in the Southern Hemisphere. There’s a little museum there that explains how the. . .
Read MoreMuseum Piece: Lefty Kreh’s First Fly Reel
Lefty Kreh improved his line drag by cutting a thumb insert in his first fly reel, this Pflueger Medalist.
Photo by Sara Wilcox
The American Museum of Fly Fishing is located right next to the Orvis Flagship store in Manchester, Vermont. The folks from the museum will be sharing many of the. . .
Read MoreMuseum Piece: The First High-Modulus Graphite Fly Rod
In 1973, Fenwick introduced HMG—the first high-modulus graphite rods—in spinning and casting models, ushering in a new era in rod construction; Fenwick’s fly rod model (above) debuted the following year.
Photo by Sara Wilcox
The American Museum of Fly Fishing is located right next to the Orvis Flagship store in Manchester, Vermont. The folks from the museum will be sharing many of the cool items from their collection in an ongoing series called. . .
Read MoreMuseum Piece: A Jock Scott of the Old School
This Jock Scott was tied c. 1920 and is part of a collection from the New England Aquarium donated to the Museum in 1976.
Photo by Sara Wilcox
The American Museum of Fly Fishing is located right next to the Orvis Flagship store in Manchester, Vermont. The folks from the museum will be sharing items from their collection in an. . .
Read MoreFly-Fishing History: Battling Trout, ca. 1878
Charles Dudley Warner
[Editor’s note: From time to time, we like to look back at the literature of fly fishing to see how anglers viewed the sport we love. Here’s a fun passage from Charles Dudley Warner, who always wrote with a healthy dose of humor, which perhaps explains his long friendship with Mark Twain.]
Trout fishing. . .would be a more attractive pastime than it is but for the popular notion of its danger. The trout is a retiring and harmless animal, except when he is aroused and forced into a combat; and then his agility, fierceness, and vindictiveness become apparent. No one who has studied the. . .
Read MoreVideo: Stu Apte, Big Tarpon, and the Citrus Queen
Here’s a wonderful piece of archival footage featuring famous Florida Keys angler Stu Apte casting for big tarpon with a fiberglass rod. But he’s not in it just for the sport; no, he’s also trying to win the admiration of the Florida Citrus Queen, who is sporting a swell swimsuit. Check out the “rod stiffener” Apte threads into the butt section of his rod for more power. He lands two beauties here, but the editor has spliced in some shots of a real monster fish, as well.
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