Fishing

At the Grave of the Unknown Fisherman, John Gierach, Simon & Schuster, NY 2003 This book is classic Gierach and good reading.  It features the three amigos---his BFF, Mike Clark, who is a self-taught bamboo rod maker, now living in Lyons, Colorado, near Gierach, who meets Walt Carpenter, who worked for two of the greats in bamboo, Leonard and Payne, and then built his own rods using the old F.E. Thomas Milling machine.  He mentions his favorite light bamboo rods: a 7’9” Legacy by John Bradford, a 7’9” by Mike Clark, and an old 7 ½-foot F.E. Thomas Special, circa 1940—all two-piece 5 weights, which is not what I would consider light, but he is a dyed in wool dry fly fisher with larger favorite flies than mine. And there are stories about the other of the three amigos, A.K. "Archie" Best, a well-known fly tyer from Boulder, who talks about his mentoring under Koke Winter.  And an old guy, who said to Gierach, “Boy, I’ve forgotten more about fishing than you’ll ever know.”  Or the retort that “Fly-fishing can be upscale and exotic if you want it to be and can afford that, but at base it’s homegrown, backyard stuff:  something people used to do when the chores were done; a way of goofing off that was barely justified by a couple of fresh fish for supper.” There is more than great characters and quotes, such as discussion of Muriel Foster’s Fishing Diary and videos on fly fishing which “seems a little like movie sex: fun to watch, but a long way from the real thing” wand which can amount to “information without proper instruction.”  I like the comment of the fly shop

Book by John Gierach, Simon & Schuster, 2008 Photo from my friend, Stephen Collector I confess I am not really a John Gierach book fan, yet I have met him a few times and have read all of his books.  I even fished with Gierach and A.K. Best. This book was just typical Gierach for me, a bit bland, although I did like the chapters entitled “Nebraska” and “Umpqua.”  And, I made a few notes from the “Rods” chapter, as I enjoyed the comments on so-called production bamboo rods that  were once bargains and his forte, and have now become very collectible, such as Heddon, Granger and Phillipson.  He writes there are a few bargains left, such as, “I can tell you from experience that, for instance, a model 208 Payne and a 9050 Wright & McGill Grangers—both versatile 9-foot, 5/6-weights—are virtually identical except for the huge discrepancy in price.”  Gierach writes, “Most date that resurgence [for what some would call those old-fashioned production rods and even some of the more elite rods such as the vintage Leonard] to the publication of A Master’s Guide to Building a Bamboo Fly Rod…” which was co-written by fellow Fario Club member, Hoagy Carmichael in 1977, I began to wonder if he broke up his bro-mance with A.K. Best and Mike Clark, but then A.K. appeared in a chapter or two, but Mike Clark and his rods were absent.  Mike was also absent in the 2011 book.  His rods weren’t my favorite either, although he had two very special rods at his shop over the years that were to my unique liking and worth investing in, more on that later…