20 years or so ago (more like 30, now that I think about it) I organized
a fly tying demonstration at the Gallatin County Fairground in Bozeman, MT.
It was part of an annual fund raiser the local TU people (used to) sponsor.
I volunteered for the fly tying that year and the first thing I did was to write
to George Grant, Bing Lemke and Al Troth. They didn't have email in those days, so
I used a typewriter. Al couldn't come, but George and Bing could and did.
On the day of the show, when I first met George and shook his hand
and introduced myself he was visibly taken aback. It turned out he assumed the
'Sandy' he was corresponding with was a woman. Well, he was a cool guy and
it didn't bother him for long. Bing was a great guy too. At the end of the day
I bought two of George's nymphs for five bucks each. That was a lot for
an independent subcontract roofer (me) in late 1970s. I also bought 4 audio
cassettes George was selling. One thing led to another and I eventually got
hooked on collecting George's stuff. I have two self-published paper-backed
books he wrote: Montana Trout Flies and The Art of Weaving Hair Hackles. Later on
I bought his only self-published hardbound book: The Master Fly Weaver. And then, about
a year ago, my good friend Mike from Missoula showed me a few small booklets
George also self published. Those small books turned out to be the most interesting
Montana Fly Tying history stuff of all. They had short biographies of Jack Boehme, George
Croonenberghs, Norman Means, Franz Pott and a host of others. This was an out-of-print
Montana historical treasure trove that had passed me by. Pissed my off big time.
I am a bit of a collector but it's the information I want, not necessarily the
thing itself. I wanted copies of those small books, or even photocopies...or a website maybe.
All I wanted was to be able to read the books. Mike had 2 or 3, but there where ten in all
and they were, for all intents an purposes, long gone.
Or so I thought. George's greatest love was the Big Hole (still is, George is still with us, albeit almost 100 now.
And George started a thing called the Big Hole Foundation a while back, to raise
money for lobbying and conservation efforts. The Big Hole Foundation still exists, it turns out.
http://www.bhrf.org/
They have a new website, and they just republished all 10 of George's (originally) self published
booklets about Montana fly tying history. I bought all ten and they arrived today.
Good stuff. I'm like a kid in a candy store.
...someday I'll tell my only Bing Lemke story too. Bing was a real Montana guy (well Idaho, I guess):
good fisherman, dedicated fly tier and he didn't give a hoot about any of the wrong stuff.
Bing tied the most beautiful extended body mayflies. And he fished them with a glass rod and
an automatic fly reel.
a fly tying demonstration at the Gallatin County Fairground in Bozeman, MT.
It was part of an annual fund raiser the local TU people (used to) sponsor.
I volunteered for the fly tying that year and the first thing I did was to write
to George Grant, Bing Lemke and Al Troth. They didn't have email in those days, so
I used a typewriter. Al couldn't come, but George and Bing could and did.
On the day of the show, when I first met George and shook his hand
and introduced myself he was visibly taken aback. It turned out he assumed the
'Sandy' he was corresponding with was a woman. Well, he was a cool guy and
it didn't bother him for long. Bing was a great guy too. At the end of the day
I bought two of George's nymphs for five bucks each. That was a lot for
an independent subcontract roofer (me) in late 1970s. I also bought 4 audio
cassettes George was selling. One thing led to another and I eventually got
hooked on collecting George's stuff. I have two self-published paper-backed
books he wrote: Montana Trout Flies and The Art of Weaving Hair Hackles. Later on
I bought his only self-published hardbound book: The Master Fly Weaver. And then, about
a year ago, my good friend Mike from Missoula showed me a few small booklets
George also self published. Those small books turned out to be the most interesting
Montana Fly Tying history stuff of all. They had short biographies of Jack Boehme, George
Croonenberghs, Norman Means, Franz Pott and a host of others. This was an out-of-print
Montana historical treasure trove that had passed me by. Pissed my off big time.
I am a bit of a collector but it's the information I want, not necessarily the
thing itself. I wanted copies of those small books, or even photocopies...or a website maybe.
All I wanted was to be able to read the books. Mike had 2 or 3, but there where ten in all
and they were, for all intents an purposes, long gone.
Or so I thought. George's greatest love was the Big Hole (still is, George is still with us, albeit almost 100 now.
And George started a thing called the Big Hole Foundation a while back, to raise
money for lobbying and conservation efforts. The Big Hole Foundation still exists, it turns out.
http://www.bhrf.org/
They have a new website, and they just republished all 10 of George's (originally) self published
booklets about Montana fly tying history. I bought all ten and they arrived today.
Good stuff. I'm like a kid in a candy store.
...someday I'll tell my only Bing Lemke story too. Bing was a real Montana guy (well Idaho, I guess):
good fisherman, dedicated fly tier and he didn't give a hoot about any of the wrong stuff.
Bing tied the most beautiful extended body mayflies. And he fished them with a glass rod and
an automatic fly reel.
