Tell me what you know about Jay.
Got any good stories?
Got any info about his life before the fly fishing industry?
I think he was in the tire business in SoCal?
He was a great ambassador for the sport of fly fishing with a focus on stillwater fishing.
**They are working on getting him some recognition for his wonderful contributions to the sport.
All I know is he had the best materials, from the shuck, dyed saddles and marabou. The new stuff doesn’t even compare. His nephew/relative had a shop in Orange County where we bought all our materials, Mike Scott’s.
Here are two quick stories I know.
You are correct about him being in the tire business. Orange County, maybe?
Jay would close the shop at the end of the day on Friday evening then drive straight to Davis Lake arriving just before dawn. He would fish all day Saturday only stopping well after dark to eat and sleep. He'd be back on the water again before dawn on Sunday and fish hard until dark. He'd trailer up the boat and head back to Southern Ca. arriving at the tire shop just in time to roll up the shop doors and begin a full day of work.
Jay was from New Mexico, I'm not sure where exactly, but he grew up hunting and fishing in the mountains of NM with his father. He and his father would take off for the mountains to go fishing telling Mrs. Fair that they'd been gone for 2 or 3 days. Well, 4-5 days later and they're not back. Mrs. Fair has to call the Forest Service to go look for them. Eventually the Forest Service would find them. They were fine just totally oblivious to the amount of time there were gone. They'd tell the Forest Service guy to let Mrs. Fair know they were OK and that they'd be home in a couple of days. Apparently, this happened more than once.
Whenever I think of the expression "tough old buzzard" Jay Fair is the image that comes to my mind.
Great story !
When reading this I feel entitled and spoiled and not as passionate about fishing as I thought!
I knew he was incredibly passionate about Davis Lake, but this described level of effort makes our past struggles to reach the lake from the Bay Area seem like child's play.Quote:
Originally Posted by loose_shoes
Lastly, it also makes the illegal (eco terrorism) introduction of Northern Pike into Davis Lake that much more sick. Heartbreaking to Jay, I'm sure it was.....
Best way to honor Jay is to fix the lake and rename it after him. All it needs are the previous occupant snails from the 80's and 90's.
Jay was such a generous dude.
I fished with him once at Eagle in early December. He ran us around in his boat smiling into the wind and snow as I shivered. Eventually he lent me a neoprene coat as my misery was apparently easy to see. Then he left me on a rock pile to fish as he motored off with my friend. I hooked fish but was so glad when he came back to get me, my renewed shivering had him and my buddy laughing at me.
I called him for fly materials and he told me about a damsel pattern to tie with olive schlappen. I placed an order. Then I asked how to send payment, he responded, "there will be total in the package just send me a check when you get it."
I called him another time to describe a spaceship looking bug I found in the belly of a Hog Res fish. I described the stream inflow where I was hooking fish. He said the bug was a fairy shrimp. As for the stream inflow , he sounded surprised, said he needed to go see for himself as he knew that reservoir like the back of his hand and there was no stream where I described. Turned out it was one of the wettest years on record and the inflow was a once in decades moment.
Stillwater legend.
Andy
One of my most treasured fly memorabilia is the memorial fly Glenn handed out at Jay’s service on the shores of Eagle lake. I visited with Jay and Glenn in Red Bluff a couple of times to pick Jays incredible knowledge of Klamath Lake. He shared all his knowledge freely.
For a time he partnered up with Denny Rickards traveling all over North America fishing many famous trophy trout lakes.
He was also known for his sophisticated lake trolling with fly rods. That way he could take anyone out and get them into a big trout.
He liked to travel around lakes in a boat but I think he felt more at home parking the boat and wade fishing.
Jay was the nicest person I ever met.............
I met Jay in the early 90's at Eagle Lake. He approached me one day ( I didn't know of him) and asked me if that was my wheelchair and van sitting at the shoreline in Spaulding and he had a curiosity about my set up and how I do what I do from my wheelchair/kayak. He introduced himself and said he was a guide on Eagle. We got to be good friends and fished together many times at Eagle and Davis. I was new to Eagle back then and he gave me tips and info on spots and buckets, bugs etc. I'd go over to his house in Spaulding and he would load me up with free materials. I would be fishing somewhere on Eagle and he would spot me and pull up the boat and get out and fish with me and talk fishing, what numbers I was doing, what numbers he was doing, etc. spots he hit, spots I hit, etc.
I remember an epic day fishing tui chub patterns. I was into the fish good, banging them, they were busting on the top with tui chubs flying out of the water, with big rainbows chasing them. It was my first time experiencing big tui chub action. It reminded me of a bluefish / striper blitz I grew up with as a kid in NJ. I saw him go by in his boat so I flagged him down to get in on the action. He had one client that was happy to get in on a tui action fishing as they said they were having a slow day. I ended up getting a 26" fish.
He'd always find me , always look for me to stop buy and say Hello or fish. One day I had a bucket I found that regularly kicks out big numbers if the water is high enough they stacked up like cord wood, one fish after another, after another ....50+ days. Saw him driving by so I started waving him in. Pulled up the boat and had two clients, I had been crushing them for hours so I just let them go after it while I ate lunch and took a break. They were stoked.
So he liked coming around because I was often into fish and if he was having a slow day he knew he could get his clients some fish which I didn't mind at all as I have caught many fish. So he helped me out with info and would stop by and say "hey I am going up to the upper lake why don't you try out so and so bucket and I will swing by later and see how you are doing" and I tried to help him out if I found a loaded bucket. I'd often be coming from a spot , moving and I would tell him if there were fish at a certain bucket and he would do the same for me.
After he moved to Davis lake I would go over to his house and BS with him on my way up to Davis. We would fish together in various spots. He would see me with my kayak backed upon the bank and pull up his boat and fish next to me BS'ing about fishing.
I remember one day we were getting crushed off fugawee , me, him, Glenn and somebody, I think his brother in law/some relative. the fish were not taking our bugs. it was late, late into the damsel hatch and those fish were get real picky and did not hit the fake bugs after seeing millions of the real damsels. We were getting skunked until I finally landed one on a floater foam damsel nymph. So I was the high man for that few hours of fishing, watching fish porpoise off fugawee, off the banks on damsels and the bunch of us all struggling.
Too bad both lakes, Eagle and Davis are such a mess.