Originally Posted by
pvsprme
It is very satisfying to recall the influences in my fly fishing; Frank Amato, Bill McM, Bakke, Teeny, etc. I knew some better than others, being lucky enough to grow up in Portland in the late '60's. These people are well known, it's the less known that I remember best:
A fellow named Les; he witnessed my first landed Steel, Nestucca river 1968: I was fishing a slot in front of the campground at high noon after a morning of successful sea-run cutty fishing, 2-lb. test leader on a Mitchell 300 with 4 lb. test, 6-1/2 ' glass rod and a crawdad tail and split-shot. hooked up and after realizing I needed help, I hollered while running downstream and it all ended well with a bright 30" hen. this guy watched the circus and when it was all over, he motioned me over and told me about 3 or 4 other slots on the upper river and how to fish them in detail. From then on, I caught fish in the spots he'd shown me.
A fellow who had a tackle shop in SE Portland named Don McLain in the '60-70's: Don was THE pioneer in the skated/waking fly on the DESCHUTES. He was fishing this style when people were still saying steelhead wouldn't take a surface fly in the 1960's. Don didn't care what folks said or thought, he knew what he had and if you were quiet and respectful of the totality of it, he'd offer a tip or two. I think he was a WWII vet, kind of guy who, in his own unassuming way, could cast a WF7F Fenwick glass rod 80' and throw a mend in the end while you popped your eyes out at the effortlessness of his motion. Eveyone today who is waking or skating owes it to this man and a very select few, who broke the barriers, thought "OUTSIDE THE BOX" and, in so many ways, took it to another level. I remember them, and am a better man for having the privilege.
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