Art Dedini of Fernbridge, California had a fly shop....

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

......at his home.

He was noted for his ability to dye chicken necks and saddles for tying steelhead and salmon flies.

He had one piece yellow fiberglass fly rod blanks that were seconds that he sold very inexpensively along with rod building components. I heard the blanks were $3.00, reel seats were $1.50.

Some of our old timers would that these blanks and cut them off at the tip and even the but to change there action some. They were most large line sizes that they used for coastal tide water salmon and steelhead.

Walt Bennett, Chuck Campana, Joe Patterson and George Martin where some of our guys who made up those rods.

All you need then as a large old Pflueger Medalist fly reel.

We have one of these old rods made by the late Sacramento fly fisher Georgie Martin. It's hanging on the wall in our new shop.


He also made shooting heads by cutting down up tapered sinking fly lines.


Here is a write up about Art from the movie, Rivers of a Lost Coast.

http://www.riversofalostcoast.com/in...legends/dedini

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[Darian]

That name brings back some fond memories. I used to fish Eel tidewater each fall and camped at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds. I visited Art's tiny shop many times. He lived in one of those old victorians in Ferndale and the fly shop was in the separate garage on the back of his property. The price of his "stuff" was always lower than almost any other store in that area. Still have some of his shooting heads, flies and some good quality saddle hackles. Interesting person, good source of info about Singley, Fernbridge and the Box Cars, etc.

There were some great places to get a good, early breakfast around there, too. Great times....

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Thanks Darian,

I never met him but heard many stories about him and his shop from old friends who also fished up there.

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[frequent flyer]

I too, went to Art's house to buy his shooting heads and other stuff from the garage. He had just the right tackle for the Eel, Mad and other coastal rivers and none of the ordinary stuff that you could get anywhere, so it was a real treat to shop at Art's and chat with him. I also camped at the county fairgrounds - free and had showers. One of the great places to eat breakfast was at the Samoa Cookhouse - a genuine lumberjack breakfast!

[Cmcculloch]

Darian, wasn't there also a very small fly shop between the Fairgrounds and Myrtle Ave in Eureka? I remember it from the 70's when I visited my folks up there.

[Darian]

About the same time that you're mentioning, there was a fly shop in a side space off the lobby of a hotel on Arcata Square. It was called Time Flies and was one of my favorites at the time.

The Eureka Fly Shop has been located in a couple of locations for many years and probably isn't the one you're thinking of. One shop that was located on HWY 101 on the southern end of town was built into an enormous log. It was originally owned by C. Jim Pray. He was famous for the Eel River Optic series and several others but I don't think he was still living when I went thru there. The shop still had some of his flies but was, basically, a gift shop.

Given the number of great fly fishers/tyers in that area like Lloyd Silvius, Myron Gregory, Mike Foster and several others there must've been several small fly shops up there. I just can't recall all of them. I do recall that while traveling up that way, I tried to visit every fly/gear shop I found and there was one or more in almost every town from Cloverdale into southern Oregon. Still have some materials (Partridge hooks, saddle hackles, tinsel, threads, etc.) and flies that I no longer can identify by their names from that time. Almost all of the old time shops have either sold to another or closed. Fun stuff....

Since I fished mainly on the coast, I missed most of the inland shops until I moved to Sacto.

[BillB]

I remember Time Flies Darian. I think it moved just adjacent to the square when I first began to frequent it in the late 80's. I seem to remember that the shop was beginning to tail off somewhat as the owner at that time began to guide more and more.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

We know Larry and Mac who were at Time Flies for years. Good guys.....

[Darian]

Yep!!! After the move, I thought Time Flies was gone until I was wandering around trying to locate the natural goods co-op up there and stumbled across the new location. Can't recall when that was but by then, the shop was mainly rod building and guiding. Still a great place, tho.

There were several good sporting goods stores in the area that had fly gear as well as everything else. One that comes to mind is Grundmans in Rio Dell. I used to make it a point to stop in there to get some flies and the latest scoop from there down to the mouth. As far as I know, that shop still exists. Across the bridge (going south) is the town of Scotia, a town formerly owned entirely by a logging company. The Scotia Hotel used to be a great place for a steak or prime rib. Grand place to stay, too.

I haven't been up that way for a lengthy period and wonder how some of those towns survived the 2008 economic meltdown (). Too many places along the coast from S.F. north that either changed ownership or went out of business over time. Lotsa great memories up that way for me.