 |
My friend and
fellow rod builder, Dave Lewis, suggested
that I include a little about myself, my
likes, dislikes, background and adventures
in a gallery. He believes it gives
people a better insight into a rod
maker.
So here's a little about me. As I
said, I've been a fly fisher almost all my
life. I was born and raised in the
little town of Mountain Grove, Mo, high on
the Ozark Plateau. Where I grew up
waters flowed north, south, and
east. I enjoyed fishing those
waters, though at the time I didn't know,
how much.
Today, I live in Florida. There is
rumored to be one trout stream in the state,
on a private estate, owned by a
doctor. How true it is, I don't know,
but Florida has many springs that could
probably support some of the more hearty
salmonoid for a few miles from their
head. However, we're known for
saltwater fly fishing and bass and pan
fish. I call Alligator Lake my home
waters now.
Here's an
essay on a typical days fishing.
Then there's the recent trip I took
with
Don Manning. This page
has quite a bit of "fish pictures,"
so if you're not into that it might
be better to let it go. |
Occasionally I go back to
hill country, and chase
the fish of my
youth. Large mouth,
small mouth, sunfish and
yes, trout.
The last few
adventures were in North
Carolina. |
x
|
 Another place that
I see a lot of is Sunrise
lake in the edge of the Ocala National
Forest. My wife and I were
introduced to it and the cabin next to
it, by a friend. Years later we
still rent the cabin. |
Marge's
sister lives in Mt. Airy, MD. Over
the years, we've made several trip up to
visit with George and Phyllis. On
one occasion I got to eat Christmas dinner
with Santa. But that's another
story.
In the spring of
2007, Marge and I took the auto train from
Orlando to just south of Washington, D.C.
for an extended visit.
|
|
 I'd
made arrangements to fish with some fellow
rod makers. Little did we know that
we'd end up looking like the
cover of a Feb. fly fishing magazine.
(caution, contains pictures of dogs
and cats living together.)
|
On
24 October, 2007, my brother-in-law,
George Roberts, died. I first knew
George as my sister-in-law's
husband. The two of them lived
Silver Springs, MD. They later moved
to Mt. Airy, MD. Over the years, as
we visited, I learned that he had been a
WWII vet. In fact he'd gone ashore
on Omaha beach the afternoon of D-Day.
|
|
 George
had made arrangements to be buried at
Arlington National Cemetery. Marge
and I attended the services. Here's
my recollections
of that day.
|
People
ask me if I had a shop cat. Well, here he
is.
|
|
 He's
a stray that just showed up.
his name is Scruffy.
|
For
many years Don Coleman was one of the
principal members of the Suncoast Fly
Fishers. He was a contemporary or Carl
Hanson and spent many a Tuesday night at
Carl's FF clinics. Sometimes Don would
get mad when Carl went of on a tangent and
would walk out. Carl never seemed to notice
and Don would be back next week. They
were fast friends.
|
|
|
Don
Coleman "wrote the book" on fishing
the flats around Tampa Bay.
Here's
the first memorial
outing we held in his honor.
|
|
Sometimes I see something that's just too
nice to pass up.
|
