Sad news out of Colorado.
- Thread starter mcswny
- Start date
Old406Kid
Legend
John Gierach, Beloved Fly Fishing Author, Passes Away at 76 - Flylords Mag
The fly fishing community has lost one of its most beloved voices. John Gierach, the celebrated author known for his wit and deep insight into the world of fly fishing, passed away on October 4th, 2024, at the age of 76 due to a heart attack. Gierach’s writing career spanned over four decades...
flylordsmag.com
Saw this earlier. Very sad news. I spent so much time reading his stuff when I was younger. When I took up fly fishing at age 15, I knew nobody that fly fished. I spent countless hours reading and re reading all of his books that I could find at the time. I remember thinking that what he wrote about, that was "real" fly fishing.
Looking through my eyes now I see how we couldn't be further apart in what we love about fly fishing and our approaches to it, but I will always love and appreciate his writing.
Stuff like this sure makes me visualize the passing of time.
Looking through my eyes now I see how we couldn't be further apart in what we love about fly fishing and our approaches to it, but I will always love and appreciate his writing.
Stuff like this sure makes me visualize the passing of time.
That news really hit close to home. John used to stay in a cabin on my property on The Frying Pan when he had a writing deadline to meet and wanted to combine it with a bit of fishing. He would hole up in the cabin during the day with my faithful Chesapeake only to emerge to fish the evening hatch. One of his first books, Trout Bum, was the focus of early stays and indeed Trapper is mentioned in the book. At that time I had a tiny fly shop in the garage on the property next to my house and Archie Best, before he was A.K., tied the flies that I did not tie. He and John spent many days with us fishing The Pan along with our good friend Koke Winter. And now two of them are gone. The source of the above mentioned brief obituary, Flylords, is one of my tenants in the building I built for the shop when it outgrew the small cabin. Think I'll have to listen to Tom Rush singing "The Circle Game" this evening.
Last edited:
Skagittarius
Steelhead
Yeah. I read that on another board. Tight lines forever. RIP brother.
Richard Olmstead
Steelhead
I'm very saddened by this. I lived in Boulder when I first got into fly fishing and started reading his writings. It was cool to drive by his place in Lyons, even though I never met him. I cut my teeth fishing the St. Vrain. I was looking forward to having many more books of his to read. RIP, Trout Bum.
He developed a style and perspective all his own, coined a term for a “lifestyle” and defined a genre of writing. I haven’t been as obsessed with reading Gierach lately as I once was, but I will definitely be revisiting some of his past works in my library (and I have almost all of them). And, I regret there won’t be more to come. Helluva writer. And he wore out some boots, so it can’t all be bullshit.
The Consummate:
I got to meet John at a book signing at 3rd Place Books about 10 years ago. But of course, it felt like I had "known" him for decades prior from reading his down to earth, everyman's fly fisherman stories. I'm deeply saddened by his passing.
His words and stories are like a comfortable old sweatshirt, a pleasant way to spend an evening with a reading light and a scotch. I never met him, but all of us feel we knew him to some degree. I suppose one could hardly say better of a writer in this niche sport.
Whether his collected stories, or his columns in the old FR&R or now in Trout, I always turned to his article first. As the printed word dissolves away forever, I'm glad I got to read his.
Whether his collected stories, or his columns in the old FR&R or now in Trout, I always turned to his article first. As the printed word dissolves away forever, I'm glad I got to read his.
Sad to hear Gierach and his effortless writing are finished. His personality saturated his books without the narcissistic oversharing which seems to afflict most modern fly fishing writers. He loved bamboo without being snobby. And he was as content pursuing small stream cutthroat as he was fishing for giant Labrador brook trout. Trout Bum is a classic book and Headwaters is one of my alltime favorite fly fishing essays.
Last edited:
Ron, if it was the 3rd Place Books located in Lake Forest Park, then I was also there to meet and listen to him speak to the small group that attended. He was as comfortable to be around as his books were to read, it was a real pleasure to have been there that evening.
Almost lost another icon of our world a week or so ago. Bob Popovics, noted saltwater Flyfishing, fly tier, and author was struck and nearly killed by a hit and run driver while crossing the road after a F/F group meeting near his home mid evening. The driver knew they hit something/someone but panicked and left the scene. They were arrested later for the hit and run. Last I heard from friends in NJ Bobby was doing “somewhat” better but he’s got a long road ahead of him. His Shady Rest was a monthly stop way back when.
Greg, I wasn't going to tell this story, but you will probably get a chuckle out of it, so... The months leading up to that 3rd Place Books talk by John, I was in the midst of a head first deep dive into learning how to work on old bamboo rods. I'd picked up from Plug Ugly my first ever bamboo rod, a Granger GA9050, the Aristocrat "grade" with those wonderful gold/tan wraps trimmed brown. Three wraps were missing so I figured I'd just find the right thread and rewrap them myself. Well, that launched a few months of pulling my hair out as I worked through the mysteries of finding the right vintage silks, combining with the right color preserver, right varnish overcoat and finally adding something to "age" the color to match the existing 60+ year old wraps. I finally sleuthed things and reached my acceptable 99% match level and was really, really happy. Literally the next day, I heard about John coming that night to the book reading/signing. Knowing how much he loved the old Grangers, I went with the newly refinished rod in hand. During the book signing after the talk, I felt really sheepish but I pulled that rod out, told him how I'd fixed it, handed him the rod and a thin sharpie and asked him to autograph it on a flat between the Granger scripting. He did it graciously, of course. I'm more embarrassed now than I was then, but it gives me a great memory of meeting John, even if I did foolishly sell that rod long ago. Cheers!
A very special moment, I’ll bet he was honored that you asked him to do that.