I was hoping someone would name some of the Presidents who had direct links to flyfishing, either by books they had written, known preferences for tackle,or places they frequented. Just too tired to think of them, not even Carter's book--at least I think there was one. Another president spoke or wrote of the humbling value of angling, equality before the trout, or some such. Another had a distinct preference for such and such a brand of tackle, H-I, I think, but my brain is on slow. Maybe somebody else will dig/think these up.

About 45 years ago, I had a fairly rare, not especially valuable, signed first edition by a prominent (but old-time) Canadian government leader and, if I remember correctly (which is doubtful this morning) college president. I found it in a bookstore near Croton-on-Hudson. I read it; it was nice but not distinctive although well done in the fishing-is-reflective-and-refreshing genre. Although it is true enough, that is a genre I find tiresome today, although people who write it usually believe it, even if they think they are the first to experience it.

Anyhow, from reading the book I figured one of the universities mentioned as part of the author's history would like to have it for their library, so I donated it to them. They never heard of it, but I got a little postcard or note of thanks, which I probably still have someplace.

Rip Van Winkle, descended from Woden, God of Saxons--that story I still have in a complete muti-volume collection, also purchased at a junk shop in the Catskills, of Washington Irving--fishing in the Catskills being the "quieting draught." I know exactly where the Irving set is. The story transcends but gives form to America and American Presidents (it is really about the American Revolution) regardless of which ones we prefer personally or politically. We all prefer fishing "with a rod as long . . . as a lance" to attempt to recall the phrase Irving used.

Script from "A River Runs Through It" :

l interviewed the President.
- Calvin Coolidge?
- The President?
- Mr. Coolidge?
- When?
A few days ago.
He was in Dakota, fly-fishing.
Fly-fishing!
Fly-fishing in a suit and tie, white gloves and patent-leather shoes.
l asked him. l went right up to him. l said, "Excuse me, sir.
Can you tell me what they're biting on?"
He says, "The end of my line."

I've read that Carter took up fly fishing in the early 70's. He was elected in 77, so it looks like he was fly fishing before becoming president.

His favorite kind of fishing was with the dry fly. He was a good friend of Art Lee who wrote the book "Fishing Dry Flies for Rivers and Streams". Carter is in that book fishing with Art. He also fished a lot with Joe Humphries.

Eisenhower was also an avid fly fisherman.

I seem to remember seeing a fishing show a few years ago, the host was fly fishing in Alaska with George Bush Sr. I thought the ex president looked like he knew what he was doing with a fly rod.

Tim

i remember well jimmy carter fly fishing as president.i also remember him being mocked for it in some trendy publications of the day.seems like cool ol dude to me regardless of his politics.love to meet him.

" But never read if he was a fly angler or just gear." What exactly is a "gear" fisherman? We are all "gear" fishermen unless we're fishing with bare hands.

Fishing with the Presidents by William Mares (Stackpole Books, 1999) seems to have this topic well covered.

I saw the bronze plaque commemorating President Eisenhower fishing at Little Boy Falls on the Upper Magalloway River in Maine in 1955. That visit, and other Presidents in outdoors Maine, can be found at: http://www.pressherald.com/2016/03/13/s ... -outdoors/

and this site has several photographs of that visit: https://www.mainememory.net/artifact/78726

Wonder how Little Boy Falls got its name? Any connection with the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima seems unlikely.

I think former President Obama needs to work on his casting skills. Also, if i remember correctly President Dwight Eisenhower was a fly fisherman too. I remember seeing picture seeing pictures of him fishing the Rapidan River in Virginia.
As an aside I would be honored to fish with any of our expresidents. It would be interesting to see them as people instead of soundbites.

Gear as in hardware - as in lures or bait - non-fly tackle.

Folks, if you want to get even remotely close to evaluating presidents on other than their fishing, do it through private message, email, or on your twitter account or Facebook page. If you do it here, you will rub someone the wrong way, and that is not why we have a thread about Presidents and their fly fishing.

Political discussions are not part of the editorial goals off FFR, so I will be rubbed the wrong way if I have to keep deleting or editing out little political digs. I will say that virtually all the comments edited or deleted were not necessarily politically intended, and even if they were, were relatively harmless. Even so, such comments if not meant politically, can soon be politicized. We just don't want to go there.

Fishing with presidents, real or imagined, is the topic. You can work me over all you want, but anything close to offensive about any President will be deleted. We have good anglers, new anglers, young anglers, old anglers, anglers from around the world here. We have the full spectrum of political views. The subject is fly fishing.

From the pix above, I am noticing what looks to be a lot of glass. Mr Carter in the black and white appears to be tossing a Fenwick with a Medalist reel. Mr. Eisenhower has what looks to be an automatic reel on his rod. Bush Sr. Has what looks like a glass rod and maybe a bit higher end reel. The picture of Teddy Roosevelt with the massive salmon is interesting because the rod looks totally out of place - at first glance it looks like a carbon fiber spey rod with modern large arbor reel.