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Post 21 Jan 2017, 09:23 • #26 
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Joined: 04/20/07
Posts: 8920
Location: US-ME
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.


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Post 21 Jan 2017, 09:44 • #27 
Master Guide
Joined: 01/21/12
Posts: 462
Location: US-NY
Donald Trump jr is an avid fly fisherman. He has a place in the upper Delaware region , pretty sure I've seen him before and if it was him, he's good.

Below is an article from him.

http://www.flyfisherman.com/how-to/tact ... sterpiece/


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Post 21 Jan 2017, 09:53 • #28 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/06/15
Posts: 1249
Location: Central Oregon
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."


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Post 21 Jan 2017, 10:29 • #29 
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Joined: 10/18/12
Posts: 1712
Location: Bozeman, MT
It surprises me that none of you have mentioned President Herbert Hoover as yet or his book about fly fishing. "Fishing for Fun and to wash your soul". Published by Random House in 1963. I have a excellent 1st ed. copy. A fun read. I would have liked to have spent the day on the Rapidan with this fellow.
Mark


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Post 21 Jan 2017, 10:39 • #30 
Master Guide
Joined: 09/13/07
Posts: 630
Location: GB
Boathouse Rat wrote:
If I remember correctly Jimmy Carter wasn't really much of a fly fisherman (if at all) until he left office. When asked what wanted to do with his time he said one of his wishes was to become a "really good fly fisherman".

So I doubt he had any experience with fine glass and bamboo before becoming President.


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.


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Post 21 Jan 2017, 10:50 • #31 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/22/11
Posts: 1720
Location: US-TX
This has evolved into an interesting topic. Never knew about the outdoors nature in some of our past presidents. Thanks for the education.


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Post 21 Jan 2017, 12:42 • #32 
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Joined: 08/03/14
Posts: 945
Location: central AR
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


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Post 21 Jan 2017, 13:10 • #33 
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Joined: 02/12/16
Posts: 4094
Location: USA-CO
arknymph wrote:
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 think that's right. I read that President Bush Sr. was great friends with Ted Williams, and that likely involved some fly fishing. I also remember the president having been presented a rod by one of the famous makers.


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Post 21 Jan 2017, 13:31 • #34 
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Joined: 02/27/16
Posts: 2327
Location: US-IL
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.


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Post 21 Jan 2017, 14:48 • #35 
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Joined: 04/20/07
Posts: 8920
Location: US-ME
Well I had to look at least one up; Carter has written many books, but this is probably the one I recalled, with its fly-fishing cover: An Outdoor Journal: Adventures and Reflections. Two decades ago I gave it the "New York" or "Washington" read, slang for a book reviewer's skim. Actually, Carter has written some pretty interesting books on non-political topics. For a few years there, I would skim one and give it to someone I thought would enjoy and learn from it.

Judges are another interesting crowd as to anglers, sportsman, and the experience of nature. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, East to Katahdin is among the high points. He was an acute observer.


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Post 22 Jan 2017, 07:05 • #36 
Master Guide
Joined: 11/28/15
Posts: 378
Location: US-NC
" 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.


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Post 22 Jan 2017, 08:13 • #37 
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Joined: 06/08/05
Posts: 3570
Location: Western PA
TroutmanSE wrote:
I think I'd have a fun day streamside with this gent. From the look of things I might outfish him too.

Image

It's not looking good in this picture. Obama is one of most athletic of our presidents. I'm sure that if he were to catch the fly fishing bug, he'd be pretty good at it.


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Post 22 Jan 2017, 08:46 • #38 
Guide
Joined: 02/08/13
Posts: 156
Location: Nomadic
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.


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Post 22 Jan 2017, 09:39 • #39 
Master Guide
Joined: 06/03/15
Posts: 424
Location: Weatherford TX.
I tied a dozen deer hair bass bugs for Bush Jr when he was Governor as a Christmas present through a friend/customer of mine at the time. Later I claimed myself as a "Presidental Fly Tier" :)
I meet him twice fishing at Coon Creek Club which a long time was spelled with all "K's"


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Post 22 Jan 2017, 10:13 • #40 
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Joined: 12/14/11
Posts: 1018
Location: Chicago Western Suburbs
scud dog wrote:
TroutmanSE wrote:
I think I'd have a fun day streamside with this gent. From the look of things I might outfish him too.

Image

It's not looking good in this picture. Obama is one of most athletic of our presidents. I'm sure that if he were to catch the fly fishing bug, he'd be pretty good at it.

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.


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Post 22 Jan 2017, 11:25 • #41 
Sport
Joined: 08/20/16
Posts: 85
Location: US-AL
mmckenzie wrote:
I get a similar vibe from Bush Sr - IF he was a fly angler, I can see him using graphite to chase striped bass around Chesapeake Bay.



A Texas guy fishing up Northeast? No way! We have nice striped bass in TX too! Trout in the Guad, and awesome smallmouth fishery in the Devil's River out west. Plenty of super cool fishing locations in Texas.


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Post 22 Jan 2017, 12:33 • #42 
Master Guide
Joined: 12/23/15
Posts: 654
Location: Texas bound
Gear as in hardware - as in lures or bait - non-fly tackle.


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Post 22 Jan 2017, 13:29 • #43 
Guide
Joined: 12/31/12
Posts: 326
Location: US-MA
Very interesting!


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Post 22 Jan 2017, 15:34 • #44 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/20/07
Posts: 8920
Location: US-ME
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.


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Post 22 Jan 2017, 15:46 • #45 
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Joined: 04/06/15
Posts: 1249
Location: Central Oregon
ISO1600 wrote:
A Texas guy fishing up Northeast? No way! .


Here you go: Striped bass in Maine:

Image


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Post 22 Jan 2017, 17:26 • #46 
Master Guide
Joined: 09/13/07
Posts: 630
Location: GB
Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image


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Post 23 Jan 2017, 09:47 • #47 
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Joined: 04/20/07
Posts: 8920
Location: US-ME
Sorry, but since the Presidential photo series, I deleted more sideways political jabs that someone described as "pretty funny." I think they were pretty funny myself and I have plenty of similar cracks from the other side just as funny. I can think of more. I am not posting them. We do not do politics. We will not come even close to it right now.

Laugh all you want at political jokes exchanged by other means than posting on this forum. I have, and I don't want to have the last laugh, but if I have to, I will. You have a joke to make with the least political implication, you can send it to me if you want so I can keep laughing--whether at the comic who thinks it is funny or with the comic who thinks it is funny.

The photo-series sets a balance again and helped redirect the discussion to fishing with Presidents. If you can't post in that spirit, please don't post. Let others contribute, and spare me some editing.


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Post 23 Jan 2017, 10:42 • #48 
Master Guide
Joined: 12/23/15
Posts: 654
Location: Texas bound
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.


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Post 23 Jan 2017, 11:07 • #49 
Master Guide
Joined: 09/13/07
Posts: 630
Location: GB
You seem to be unaware of when Teddy lived. It's bamboo or wood.

Pretty sure most of the older pictures are bamboo.


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Post 23 Jan 2017, 12:24 • #50 
Guide
Joined: 02/08/13
Posts: 156
Location: Nomadic
When the great Arthur Ransome (Rod and Line 1929, Fishing 1955, Mainly about Fishing 1959) was asked by the head of the British Secret Service what his politics were, he replied: "Fishing."

The Bill Mares book looks good and I will order it for my next trip to the US. Described as: "An anecdotal history. A number of American presidents have been fishermen, keen or otherwise. In this book, the author examines the relationship between the presidents' angling and their careers in the White House - far more substantial than you might think - with many illustrations from contemporary photographs and newspaper cartoons. Washington, Cleveland, the Roosevelts, Eisenhower, Hoover, Coolidge, Nixon, Carter, George Bush, Sr., and others, besides the odd vice-president. Chapters include:- "All men are equal before fish"; The first "First Angler"; Angling presidents as angling youths; Fishing on the job / fishing for a job; Fishing and escape; Fishing, politics, and the cartoonist's pen; Streamside situation ethics; The people's pen pal; Presidents, fishing, and swearing; The fishing cabinets; Affectations and pretenses"

Image

And for Eisenhower and Nixon on the stream when still candidates see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7J_1DyXjiQ


Last edited by Mahseer on 24 Jan 2017, 08:11, edited 1 time in total.

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