Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

I recently received an email from someone who, I assume, is a young man in his late teens or early 20s, because it came from a .edu address from a university. The subject line was titled “Homer Rhode,” and the body read like this: “I like your magazine but can you please stop writing about these old dudes that no one cares about?”

At first I was offended and actually a bit angry—not because he was criticizing the content, but because of the complete lack of respect for the genius and ambition of previous generations. Without pioneers like Homer Rhode, Joe Brooks, Lefty Kreh, Bill Curtis, Mark Sosin, and Chico Fernandez, to name only a few, fly fishing in salt water as we know it would not exist. These figures are as important to modern saltwater fly fishing as Hippocrates is to modern medicine. To trivialize or disrespect them is simply not right.

Don’t get me wrong. There are young innovators today who are doing some pretty special things, but that doesn’t mean we should disrespect the past. (By that logic, in about 40 or 50 years fly anglers will be discounting the contributions being made today.)

Some fly anglers have spent years exploring and developing new fisheries and the techniques to be successful there—people like Keith Rose-Innes in the Seychelles. John Olch is fanatical about permit, and he probably knows more about them than any angler alive. He wishes to remain anonymous, but he is a retired physician who is quietly closing in on Del Brown’s permit record (and probably will do it within the next few years). Sandy Moret has done so much for the sport of fly fishing and conservation that filling the pages of our magazine couldn’t begin to tell his story.

Saltwater fly tying has been enhanced by Nick Davis and his 239 Flies. I’m pretty sure Nick will have a place in the history books as an innovative fly tier, but some of our younger readers may not know that one of Nick’s most popular patterns, the Gangster Gurgler, is simply a reimagining of the late Jack Gartside’s classic pattern, which was first tied at least 30 years ago.

We shouldn’t discount a contribution based on the year that the contributor was born. Homer Rhode Jr. should be revered for doing the hard work to pave the way for others. These early pioneers innovated with the tools and technologies they had. They didn’t have prepackaged shrimp eyes or synthetic fibers in 48 million colors. Nor did they have tapered monofilament leaders, sealed drags, or ultrafast carbon-fiber fly rods. There was no GPS, no Google Maps, and no internet to help them. They did what they could within their means. They should be honored and remembered. If the young man who emailed me has ever tied a Seaducer to his tippet, I would remind him that he has fished with a fly that Homer Rhode originated. So to our young readers I say this: Please respect the past; it matters more than you may now realize. To quote Isaac Newton: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”