Chris Santella - Fifty Favorite Fly-Fishing Tales: Expert Fly Anglers Share Stories from the Sea and Stream

This book is dedicated to everyone who has ever told or enjoyed a good fishing tale. After all, when the fish arent cooperating, a good story may be all we have left!

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Fifty favorite fly-fishing tales : expert fly anglers share stories from
the sea and stream / [compiled by] Chris Santella.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-1-58479-444-8
ISBN-10: 1-58479-444-5

1. Fly fishingAnecdotes. I. Santella, Chris.

SH456.F49 2006
799.124dc22

2006012833

Text copyright 2006 by Chris Santella

Photograph credits: Pages : photograph Jim Teeny.

Published in 2006 by Stewart, Tabori & Chang
An imprint of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

Publisher has exercised every effort to identify and properly credit the rights holders for each of the images contained herein. Please contact Publisher if you have additional or amended permission information (http://www.abramsbooks.com/permission_guidelines.html).

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This book would not have been possible without the generous assistance of the expert anglers who were kind enough to share their storiestales that had previously been reserved for the campfire or the pubwith me and readers like you. To these men and women, I offer the most heartfelt thanks. I would especially like to thank Brian OKeefe for his wonderful photos and K.C. Walsh, Jean Williams, and Paul Bruun, who offered encouragement and made many introductions on my behalf. I also wish to acknowledge the unwavering support of my agent, Stephanie Kip Rostan, and the fine efforts of my editor, Jennifer Levesque, designer Helene Silverman, and copy editor Don Kennison, who helped bring the book into being. Since I began fly fishing in 1979, Ive shared many storiesand lived a few morewith a wide range of fishing buddies. This cast includes Howard Kyser, Peter Marra, Ken Matsumoto, Jeff Sang, Joe Runyon, Mark Harrison, Peter Gyerko, Tim Purvis, Geoff Roach, Bryce Tedford, Darrell Hanks, Sloan Morris, Hamp Byerly, John Dethman, and Mike Ishida. I look forward to living more stories on the river and flats with these friends and friends to come. I would be remiss not to thank my parents, Andrew and Tina Santella, who fostered an early love of reading that led to an appreciation of stories and storytellingand who always encouraged me to experience new things. Last but certainly not least, I want to extend a special thanks to my wife Deidre and my daughters Cassidy Rose and Annabel Blossom, whove humored difficult deadlines and many weekends when daddys gone fishing with patience and grace. It wont be long before well all be able to get out on the river together!

Storytelling is an art, and the fly-fishing world is full of great artists. Our stage is the worlds oceans, rivers, and lakes; our main players are leaky rowboats, dilapidated fishing vehicles, game wardens, mean dogs, rattlesnakes, dysfunctional relatives, screaming guides, and other assorted mischief makers.

On the road to and from our beloved waters, a good portion of a fly anglers conversation concerns the reliving of the mind-boggling or sentimental experiences that make a good fishing story. With Fifty Favorite Fly-Fishing Tales, Chris Santella has rounded up a collection of one-of-a-kind tales from some of fly fishings most colorful personalities. (Reading through the epic adventure I shared with Chris, I still cringe and chuckle at the exploits of my youth!) I think anyone who has fished with a grandfather, or from a canoe, or anywhere in Montana, or with anyone who brings more beers than flies has an outrageous story thats just waiting to be told. This book will make some people laugh and others cry, perhaps at the same time... because weve all been there.

BRIAN OKEEFE

Most of us around the angling brother- and sisterhood have at one time or another enjoyed regalingor being regaledwith a good fishing story. Sometimes the fish grow a bit over the years in the telling. And sometimes events that really transpired seem far too outlandish to be true. Whatever the case, many a slow day of fishingand many winter evenings when the seasons first cast seems eons awayhave been saved by a good fishing tale... whopper or not!

It is my own love of a good fly-fishing yarn that inspired me to compile Fifty Favorite Fly-Fishing Tales. To create the book, I invited fifty noteworthy fly fishersincluding some living legends of the sportto share some of their favorite fly-fishing stories culled from their vast experiences. These stories take us from the caves of Gunung Buda in Borneo where Ralph Cutter casts in darkness for blind catfish to the wilds of the Alaska peninsula where J. W. Smith boxes with grizzly bears to protect his tent camp. Tales range from the comical (Jack Gartside poaching trout from a moat to support himself in London) to the poignant (Jean Williams helping a type-A father connect with his son by connecting them with a wary rainbow trout in the Colorado Rockies) to the absurd (George Anderson fly fishing for saltwater crocodiles in Cuba). Some tales tell of large fish landed, others of large fish lost, and others of near-death experiences and similar striking events that occurred on the way to and from the river. Combined, its my hope that the tales herein reflect the rich experience of fly fishing and how its metaphors extend beyond the river and the salt to touch our lives.

Most of the individuals I interviewed by phone or in person; a few shared written versions of the tale in question, which were amended to suit the as told to format the book uses. To give a sense of the breadth of their fly-fishing backgrounds, a bio of each individual is included after each tale. Ive also added a brief footnote that speaks to either the fishery or curious minutiae featured in the tale.

Every fly fisher Ive ever known has a few good stories to share, and Im sorry that I was unable to find room for everyones tale. However, I think youll find the stories that are included far-reaching, amusing, and perhaps even inspirational.

Stalking the flats around Jardines de la Reina, where tarpon, bone-fish, permitand crocodilesmake for excellent sport.