In Memorium...

Thank you for sharing your joy and your pain...

Chris

"Barry" wrote in message
nk.net...
I was a regular visitor to this newsgroup for some time...for I grew up
fly
fishing the Pacific Northwest with my father. I caught my first trout on
a
fly at the ripe old age of three. I've spend the next 53 years fly
fishing
with my dad. He grew up at a time when his fishing companions were Lloyd
Sylvius (who had Sylvius' Tackle Shop in Eureka.)..and C.Jim Prey, who
invented the optic flies that became so popular in the Northern California
area. My dad always had time to take me fly fishing...even though in my
early childhood years, he worked two jobs and had little time. He taught
me
how to tie flies that caught fish with little regard for whether or not
they
caught the eye of fisherman. He was not only my father, but my best
friend.
I just returned from the hospital where he is dying of congestive heart
failure at the age of 85 years. His last lucid conversation with me was
about "opening day" and where I was going to go. I told him and he
smiled....and replied "good...good...I'm glad....I will be there with
you".
That was the last lucid comment from my father.

I will fish on opening day...and then later scatter my father's ashes on
"his stream" and perhaps watch a fish rise at the same time.

Why am I posting this here? To encourage all who have elderly fathers who
fly fish with them, to savor every trip....every moment. Take lots of
photos and tell your dad just how much you love him. You may never get
another chance.

For those who knew my dad, Ron Brown from Eureka, CA, he could throw a
longer line than most anybody on the Pacific NorthCoast...under actual
fishing conditions. And he knew how to read water and catch fish. And,
in
the process of fly fishing, he taught me about life.

I will miss him horribly...but, as I promised him, I will be out on
opening
day with fly rod in hand.

Barry Brown
Hiouchi, CA