Tuesday
Oct132009
"In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing,"
Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 12:05AM 
Last Sunday a monument dedicated to the Rev. John Maclean and his son's book was unveiled in front of the First Presbyterian Church in Missoula. Church members Thelma Hogan and Tom Finch conceived of the commemoration, which comes 100 years after Maclean became pastor in Missoula. He and wife Clara arrived in February 1909 from Clarinda, Iowa, with young sons Norman and Paul in tow.
The Maclean Family in 1911.
LINK (Via:The Missoulian)
Reader Comments (8)
Tom Skerritt was certainly the right actor for the job.
then norm learned to write, wrote a damn fine short story, redford filmed it, and in less than 100 years Montana was flooded with a bunch of middle aged and old guys who also couldn't tell the difference between religion and fly fishing or any other aspect of a balanced existance, who had no life, who transfered their despair into 1000's of dollars worth of fly gear, trampled montana rivers and masked their misery. I've since become a die hard winter fisherman for one reason; in spite of the short, windy days, freezing guides, endless whitefish, midges on 7x, constant shivering, frozen ramps, etc, at least I'm alone and don't have to hear about how awesome your day was on the Bighorn with the other 100 boats from 3 to B.
Someone will probably hate on this post.
I liked your post, but I'm not sure the book/movie had a whole lot to do with the influx of fisherpeoples in MT. Maybe some.
Agreed! Skerrit was a dead ringer.
I am proud to be a 4th generation Flyfisherman. This summer I had the distinct pleasure to travel to and fish some famed waters in the beautiful state of Montana. I have to say it was a great experience, one I hope to be able to repeat at some point in the future. I saw no more crowds than I would see in my home state of Oregon, and EVERYONE was right friendly, a testament to be sure. It becomes harder each year to find the "quiet waters", but they are still there. and hours of hammering Cutties last Saturday in the sun proved that for me once again.
Like the old saying....Explorers get the Prize!
A classic story about a bunch of Montana drunks, then one gets beaten to death. And oh yeah, by the way they like to fish. Big fuckin deal. These days the drunks in Montana just beat their wives then go and kill themselves in their cars. And oh yeah, by the way, they fish too.
Missoula's only claim to fame besides having the worst university in the country. UM is like the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th grade.
My girlfriend and I have been going to SW Montana for five years now at the beginning of July. Here in Bend, OR we have seen and influx of sooo many people over the past ten years. But the crowds in Montana aren't anything like what we are seeing now with all the steelhead in the Deschutes, or what happens every year with the Salmon fly hatch. There are just too many people who have been introduced into the sport and take that as good or bad, but now a day it is hard to find a place to fish without anyone else there (depending on the day). These have become the new facts of the sport on popular rivers. So go to Kamchatka, Russia for some peace and quiet. Oh ya, that's one of the new hot spots, don't tell anyone!?! (or make a movie)
Get used to if fellas, the nation ain't shrinking.