Portait of a Fly Fishing Legend

Bill Schaadt was one of the most prolific anglers and unique individuals to ever cast a fly line in California's North Coast rivers. Arguably one of the greatest anglers that ever lived, Bill was a legend long before he passed away in 1995, and anglers who knew Bill still talk about him today as if he were just around the next bend.       

Now, in a beautiful tribute to this amazing individual is a collection of fascinating tales as told by 30 of his friends - those who had the unforgettable experience of fishing with him. With 208 pages, and over 100 pictures in full color, this hard-cover book spans the forty years that Bill fished - 1955 to 1995. These were the "heyday" years of steelhead and salmon fishing on the West Coast, and Bill's passing may well have marked the end of that era.             

I Know Bill Schaadt is available in a hard-cover Regular Edition or a special, Limited Edition of just 150 copies. The Limited Edition comes with a beautiful matching slipcase and will be personally numbered and signed by the author, Ben Taylor.

LINK

Foundations - A Tribute to Bill McMillan

Bill McMillan has been an inspiration to many steelhead anglers but more importantly an inspiration to many of us who fight on behalf wild steelhead.

Todd Hirano speaks for all of us who have been inspired by Bill.

Leftyisms

• Common sense ain't that common.

• An expert is a guy with a slide show that he shows more than 10 miles from his house.

• I thought bill was a man's name until I got married.

• He thinks his candle will burn brighter if he blows out the other guy's.

• I can teach any woman to cast as long as I'm not married to her.

• Hillbillies use only one fly, and they catch fish. So don't let this thing get too complicated. Half a dozen fly patterns will catch 90 percent of the fish 90 percent of the time.

• Casting is simple. And clocks ain't got a damn thing to do with it. If you did that 9 o'clock to 1 o'clock stuff all day, your arm would fall off.

(via: Deseret News)

Her name is whispered in mythic reverence

Kiss the Water is now available to rent or purchase.

In a cottage in northern Scotland, Megan Boyd twirled bits of feather, fur, silver and gold into elaborate fishing flies - at once miniature works of art and absolutely lethal. Wherever men and women cast their lines for the mighty Atlantic salmon, her name is whispered in mythic reverence, and stories about her surface and swirl like fairy tales. With breathtaking cinematography and expressive, hand painted animation, Kiss the Water adheres to and escapes from traditional documentary form, spinning the facts and fictions of one woman's life into a stunning film about craft, devotion, love, and its illusions.

Howells: The Bamboo Rods and Fly Fishing Legacy of Gary H. Howells

Howells: the Bamboo Rod & Fly Fishing Legacy of Gary H. Howells by Joseph H. Beelart, Jr. is the saga of an American master craftsman whose bamboo fly rods are among the finest ever built.  It speaks of a man who transcended craft into art.  But this book is more than Howells life-long devotion to bamboo rods and fly fishing.  It is a memory of a wide San Francisco and Montana fly fishing circle during the last half of the 20^th century. 

LINK (via:Idaho State Journal)

Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration, don't fail me now.