Meet Our Bass & Panfish Columnist

No one in the western United States has written more about bass and panfish angling than Stan Fagerstrom. His columns are a regular feature here at www.ifish.net.

Stan wrote his first outdoor column for The Daily News in Longview, Washington way back in 1946. He’s been at it ever since. At one time or another his articles and columns have appeared in most of the nation’s major outdoor magazines.

Stan is also known internationally for his casting skills. He has been featured in outdoor shows all over the United States as well as a number of foreign countries. He is a member of both the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame as well as the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame. He has also been honored by the National Professional Anglers Association.

Stan lived most of his life in Washington and Oregon. He and his wife moved to Sun Lakes, Arizona in late 2004.

Got thoughts to share on bass or panfish angling? Stan welcomes your e-mail comments. His address is stanfagerstrom@hotmail.com.

Stan Fagerstrom Elected into
Professional Bass Fishing Hall of Fame

“Rolling Your Own”
Adds Fun To Your Fishing”

By Stan Fagerstrom
Part 1

There hadn’t been the surface boiling strike so often associated with bass fishing. My deer hair bug just floating motionless next to a big lily pad. A heartbeat later it simply disappeared. I set the hook.

Once I finally got the bass that grabbed it in the net and my hook unpinned from its mug I took time to admire the bug that had caught it. I don’t have a pictorial record of that moment but I expect I was a grinning like a hungry chimp peeling a ripe banana.

That bass bug, you see, wasn’t something that came off a dealer’s shelf somewhere. I tied that bug myself. Do you tie your own flies? If you want to add some zing to catching your bass or panfish with a fly rod I urge you to consider doing the same thing. It will add a new dimension to things.

Few hobbies offer more fascination than fly tying. It provides opportunity for almost endless creativity. Properly done, it also adds to the number of fish you catch.

I've had the good fortune over the years to get acquainted with several of the of the world's best known fly tiers. Some of them have been women. If you’ve got as many years behind you as I have, and if you lived in the Portland area 60 years ago, you might remember one such lady who was my friend.

She was a master fly tier and her name was Audrey Joy. For many years she did her tying on one of the upper floors of the Meier & Frank Department Store in downtown Portland. Audrey's personality matched her fly tying ability. She was something special.

My wife knows I'd about as soon get jabbed in the ear with a sharp stick as accompany her on a shopping trip. I suppose that's why she questioned me when I finally quit complaining about having to accompany her on occasional trips to Portland.

"How come," she asked, in a voice that carried as much in the way of accusation as question, "you haven't griped the last several times we went shopping in Portland? I actually detected interest in your eyes when I mentioned it earlier today. And every time we go to Meier & Frank’s you disappear for darn near an hour. What’s going on?

“Sweetheart,” I said. “I’m seeing another woman up on the sixth floor.” Before she had time to smack me with the broom she had in her hand, I hastened to explain that the other woman was an older lady who was helping me learn how to tie flies.

Remember now, this was years ago when I was still young and that was shortly after mankind invented the wheel. I suppose Audrey is now doing her fly tying at that great tackle shop in the sky. Undoubtedly other Oregonians, as well as Southwest Washington fishermen who go back as far as I do, had similar good memories of their experiences with that wonderful woman.

She was never too busy to explain what the ingredients were for a particular pattern or to share the tricks of the fly tying trade. One of the things I remember about Audrey was she had her fly tying vise hooked up to an old treadle type sewing machine. She had the thing rigged so she could turn whatever fly she had in her vise by simply applying foot pressure on the sewing machine treadle.

Audrey was an artist with that set up. Anyone who has tied many flies will appreciate what an asset that could be. She’d turn out flies so darn fast it was hard to believe.

I've also known my share of expert male fly tiers. I was involved in International Sportsmen’s Exposition outdoor shows for a couple of decades. My friend Dan Byford often demonstrated tying at these shows. Dan is the angler who came up with the famous Zonker trout pattern.

Dan was a big guy who had served in a couple of the elite branches of the Army. He had been with both the paratroopers and the special forces. How his big hands and fingers managed the dexterity required to tie flies is hard to understand, but he did it and with a touch few equal.

Actually, I’ve got about as much mechanical skill as a retarded billy goat, but by golly I can tie flies that fish will eat. If it were possible, I could come up with a whole bunch of bluegill, crappie and bass that could testify to the truth of that statement.

Like I said, if you’re a user of the long rod and you want to add a bit more more zip to it----consider taking up tying your own flies & bug. If you’re like me you’ll learn to love it.

I’ll have more thoughts to share on fly tying in my next column. Watch for it starting June 1.

Click here for Stan's archives.