The SF Chronicle ran a “Five Places Fly Fishing is Worshiped” article, which — and we’re saddened to say it — wholly ignores the Trout Underground/Man Cave World Headquarters (and we thought we had some pull down there).
It’s clearly a West-Coast heavy list, and while we’re happy to see Undergrounder Ralph Cutter’s “California School of Fly Fishing” make the list, our stringent editorial guidelines force us to point out that the casting ponds don’t so much worship fly fishing as fly casting, and that the StoneFly Vineyards are probably designed to furnish an elegant, high-class (and impressive) cover for getting drunk:
1. The Casting Ponds, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
2. StoneFly Vineyards, Yountville
3. California School of Flyfishing, Nevada City/Truckee
4. RiverStone Gallery, Ennis, Montana
5. The Last Chance Bar and Grill at Trouthunter, Island Park, Idaho
Naturally, no “Top Anything” list is complete with the input of the Undergrounders, and because I’ve got a stack of review books a mile high, I’m going to give away a copy of a recent fly fishing book to the best suggestion (your choice of several).
See you in the list, Tom Chandler.
I’m going to have to say the Driftless Area for sure. It is more of an underground worship. Just got done with a “worship session” chasing some Wild Brookies. More trout and streams than you can shake a fly rod at :) Tight Lines.
Trout MaGee(Quote)
I’m not sure you can take such a list seriously when it doesn’t include any place in the UK, where they, you know, invented the damn sport. Also, if your worship metric of choice is Money Spent* then I’ll wager them Limeys take the prize by several lengths.
* Not saying it should be.
MHH(Quote)
How can they not include the mainstream of the AuSable east of Grayling, Michigan? Trout unlimited was founded there and everyone, with good reason, calls this stretch of river “The Holy Water”. For those of us familiar with this river we would probably call Gates AuSable Lodge the trout fishing equivalent of St. Peters Basilica. I live in northern CA now but desperately miss the religious experience of fishing the AuSable as I did for nearly forty years.
Allen Cichanski(Quote)
While I am happy that we (the California School of Flyfishing) were nominated as one of the “top 5 places where fly fishing is worshipped”, it is clear the judges were well into their free case of Stonefly wine. We ARE the top 5 places where fly fishing is worshipped.
Ralph C(Quote)
The hallowed beats of the Test, Avon and Itchen come to mind….. to actually fish the same waters as Walton…. The Beaverkill, Ausable… too many to name, mine are colored by my love of old tackle and flies as well as fishing…. to tie flies (as best I can) from Halford or Skues and fish some of the same waters…. with bamboo and silk (I have a horsehair line but its a once a year thing max ) My personal ones aren’t on the list but there are a great many flat rock altars sanctified with lunch after chasing brookies under the laurel boughs and long may they stay off the books
Marty(Quote)
Townsend, TN—Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Little River Outfitters, TroutFest, Walter Babb, R&R Fly Fishing.
APfromNC(Quote)
I see the “Holy Water” section mentioned on the Au Sable, but there is also Fisherman’s Chapel on the south branch of the Au Sable. Either way, I would count the Au Sable as well.
John(Quote)
Where fly fishing is worshiped? A hallowed place, you say?
The place is not not far. There may be open beamed wood ceilings, two or maybe three genuine old Hunter fans, chrome cornered glass display cases that funnel one to the rear, the blended odors of leather and new linen, art prints of perfect casting loops and rainbows arched at the peak of their jumps. – best of all, a smiling face there to greet you, “Grab a cup and tell me about yesterday’s hatch.”
There is no greater place for a worshiper to visit and debate the drifts of the AuSable versus the Madison or dry flies only, no nymphs and bamboo instead of graphite.
Go there and be cleansed – the cathedral is the old fly shop.
Turnip Truck Driver(Quote)
When I first read this list I thought, ‘Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, what does any of that have to do with fly fishing?’. This stuff is to fly fishing as ….. well, to keep this family friendly I’ll leave out the sex metaphor I was thinking of but you get the idea. It ain’t.
Upon reading the article, I guess I see what they’re getting at. The fly school, yup, that’s fly fishing. Last Chance, you bet. The other three get tossed. Casting Ponds…good lord. Winery?! No. Single malt, craft beer or PBR. Art?! Only if it’s Bob White or AD Maddox. Otherwise give me a snapshot of the last fish you just caught. So, add: Brooklyn Rod and Gun Club, A Bar (or at least the memories of such maybe it’ll open someday), and Adirondack Sports Shop (yeah Fran ain’t there no more but it’s still a place to be)
Steve Z(Quote)
Tonight i tie up a couple green stimulators; tomorrow i get up at 4:30 am and drive 20 minutes to a beautiful dark gorge section here in the northeast with cool summer waters, a gift from the nearby mountains. I will fish upstream , Stim / wet fly dropper as long as the water stays cool. I won’t have to change flies, i know what they will take , will tie them on tonight, so i exit the vehicle and start fishing and don’t have to stop. I will fish until i’m exhausted, and go home happy.
I don’t care what you drink. I don’t care who you are. I don’t care and am not curious what kind of gear you use.
And I don’t ever want to be around or fish what a reporter for a newspaper calls one of the top 5 places where fly fishing is worshipped.
Macker(Quote)
Nearly any small stream… x5
Holdover(Quote)
The top five places? Hard to say. I would humbly submit that they have more to do with state of mind than location.
Last weekend a good contender for the list might have been the St. Joe River, where an eight year old caught his first trout. He almost broke his face smiling that day, and later said “that was SO much fun!”
I could add an anonymous little high-country stream up north yesterday, where the sheer physical beauty of the place makes you dizzy, and the trout look like they were painted by Timothy Leary.
No doubt every angler has a small list close to their heart. How to rank the top five? I’m not really sure it can be done, and even if it could, we probably shouldn’t.
trout chaser(Quote)
Campfire Lodge Cafe on the Madison between the lakes. The best place to have a morning meal before heading to worship.
masterbaetis(Quote)
If we’re talking about worship as opposed to practice (and the Chronicle’s choices of galleries, schools and bars seem to confirm this), then the top shrine has to be the American Museum of Fly Fishing, Manchester, VT.
fausto(Quote)
I agree with the analysis about casting ponds, although I enjoy spending time at GGCAAC ponds. As the “Top Five”, all leave something to be desired. So I was glad that when I read the article, it didn’t say anything about the “top” five.
Still, it was fun to read the comments, see people get all pissy.
Kentucky Jim(Quote)
I Corinthians 3:4 “For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos;”
Personally, I am of Cutter… Sierra Trout Guide!
Dan(Quote)
No commercial endorsement implied, but here’s a place where our sport is. That’s it, the reason, it is. It be. Fishermen’s Spot fly shop, Van Nuys, California, in the ‘burbs in the True Valley that inspired Valley Girl talk. Here flyfishing is not only worshipped it is main-lined.
Why is this? Why celebrate the sport in a place that averages 90 degrees in summer, where the asphalt parking lot (where guys test cast rods) is taken over by the homeless cooking meals of eggs. The Valley is more than a simple ‘burb, it could be America’s 10th largest city with 1.5 millions peeps, so why oh why? where the nearest waters are the flow of the L.A. River’s concrete channel, which you saw in the motocycle chase in T2 and the greenish ponds of the local water reclamation plant? Because it is needed. Desperately, totally dude, like shoot me up and make it strong. I’ve been to Craig, MT. Too much water and too many trout spoiled the place for me. Like going to a nightclub filled with micro mini skirts and 6″ spike heels. Too many, you get eye strain. Put one in front of you walking into your place, that’s relief. I don’t know if older flytypes get that last one, but I tossed it in for kicks. Welcome.
Like a homeless mission staffed with pinko liberal sob sisters and light-in-loafer type do-gooders in the most fecal skid row you can imagine the Spot is a cool hang in a hot suburban hell. Mang, it’s that necessary.
Not only in major ‘burbage it’s just a weird mix all around — illegals looking for work on corner, meth Americans, Orthodox Jews in black walking to temple, Hollywood stars, clientele to beat the free weekly, the shop is heaven for beginning fly types to the most jaded-who’ve-fished-everywhere-with-everyone pros. Eminent Charles Jardine whipped up some wets recently. I hung there last Saturday avoiding yard work. An AC-pleasant three hours it was.
Beginners came in, one with pop’s old bamboo rod. 9′ Shakespeare, not a doozie but exciting to hear, “I have this old bamboo rod, my dad has a bunch in the garage, don’t know anything about them…â€. Gave him the instant Antiques Roadshow appraisal. Sahespeare, 9′, no bag no tube, not in bad shape, about a five, kinda heavy, you could use it but…prob worth around 100. Said he had nine others. Told him take care of them, bring them in we’ll take a look. You might have something nice.
Guy walks in, said he wants to take his college son somewhere, anywhere, been to McCloud Conservancy water, that was nice, yes I said of course no place looks like the McCloud, he got suggestions YNP to SJ to High Sierra get tossed. I’m going to take him somewhere he says about eight times, I just need a place. Hotels, restaurants, close fishing? — I tell him Estes Park, RMNP, Big Thompson very close, he says maybe. Lucky son. Meanwhile, the heat beat down outside and raggae played.
Two big guys came in, separately, both walked away with purchases of wading boots. Both size 14s. Shop talk remarked on that. There were rushes and lulls. Girl came in to peruse feather/hackle racks. Big guy came in for salon girl, took away special saddle order. 1k, no one bats an eye. Last week it was another girl for 3k. I sit on the wading boot chair and read every mag in the rack.
Guy who’s played Bond walks in. Talks with co-owner about soccer. I’ve seen Beatty from Deliverance, then his pal Ronnie Cox, same movie, curvy Heather Thomas, whoa, some top directors and agents. They come for the relief. It’s the green in the concrete.
The old shop vibe where men and jokes are hairy. Me and Dean, shop guy and all around fun dude start our Germanic invader talk, Ya, the Clouser vill conquer all. Ya, the Clouser.
An emergency ward, hospital, surgery wing, recovery ward and rehab all in one. Tire place and oil change, too.
DarrellKuni(Quote)
When my fishing buddies and I were finally old enough to drive (well, were old enough to get licenses), one of the first places we drove (from Thousand Oaks) was into the valley to visit Fishermen’s Spot in the valley (like, omigosh).
That was the mid-to-late 70s, and the only fly rod I owned at the time was a 7.5′ 5wt Fenwick glass I’d built myself from a blank (and it looked it), and the fly shop was a revelation, though because I was in high school, I was honor bound *not* to act impressed.
Tom Chandler(Quote)
Wha? You’re from the Valley, T? Shocked, shocked.
More edits: Shakespeare rod.
DarrellKuni(Quote)
Hey man, T.O. (what us cool teenagers called it) is definitely not, like, in the valley, you know?
Tom Chandler(Quote)
He’s a Vaaaallllleeeyyy guy, he’s a Vaaallllleeeyyy guy.
DarrellKuni(Quote)
I’ve been called cynical but this piece (I’m sure I’ll offend some with this) is clearly a paid for puff piece likely culled from the ever so stimulation “stories” published in Outside or Mens Journal listing the 50 best… or 10 secrets to…
A casting pond, seriously?
A winery or a gallery: the upturned polo collars should be the first clue.
No mention of a river? (North Umpqua’s 38 miles of fly water comes to mind)
Any real flyfiserman (or river fisherman, any style) knows where the hallowed ground is and it sure as hell isn’t anywhere near a building with a phone and a credit card machine in it.
Andy Marx(Quote)
Maupin, Oregon.
Rob(Quote)
Some good entries in our “Better picks than the Chron” sweepstakes; I’ll give it the rest of the week and pick a winner.
TC
Tom Chandler(Quote)
The Davidson and Mills rivers in NC. No fancy restaurants or high dollar fly shops, just a steady pull of disciples making the trek to do their thing. It’s pure.
Mark Coleman(Quote)
I daydream most about Silver Creek. Wish I was there right now. Hatches, must leave the office and find rising trout…
jeff(Quote)
Silly persons! I’d never tell you where I worship fly fishing.
Gray Fox(Quote)
Darrell’s right. The Fisherman’s Spot in VanNuys is a great place. Since I now live about 400 miles away from them, I don’t think this qualifies as a “puff” piece.
Kentucky Jim(Quote)
Top 5 eh?….Well for me it has to be the small river where I am taking my two sons, 8 and 6, in two weeks. Its the place I dream about more often than fish. I do fish it a couple times a year, and its a solid hike in wherever you start, and I always seem to cover a couple of miles of water.Its a hike and fish place, and I won’t say the name. I have been fishing it for a decade or so, and have only seen three others fishing there. A guy I ran into said he had been fishing it for 17 years and had only seen a couple of folks….I have seen the Northern Lights while camping there. Startling and rare for that location. For the record, its in upstate NY where I live, and I thought the East should be a little more represented here. Its also full of wild Brook trout. They come looking like jewels. Its a mountain stream and I can’t wait to take my boys there as they are just really getting in to fly fishing. My 6 year old got his first fly rod this year that he christened on Pine Creek in OPA. I think I will give my oldest the 7 1/2 ft 4 weight that I built. Its perfect for that water. There’s a gorge section I haven’t been up into yet, we will hike in and see. I hope they love it. Part of the jopy is the place, and sense of place, and part is the joy of sharing it with my boys. It’s the kind of place I think long and hard about who I show it to, and I have only taken one other person there, in return for some tiny sweet brook trout streams he had shown me. He caught a 15 brookie, and was grateful. I am glad I showed him, but don’t think I will show anyone else. Like others have said, the best places shouldn’t be named, and as I worked hard to find it, I will mostly keep it to myself. I hope we all have places like that in our hearts, and go to them. I WILL give up an upstate stream that I also love, and is pretty well known, so no danger of letting the cat out of the bag…West Canada Creek (more of a river)…..one of my personal top five……
A bit of a ramble, but that’s my answer.
Scott S(Quote)