THE DAY TRIPPER FLY FISHING & FLY TYING BLOG

posted by Alex on Dec 7

Who doesn’t have people they look up to or admire? As far as fly fishing and tying is concerned, I look up to many. The first fly fishing related book I read when I started fly fishing was “Match the Hatch” by Ernest Schwiebert. Although all the talk of cornutas, subvarias, duns, etc. was like reading a different language, it was wrote in a way that made sense, and was fun. After that I sought out other books by Schwiebert and had an immense level of respect for him. One of my favorite quotes related to fly fishing is from a short story he wrote that reappeared in Fly Fisherman Magazine just after he passed away.

“There is nothing so empty as a pool without a trout, particularly when the guilt is yours”

Along Came Lefty

Then a few days ago I found out Lefty Kreh, someone else I used to admire, is a proud supporter and Charter Member of The Spring Ridge Club. I started digging around the interweb for more info on them and stumbled onto the fact that Ernest Schwiebert, a man who I had on the highest pedestal was a Life Member! As the words on the screen slowly processed in this little brain of mine, I got that same feeling I did as a child when I found out that Santa Clause wasn’t real- betrayal with a dash of rage.

I’ve had a few days to digest this new info, and I’m still pissed. Since he was someone I had so much respect for, there’s a part of me that’s tried to partly excuse his membership by saying the club wasn’t founded until 1996, so Ernie couldn’t have been a part of this for more than 10 years. So everything I respect him for was accomplished before he joined Donny Beaver’s band of pretenders. But there’s a bigger part of me that says there’s no excuse for an association like that. And that’s what side of the line I’m on.

There’s More

Other members of the Spring Ridge Club include Barry and Kathy Beck. If the name sounds familiar the reason is it’s their photographs on the cover of most fly fishing magazines you see at your local news stand. As a matter of fact, the picture of Ernest Schwiebert fishing in his New York Times Obituary was taken in Pennsylvania by none other than the Becks. So what happens when you take Spring Ridge Club Members and add it to Pictures of Big Fish?

Spring Ridge Club Members + Big Fish Picture = Fake Fish Selling Magazines

What’s the first thing you see when you grab a new fly fishing rag? The big fish on the cover. You ask yourself where was it caught, how was it caught, etc? You think maybe there is something in this magazine that would help me catch a big fish like that! Before you know it, it’s in your shopping cart. Sometimes there will be a caption on the inside saying that the fish was caught in a place like British Columbia, or Alaska, but why should we believe that? Afterall the Becks, or the magazine’s editor, aren’t going to put down that their cover fish was raised on purina trout chow. Who wants to look at pictures of fake fish?

In a sense, who hasn’t been lied to or manipulated by a magazine cover big fish/Donny Beaver’s Spring Ridge Club and it’s practices? Anyone who has ever admired a Beck photograph! Has your wallet been affected by the actions of the Spring Ridge Club?

The Glass is Half Full

But we’ll have the last laugh. There is some good that can come of this. Now you can look back at all those times you questioned yourself, or doubted your fishing ability because you’ve never caught a goliath fish or don’t catch a 20″ fish every time out like “the guys in the magazines”.

Dear Members of the Spring Ridge Club,

You’ve got to spend $80,000 to catch pellet fed fish. Lame.

Sincerely,

Alex