doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com One of my favorite authors has passed.

I just read that John Gierach had a major heart attack on October 3rd and didn't survive it. He has written so-many great books about flyfishing out here in the West that he almost single-handedly crowded most of the better streams here. A lover of fine sporting tackle (he liked doubleguns too, Parkers for sure) he mostly seemed to focus on bamboo flyrods, more specifically the Granger Bamboo fly rods made here in Denver in the 40s and 50s (he liked the Heddon rods too, as well as many modern makers). He made "blue-collar cane" chic again. His book "Trout Bum" seemed to define him best. I've been reading John's work for over 30-years now and always eagerly awaited his next missive.

We are all poorer for his loss.

My first turn in each newly arrived issue of TROUT is to Gierach’s and Bob White’s shared offering. Then to Dave Whitlock’s article and art. A stroke took Whitlock last year and now as I get ready to head to the big city this morning to see my cardiologist for our annual chat I learn a heart attack has taken Gierach.

The law giver’s words suddenly seem extra vivid:

“…you sweep people away in the sleep of death - they are like the new grass of the morning: In the morning it springs up new, and by evening it is dry and withered…So teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

Always enjoyable reading.
Made me wish I could have experienced those days with him.

He had good tastes in bamboo rods. I to am an avid collector of Heddon bamboo rods and in the 70’s became well acquainted with Bernard Hill, the late foreman of Heddon’s bamboo production. Bernard taught me a lot about Heddon’s manner of manufacturing and cane selection. He also gave me a number of artifacts he used building rods. He and I joined together and had an English builder make us bamboo blanks with Heddon tapers for three piece 7 1/2’ rods, swelled butts and all. I still have ten blanks that will have to go somewhere in the near future. Or is custom made ferrules for me (this was in the 70’s when Orvis was a rod company). I have several Presidents and one #65 in my collection. And several #35’s and Thoroughbreds and Black Beauties, etcetera. Fascinating! I also have what is probably the world’s last supply of Peerless carbon steel snake guides. Bamboo and double guns were made for each other!

IMO, Trout Bum and A View from Rat Lake were his best and appealed to me. Probably because of the novelty of his writing which wore off on me after the first two books...Gil

Joe Wood: I just received a 1940s EC Powell hollowbuilt 9 1/2 -footer for use on the big water in Wyoming. Doubleguns and cane do indeed go hand in hand. I'll even take that a step further and say that it's Damascus and bamboo that I'm really excited about. Both are a pinnacle of human achievement when used in a sporting application.

Gierach definitely understood and appreciated both bamboo and double guns as a rare glimpse into his “inner sanctum” confirms.

From Louis Cahill:

“A hundred bamboo fly rods, most of them old, are stacked on every flat surface and leaning against every wall. The room smells of oil cloth and leather. Beautiful old side-by-side shotguns guard every corner; the ones in racks on the wall next to oil paintings by Bob White. Rows of classic trout reels and larger Spey reels and in the far back corner of the room an old wooden office chair and, I trust, a desk hidden under that mound of hard bound books. This, I assume, is where the magic happens.”

A sad passing indeed. I may be a fly fisher from dear old England but I have a full collection of all John Geirach's books and always looked forward to his latest offering. Split cane rods are always a delight. I can remember taking a visitor from the U.S. into a local rod builder's shop and him standing aghast having never seen so many split cane rods before. Lagopus.....

Well horse manure. I hate to hear that as well as I've been "Standing in a River Waving a Stick" for a long time. Long enough I haven't been able the last 2-3 years.

I eschewed anything but cane 20+ years ago. Mostly South Bend but a smattering of Heddon. Unfortunately no Grainger.

Sharps4590: It's never too-late for a Granger.

I just bought one this spring because I was out of the uplocking reel-seat version (I'd sold a later W&M 8040 Aristocrat to finance a gun project earlier this year). Not having one in the "quiver" was troubling me. Replaced it with a decent used Stream & Lake 8642 for not much money. After 30-years and 20-something Gierach books, I like having one around.