After Stan Bogdan passed away in March of 2011, Monte Burke shared an earlier story he wrote about Stan and his reels.
Stanley Bogdan–perhaps the finest reel maker the world of fly-fishing has ever known–passed away last night at the age of 92. I wrote about Stan and his reels in the 4/13/09 issue of Forbes, as part of a cover package about consumer items that would always be recession-proof. His reels were true functional art.
LINK (via: Forbes)
Bogdan’s obituary appeared in the NY Times 9 years ago today.
When all this present Covid-19 horror is all over, I’ll return to this one and tell you “A Tale of Two Bogdans” (not my own, I assure you) that I wrote as part of something I was continuously working on late-1990s to mid-Noughties. Nice, but necessarily telling story about men (plus an English Lady fisher) and their tackle in very differing far-flung places, but not one for now, I feel.
Signs off whilst watching a video of and listening to a great old Fountains of Wayne track, Stacy’s Mom … Jeez, he was only 52…. Stay safe and well, people.
I hope all is well with you Paul. Your commentary is a bright spot in these trying times.
Thank you, Moldy Folk. I’ll try and keep them coming. Nothing to report fishing-wise over here in locked-down Britain (walked a people-less mile on Sunday to walk along and look at a small river, a mostly former, once pretty decent Southern English trout stream that still gets a heartbreakingly large Mayfly (Ephemera danica, similar to your great Green Drakes) hatch in May to mid June but now holds few browns to tear the, in places, still very fine-looking river up in their efforts to get the best and easiest meal of the year. On Sunday there were a small mayflies around – we call them “Olives” – and a few silvery dace fish were rising for them in a fast, gravelly shallow. Like most of you North Americans (and all places elsewhere at present), it’s about staying in for me, doing a quick bit of backyard gardening and birdwatching and looking skyward now (four wonderful, not that many years returned in numbers to Britain, Red Kites wheeling in a bright spring sky when I was out planting some red onions a little earlier. Bit of reading and tying and exchanging some often scurrilously rude emails with some guys I used to fish both here and abroad with. Aside from this, well, pretty much what you’re all doing.