Kent, nicely written piece! Thanks for sharing . . . Richard Embry -----Original Message----- From: Kent Lufkin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Friday, November 17, 2000 2:37 PM Subject: Re: Thor >As a sad sidebar to the Thor thread, I grew up in the little town of >Fortuna on Northern California's famous Eel River. > >Just a short bike ride away, I first fished the Eel as a grade school >kid in the 1960s with worms and salmon eggs, catching creels full of >what I thought were trout, but which were probably juvenile steelhead >instead. As a college student, I learned to fly cast and extensively >fished the Eel and neighboring Van Duzen, Mad, Trinity and Klamath >rivers. > >When I started tying flies, the Thor was one of the first patterns I >learned - with real polar bear hair! But getting polar bear hair >today is easy compared with catching fish in the Eel River. > >Today's Eel is a pathetic poster child for fished-out rivers. > >Historically, the Eel enjoyed California's largest runs of chinook, >coho and steelhead, eclipsing even the massive Sacramento and San >Joaquin river runs. Beginning in the 1870s, Eel River salmon spawned >an extensive and lucrative freshwater canning industry. With daily >catches measured by the ton, Eel River canned salmon became a highly >prized delicacy and fetched premium prices in San Francisco, New York >and London. But the intensive horse- and steam-powered freshwater >netting operations finally annihilated the salmon runs. The last of >the canneries failed before the first World War. > >Shunned by the canneries, the river's huge steelhead attracted sport >fishers from around the world through the 1950s. But even these >robust fish couldn't overcome the combined pressures of sportfishing, >increased Native American gill netting and spawning habitat >degradation due to irresponsible logging practices. > >Sadly, the Eel River no longer sustains any anadramous fish runs. > >My uncle has published numerous articles and books on the history and >decline of the Eel and California's early steelhead and salmon >fisheries. I'd be happy to share copies of those I have with any >other mourners among our group. > >Kent Lufkin > >>The Thor is not only "like the old, standard flies", it's one of them. It >>was first tied by C. Jim Pray and was named for Walter J. Thoreson who used >>it on the Eel river in 1936. Most of the traditional white-winged steelhead >>flies were tied with polar bear hair and a Skykomish Sunrise, Polar Shrimp >>or a Brad's Brat tied with anything else is only a pale imitation of the >>original. >
