flyfisher.com - Charlie Fox Page 2

1908-1997

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Part 2

Charlie had a gift for prose that few writers possessed and even fewer fishing writers. He authored books on the Civil War to baitcasting and lure making. He also did stints as the editor of the Pennsylvania Angler and at Stackpole, a publisher of outdoor books. He was also an expert musky and bass angler although few fly fishermen realized it. But his first love was salmon and trout fishing and environs that went with them. (Photo on the left of Rossy Trimmer, Ernie Schwiebert's Dad, Ernie Schwiebert, Don Dubois and Charlie Fox. circa 1959 by Gene Utech)

From writing for Esquire to landing a large trout on the LeTort Charlie always possessed one attribute of his character that made him approachable to everyone....modesty. If Charlie Fox would have been a baseball player. He would have been Mickey Mantle. The man who hit the ball out of the park but who ran around the bases with his head down so that he wouldn’t show up the pitcher. He never claimed to be the greatest or even the best fly fishermen as is customary today by the legions of so called experts. He claimed only that he studied the fish and their world. He would never embarrass anyone of lesser talent and knowledge. Everyone felt comfortable with him. Perhaps this is why everyone claimed to know him personally because if you met him once you thought you knew him forever.

All fly fishermen are romanticists and Charlie was no exception. The roots of fly fishing encompass a poetic heritage. Whatever it was, he believed in the sacredness of all living things and the power of their existence. We had spent many hours together over the years from the yearly picnic on the Letort, to his jaunts at one of my favorite streams Falling Spring in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Sometimes we would just sit on his front porch and talk. But the discussion always ended the same with his anguish over the destruction of environment. He was saddened and dismayed over this "Brave New World" that was taking place. In later life he lamented that few fish would rise in the Letort because of the pollutants that destroyed the mayfly populations. (Photo of me, Gene Macri and Charlie Fox at one of the Letort Picnics).

There is a silence and an emptiness in the fly fishing world and in the world of nature because one its protectors has gone away. On February 10th, 1997 Charlie Fox crossed the bridge that all anglers know they must some day cross. He was nearly 88 years old and had been ill for the last few years. The river keeper has died. There are quite a few good fly fishermen in the world but there are few great ones. Of these great ones, there are even fewer who are also great human beings. Charlie Fox was a great fly fisherman and a great human being. He was the river keeper of the LeTort, and he will be missed by everyone who wishes to see a trout swim, an eagle soar, or have their children gaze at the wonders of nature. The world needs more River keepers......the world needs more people like Charlie Fox. (Sulfur Mayfly was Charlie's Favorite Hatch)

Guido Macri
February 11, 1997