Joe Brooks

In the early 1970s I bought a book from the Outdoor Life Book Club entitled Trout Fishing by Joe Brooks. Joe was the editor of Outdoor Life magazine then but was widely known for his fly fishing expertise and his passion for chasing trout, salmon, and even saltwater fish on a fly around the world.

At a time when most fly anglers fished locales that were reasonably accessible, Brooks was among the first to pioneer fly fishing adventures to Argentina, Alaska, Montana, Canada, New Zealand, Yugoslavia and beyond. Consequently, after reading his book, I decided to hit the road in 1975 on a venture of my own. It was a quest to catch a Dolly Varden like the one pictured on page 45, caught by an angler from the Flathead River, that motivated my journey.

When the road eventually led to Idaho while exploring some waters along the way in Northwestern Montana, I finally caught a Dolly (renamed bull trout in 1978) in Priest River, and that’s where I stayed for a couple years. It was from that point my career in fly fishing began to unfold. At the time there wasn’t much written about learning the rudiments of fly fishing, but a good portion of Joe’s book was dedicated to teaching casting techniques along with how to fish a fly.

Ultimately it was Brooks’ discussion about Montana’s grayling that led me to the Big Hole River in 1977, and that trip prompted my eventual move to Twin Bridges to be near the Big Hole in the early 80s. In a way I found myself retracing some of Joe Brooks’ footsteps, and though my travels were not as extensive as his, my lifetime of exploring varied waters from coast to coast was totally inspired by reading Trout Fishing.

But it wasn’t until I retired to Maryland that I learned Joe Brooks was born in Baltimore and regularly fished the Susquehanna for striped bass near where I now live. I have often written about Joe and subsequently, I put together a slide presentation of my travels inspired by him and entitled it “In Joe Brooks’ Footsteps.” After presenting the program at the Fly Fishing Show in Lancaster, PA several years ago, I was pleased to meet Joe’s nephew Mike Brooks who was in the audience.

In turn Mike connected me with his brother Joe Brooks, via email, who lives in Melbourne, Australia. A few weeks ago, Joe was visiting his relatives in the Baltimore area and I was pleasantly surprised that he contacted me to meet with him and his wife Lisa for a beer. Like a ripple through time, this meeting would not have happened if I hadn’t read Trout Fishing over fifty years ago. For decades I often felt his uncle Joe’s spirit wherever I fished, so this get-together couldn’t have been more significant. I was truly honored that nephew Joe arranged his schedule to see me.

Joe recently sent me a photo he took of the ledger at Orvis where renown builder Wes Jordan entered two tarpon rods built for Joe Brooks in 1967. The ledger is very similar to the one used for decades at Winston and now also at Sweetgrass where Glenn records all the original owners for each rod we make.