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Welcome back to the new NEFF. Take a break from Twitter and Facebook. You don't go to Dicks for your fly fishing gear, you go to your local fly fishing store. Enjoy!

Bright fly shop

BRK TRT

Small stream, wild trout flyfisher
Hi,

Can anyone provide me with some info on a fly shop located on the Lackawaxen river in Rowland PA. The shop was owned by Charlie Bright. A wet fly that came from that shop was the Lackie Special. I remember doing a feature on it years ago but I'm not certain where I posted it.

At 75 things are a bit foggy so anything to help point me in the right direction is appreciated.

Alan
 
Hi,

Can anyone provide me with some info on a fly shop located on the Lackawaxen river in Rowland PA. The shop was owned by Charlie Bright. A wet fly that came from that shop was the Lackie Special. I remember doing a feature on it years ago but I'm not certain where I posted it.

At 75 things are a bit foggy so anything to help point me in the right direction is appreciated.

Alan
Are you thinking of this thread?:

http://www.njflyfishing.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=22426
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yes that is part of the thread I was speaking of. There was also a thread about a fly that was created in that fly shop. The owner now deceased was Charlie Bright. The fly I'm referring to is named the Lackie Special.

Alan
 
Pete, yes that's my work. The original thread had lots of comments about the fly shop, the owner and the fly.

Alan
 
I went to Rowland PA on "google maps" (street view). went along the river, and found a building that looks just like it.
At the time Google took the picture it was selling "organic produce".

I can't seem to upload the screenshot.
Check out 100 Towpath Rd, Greeley, Pennsylvania on Google Maps
 
I knew Charlie very well. I lived 20 minutes away from the Lacky and would fish it after supper. Lenny a very good friend of mine and was tying flies for the shop. I will never forget Lenny and I were fishing the Lacky on July 3rd. at about 7:00 PM when he caught one of the biggest trout that I had ever seen on the Lacky. It had to take him at least 15 minutes to finally bring it to net and I was the net person. I started fishing the Lackawaxen in 1973 and now when I buy a Pa. license I still fish it. I caught most of my trout on the Lacky on caddis flies. It has a great caddis hatch. Bill the mailman
 
Over many years I have taken big beautiful trout from that river. But one of the best days I was given the opportunity to catch a fish that was a true monster. Not to far from where this picture was taken the Lackawaxen merges into the Delaware river. There was a small restaurant and a couple of shops the afforded me access to the river. The river here is pretty rough and wading is not the best method of fishing it. So I hopped on the rocks and fished it that way. I selected a Gray Ghost streamer, rumor was that large brown trout would move up from the Delaware and were taken from the area I was fishing. I cast the streamer and within seconds the current pulled it under. My retrieve brought nothing. This same action produced the same results. The thought came into mind of putting on a split shot to bring the streamer down. That idea quickly was thrown out because I had left the shot in the car. So I tried fishing closer to the bank, which was almost all boulders. That proved to be a better idea. The fly moved slower and deeper. After several more casts I took a strong strike, fish on. The fish attempted to get into the middle of the river. Run, dive and repeat. It took me some time to get control and as the fish moved in closer I could see one heck of a brown. The brown lay there calmly and I reached to lift him up. As my hand entered the water that brown ran. Within a heartbeat he was in center river headed south. The fish broke off with the Gray Ghost in its jaw.
That was my only streamer. Looking into the fly box I saw a Lackie Special. I know big browns like meat but they also will take flies that they are familiar with. With the Lackie Special tied on I continued to fish. I caught a couple of smaller rainbows and some rock bass. I cast to a large boulder about a quarter way to center. There was a nice eddy there and the went down and sort of lingered there. I pulled back and all hell broke loose. That fish headed for the nastiest part of the river. Such strong currents I have never fished. In the back of my mind was the picture of a big brown with a Gray Ghost in his lip. That thought was quickly erased when the fish broke water. A foot out of the water and clearly saw a smallmouth bass. My goodness this has to be a dream...I battled that fish for some time and he knew jut where to take me. I was in a bad position because I could not move along the stream. I relied on my skill with rod and a good reel drag. I can't tell you the time it took to get this bass to give up but I was glad it was over. I lifted him up, his dripping wet bronze flanks were tense. I could see the Lackie Special in his mouth along his tongue. I did not have a camera but a patron of the restaurant gave me an applause.

Alan
 
I spent several springs fishing the Lackawaxen long ago, before I moved up the Delaware and discovered the tail waters. I fished with Charlie and Ivan and those other geezers who hung out around that shop. They were really nice, warm, welcoming guys, with a great sense of humor. Also unbelievable fishermen. Ivan in particular - he was probably pushing 70 when he showed up in a beaten-up van with a mattress pad in the back of it that he called his "fishing wagon." There was some other old dude asleep back there, surrounded by waders and fly boxes. Ivan invited me to fish with him and I watched him wade out through boulders the size of file cabinets and pull one fish after another out of the river. Practically every cast. He fished the way my grandfather did, swinging a cast of soft hackles and relying on feel as much as vision. Meanwhile, I dead drifted my little emergers and duns, like the books had told me to, and landed one fish in the same amount of time it took him to catch six or seven. It was absolute clinic. I'll never forget it. And according to rumor, that was just an average night for Ivan... maybe even below average. Actually didn't realize Charlie had passed in 2017. That's sad news, if old news. Gem of a guy.
 
This is a great thread, I love this wet fly. I did my first fly fishing on Esopus creek in the mid 70's, and wet flies were still in, and 2 or 3 on droppers were even better. I like the simplicity of this fly, and the local conditions that drove the initial idea of it. I've tied a few and am looking forward to using them this year. Can't seem to upload a picture of the ones I made, not sure why, but in any event, I am sure they will work.
 
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