Frank Amato - by Art Lingren
A VERY Special Cigar!
What may look like a simple cigar and 4 flies that are eternally preserved in epoxy—like an ancient mosquito preserving dinosaur DNA in amber. Is actually a cigar that was smoked by Roderick Haig-Brown in 1972. Gayle Amato seized the specimen from Roderick's ashtray at a fly fishing event and placed it in epoxy as a gift to her husband Frank.
Big Thanks to Art Lingren:
I want to thank Art Lingren for writing this book about me and including it in his series about steelhead fly fishers. I have known Art for about three decades and shared many publishing and fishing experiences with him. We have published many of his fine books about British Columbia and its fly-fishing history. Both Art and I have been greatly influenced by British Columbia's famous conservationist and fly-fishing author Roderick Haig-Brown and his many writings.
Haig-Browns writings inspired me to fly fish and want to conserve the fishery resource and most importantly start a sport fishing magazine which led into publishing several hundred fishing centered books as well. Haig-Brown's powerful influence was first felt by me when in high school in the late 1950s. By 1967 it became concrete with the publishing of the first issue of Northwest Salmon Trout Steelheader.
Art and I along with tens of thousands of anglers greatly admired Roderick Haig-Brown's efforts to preserve healthy fish runs and populations.
Over the 57-year life of Salmon Trout Steelheader magazine and several other related titles as well as the publishing of nearly 300 fishing book titles, I have been extremely fortunate to have the beloved support of magazine and book fishing authors. We have taught anglers the mechanical and spiritual realities of our sport as well as the conservation challenges and radical threats that threaten our delicate sport (and commercial) fisheries. Whenever I speak with one of our authors I am humbled by their support for the goal I had as a young man: to create a magazine, and then books, featuring West Coast and Western ideas of fishing, and especially fly fishing and conservation.
I thank all of you who had any type of relationship producing or reading our many magazines and books! You all made outdoor dreams come true and acted to help save healthy fisheries for future generations.
PS: I do believe in a heaven, and if it is the Deschutes River (or pick your choice), each day a new drift will be made with old and new friends, and I will have a chance to meet all of you who felt about the outdoors and fishing as I have!
And to all my past employees I can only say that I love you all with ALL of my heart!
—Frank William Amato
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