Hugh McDowell !

A Gillie's Gillie

Some time ago now, I was supposed to be formally introduced to a fly fishing hero of my good friend Mark Sherburn. On The appointed day however, Mark called to say he’d been beset by a highly contagious illness, and so couldn’t accompany me. Mark insisted that I should continue to the rendezvous as planned. I felt awkward to say the least, I contemplated all manner of excuses to say to Mark, but he must have sensed my trepidation and informed me that Hugh was looking forward to our meeting.

I arrived at the address, nestled on the shore of Lake Rotorua, and on making passage through the gate and along the lawn, I was met by a black and white Springer Spaniel who rushed to my side to greet me like an old friend. On bended knee I rubbed my newly –found furry friend’s ears until our exchange was interrupted by a deep Irish accent "Hello ! You must be Robert. Come in! Come in!" On entering his home, he closed the front door, turned to face me and said "Welcome, Hugh McDowell at your service!".

The man standing before me was a little over 6 feet tall, quite broad across the shoulders, noticeably fit and in good health. Being quite sceptical of claims of guru status (as there appears to be a fly fishing guru behind every rod rack and reel cabinet in tackle stores all round the world), I could not see what made this man a legend among others that I hold in high regard, but you can never judge a book by its cover, as the old saying goes .

Over the next few days he outlined his life, punctuating it with photos, articles, videos, books, flies and tackle. We enjoyed conversation, meals and casting with old fly rods and during this time the life of a legend was told and this is but an excerpt of that life.

Hugh was not born in NZ, nor did he start his fly fishing career there. He was born in Northern Ireland and in 1950 something, he caught his very first trout on fly, in the wee Ulster River.

As a young man he fished most parts of Ireland and the UK, from the wilds of Orkney and the Scottish Highlands to the placid chalk-streams of Hampshire in Southern England. In the 'sixties he moved to America where he soon found himself doing battle with rainbows, steelhead and brookies as well as bass, bluegills, crappies, catfish, shad, whitefish, squawfish and many other species he’d never encountered before.

Since those days Hugh has travelled the world searching for the perfect fishing hole and in 1974 he arrived in New Zealand. Captivated by the people and the pristine fishing rivers of the North Island, he decided to make it his home. Hardly surprising: the North Island of NZ is a bit like the man himself; rugged, accommodating and legendary for fly fishing!

He immediately found work as a sales representative for Kelly (Rotorua) Ltd, now Kilwell Sports and as he travelled round the country he quickly discovered even more of the fantastic fly fishing opportunities available there.

In those days there were very few materials available for fly-tyers and here Hugh saw a highly profitable opportunity just waiting to be taken by his Company. After convincing them to begin carrying materials, he designed and installed merchandising units in tackle shops and then organised fly tying demonstrations at fishing clubs to help promote sales of fly tying equipment. During these demos he often found himself being asked if he could recommend a simple little "How-to-Tie" book. To his astonishment he discovered that such a book simply didn't exist; certainly there were books from America and England but most of them were complicated and cost something like the deposit required for a used car!

In frustration he started drawing the stages of some standard patterns by hand and adding a brief description of the tying procedure. With the help of a photocopier he produced a pamphlet which he handed out to interested parties. It proved immensely popular and soon caught the attention of Reed Publishing (NZ) Ltd, who suggested that if he would expand it, they thought it would make a good book. Hugh accepted the challenge and so "New Zealand Fly Tying, The Ten-Thumbed Beginner's Guide" was born. First published in 1984 the book has been a huge success.

It quickly became a best-seller in the "How-To" department, has been reprinted 7 times over the past 2 decades, with a new revised edition produced in 2001. It is still the standard reference book on the subject and currently found on all leading NZ booksellers shelves.

Hugh has had numerous articles published and has on many occasions been a guest tier at the Federation of Fly Fishers Conclave in America. His ability with both pen and vice reached new heights in 1988 when he was honoured to have his work included in Judith Dunham's prestigious book "The Art of the Trout Fly" and again in David Nelson's "Patterns of the Masters" the following year. Subsequently his work has often been featured in calendars by artists like Nancy Tichborne and Michael Scheele.

The string of fly patterns that Hugh designed are highly successful and still used today. These patterns include the following :

Wee Wets: Hughie's Bug Spider, Black & Gold Spider, Mylar Spider, Peacock Spider and Green Spider.

Nymphs: Hughie's Bug and Amber Swannundaze

Lures: Hughie's Matuku Muddler and Super-Boobies in both black and white.

As Hugh's fame spread, he began to be offered lucrative guiding work by many big-name American and British anglers. This provided the basis of a fulltime career as a guide, so eventually he made the decision to tender his resignation and go into business for himself, leaving only friends behind at Kilwell Sports.

He formed "Angling Adventures" a Company specialising in providing the very best in NZ flyfishing and was soon catering for such legendary fly rodders as Lefty Kreh, Ernest Schwiebert, Gary Borger, Mike Lawson, Howard West and Charles Gaines, as well as many celebrities including country singer Jimmy Buffet, comedian Billy Connolly and actor Craig Huebing.

Hugh also has featured in fishing videos and was filmed guiding for overseas TV shows. Having viewed a sample of the footage I was certainly impressed with Hugh’s calm and patient demeanour. Others who've seen the episodes nicknamed Hugh "The Poor Girls’ Clint Eastwood". "Unquestionably" he grins, "because of my rugged good looks!!

In 1987 Hugh was asked by the government body "Fish New Zealand", if he thought NZ should send a team to the World Flyfishing Championships in England. Hugh set about assembling a group of NZ's top fly rodders and off they went to take on the world's best. They came third and brought home 5 bronze medals, not bad for their first competition!

Since then Hugh has represented NZ at five other World Championships ( Tasmania, Finland, Wales, Italy and Canada). He has also been a member of the NZ team competing in many Commonwealth Flyfishing Championships. In the inaugural event held at London Lakes in Tasmania he placed second for Best Individual Performance.

Because of the team's involvement in the World Flyfishing Championships, New Zealand was chosen to be a host country. The original NZ team stepped down to make way for new blood. Hugh was one of the coaches for this team as well as being organiser of one of the venues involved. He was enormously proud to see NZ win outright and score 5 Gold medals, as well as receive a trophy from the Americans for "The Best Organised Contest"

Hugh has a collection of fly fishing books that would rival a major city library, but on opening many of them you discover the true worth is not just the cost of the publication. Quite a few are autographed with inscriptions from the authors, thanking him for wonderful memories of time spent with him both on and off the water.

The authors of the books in his library reads like a "who's who" of fly fishing, with such names as Gary LaFontaine, Taff Price, Lee Wulff and those mentioned previously whom Hugh had the privilege of guiding plus many, many more. As interested as I was to just read these books, I found myself captivated by the hand-written inscriptions and spent my time fascinated and absorbed by the writings of men who themselves are legendary names in fishing.

Three of these inscriptions left a permanent mark in my memory. One is from Lefty Kreh expressing the joy he had fishing with Hugh, another is from Billy Pate, thanking Hugh for supplying a hard-to-come-by item of fishing tackle which was perfect for Tarpon fishing, while a third from Ernest Schwiebert adds almost a extra chapter to his book!

You may be excused for thinking that Hugh has trout blood running through his veins and that this article has no relevance for the salt water fly fisher, but just wait.

When Hugh was living in the States in the sixties and seventies he enjoyed fly fishing for many Californian salt water fish species, taking Rock Bass and Surf Perch to Cabezone and even Starry Flounder on his own patterns.

Since those beginnings he’s caught Rainbow Runners and Mackerel Tuna off Papua New Guinea, Coho Salmon off British Columbia, Triggerfish off Hawaii, Mullet and Spotted Seatrout off Corpus Christi in Texas, Barracuda off Fiji and Wrasse off the rocks in Norfolk Island, where he is also proud to be the first to ever land a Yellowtail Kingfish on fly. Kahawai, Trevally, Barracuda, Kingfish, Yellowfin Tuna and Sharks up to 40lb in New Zealand bring his total of fly-caught species to an incredible seventy!

Some readers may say, "So what’s the big deal? I’ve done that!" but one has to remember that back then, Hugh and other pioneers like him, fought most of these fish on split cane or fibre glass rods, which were much heavier, about as stiff as half boiled spaghetti and nowhere as powerful as today's lightweight high-modulus graphites. Reels too had poor, if any, drags, so anglers of that period really had their work cut out for them when they found themselves attached to an oversized briny battler!

Like so many other giants of fly fishing, as well as a burning passion for his hobby, Hugh possesses a great sense of humour, tremendous strength of character and the will to teach and help others. Now retired from work, but not from life, he still fishes, ties flies and writes, but best of all, he somehow finds the time to help his fellow string flingers, no matter what their problems might be (and that sometimes even includes correcting my spelling and grammar! ).

In day dreams we all wish we could travel back in time and be part of some historical event. For some, it might be the chance to see the pyramids being constructed , for others perhaps being with Scott when he made it to the South Pole, or Hilary at the conquest of Mount Everest. But for me, the chance to go back in time and fly fish with people like the late Joe Brooks, the late Dr Web Robinson, or the late Lee Wulff and of course Hugh McDowell, would be worth the price of the time-machine ticket any day!. This is partly because many of the fish were bigger then, some more common, and less close to extinction. Much of the pioneer work that was being forged at the time involved using equipment that was primitive. This all adds to the fishing experience. Fortunately I don't need a time machine to be able to fish with Hugh, and on reflection I suppose he's even better now than he was then. One thing’s for sure though: he certainly has more interesting stories to tell today!

If most of us lived two lives, I doubt we would achieve half as much as Hugh has, and the best thing is, Hugh is still very active in the fly fishing scene. When I started writing this profile I sat down in front of my computer, scratched my head, and thought "where do I start?" Now, I am scratching my head again and saying to myself, " where do I stop?" This is but a glimpse of what Hugh has achieved with the gift of life.

Thanks Hugh. We owe you a great debt for sharing so many of your skills and so much of your life with the fly fishing community and for all the help you've given us over the years.