Ever wondered what role fly fishing played in the lives of our nation's presidents?  No?  Well here is a little primer that may inspire a few moments of thought on the matter.

 

Grover Cleveland was regarded as one of the most fervent anglers who ever occupied the Oval Office, and it was said he would fish through storm and rain.  In 1886, after Cleveland was married in the White House, he took his fly rods on his honeymoon.  He had rented a cottage in western Maryland that had well-stocked trout pools, remarking, “If I am to keep up my reputation as a fisherman, I must go where there are plenty of trout.” 

 

Back when Herbert Hoover was looking for a summer retreat from Washington, D.C., he determined that potential sites needed to have three characteristics: they had to be within 100 miles of the capital, be situated on a trout stream, and be at least 2,500 feet above sea level. In 1929, Hoover selected "Camp Hoover" (now a part of Shenandoah National Park) along the upper Rapidan River as his summer White House.  Hoover once said that fly fishing restored and nourished his soul.  In his book, “Fishing For Fun And To Wash Your Soul” (1963), Hoover wrote, “President Theodore Roosevelt, President Cleveland and myself – with a slight egotism! –I think, are the only Presidents who had been lifelong fly fisherman before they went to the White House.”  (In truth, however, Theodore Roosevelt never really was much of a fisherman.)

 

Some presidents were less successful than others in their fly fishing pursuits.  Herbert Hoover once wrote that  “Mr. Coolidge...gave the Secret Service guards great excitement in dodging his backcast and rescuing flies from trees.”  Secret Service chief Edmund Starling taught Calvin Coolidge how to fly fish.  Coolidge also had Secret Service agents shoo away anglers who dared to fish waters reserved for him. And on at least one occasion, President Dwight Eisenhower failed to catch any of the hatchery trout dumped into a Vermont stream the night before his arrival.  At the  beginning of the 1952 presidential campaign, Eisenhower unsuccessfully tried to teach running mate Richard Nixon how to fly fish.

 

Jimmy Carter has a well known reputation as an accomplished fly fisherman (as was his wife, Rosalyn).  He tied his own flies, hosted a gathering of fly fishermen at Camp David, and preached catch-and release.  Carter once compared the theft of two of his prized fly rods to defeat in a national election.

 

Author Bill Mares writes that “George Bush (Sr.), after leaving office, became an enthusiastic, even fanatical, fly fisherman.  A number of times he has gone fishing for arctic char in several Canadian provinces.”  Bush wrote a column about his fishing for a local newspaper in Ft. Simpson, Northwest Territories.  In the September 4, 1997 column George Bush stated, “I find myself getting intolerant of those fishermen using hardware.  There is something more sporting, more competitive, more difficult, more challenging about using a fly rod.”

 

Howell Raines, editorial page editor of The New York Times and author of the book "Fly Fishing Through the Midlife Crisis," had heard President George W. Bush was a pretty good fly caster and wrote to him in 1991 requesting an interview about fly fishing.  Raines recieved a letter back from Bush stating:  "Dear Howell:  I am flattered that you would like to have my experiences on fly-fishing -- flattered because I am not a good fly-fisherman at all. I like the sport, but I have only done it a couple of times: once with Jim Baker in Wyoming, and once with Alan Simpson, also in Wyoming. I've got some outstanding reels and fly rods, but what I lack is fly-fishing experience."  Raines commented that he "admired the President's candor about his fly fishing experience... and the general modesty of his tone."

 

That brings us to the present day and, with this year being an election year, it remains to be seen whether fly fishing will play a role in the life of our next president.

 

Bibliography:
Bill Mares,  Fishing with the Presidents.  Stackpole Books, 1999.
Hebert Hoover,   Fishing For Fun And To Wash Your Soul.  Random House, 1963.
Grover Cleveland,  Fishing and Shooting Sketches.  The Outing Publishing Company, 1906.
Howell Raines,  Fishing With Presidents.  New York Times article, published Sept. 5, 1993.