Granted, He Ties ‘Em On
Clay Larkin has a good thing going and, contrary to fishing tradition, he wants to share.
The fishing flies he crafts disappear on North Idaho’s lakes like a roasted turkey on the Thanksgiving table.
“The fishermen seem to like them,” he says with a small smile. “They catch fish.”
Clay’s flies are as Idaho as you get. He uses hair from local animals - elk, deer, skunk, bear - to catch fish in local lakes. That prompted the state’s art commission to give the Post Falls man $1,695 to teach his craft to an apprentice.
Clay chose Larry Hammer Jr., a 27-year-old grocery warehouse worker. Larry wants to learn because he lives to hunt and fish. Clay, who’s 59, took up fly-tying because he wants to live. Doctors told him years ago to reduce his stress.
“This is something I get totally involved in,” he says, peering at a half-finished fly locked in his table vice.
Fishermen quickly noticed his flies. He used them on Priest Lake and Lake Pend Oreille to troll for mackinaw and on Lake Coeur d’Alene for chinook.
He grilled fishermen for the colors that worked best in various seasons. He created and he fished, and his flies became so popular that he couldn’t meet the demand alone. So he applied for the folk arts apprenticeship grant.
Larry’s lessons began in August. Already, he loops thread around hooks and animal hair with a surgeon’s skill.
“I’d really like to find the magic fly,” Larry says, checking the balance on his Road Kill fly. That one’s made from skunk.
“This grant allowed me to pass something on, a lifetime skill,” Clay says. “Life has been good to me. I believe in sharing.”
A Hershey’s kiss
Mix sugar and spice and everything nice and you’ll get a “Heresheis” bar, according to Coeur d’Alene’s Gale and Nat Adams. Read it like a license plate: Here she is.
The couple used the famous chocolate bar wrapper to announce their daughter’s Sept. 30th birth. Under net weight, they put hers: 6 pounds, 14 ounces. Ingredients are sugar and spice, of course. Manufacturers? You got it - Nat and Gale Adams.
The baby’s name, Sophia Lorene, is below the name of the bar where “milk chocolate” usually goes. The Adamses showed good taste …
Too good to pass up
If you think you travel a long way to satisfy an urge, consider Margaret Lyon. Margaret left Spokane for Everett two years ago but returns every six or seven weeks to have Terri at 30th Off Grand cut her hair. It’s only a 660-mile drive, round trip.
Even though she lives in Western Washington, Margaret still takes The Spokesman-Review, but I know she doesn’t get The Idaho Spokesman-Review. So who slipped her the “Close to Home” seeking confessions of irresistible urges?
Well preserved
Wallace’s Nancy Lee Hanson can finally rest in peace. The Historic Wallace Preservation Society that she founded raised $654 for a proper headstone and plaque for the woman who died in 1992.
Nancy led historic preservation efforts in Wallace but her grave bore only a small metal plate with her name. Now people in 2095 and beyond will know about her contributions.
What interesting epitaphs have you read wandering through North Idaho’s cemeteries? Unearth the best for Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814; FAX to 765-7149; or call 765-7128.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo