Fly Fishing Forum banner

Happy Birthday... Art Burton

4K views 22 replies 18 participants last post by  Striper 
#1 ·
Our senior fishing statesman, educator, historian, and friend has a birthday (Mon.) this week. Not sure exactly how many fishing seasons he has under his belt just yet?

Art.....

Wishing you the best on your special day from Scott too. Here's hoping we can hook up more this coming fishing season.

I'm raising my glass of Softex toasting ya! Couldn't feel any better right now.

Happy Birthday.... Art/ Happy Birthday....Art
 
#7 ·
:D :D :D Happy Birthday Art :D :D :D

I really enjoyed meeting up with you at at the show.

Thanks for the info on the CT hatchery. I really want to spend a bit more time fishing RI this season and look forward to meeting up with you on the water.

Have a great day!
 
#8 ·
Happy Birthday Art...

Great to see you at the show...
We can all learn alot about ZESTFORLIFE by standing in your shadow!
Carpe'deum?!
 
#9 ·
Happy Birthday Art ! ! ! :D

It was good to see you at the show. I'm looking forward to seeing you on the beach in a few (hopefully) short months!

Q
 
#11 ·
Thanks Guys!

For info, birthday was Sunday, 74 winters. Now if I could only catch a fish at least 74 lbs on a flyrod. I could die happy:D I have been flyfishing since I was 14.:smokin: Fished with some of the earliest of the saltwater flyfishers. Never seemed though to get the big one.:( but have lucked out on the quality of the people I have met on FLYFISHINFORUM.:D Art Burton
 
#15 ·
:p:p:p Happy Birthday Art :p:p:p

It's guys like yourself that make this board so great. It was four years ago you offered me a guided tour of the Rhody beaches. Here I was, a guy from NH, you didn't know from a hill of beans. I showed up, and you had me hop in your Blazer. You gave me the grand tour Quonny, Weekapaug, Charlestown, Watch Hill - I'll never forget your time and patience on that day.

You showed me some spots, shared some great stories and gave me some pointers.

Happy 74th and may you have many many more!

TL,

:p
 
#18 ·
Art -

Great to see you at the show, as I said. I remember us discussing your birthday then, but I wanted to make mention of it again. Thank you for your many kindnesses, and especially for your friendship. happy Birthday, My Friend. May you enjoy many more.

(Now, if you could only get Ray to REMEMBER how old you are - right, Ray???) :eyecrazy: :whoa: :chuckle: ;) :smokin:
 
#19 · (Edited)
Better Equipment

Juro, The rods are getting better, having gone from bamboo to fiberglass, to graphite, boron. Reels are machined to closer tolerances. The fly tying material has come a long ways with all the synthetic material. Look at Striblue's flies, they look better than the real thing. When I started there was few flyfishers in the area to show how to flycast, and tie flies. I was lucky to have a good friend to be my mentor, Al Brewster.
There is much more today on entomology then there was back when I first started. Use to take an insect take it home and try to get something that would imitate it close enough to catch fish. I was reading today that the North American Indians actually caught fish on flies made of deer hair.
Flytying today is a very refined art, much more than in the 40's, and 50's much back then was by word of mouth. I have been privileged to know quite a few well know flyfishers, Rube Cross, Ed Leonard, Eric Leiser, Harold Gibbs, and my friend Al Brewster. and others who were pioneers in flyfishing.I guess the only thing I contributed was persistance, 3 years to take my first striper. That is a story in itself. Back then strip[ers were legal at 16 inches to the frk in the tail. Looking up a few things today proved interesting, like Homer Rhode caught a bonefish on a Shrimp Fly he developed in 1930. In 1949 Lee Wulff called it the best bonefish fly he had ever used.
The one of the thing today, as I see it, that needs improvement is the fly lines, they still crack, and peel.:(
 
#20 ·
Art..Al Brewster?...Joe Gibbs?....Art..I need to do that interview..can I record it and then I will type it out and have you check it first...for publication here on the board...I don't think many of use would have the opportunity to learn what it was really like in those days... what do you think? ..(.Except maybe...Dave Fix:devil: )
 
#21 · (Edited)
Striblue, Anytime we can get together. It was not Joe Gibbs, it was Harold Gibbs who invented the "Gibbs Striper Fly":) I just made a mistake, what I should do is get ahold of my good friend Al Brewster. See if I could setup a get together with him. He is the one who's brain to pick, he has done it all. A great guy! with much knowledge of flyfishing in this area.
 
#23 ·
Art,
Just wanted to send along my Happy Birthday wishes to you as well. You are a very knowledgeable and sharing individual who I am proud to say I have met and talked to. Hopefully I will be able to say that I have fished with you as well this year. I truly enjoy talking with the senior members of our fishing fraternity as they are a wealth of knowledge and experience that we can all learn from. It pains me to see the treatment some of the seniors in our society have to put up with this is a travesty. If you look at any of the earlier history books and people, the senior members of the tribe were always held in the highest regard and they were always consulted before any decision was ever made. This is how things should be not the way they really are today. You mentioned Homer Rhodes, I used to watch a fishing show when I was very young hosted by a gentleman named Homer Circle, does that name ring a bell with anyone??? Once again Happy Birthday Art, and may you see many more birthdays on the water my friend.


Tightlines,
Mike Mayo
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top