Ken, I think Iowa was one of the 23 states Herter said the Joe Hopper was illegal in.
As long as we are enjoying Memory Lane, my dad got me a fly rod in the early 50s using Corked Tipped Raleigh Cigarettes Coupons. Much like green stamps, if you saved enough, you could get a prize. My rod was a fiberglass one. I still have it. I live 8 miles from the Madison River and the same from the Gallatin River. I have not fished either, but I do remember catching lots of crappies in Minnesota with small minnows on my rod. My dad used a split bamboo rod and some poppers or lead heads. His rod came from smoking the Raleighs , too.
Yeah, that makes sense. I remember instructions from the Professional Guide's Manual describing how to pen up sections of a stream in order for the fish to be hungry when you brought your clients in. I believe that was the tactic that ol' Virgil Ward got in trouble for. "From the lakes of Northern Canada, to the Gulf of Mexico"..
Here's another memory jog. On the same Montana trip as the Herter's stop, We stopped in Bozeman and visited the Hot Springs. It was a really fun experience for a young kid. We then continued on to north of Seeley Lake to fish the upper and lower Holland lakes and some streams in the Bob Marshall. I made it back in the late 1980's to ski Big Sky and to visit the hot springs again. I plan on making it back again in the future for the bird hunting as well as the fishing. I'm just not sure when yet..
Regards
Ken
