Two legends
I grew up spending two weeks every summer running around between Klamath lake and Bend in central Oregon with my mother and father. As a kid I remember hearing the name Polly Rosborough and thinking it sounded like an uppity big city stiff. My perception of the man’s name couldn’t have been further from the reality of the man himself. My father and his friends sat around a campfire at night talking about the legendary Williamson River angler and when we went into town, we always stopped at the Chiloquin hardware store to pick up a handful of his fuzzy flies. When we were lucky enough to see Polly out on the river, my dad would quietly whisper “That’s Polly Rosborough” as if we were in the presence of the type of greatness that requires whispering. Although I hate that type of hype, we probably were.
Polly Rosborough, lived an un-frivolous, simple and devoted life. He was one of the country’s best fly tiers with a unique style that remains today, unmistakably his. He lived in a rented space about a stone’s throw from the river.
After reading last week’s blog about Bill Schaadt’s Christmas Card to CHarlie Napoli, Cameron Derbyshire picked up an old Christmas Card he had been keeping in the book jacket of his copy of the Angler’s Coast and emailed it to us. It is a hand-drawn Card Bill Schaadt sent to Polly Rosborough shortly after the two men became friends. In the early 60s Bill Schaadt was busted by a California game warden for fishing at night. His license was revoked for a year. Not willing to sit on his hands for 12 months, Schaadt traveled north, and not long after crossing the Oregon border found himself exploring Polly Rosborough’s home waters. The two quickly became fishing partners and good friends. The rainbow trout of Upper Klamath Lake and the Williamson River have always acted more like Steelhead than spring stream trout and naturally Schaadt’s steelhead experience on California’s coastal streams made him a quick understudy. The season spent together left a lasting impression on both their lives.
Take a look at another hand-drawn Christmas Card and note the brief message Schaadt wrote for Polly. “Hope to see you soon. Thanks for your help and info. Bill"(The sketch is a self-portrait of Schaadt.)
