HOT News from the IGFA - May 2008

News on Hall of Famers – Apte, Kreh, Wulff and Parker

From time-to-time in the IGFA Hot News we feature news on members of the International Fishing Hall of Fame. Among those highlighted in this edition are Joan Wulff, Stu Apte, Lefty Kreh and Capt. George Parker.

Wulff featured in Field & Stream

The first lady of fly fishing Joan Wulff, is featured in the May issue of Field & Stream Magazine. The publication's deputy editor Jay Cassell conducted the fascinating interview with photography by Jeffery Salter who visited Joan at her home and on the water in the Florida Keys.

One of the many quotes that stands out "I'm an ordinary woman who has had an extraordinary life, though the magic of sportfishing." Pick up a copy.

Apte memoirs now in print

After over two years of writing and editing his memoirs, saltwater fly-fishing legend Stu Apte has self-published Of Wind and Tides, a first-class, hardbound limited first edition of 300 copies.

The book is approximately 500 pages and is expected by the first of June.  The exceptionally well-done project features 62 pages of color photographs and 22 pages of black-and-white photographs.

Each numbered and personally autographed copy is $300.

His loves for flying and for tarpon fishing are captured on the hardcover. The title is embossed in silver with a line drawing of a Pan Am 747 climbing out and a silver king jumping alongside of it also embossed in silver. 

In the fall Apte said he expects to produce the same size in a paperback version.

Kreh is on the mend

Despite a freak accident expect to see Lefty Kreh conducting the masses with his fly rod later this year.

It was over three months ago during a fly-casting demo in Tampa, Fla., that Kreh fell three feet from a platform and contacted all his weight on his knee, tearing the kneecap completely free. Two days later he said doctors surgically reattached the cap and sutured the tendons and muscles.

Since early March he says he has had gentle therapy three times a week and is now starting to strengthen the leg. Kreh's best prediction is that about mid-June he'll be able to discard the Velcro splint he's wearing and expects more therapy into autumn.

The always affable and popular fly-fishing educator and writer said, "The fly-fishing community and friends from all over the planet have been wonderful with tons of e-mails and cards and offers of help in getting me around."

Hawaii's Parker dies at 96

A pioneer of Hawaii's charter boat fishing industry and the first to land a grander, Captain George Stevens Parker died on April 4 at the age of 96, at his residence of Bali Hai in Holualoa, Hawaii overlooking the Kona coast.

Born in 1911 in San Diego, California, Parker moved to Hawaii in 1935. He was the first person to land a Pacific blue marlin weighing more than 1,000 pounds, a world record fish caught in 1954.

He was awarded a Silver Medal of Honor for a heroic rescue at Kiholo Bay in 1965, lead in the creation of the Honokohau Small Boat Harbor and was a strong advocate for Hawaii's sport fishing industry. Parker was also a big supporter of fishing tournaments in Hawaii, including the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament which he fished from 1960 until he retired from charter fishing at the age of 85.

Parker was inducted into the IGFA International Fishing Hall of Fame in 2005.

Services were held May 3 with a burial at sea on May 4. Donations can be made in the memory of Capt. George Parker to the IGFA, Hospice of Kona or the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament.