Charles K.
Fox
One of the
World's Great Fly Fisherman
by
Eugene P.
Macri jr.
In
Memoriam
1908-1997
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Part 2
Charlie had a gift
for prose that few writers possessed and even fewer
fishing writers. He authored books on the Civil War to
baitcasting and lure making. He also did stints as the
editor of the Pennsylvania Angler and at Stackpole, a
publisher of outdoor books. He was  also an expert
musky and bass angler although few fly fishermen realized
it. But his first love was salmon and trout fishing and
environs that went with them. (Photo on the left
of Rossy Trimmer, Ernie Schwiebert's Dad, Ernie
Schwiebert, Don Dubois and Charlie Fox. circa 1959 by Gene
Utech)
From writing for
Esquire to landing a large trout on the LeTort Charlie
always possessed one attribute of his character that made
him approachable to everyone....modesty. If Charlie Fox
would have been a baseball player. He would have been
Mickey Mantle. The man who hit the ball out of the park
but who ran around the bases with his
head down so that he
wouldn’t show up the pitcher. He never claimed to be the
greatest or even the best fly fishermen as is customary
today by the legions of so called experts. He claimed
only that he studied the fish and their world. He would
never embarrass anyone of lesser talent and knowledge.
Everyone felt comfortable with him. Perhaps this is why
everyone claimed to know him personally because if you
met him once you thought you knew him
forever.
All fly
fishermen are romanticists and Charlie was no exception. The
roots of fly fishing  encompass a poetic
heritage. Whatever it was, he believed in the sacredness
of all living things and the power of their existence. We
had spent many hours together over the years from the
yearly picnic on the Letort, to his jaunts at one of my
favorite streams Falling Spring in Chambersburg,
Pennsylvania. Sometimes we would just sit on his front
porch and talk. But the discussion always ended the same
with his anguish over the destruction of environment. He
was saddened and dismayed over this "Brave New World" that
was taking place. In later life he lamented that few fish
would rise in the Letort because of the pollutants that
destroyed the mayfly populations.
(Photo of me, Gene Macri and Charlie Fox
at one of the Letort
Picnics).
There is a silence
and an emptiness in the fly fishing world and in the
world of nature  because one its
protectors has gone away. On February 10th, 1997 Charlie
Fox crossed the bridge that all anglers know they must
some day cross. He was nearly 88 years old and had been
ill for the last few years. The river keeper has died.
There are quite a few good fly fishermen in the world but
there are few great ones. Of these great ones,
there are even fewer who are also great human beings.
Charlie Fox was a great fly fisherman and a great human
being. He was the river keeper of the LeTort, and he will
be missed by everyone who wishes to see a trout swim, an
eagle soar, or have their children gaze at the wonders of
nature. The world needs more River keepers......the world
needs more people like Charlie
Fox. (Sulfur
Mayfly was Charlie's Favorite
Hatch)
Guido
Macri
February 11,
1997
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