If you remember Warren Erholm. During high school, his family was like my second family. I loved to stop at their house and visit. They always made me feel welcome and included. Kathy was his wife. There was daughter Shari, and three sons, Stuart, Stanley, and Steven. I found an interview online done by Western Washington University on March 29, 1993. Its on cassette tape. Below is the transcript. Also a photo of some flies he tied. Warren I miss you! Title Page 1 Full Text 1 Warren Erholm Edited Transcript – March 29, 1993 ©Western Washington University Libraries Special Collections ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Western Washington University Libraries Warren Erholm Special Collections Fly Fishing Oral History Program ATTENTION: © Copyright Western Washington University Libraries Special Collections. Fair use criteria of Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 must be followed. The following materials can be used for educational and other noncommercial purposes without the written permission of Western Washington University Libraries Special Collections. These materials are not to be used for resale or commercial purposes without written authorization from Western Washington University Libraries Special Collections. All materials cited must be attributed to Western Washington University Libraries Special Collections. This interview was conducted with Warren Erholm on March 29, 1993. The interviewer is Danny Beatty. Warren Erholm 1924 – 2001 Warren was born in Bellingham, Washington and attended the Campus School. His family moved to Anacortes about 1938. He was in the Army Air Force during WWII. When he returned to Anacortes after the war he was employed as a shareholder in Anacortes Veneer until his retirement. Warren and his wife Kathy lived only a few doors from his good friend Russ Willis. You will see from the interview that Warren was always interested in new fly fishing ideas and changes. Some of his original flies are listed in the early editions of Steelhead Fly Fishing and Flies by Trey Combs. DB: When did you start fishing at Pass Lake? WE: Oh yes, that was many, many years ago. At that time it wasn’t a fly lake. DB: So you fished it before 1940-41? WE: Yes, I fished it in about 1940, 1938 to 1940. DB: Somewhere in that area, OK. Were you just a kid here in town? WE: Yes, and then I fished it also just right after it became a fly lake. Dad and I used to go out on Sunday afternoons and we used to troll, mooch a fly. But at that time the good pattern was a Royal Coachman streamer; that was a good fly that would work out very, very well. Then we kind of left the lake until about the Fifties; [that] was when I started fishing it. 1950-51 was when I started fishing it heavy. DB: That was when this great cutthroat fishery was going. WE: Yes, it was full of cutthroat and we’d go out there and so many of the guys would be out casting dry flies to fish that were plopping all over the place. But actually the way to really take fish then was to mooch the fly down deep and get to the bottom. You could be out there at Pass Lake and fish all night if you wanted to. You would hardly get a thing on a dry fly, even though they were jumping and rising. But my friend, Russ Willis, and I, we’d be out there. He’d have his boat and I’d have mine, and we’d be fishing. A lot of other friends of ours from town would be out there.
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 18:58:34 +0000