February, 2014 - Louie The Fish
[ezcol_3quarter]Louie “The Fish” DeNolfo
Louie was born in New London, CT on May 27, 1944. He worked as a deckhand on charter boat Empress from age 11 till 18. Fly fishing since age 10, he caught big sea run trout in his teens.
He went to Hawaii in 1964 and worked as a deckhand for famous skipper Black Bart in Kona. Louie earned a BFA in Painting at the University of Hawaii in 1970 and began carving Hawaiian Fishhook replica pendants and fish shortly thereafter. He took this art form to Fiji, Tonga, Samoa all through the 70’s, and inspired a huge bone carving handicraft industry in those islands where his work is widely copied.
He migrated to New Zealand as a bone carver in 1983 with his Samoan wife Sasa Satele, and soon became one of Lake Taupo’s most popular Fly Fishing guides. Louie returned to Samoa in 1996 as a guest artist for the 7th South Pacific Festival of the Arts, where he was billed as the Grandfather of Contemporary South Pacific Bone Carving
From Louie, in response to “Who was your first fishing Hero?”
My dad. Joe DeNolfo, an Italian barber, took me down to the city wharf in New London , Ct, to catch cunners on a hand line. Once I saw that I could catch a fish, I was smitten. I quickly advanced that art to include 2 lb mono, tiny trout hooks, and caught small pollack, jacks, snapper blues and other tastier fish.That finessing carried over to freshwater and by age eight I was fly fishing all the streams in my area, by hitch hiking (much to the horror of my mom.)
In my early teens I met Bob McIntyre. I had a crush on one of his gorgeous daughters, but when I came to call on her, he took an interest in my fly fishing obsession, and showed me his maple showcase full of Orvis Battenkill bamboo rods, Hardy reels, and all that fine paraphernalia that I never knew existed. I used an old white fiberglass Shakespeare fly rod. We started fly fishing together, mostly at Latimers Brook, evening rise and all the mystery that went with it.
Within a few months of mowing lawns, shining shoes at the train station (where I learned to hustle), I soon had my own Orvis Battenkill bamboo rod ( $ 135.00 back then), and that began my 60 year career of accumulating fine tackle and learning to flail it with a passion! I no longer own an Orvis Battenkill (wish I could afford one) but my collection of TFO and many other fly rods and gear is frightening. All because I got the bug from my Dad, and got steered in the right direction by Bob McIntyre.
Tightlines, Ya'll[/ezcol_3quarter]
