a personal hero

I guess I was in my teens when I first met Dan Gapen. It was at the Cincy sport boat and travel show back in the day when there was still a lot of fishing tackle there. He autographed one of his books for me which I still have to this day. For those of you not so old like me you might be wondering who is this Dan Gapen fellow anyways. Well let me tell you for decades Dan was known as the River Rat. He traveled all over the United States fishing river after river for pretty much anything that swims and writing about it. I think it's safe to say that he has forgotten more about river fishing than us mere mortals will ever know. 
Dan's grandfather Jesse built a huge log resort in northeastern Minnesota which people flocked to from all over. His grandfather was also one of the first people to stock smallmouth in these waters which have now become possibly the best smallie fishing on earth. Well Dan's dad decided to strike out on his own and bought a resort on the Nipigon River. When Dan was just a boy he worked in the lodge and was "bait boy" till he began guiding at the ripe old age of 14 on the Nipigon River taught by the native Ojibwa Indian Guides  It was here that Don Gapen created the world famous muddler minnow one of the world's most recognizable fly patterns. Dan learned to tie at six and by age 8 was turning out flies to sell at the lodge. He received 1/2 cent a fly. It was also here on the Nipigon that the Gapens created the first weight forward spinner that would end up morphing into the famous Erie Dearie type lures. Dan started the Gapen Bait Company which he is still CEO of. Dan also in 1964 created the baitwalking sinker which has also morphed into a million different versions used to catch nearly everything that swims. And in 1964 he created the ugly bug, a soft plastic and rubber legged lure on a jighead, again a lure that has morphed into a million different styles that pretty much dominate river fishing today. Dan wrote extensively on various river fishing techniques and in his homespun way covered some very complicated subjects in a way that made sense. I think in one book I own there must be twenty pages alone on all the various styles of just wingdams and how to fish them. In another he covers vertical jigging with blade baits in rivers which is all the rage now in modern river fishing. And thru it all and over the years his enthusiasm hasn't diminished. Last week at the Columbus Fishing Expo he was all excited showing me underwater video of redhorse suckers striking his companies latest fly. He then gave me two. One of which will be put up unopened as a personal momento of one of fishing's legends.