A Sportsman's Life: Guides Remember Leigh Perkins

The Orvis Fly-Fishing Podcast

James Hathaway

Bass, Fishing, Bonefish, Wilderness, Flyfishing, Trout, How To, Steelhead, Bluegill, Fly, Orvis, Sports, Salmon, Panfish, Education, Rosenbauer

4.8 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 15 October 2021

⏱️ 124 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Leigh H. Perkins, or LHP as he was known, was the driving force behind Orvis from 1965 into the 1990s and was a legendary marketing and outdoorsman. He passed away this summer and I wanted to interview some of his favorite guides and fishing buddies to give people a sense of what he was really like in the field [47:52]. He was fearless, always cheerful, and never had a bad day of fishing no matter what the conditions--a lesson for all of us. I hope you'll enjoy LHP stories from John Kowalski, Lori-Ann Murphy, and Rick Ruoff.

In the Fly Box this week, we have some great questions, including:

Which kind of poly leader should I get?

How do I keep my hands warm when fly-fishing in the winter?

A new fly fisher shares stories of rudeness and kindness on the water

I have been fishing a variety of fly patterns on a North Georgia stream, all in size 14, and can't catch any fish. What am I doing wrong?

If I am catching whitefish and suckers, am I fishing in the right place? How do I sort out the trout from the whitefish and suckers?

Why are the trout that used to eat my black Woolly Bugger still striking at it but not connecting?

Can I fish tenkara-style with a standard fly rod?

Does Tom have any questions for the listeners?

Are species-specific fly lines any good or is it just marketing? I have some hooks that are marked as 2X long with a 2X extended gap. Aren't these just hooks that are one size larger?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi and welcome to the Orvis Fly fishing podcast.
0:14.9	This is your host Tom Rosenbauer and have a special, very special podcast this week.
0:20.8	It's actually a three-part podcast.
0:23.5	I have three interviews this week.
0:27.3	And this podcast is in honor of the late Lee Perkins or LHP, as a lot of us knew him.
0:35.3	He was president and CEO and later chairman of the board of the Orvis company, Lee bought
0:44.9	the Orvis company in 1965 and really, really made it what it is.
0:50.3	And you've probably read some obituaries and some remembrances of Lee.
0:58.3	And a lot of them talk about what a male or a genius he was and tackle innovator and passionate,
1:05.3	passionate, upland bird hunter and flyfisher.
1:11.3	But in this podcast, I'm going to interview three of Lee's favorite guides and they're going to talk about what he was like on the water.
1:25.3	What he was like as an angler and an upland hunter because he was definitely a different person from when he was in the office.
1:37.3	I worked for Lee for many years and he was a tough boss.
1:42.3	He was old school and he was the boss period and a story.
1:47.3	But when you got out in the field with Lee, he was a different person.
1:52.3	He never talked business other than maybe he might talk about the action of a rod or the handle of a reel or what flies.
2:02.3	Orvis should be selling, but other than that, he didn't talk business.
2:06.3	He was an amazingly wonderful and generous host and he always had fun when he was in the field.
2:14.3	Regardless of what he was doing or what the conditions were like and I think you'll get that impression.
2:19.3	So we're going to talk to John Kowalski and Laurie and Murphy.
2:26.3	Three people who Lee spent a lot of time in the field that they started out as his guides and later on became close friends and almost family with the Perkins family.
2:40.3	Anyway, I hope you enjoy that and I hope it'll help you get a sense of what Lee was really like.
	...

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