Family Heirloom and Memories

I recently went to visit my parents and celebrated my father's ninety-fifth and my sixtieth birthdays. My dad and I never fished together very often, but when we did we had a great time and made wonderful memories. At our gathering, he gave me a very special present. It was my grandfather's fly wallet. 

I had never seen this wallet before, and I didn't know my dad had it in his possession. My grandfather was a fly fisherman and before he died, he gave me his fly reel and fly tying equipment. I hold them as cherished items, but I never knew of this fly wallet. 

My father told me that grandpa had this fly wallet at least back to 1910.  We are able to date the wallet because of the address that grandpa wrote inside. It is the address of the Davis pioneer family homestead that used to be located in the Provo River bottoms. There's also some stamped writing on the inside of the cover with what I think is a date of 18**. I can't make out the last two numbers. But what is most precious to me is that still contained in the wallet are some flies that grandpa tied. They are pretied onto leader and are some of the wet fly patterns he loved the most when chasing his favorite quarry, the "German" brown.

I am grateful for my fly fishing heritage. From what I can tell from the histories recorded of my pioneer ancestry, my Davis forefathers have been chasing trout from the very moment they entered the Great Basin in 1850. I am very grateful and honored to now be the trusted keeper of my grandfathers fly wallet. I hope someday pass it onto one of my grandchildren, and regale them with stories of their great, great Grandpa Davis and his epic battles with the elusive "German" brown trout.