George Grant Dies

On November 2 the fly angling world saw the passing of George F. Grant. He was 102 years old and lived his life in Butte, MT. The Butte chapter of Trout Unlimited is the George Grant Chapter. Mr. Grant was the winner of many awards including the Federation of Fly Fishers' Buz Buszeck Award for fly tying in 1973. He was a well-known tyer at FFF Conclaves, having shared the bench with other luminaries such as Polly Rosborough, Doug Swisher, Carl Richards, Art Flick and Dave Whitlock. He was known for his stonefly patterns, most notably the Black Creeper (1937). He was a kind, generous man and an outspoken conservationist. Mr. Grant was the author of two books: Montana Trout Flies and The Master Fly Weaver.

While traveling in Montana last summer, I came upon a a shop in Butte called Fran Johnson's Sport Shop. The store has quite an extensive collection of George Grant flies and memorabilia. The Fort Missoula Museum also has a collection of his flies.