BRUCE HANDLEY PASSING

[Cane Head]

In Jan 91 I had finagled an assignment to Plattsburgh AFB after doing a 1 1/2 year remote assignment at King Salmon AFS in Alaska...where "Fish'n was the Mission." SAC always needed SPs for their nuclear bases and since I volunteered for another nuke assignment, it was a shoe in. During the Cold War, SAC always had bases in trout county and that was the criteria for picking my next assignment. One of the things I always did at a new assignment was immediately locate the nearest fly shop. In the case of Plattsburgh, NY...it was the Blue Goose Orvis shop. I walked in and a pipe smoking gentleman behind the counter introduced himself as Bruce Handley. What he was doing immediately caught my attention because he was stripping down a cane fly rod, and with the exception of the cheap post war Japanese rod I learned to cast with as a teenager, it was the first real cane rod I had seen. Bruce explained that it was an Orvis Model 99 8' 7wt and began to explain the impregnation process, the Super Z ferrules, and everything else I asked questions about. As the season progressed, I spent a lot of time in that fly shop listening to Bruce talk about bamboo over us splitting pots of coffee.

When the Hendrickson's made their appearance that spring, I was back on the water, fishing the entire hatch from emergence to spinner fall. One day I was discussing my boredom with flyfishing after a 1 1/2 of fishing Alaskan rivers and mentioned it wasn't fun any more...something was missing. And even getting back into the technical aspects of matching hatches wasn't cutting it for me. Bruce asked me to stop by the shop the next day I was heading out to the Saranac. I made that stop and Bruce handed me a rod tube. It was one of his personal rods, a 8 1/2' Granger Special and the instructions were to fish it. And I did. It was the best time I had had on a trout stream in a long time. Laughing at every fish I caught and smiling at the feel of the rod. I had found the fun that was miss'n in the fish'n.

Over the handful of years I was stationed at Plattsburgh, there were lots of rods casted at the shop and in Bruce's back yard that was on the Saranac. He guided my through refinishing my first rod with him grading each step of the process. Bruce took me along to Manchester, VT to tour the Orvis rod shop, a perk that Orvis shop owners occasionally got. He wasn't the owner, but the owner passed the chance on to Bruce and off we went.

When I got married, he refinished one of my Grangers as a wedding present. Was the first person outside of family to meet my newborn daughter.

Then in 95, the powers that be closed Plattsburgh AFB and I was whisked off to another assignment. But we often kept in touch. We both were contacted by Clark via the old VFS site when he was standing up this wonderful place that morphed into best bamboo rendezvous on the web.

In 2010, I told Bruce I was retiring from the USAF after 26 years. A week after my retirement, a rod tube showed up on my porch. It was a 8' 7 wt Orvis Model 99...the very rod he was working on when we first met. He had long refinished it how he thought it should look. A simple rod with green wraps.

I have fond memories of being regaled with stories of his yearly trips to fish Atlantic salmon in Canada over never ending cups of coffee. Pulling rods out tubes to inspect them for the first time. Stringing up rods to put them through their paces back behind the shop. Comparing patterns for Saranac's various hatches. Fly tying parties with a small group of guys that hung out at the shop. His stories of working on the Apollo program when America strove to do great things. Watching the moon launches. The Corvette he owned when he worked there. The sadness he experienced as his first wife was going through cancer at the time. Her loss. The fight to get a catch and release section on the West Branch. "Keep the Faith!" The memories go on.

What I remember the most - that first meeting... when a guy puffing away at his pipe while cutting wraps off a bamboo rod, looked up and asked "How can I help you?!?

May Bruce's beloved Atlantic Salmon always rise to meet his fly.

Cane

[Old Creel]

Sorry to hear. I only spoke with Bruce once, and he was very generous with his knowledge. My condolences to the family.
Bob

[salmonid1]

So sorry to hear about Bruce's passing. He was an old "show" friend and constant consultant to me regarding vintage rods. He was a good guy and helped out with questions about vintage rods on an almost constant basis. Enjoyed many hours of friendship and dinner out with him, Corsetti and the band of enthusiasts who hovered around him. Truly makes you wonder how quickly time is passing. Carmine Lisella

[Pentalux]

Very sad news. An irreplaceable loss to the vintage rod community.

My thoughts and prayers are with his wife and family.

Rob

[wctc1]

Sad news indeed. Carmine, Royce, "Cane Head," thank you for your words. What is happening to our good people? Is it just time, or who we have become to know? Steve, David, Bruce, and so many others, passed into the bright waters.

[Cane Head]

If any of you ever make a trip to Plattsburgh, there is a humorous, but fitting, tribute to Bruce ala Patrick McManus style.
The Imperial Mills dam, on the Saranac, blocks the historic upstream spawning run of Lake Champlain Landlocks and at the base of the dam is a rather nice pool where the salmon mill about trying to figure out what to do now. Rather nice fish at that. In that pool is a rather large boulder you can stand on and reach a good portion of the pool with a nice cast. Getting to the boulder is only done during low flow hours.
One evening many decades ago, Bruce took position on that boulder during low flow and had a nice evening of playing with salmon. So nice an evening, that he failed to notice the rising flow, and eventually found himself trapped. Bruce spent the night on that rock, only able to wade out the next morning when he could see and the flows dropped to safe levels.
Word got out about the incident and a buddy of his had a brass plaque made, inscribed with Bruce's name, and managed to get it attached to the rock. Bruce always grumbled about that plaque when relating that story, but there was a twinkle in his eyes and a wry smile that let people know that he had approved of the joke. I always got a good chuckle when I casted from that rock.

[cwfly]

Bruce's obituary:
https://obituaries.pressrepublican.com/ ... 1087494092

[bamboo rodley]

Very sad to hear this news. His contributions on this forum have helped me many times, and his gentlemanly behavior was always a pleasure.

[2dabacking]

Sorry to read this. Like many, I had a lot of respect for Bruce. He was honorable and generous. I never got to meet Bruce in person, but I greatly enjoyed our conversations. It was clear that he very much cherished his time with friends in the fishing and collecting community. My deepest condolences to his friends and loved ones.
Joel

[barnesspecial6]

Seeing Bruce Handley’s obituary in the newspaper last week was shocking and sad, Bruce was a super person, I always looked forward to seeing and speaking to Bruce during fall Salmon season on the Saranac river in Plattsburgh NY, I met Bruce for the first time in the fall of ‘83-84, I immediately admired and liked the man, very knowledgeable person, totally committed to Salmon restoration and practicing catch and release, in my opinion the fall of ‘87/88 were the the most productive Salmon seasons, I was employed in Plattsburgh leaving my job at 4PM on the Saranac by 4:20 and seeing and speaking to Bruce virtually daily at the Huge Imperial mill Salmon pool and the cable pool, I always hope to see and talk to Bruce whenever I hit the river, one more thing that unfortunately for myself and everyone else that was touched by Bruce is no longer possible, my Sincere Condolences to Bruce’s family and all of us who’s lives he’s touched, he will be missed by all. Sincerely, Jerzy Pawlowski

[salmonid1]

So sorry to hear about Bruce's passing. Wasn't weeks ago that I referred a client to him to evaluate a vintage rod. For some 25 years depended on him for his acumen about vintage rods, along with Jerry Girard. I always looked forward to spending time with him at shows. Particularly will miss the smell of latakia tobacco gently spuing from one of his briar pipes. Always associate that seminal odor with Bruce and can picture him with it between his teeth. Hoping he has time to light up and enjoy himself with abandon. Carmine Lisella

[teter]

I just saw this, and am very sorry for the news. We have lost another expert contributor.

[Dark Waters]

Very sad to see this. I had the pleasure of speaking to Bruce on the phone twice. He graciously helped me out with some vintage guides I needed along with some very interesting stories and guidance. My condolences to his friends and family.

[OldCane]

RIP, I had only a limited amount of interaction with Bruce, but always thought of him as one of the really good guys.

[checch]

Love the boulder story.That’s a true fishin guy! Cheers,Chet

[bluesjay]

Hi Guys, So sorry to hear of this. He helped me a lot with my biggest restoration project. I'll think of him whenever I see the rod. Jay Edwards