Roderick Haig-Brown

By Matt Landry - Jun 18, 2003

Born in England in 1908 and finally arriving in North America in 1927, by 1950 Roderick Haig-Brown was surely Canada's premier angling writer. By the time of his unexpected death in 1976, Haig-Brown was recognized by most as the 20th century's finest angling scribe.

Born in Essex, Haig -Brown would eventually settle down, with new wife Ann, on the banks of the British Columbia's Campbell River in 1934. A substantial amount of his work reflects his years fishing fly fishing the rivers and lakes of Vancouver Island. The Nimpkish, Campbell, and Stamp Rivers, among others, are described to the reader with great care.

We are told stories of Haig-Brown and Tommy Brayshaw tossing Devon Minnows to fresh Campbell River Chinooks (Fisherman's Fall), of fishing remotes lakes for creek mouth rainbows, and of estuary fishing for colorful harvest cutthroats, all in elegant prose.

In Fisherman's Winter we traver with RHB to the rivers and lakes of Chile and Argentina. The author shows a deep respect for the people he meets. On traveling to foreign lands " do it with wide open eyes, not as a stranger, but as a friend...a country is not merely land, but the people who live in the land."


His writing, as compared to some other angling writers, is never braggadocio. Haig-Brown always shows a deep respect for his environment; it's never about how many fish he's caught, although reading about his "Perfect Morning" (Fisherman's Fall, 1964), is a thrill.

Tom McGuane sums up the value of Haig-Browns works; "it is a good bit harder to reveal what a good day astream means than it is to describe an eight part nymph leader."

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