[salmo_clarki]

Gary Selig of MertzTown Pennsylvania passed away on January 13th 2018. Gary was well known in the Steelhead and Salmon fraternity. His hand tied leaders were works of art, tied with exquisite precision. Gary never had a Website or even an email address yet customers came to him from near and far. He operated under the name of Gary's Custom Leaders. More than anything he loved to chat and would call to chat on a whim about his favorite Salmon Rivers. I heard it said somewhere that Fisherman never die, they just slowly wade away.

Tight lines Gary,

From your many fishing friends.

 

[wrke]

Sad to hear. We corresponded a number of years ago about many things. And at one point he said tie me some bombers and I'll send you some leaders. One of the best trades I've met. Great guy.

 

[JR SPEY]

I was one of Gary's dealers for about fifteen years. Fun guy, even more fun to travel with. He was a hopeless flirt with the young ladies he'd meet along the way, and virtually every one of them enjoyed his attention. We were at the Oxbow on the Miramichi and Gary played a CD of Rodney Dangerfield. We laughed so hard we had trouble sleeping that night. In the morning, Debbie, the owner of the lodge, informed us that Rodney had died the night before. It spooked all of us, but to Gary it really affected him big time as Rodney was his all-time hero. No e-mail, no website, no computer, no checking account, no cell phone, no credit cards, not even a drivers' license, yet he still found a way to get fishing, even in Canada. Man, we'll miss him and miss his leaders. Rest in Peace!

 

[bogbrook]

So glad to see this recognition of Gary in the community. Never lost a salmon on his leaders. He also tied terrific trout leaders. I've never met anyone more knowledgeable about tapers & materials. "The Leader Man." RIP.

 

[Swinging4Steel]

Selling Gary's Leaders

Hi guys. I haven't posted on Speypages in forever. But I was another friend of Gary and customer of his leaders. We also traded flies, with him bestowing on me several collector flies tied by masters like Warren Duncan, Jerome Molloy, Bob Veverka, and Marc Leblanc. I will miss his weekly calls - right now he would have been calling all over New Brunswick and Gaspe talking to his salmon friends about river conditions and the upcoming season. And in a few weeks he would be asking who's catching what and on which river. The guy was genuine - a good friend and funny dude. He is definitely missed!

I am helping his cousin Olive sell the remaining leaders in his inventory. I have them grouped according to butt section weight for the listings. I started out with the 30-39 lb butts. I'm not going to post the listing link, because it will eventually be a dead link. But if anyone is interested, they can find them on eBay under Gary's Custom Leaders.

I also have a ton of flies to sell. His and by other tiers.


- Jessica